Background

The last decade has been witness to a dramatic shift in enrollments in post-secondary LCTL classrooms, with the number of heritage language speakers surpassing domestic English speaking students. Such demographic shifts have created a unique set of challenges for post- secondary LCTL teachers.

Historically, language programs have been geared to domestic English speaking students who bring limited if any experience with the language and relevant culture to the classroom. Instruction for these students has typically focused on basic structural skills needed to read and write the standard academic variety of the language, with much less attention given to the development of oral communication skills including sociolinguistic norms and fluency needed to communicate effectively in the language outside of the classroom.

In contrast, heritage language students often come to the classroom with fluent oral communication skills needed for everyday interaction with familiar others. However, their oral skills generally contain a range of dialectal and/or colloquial features rather than standard features, and, since they use the heritage language primarily to interact in everyday contexts, they often lack basic literacy skills in the language. Moreover, heritage speakers’ motivations for pursuing formal instruction in their heritage language are far more variable than those of domestic learners. Some have plans to travel abroad and take LCTL courses in an effort to sharpen their oral communication skills. Others are keen to maintain a connection with their cultural heritage or wish to develop their abilities to read and write the language. Some, however, thinking that the course will be easy and require little effort, take it solely for the credit it adds to their overall program of study.

 

Content and Organization

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