Heritage Language Learners in First‐Year Foreign Language Courses

A Report of General Data Across Learner Subtypes

Bibliographic Data

ID8938568
AuthorsRachel R Reynolds (0000-0003-2758-6884, Drexel University, corresponding author), Kathryn M Howard, Kathryn Howard (California University of Pennsylvania), Julia Deák (California University of Pennsylvania)
Year2009
Volume42
Issue2
Pages250-269
Publication date2009-05-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueForeign Language Annals (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-718X • E-ISSN: 1944-9720
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1944-9720.2009.01020.x
OpenAlexW2071378599
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited3

This article reports on a survey of language study motivations for first‐year language learners at two large private East Coast American universities. Surveys were completed by 401 students in courses for 19 different foreign languages. Forty percent of respondents were designated as heritage language learners (HLLs), and they were divided into two subclasses: narrowly defined HLLs, who indicated that the target language was regularly spoken in their home and who constituted 34% of all HLLs (55/162); and broadly defined HLLs, who indicated familial or heritage connections to the language without regular prior exposure to the target language and who constituted 66% (107/162) of all HLLs. This article reports students' prior exposure to the language, reasons for studying it, and goals and attitudes among these subclasses, and outlines avenues for further investigation

First language · Foreign language · Heritage language · Language assessment · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Native-language instruction · Pedagogy · Teaching method · Vocabulary development · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Second Language Learning and Teaching