“Turkish is a Stepchild.” A Case Study of Language Policies in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-178
Author(s):  
Asli Can Ayten ◽  
Tatjana Atanasoska
Keyword(s):  
Professional Identity ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Teachers Perspectives

Research on the language attitudes and ideologies of teachers engaged in Heritage Language Instruction (HLI) in Germany is scarce even though HLI has been implemented in German schools since the early 1970s. Our goal is to fill in a gap in this field of HL pedagogy and focus on teachers’ perspectives related to language policies. We examine the ways that HL teachers’ work is shaped by specific ideological discourses that lead to bias against using HLs in school and prejudices against their speakers. We focus only on Turkish as a HL spoken in Germany, but we present findings from our case study that could theoretically apply to other HLs in Germany. We find that both explicit and more covert discrimination affect teachers’ actions and professional identity as HL teachers and persistently disrupt HLI and communication of teachers and students.

scholarly journals Pluricentrity, Multilingualism and Heterogeneity of the Learners’ Groups

2021 ◽  
Vol X (1) ◽  
pp. 25-46
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Protassova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Special Needs ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Regular Classrooms ◽  
Family Language

Multilingualism, superdiversity, and the abundance of language contacts place new demands on language teachers, who must consider each student’s linguistic biography, family language policies, and cultural practices in order to keep up with their growth in a specific school vs. university subject. Many more languages are becoming pluricentric as they continue to be used in migrating populations. So, they decline or flourish in diaspora and introduce heritage language learners as people with special needs into regular classrooms. Using Russian as an example, the paper suggests methods for organizing language instruction of varied speakers and learners in a heterogeneous integrated university classroom.

scholarly journals Parental Perspectives and Practices in Maintaining the Heritage Language (A Case Study of Preserving Ambonese Malay)

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-41
Author(s):  
Felicia M Lekatompessy
Keyword(s):  
Family Communication ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Electronic System ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Parental Perspectives ◽  
The Family

Intensity of using national and foreign languages ​​in various sectors indirectly changes people's views on the importance of learning or even maintaining the heritage languages. Consequently, the heritage language may experience a transition because it is rare or even no longer used in daily communication, particularly in the family context. This current study aims to analyze parents’ perspectives about the maintenance of the native language, including their practical ways to preserve the cultural heritage, namely Ambonese Malay. Twenty two parents were randomly selected to participate in this study by filling in the questionnaire that was distributed by electronic system through Google Form. Findings of this research showed that parents have positive language attitudes towards Ambonese Malay and its maintenance as heritage language. Their attitude was revealed in their willingness to teach the Ambonese Malay to their children, use the language in their family communication and at traditional ceremonial and family events, including their expectation of having Ambonese Malay in the school curriculum. Moreover, practical ways of using Ambonese Malay as the dominant language in discussing daily topics at home with the family members were the indications of parents’ persistence ways in preserving the Ambonese Malay in the family domain.

scholarly journals Maintenance of Russian as a heritage language in Germany: A longitudinal approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-885
Author(s):  
Bernhard Brehmer
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Family Interactions ◽  
Longitudinal Measurement ◽  
Term Maintenance

The study discusses the perspectives of long-term maintenance of Russian as a heritage language in Germany. Based on data from a longitudinal study (2014-2018) we investigated changes in the sociolinguistic situation of 19 adolescent heritage speakers and in their proficiency in Russian. The aim was to investigate whether changes in the participants sociolinguistic situation are reflected in their knowledge of Russian. Data on the sociolinguistic situation were collected via an extensive questionnaire that the participants had to fill out once a year. Language proficiency was measured by experimental tasks targeting different linguistic domains. For the current paper, we used data from the longitudinal measurement of lexical and grammatical proficiency. The results revealed that the participants exposure to Russian input is decreasing in several domains over time, especially concerning media consumption and personal visits to the homeland. Russian is increasingly restricted to interactions with parents, and to educational settings (classes in Russian as a foreign or heritage language). Regarding language attitudes, our participants explicitly consider Russian important primarily for family interactions and cultural factors, but less with regard to career goals. Nevertheless, there was a positive trend in lexical and grammatical proficiency. We interpret these findings as a result of the prolonged exposure to heritage language instruction which leads to a stabilized proficiency in Russian. Given the institutional support and the size of the community, we hypothesize that the perspectives for long-term maintenance of Russian as a heritage language in Germany are better than for Russian heritage speaker communities in other countries.

ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS TOWARD E-TEACHING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC – A CASE STUDY

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miri Ben-Amram ◽  
Nitza Davidovitch ◽  
Iryna Herasimovich ◽  
Yuri Ribakov
Keyword(s):  
Teachers And Students

Assessing Differences and Similarities between Instructed Heritage Language Learners and L2 Learners in Their Knowledge of Spanish Tense-Aspect and Mood (TAM) Morphology

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul ◽  
Silvia Perpiñán
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
Classic Problem ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Advanced Proficiency ◽  
L1 Acquisition

The acquisition of the aspectual difference between the preterit and imperfect in the past tense and the acquisition of the contrast between subjunctive and indicative mood are classic problem areas in second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish by English-speaking learners (Collentine, 1995, 1998, 2003; Salaberry, 1999; Slabakova & Montrul, 2002; Terrell, Baycroft & Perrone, 1987). Similarly, Spanish heritage speakers in the U.S exhibit simplification of the preterit/imperfect contrast and incomplete acquisition/attrition of subjunctive morphology (Merino, 1983; Montrul, 2002, 2007; Potowski, Jegerski & Morgan-Short, 2009; Silva-Corvalán, 1994). This raises the question of whether the linguistic knowledge of a developing L2 learner is similar to incomplete L1 acquisition in heritage language (HL) learners. Because heritage speakers are exposed to the heritage language from infancy whereas L2 learners begin exposure much later, Au et al. (2002, 2008) have claimed that heritage speakers are linguistically superior to L2 learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. The present study reexamines this claim by focusing on the interpretation of tense, aspect and mood (TAM) morphology in 60 instructed HL learners and 60 L2 learners ranging from low to advanced proficiency in Spanish. Results of four written tasks showed differences between the groups both in tense and aspect and in mood morphology, depending on proficiency levels. Implications of these findings for heritage language instruction are discussed.

scholarly journals An Analysis of an EFL Teachers' Guide: A Case Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Nazari
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
Teaching Objectives ◽  
Efl Teachers

This paper is an attempt to analyse one of the documents which may affect the classroom activities of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, namely teachers' guides. It also explores the context at which the document is aimed and critiques how EFL teachers are advised to teach as well as how EFL is taught. As such, the paper stands where critical discourse analysis and language policy come together in the study of language policies in education. The teachers' guide chosen and the analysis carried out here are not necessarily concerned with their representativeness and typicality but with the opportunity they provide to the researchers and teachers to learn about such language policy documents and how language and language teaching objectives are represented in them. The issues raised in this paper will have relevance to the EFL teachers' guides and EFL education in other contexts, as these issues are likely to be true of other EFL milieux.

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