HERITAGE MEETS HERITAGE

In the spring of 2016 I initiated a heritage language research project that encourages students to consider issues of identity and motivation and to discuss these with  students of a different heritage language. The initial, core group included Maria Kaliambou (Senior Lector, Modern Greek), Angela Lee Smith (Senior Lector II, Korean) and  Julia Titus (Senior Lector II, Russian). The group has grown to include as many as six languages and colleagues Sarab Al Ani (Arabic), Hsiu-hsien Chan (Chinese) , Shiri Goren (Hebrew), Hsiu-hsien Chan (Chinese). The basic tasks for students were:

• Completion of a questionnaire on the heritage language speaker/learner experience.
• Reflection and discussion with students of the same heritage language.
• Videotaped conversation with a student from a different heritage language.

My colleagues from the initial group and I presented a snapshot of our project at a round-table discussion at ACTFL 2016 (Boston) and a more extended version at the Third International Heritage and Community Languages Conference hosted by the National Heritage Language Resource Center at UCLA in February 2018. I was invited to share aspects of the project at the National Heritage Language Resource Center Teacher workshop in 2017 and 2018.  Take a look!