Nick 1

What challenges do you face as a domestic language learner?

I: do you feel that you have particular challenges in this course that perhaps heritage language learners (.) u:h don’t have or or

N: yeah I mean I guess if you grew up in a household even if you don’t know the language you’ve heard it spoken so much that now if you hear that word you’ve learned how to read that word you’ll know how to say it you’ll know how put those inflections in to say that word versus me where I’ve never heard that before minus my two weeks in Morocco hearing basic things, so if I hear a word I don’t have anything relate it to or I don’t know how those sounds are supposed to be made cuz a lot of sounds aren’t in the English language they’re not things that that the you know your vocal cords are used to making

I: uh huh

N: so I guess maybe heritage (learner) would have a lot easier time (.) saying these things or even greetings you know if his mother and father say hello to each other in Arabic they would know what they’re saying or how they said that versus me you know my parents say hello in English

I: uh huh

N: and so I don’t know (.) you know I don’t know exactly where or what they would be saying

Reflections – Both Doug and Nick feel that heritage language learners have an advantage over domestic learners by exposure and access to authentic input through their families. Does this perception affect the self-confidence of the domestic learners and, thus, their performance in the classroom? If so, how have you dealt with this challenge?

Nick 2

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