Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes inherited from past generations is our cultural heritage. Language is its most significant attribute since it is the only means of passing the cultural heritage from one generation to the next one. Without language culture becomes silent and silence kills a culture. Heritage language is the support of the cultural heritage, it is its backbone, it is also its only means for surviving. Heritage language is the original language learned by some speakers as children. The learning was still undeveloped when they moved to another country where they must learn a new language. Eventually they become competent in the acquired language and they forget their heritage one having to learn it as adults. As adolescents these individuals start looking for identity traits mainly the language that can reconnect them with the older generations they may have been separated by the linguistic barrier. This special category of second language learners presents challenges to the professors because their personal motivations for learning the second language are different from the rest of the students. They are particularly conscious that the language is their only tool to reconnect the broken link between them and the grandparents who are the guardian of their cultural heritage. Spanish is the heritage language of about 50 million people in the United States. Teaching this language presents particular challenges in the historical moments we are living in the United States, which is the focus of our study.