Survey of Heritage Language Teaching at UCLA
Perceived Problems & Issues for Heritage Language classes
Establishing criteria to define heritage learners
As indicated in Campbell (2000) and supported by self-assessment in the student survey, typically heritage learners have mastered nearly 90% of the phonological system of the heritage language or dialect; have acquired 80-90% of the grammatical rules that govern discourse production; have well-developed listening skills, varying degrees of oral proficiency, especially in informal registers; a broad socio-cultural understanding particularly of their heritage community (Kagan 2000); but limited academic literacy skills. With targeted instruction on reading, writing and academic skills, the majority of these students would quickly advance to a stage where they could focus on linguistic needs for specific professional areas. The need is particularly pronounced in the case of languages with a non-romanized script, as indicated in the student survey.
Even those students with passive listening skills need to be taken into account in course placement and curriculum design. Students with this type of passive foundation in the language may initially seem to be beginners. Their potential for accelerated learning is frequently under-rated initially by both instructors and students. One instructor found it sometimes a problem to draw the line between beginning students and those from a heritage background who have no, or very little, language proficiency. Vald? (1995) and other prominent linguists would point out here that teachers often do not build on the learners' existing skills but take them back to a beginning level, or teach a curriculum that does not focus on those skills.
Other instructors stated that because of their passive skills and cultural knowledge, even these heritage students progress much more quickly than absolute beginners. Several instructors observed that providing the same curriculum to both types of "beginners" will lead to frustration for both students and their instructors.
Student needs and focus
Focusing on student needs is particularly important for a mixed class of beginners and heritage learners. Not only are the latter more advanced than non-heritage students, but also their needs are different. The student survey showed that heritage students tend to study the language for different purposes from non-heritage students. In particular the heritage students wished to explore their own background and identity, communicate with their family and community and maintain their culture, whereas non-heritage students have a range of different motivations and purposes including cross-cultural communication, tourism or professional reasons (Sohn 1995). The former often have in-depth knowledge of sociocultural and sociolinguistic matters where the latter group need to focus on these from the outset. Several instructors (Mahajan, Wang, Sohn) observed that the two groups require focus on different skills, different topics and also different teaching methodology. Issues such as heritage dialects (discussed below) add to the complexity of the heritage issue.
Professor Douglas saw the major issue as one of accommodating the differing needs of students. She believed instruction should be individualized as much as possible to meet those needs. "One curriculum, (with) the same reading materials, the same space of learning and the same tests and quizzes do not work."
Placement testing
The HL survey was not designed to cover the issue of placement tests in depth. However, responses indicated that different types of procedure and/or placement tests are used for each language, even within the same department. The results supported the findings of the detailed study, Foreign Language Placement and Foreign Language Requirement Waiver Procedures (Taskesen, 1995) as well as separate articles by Professors Wang and Sohn (1995). Instructors in the two surveys made no reference to standards or specific proficiency levels or even, in some cases, to specific criteria for defining levels. Sometimes students decided whether they wished to take a particular course. In other languages there is anecdotal evidence that students cheat in placement tests in order to take an easier elementary course. Dr Sohn observes (1995) that this is not surprising when no special heritage course is offered, as heritage speakers are often intimidated by the emphasis on formal grammar in beginning language courses and take these courses to learn the terminology and formal grammar. Dr Wang saw placement test design as an urgent need. The issue of placement tests was not raised frequently by other instructors in this survey.
Finding relevant material
The design and production of relevant instructional material was one of the most frequently raised issues raised. It was seen as a key issue by over half the respondents (6 out of 11). Because of the lack of materials available for heritage learners, instructors spend a lot of time searching for authentic materials which are relevant and of a suitable level for their students. Where teachers attempt to individualize instruction to meet the needs of a wide range of learners the problem is exacerbated.
General resources
While the issue of funding was not always specifically raised in the survey, it is crucial to the feasibility of many initiatives which depend on instructors' time and motivation.
Some instructors suffer from very poor working conditions. Instructors in Southeast Asian languages have a major problem of lack of space, with 6 instructors and 2-3 TAs crowded into one area with only 3 computers. While it is important for instructors of multiple level classes to work with small groups, there is currently nowhere for the instructors to meet small groups.
Dialects
The issue of teaching a standard language or a dialect, or of teaching the standard form of the language to those already fluent in a dialect is a major problem for some languages with heritage speakers, for example Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. Professor Wang observed that the problem is exacerbated in Chinese because the different dialects, which are in fact different languages, are mutually unintelligible. There has been very little research done into the teaching of a second dialect (Vald? 1995). Professor Wang states the need for special pedagogical approaches, teaching strategies and skills as well as new teaching materials.
Special heritage classes are particularly important for languages with different dialects. In mixed classes, heritage students tend to compare classroom language with home usage, raising examples of different vocabulary and expressions or pronunciation and in the case of Chinese different tones, confusing total beginners and sometimes side-tracking the instructor.
A related problem raised by one instructor was designing ways to remedy anglicisms or incorrect use of register, which in the case of heritage students is usually familiar. Vald? 1995) has pointed out the need for instructors to be alert to the importance of building onto the students' existing skills rather than seeing their dialect or anglicisms as faults.
Course content
In order to motivate students and provide effective learning it is important for course content to be relevant to student needs. However, in some classes differing needs sometimes prove incompatible or cause conflict. Examples were provided by Professor Cooperson for Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, where some students have preferences for a different religious or cultural focus. In Arabic classes, they may prefer classical studies to Modern Standard Arabic. Professor Ziai, Professor of Persian, also saw the issue of focussing on language for specific purposes as problematic.
In some languages the political background of the students, their families or communities may limit the topics which can safely be introduced as a focus for study.
In more traditional courses, content is often focussed on classical literature where student needs may be more related to the professions, or their preferences may lie in a more practical focus. This issue was related in one case to the instructor's problems finding relevant, suitable material. In general the issue was summed up by Professors Sohn, Douglas and Wang, who stress the need for curriculum design based on learner needs.
This survey project, conducted Fall 1999, was produced under the auspices of the Language Resource Center, by Helen Reid, in collaboration with Olga Kagan, Chairperson of the Foreign Language Resource Committee.
