A Corpus-Based Study on Orthographic Errors of Russian Heritage Learners and Their Implications for Linguistic Research and Language Teaching

Bibliographic Data

ID5900897
AuthorsOlesya Kisselev (0000-0003-2514-3107, University of South Carolina, corresponding author), Irina Y Dubinina (0000-0001-9960-3271, Brandeis University), Galina Paquette (Wellesley College)
Year2024
Volume9
Issue4
Pages126
Publication date2024-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages9040126
OpenAlexW4393378394
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited24

The challenges faced by heritage language (HL) learners in mastering spelling and orthography are well-documented. Despite these documented difficulties, this aspect of HL linguistic knowledge has received limited attention from HL researchers. Beyond instructional implications, the study of spelling and orthography in HL speakers holds significance to building a finer understanding of the nature of heritage languages, since the development of orthographic skills is intricately linked to the knowledge of phonology and morphology as well as to metalinguistic awareness in these two areas. The study presented in this paper attempts to contribute to this area of research by turning its attention to orthographic skills of Russian heritage learners with English as their dominant language. The corpus-based research presented here categorizes orthographic errors in adjectival endings in hand-written essays produced by college-age HL learners of Russian of various writing proficiency levels and attempts to provide preliminary explanations for the source of these errors. While this paper is exploratory in nature and limited in scope by focusing only on adjectival endings, our results emphasize the need for further exploration in this underrepresented area to enhance our understanding of heritage language development and improve instructional strategies

Corpus linguistics · Heritage language · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Orthographic projection · Computer Science · Lexicography and Language Studies · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity · Philosophy · Psychology · Second Language Acquisition and Learning · Artificial Intelligence

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