national heritage language resource center

National Heritage Language National Heritage Language Resource CenterResource Center

Director: Olga KaganDirector: Olga KaganCo-Directors: Co-Directors:

Maria Polinsky, Maria CarreiraMaria Polinsky, Maria Carreira

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National Heritage Language Resource

Center

• Funded by the Title VI U.S. Department of Education (2006-2010; refunded 2010-2014)

• One of 15 NLRCs• The only one dedicated to

heritage languages

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The Center’s Mission

• Research into heritage language acquisition

• Innovative teaching practices and professional development

• Design of HL specific– instructional materials – assessment instruments

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The White Papers

Prolegomena to Heritage LinguisticsE. Benmamoun, S. Montrul, M. Polinsky•http://nhlrc.ucla.edu/pdf/HL-whitepaper.pdf (NHLRC website)•NEW! Position Paper: The Advanced Speaker: An Overview of the Issues in Heritage Language Teaching by M. Carreira

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A CALL FOR PAPERSA CALL FOR PAPERS

• Second International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages

• March 7-8, 2014, UCLA• http://www.nhlrc.ucla.edu/

events/conference/2nd/

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Gratitude (1)

• Kim Potowski • Sara Stefanich• Maria Polinsky• Maria Carreira• Claire Chik• Kathryn Paul

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• All presenters!EspeciallyEspecially, to our loyal faculty , to our loyal faculty Silvina MontrulAbbas BenmamounWilliam O’GradyAnd to Tanja Anstatt who came from Germany

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Gratitude (2)

A Retrospective: Six Institutes Later

• Shaping the field• Encouraging dissertation research• Having some impact on professional

development• Having some impact on teaching

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Rethinking the curriculum

• Stressing vocabulary development• Targeting certain grammatical areas• Developing pragmatic competence• Being cognizant of relearning effect• Understanding the differences between -

HL baseline language and Full L1- HL and FL

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The Charge and ImpactThe Charge and Impact

Our Charge• Funded by the U.S.

Department of Education

• To have impact on the educational system

Impact• Linguistic research >

teaching:(1) College Level

(2) Pre-college level –K-12–Community schools

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HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS

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K-12 and Heritage K-12 and Heritage CommunitiesCommunities

• Multilingual Los Angeles: The Impact of Immigrant Language Communities on the Educational System

• Rationale: LA demographics > a high percentage heritage speakers in K-12

• Do LA schools (1) meet the needs of HL speakers and/or (2) take advantage of community resources?

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U.S. Census:U.S. Census:Los Angeles and VicinityLos Angeles and Vicinity

Speakers of a Language Other than English at Home, age 5+, by percent (2006-2010)

US CA City of LA

LA County

Orange County

20% 43% 59.7 56.4% 44.4%

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Language CommunitiesLanguage Communities

• Los Angeles – English, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian• Alhambra – Chinese, English, Spanish, Vietnamese• Glendale – Armenian, English, Spanish, Korean• Long Beach – English, Spanish, Khmer, Tagalog • West Hollywood – English, Russian, Spanish • Westminster – English, Vietnamese, Spanish

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Immigrant Languages in LA Immigrant Languages in LA SchoolsSchools

• "We speak 109 different languages and we translate everything into five on a regular basis inside the system.”

J. Deasy, Superintendent, J. Deasy, Superintendent, LA Unified School District LA Unified School District

Sept 16, 2011http://eaglerock.patch.com/articles/lausd-chief-a-tale-of-two-school-

systems-part-i#photo-7784780

Official data: 96 languages spoken

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LA Unified School District: LA Unified School District: Speakers Vs HS Programs (1)Speakers Vs HS Programs (1)

B16001 2006-10 ACS 5-year estimate

City of LA: Speakers of Languages other than English (age 5+)

High Schools teaching High Schools teaching these languagesthese languages

Total:Total: 3,515,5463,515,546Spanish or Spanish Creole:Spanish or Spanish Creole: 1,515,4091,515,409 94 94

TagalogTagalog 90, 48490, 484 ----

KoreanKorean 89,18389,183 1414

ArmenianArmenian 62,67362,673 -- (private schools)-- (private schools)

ChineseChinese 54,66054,660 1717

PersianPersian 43,51643,516 ----

RussianRussian 32, 52732, 527 1 1

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LA Unified School District: LA Unified School District: Speakers Vs HS Programs (2)Speakers Vs HS Programs (2)

Languages: Between 10-20 Thousand Speakers

Number of Schools

Japanese 9Vietnamese --Hebrew 1 (+ private schools)

Arabic 3 (non-heritage) + 1 HL

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LA: High Schools and LA: High Schools and HLLsHLLs

• There is no master plan for offering WLs, and in particular HLs

• Some schools take advantage of community resources/respond to community interest

• Smaller school districts are more responsive• In schools where HLs are taught, the curriculum

depends on the teacher’s/coordinator’s decisions• Three large immigrant communities are not

represented: Persian, Russian, Tagalog

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How do high schools How do high schools make decisions?make decisions?

A school’s decision may be based on•Principal’s vision•Resources (Is there a credentialed teacher of language x? Is s/he teaching another subject?)•Community interest•Grant opportunities•Ability to fill a class of 40 studentsInterviews with William Chang, World Languages Coordinator of the LAUSD, August 2012

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COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

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NHLRC Spring Conference

Challenges and achievements in community language schools

Saturday, April 13, 2013UCLA

http://www.nhlrc.ucla.edu/events/communityschools/sp13/

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Community Language Community Language SchoolsSchools

• 8,000 community-based heritage language schools in U.S.• Teaching over 200 languages• These schools are largely invisible to society and even to

public schools in the communities in which they function. • They are an important part of the lives of the students,

families, and communities that they serve. • They are usually not mentioned in discussions of the nation’s

need for language proficiency. Community-based language schools in the national educational

landscape Joy Kreeft Peyton, CAL, Washington, DC

Community School Conference, April 13, 2013, UCLACommunity School Conference, April 13, 2013, UCLA23

Japanese Community School,

Orange County

R. Uriu and M. Douglas

Japanese Community School, O.C. R. Uriu and M. Douglas

Home language Background of Children Types Japanese Language Teaching approach

Have just come from Japan;Have an experience of formal education in Japan;Japanese is spoken at home

First languagePrimary language

Teaching Japanese as a native language (JNL)

Were born outside Japan or have been in outside Japan for more than 4-5 years;Japanese is spoken at home

First languageSecondary language (with listening & speaking skills)

Teaching Japanese as a heritage language(JHL)

Were born outside Japan or have been outside Japan for more than 4-5 years;Japanese is not spoken to children at home even parents are native speakers of Japanese

First languageSecondary language (only listening skills)

Teaching Japanese as a heritage language (JHL) or teaching Japanese as a foreign language (JFL)

Were born outside JapanJapanese is not spoken at home by anyone, but Japanese culture is inherited

Second languageSecondary language

Teaching Japanese as a foreign language (JFL)

Workshops Contents Covered

First Year (July, 2010) * Targeted to JHL parents

• New curriculum for JHLContent Based Instruction; four skill integration,

integration of subject matters; learner-centered curriculum; activity-based learning (“learning is fun”)

First Year (August , 2010) *Targeted to JFL parents

• Learner types (oral assessment results of OCG students) JFL vs JHL

• Language acquisition Adult learners vs Young learners

• Pedagogical issues Placement to JHL/JFL classes, principles of new curricula

First Year (April, 2011)* Targeted to all parents

• Teaching Japanese culture

Parents’ Workshops

K-12 and Community K-12 and Community Schools: Research NeedsSchools: Research Needs

Urgent Needs•Research into younger HL speakers•Effective curricular models for different levels of students in different settings•Models of teacher training•Models of parent education

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The Next Seven YearsThe Next Seven Years

Applying for a new cycle of funding–Continuing research –Having an impact on educational institutions

• Friday morning Roundtable• IfIf we can hope for a real impact we need to connect

all the dots: linguistic research and pedagogical needs of all levels of HL teaching

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