Twenty-fifth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

This study examines the heritage (Spanish) language maintenance and/or loss of nine young adults (age 18-25) who graduated from a small urban high school with a Latino-centric curriculum aimed at promoting biliteracy/bilingualism. Research with heritage speakers has been highly compartmentalized. Many studies investigate the sociolinguistic reality of heritage languages (He, 2010), while linguistic-oriented research provides more specific detail on the “systems” of heritage speakers. This research is invaluable; however, the vision of heritage speakers as “primarily naturalistic, often illiterate learners” (Montrul, 2010) fails to take into account the much wider variation, both in terms of experiences and competence. In the present study, we try to bridge this divide by looking at an understudied population: “Naturalistic” heritage speakers who are also “instructed,” and literate in Spanish. This study uses phenomenological and narrative methods (Clandinin & Huber, 2010) to address the question: What are the lived persistent experiences of naturalistic heritage speakers who are also instructed in Spanish? Data were collected through semi-structured, phenomenologically-based recorded interviews (Englander, 2012). Transcripts were analyzed using domain analysis, seeking to elicit meaning from the data (LeCompte & Preissle, 1993), rather than codify and compute it. Results highlight the role of Spanish usage in daily life, maintenance of and/or changes in social networks influence Spanish maintenance and use, and engagement with Spanish texts or other reading materials. All participants used Spanish consistently with family members, although this was most often with parents and grandparents and more difficult with younger siblings.