Heritage Language Workshop

Guest Speakers

Kimi Kondo-Brown

Kimi Kondo-Brown is Assistant Professor on the graduate faculty of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Head of the graduate and undergraduate Japanese language programs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her research focuses on teaching Japanese as a foreign/heritage language. She teaches courses in Japanese pedagogy, practicum, teaching methodologies, and quantitative research method. Her studies have been published in journals such as Language Testing, Heritage Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, and Linguistics and Education. One of her latest studies on heritage language instruction will appear in the Modern Language Journal.

Title: Recent work on teaching heritage students in East Asian languages: What have we accomplished so far and what should we do next?

Abstract: Applied linguists today have made significant strides in identifying heritage language learners' special instructional needs and interests. Compared to decades ago, we are much better prepared to inform heritage language professionals of empirically-based, rational administrative and instructional strategies. Heritage language researchers with a focus on East Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) are no exception. In recent years, we have produced numerous publications and conference papers to share our research findings and curriculum innovations for teaching East Asian Languages in various settings across and beyond the nation.

The purpose of my talk is two-fold. First, I will examine the scope, methodologies, and findings of the research and curriculum/materials development for teaching heritage students in East Asian Languages published or presented since 1990 in North America. Second, on the basis of that examination, I will identify those linguistic, pedagogical, and social issues that are common across these languages as well those that are specific to each language. Then, I will suggest directions for future research and curriculum development for East Asian heritage language instruction. I will particularly focus on trends and findings in the following areas:

1. Linguistic profiling (quantitative/qualitative studies that analyze the distinct linguistic characteristics of East Asian heritage language learners)
2. Environmental and personal factors (quantitative/qualitative studies that analyze social and affective variables associated with or predictive of East Asian heritage language maintenance/development)
3. Curriculum and materials development (Needs analysis as well as recent instructional and assessment innovations for teaching heritage students in East Asian languages
4. Evaluation (quantitative/qualitative evaluation studies that analyze the learning outcomes of given East Asian heritage language programs or instructional strategies)

Maria Carreira

Maria Carreira is an associate professor of Spanish at California State University, Long Beach, where she teaches courses on Spanish linguistics and Spanish for native speakers. She publishes in the area of heritage languages, Spanish for native speakers and phonology. She was a co-organizer of Heritage Languages in America: A National Conference, held in Long Beach, California in 1999. She is the author of Nexos, (Houghton Mifflin, 2004) an introductory Spanish college textbook.

Title: Teacher Development for Heritage Language Instruction: Beyond L2

Abstract: Teacher training for heritage language teachers requires preparation in methods that fall outside the scope of training of foreign language teachers. These include methods typically employed in language arts classes, as well as methods that allow teachers to differentiate instruction to different levels within a class.