understanding hl learners and learner variation in the classroom

Understanding HL Learners and Learner Variationin the Classroom

STARTALK Workshop, 2014NHLRC, UCLA

Maria M. Carreira

WARM UP ACTIVITY

Five core principles• Know your students, both as members of a

category of learners and as individuals.• Design instruction around the typical learner,

focusing on socio-affective and linguistic needs.

• Build pathways to learning for all students through the use of Differentiation, formative assessment, and learning strategies.

Core principles (cont.)• In mixed classes take strategic use of HL and L2 learners’ complimentary strengths and needs and adapt Macro (top down) and Micro (bottom up) approaches as needed.

• Design courses and programs that make linguistic and demographic sense. Build maximally homogeneous classes through placement. Accept and embrace diversity in the classroom.

WHAT (WHO) IS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE LEARNER?

Definitions + linguistic studiesSources of information on learners

THIRD SOURCE?

You: Keep your eye on your learner

DEFINITIONS

Definitions:Who is a heritage language learner?

• Narrow definitions – based on proficiency

• Broad definitions – based on affiliation

Example of a narrow definition

“An individual who is raised in a home where a non-English language is spoken, who speaks or merely understands the heritage language, and who is to some degree bilingual in English and the heritage language” (Valdés, 2001, p. 38)

Example of a broad definition

Heritage language learners are individuals who “…have familial or ancestral ties to a particular language and who exert their agency in determining whether or not they are HLLs (heritage language learners) of that HL (heritage language) and HC (heritage culture) (Hornberger and Wang, 2008, p. 27)

Learners who fit the narrow definition also fit the broad definition

Broad + narrow definitions = two orientations to HL teaching

Linguistic needs (narrow definition)

Affective needs (broad definition)

NEEDS STEMMING FROM BROAD DEFINITION?

In high school I was one of very few Latinos. My friend and I were called the "Mexican kids". This was always funny to me because my Dad's family always told me I was American. In school I was labeled Mexican, but to the Mexicans, I am an American. I am part of each, but not fully accepted by either. In high school, I was considered Mexican because I spoke Spanish but I was considered "Pocho" by my Dad's family because my Spanish was not up to their standard. It's this weird duality in which you are stuck in the middle. Latinos are often told that they are not Americans but also that they are not connected to their heritage. You take pride in both cultures and learn to deal with the rejection. You may never be fully embraced by either side. That's why you seek out other people like yourself. Socializing with people who share a common experience helps you deal with this experience.




Find identity

Navigate two worlds

Connect to others (find community)

Deal with rejection

WHAT ELSE?Research

Typical learner(from the NHLRC survey)

• Has positive associations with his HL, but also some insecurities;

• Is a “hyphenated American” (e.g. Arab-American)• Wants to learn more about his roots;• Wants to connect with other members of his/her

community;• Enjoys using his/her HL to help others;• Would like to take professional advantage of

his/her HL skills (only Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese speakers)

The typical learner benefits from his HL along the following dimensions

• Peer relations;• Identity development;• Family connections;• Connection to the community;• Horizon expanding experiences;

(Carreira and Kagan, 2010)

Peer relations, identity• All my life, I've been around people not of my native heritage. To be in a class with people of the same culture as I am feels inviting and accepting. I am now able to speak to my classmates in a different language whilst making myself feel integrated in my culture (Vietnamese)

• During middle school and high school, I felt that my heritage language was not something that I would consider a valuable skill. I only spoke Tagalog when calling relatives back in the Philippines during holidays and special occasions. I only started to take pride in my knowledge of my heritage language after coming to UCSD and joining Filipino clubs as well as enrolling in classes such as Advanced Filipino.

Research on connections to HL culture, family

Immigrant children are generally best served by maintaining ties to their culture of origin. This is because immigrant cultures are the repositories of beliefs and attitudes that are conducive to success, such as respect of family and authority, deference for education, and optimism about the future. In addition, by holding on to their expressive culture immigrant children can retain a sense of identity and social connectedness, both of which are crucial to the psychological well-being of children (Suárez-Orozco and Suárez Orozco, 2001)

Family and community(Carreira & Kagan, 2010)

Knowledge of my heritage language has helped me outside of school in that I've been able to communicate and connect with my family and the greater Ethiopian community…Knowledge of my heritage language has also helped me at church in that I have been able to understand parts of and follow along in the sermons (which are partly held in Amharic). Perhaps the most important thing to note about knowing my heritage language is that it has allowed me to communicate with my family (especially because many older relatives, like my grandmothers, speak very little to no English at all).

Expanding horizons(Carreira & Kagan, 2010)

• It has helped me understand people better, and understand the different levels of diversity we have in our university. It has allowed me to understand who I am and how I relate to my school environment. (Chinese)

• It’s made me a more “global citizen”, “a more open-minded person”, “more curious of the other”

Activity time!

Activity I, pp. 3-4

Latin grandmas: Horsey or mousey?

Person Horse or mouse ______?

Anecdote

Naming practices: How did you get your name?

Name of a family member

Name with religious significance

Name of a famous or popular figure

Popular/trendy name

Made up name:

Picked a name that works in both languages

Living with Spanish names in an English-speaking society

• Two last names or one?• Nicknames?• Two different first names?• Maiden name or husband’s last name?• What do you do with difficult to pronounce

names? Keep them as they are? Modify them? Drop and substitute?

Back to the two orientations of HL teaching…

HL learners’ linguistic needs are a function of

• The context of learning• The timing of learning• The amount input• The type of input

HL learner needs and strengths are a function of

• The context of learning: primarily, home -> informal, home register, perhaps non-standard• The timing of learning: early years, diminished or

discontinued upon starting school-> similar to the language of children

• The amount input: limited, relative to natives-> incomplete knowledge of the HL (missing features acquired later in life)

• The type of input: oral, informal, spontaneous, -> implicit knowledge of the HL

Typical HL learner (from NHLRC Survey, Carreira and Kagan,

2010)• Used their HL exclusively until age 5, when

they started school • Has visited their country of origin once or

twice; • Listens to music, watches soap operas, and

attends religious services in their HL (not much reading);

• Little to no schooling in the HL;• US born

THESE PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS MAP ONTO LINGUISTIC CHARACTERISTICS

A metaphor for thinking about HLLs’ linguistic proficiency

• A house in different stages of “life”

The foundations(Courtesy of Margot Mel)

A metaphor for language learning in children

• By age 3, the foundations of language are set;

• Between ages 5-8 the structure is fortified and critical details are added

• During adolescence the finishing touches are put in

The complete structure(Courtesy of Margot Mel)



• Between ages 5-8 the structure/framing is completed -> TYPICAL LEARNER


The finished house(Courtesy of Margot Mel)



• Between ages 5-8 the structure/framing is completed -> TYPICAL LEARNER


What does this mean for us?

• An HL learner who spoke his HL exclusively up to age 3 will likely have complete HL foundations (e.g. canonical gender, basic aspectual differences, word order);

• An HL learner who spoke his HL exclusively or mostly spoke it between 5-8 will have pretty much the complete structure but will need the finishing touches (fine details);

What does your learner look like?

(1) The foundations are set;(2) The framing is complete;(3) The house is complete but in need of details

A more complete picture…

Factors in heritage language development

• Order of acquisition of the languages (HL first, followed by Eng., both lags. at the same time);

• Age of acquisition of English (ages birth, 3-5, 6-10, adolescence)

• Language use at home (only the HL, HL + Eng., English only);

• Schooling in the HL;• General exposure to the HL (e.g. time spent abroad,

media use, demographic density of local HL speakers, peer interactions);

Parenthetically…

• Yi (2008) examines how peer networks contributes to literacy.

• The subjects of her study (2 Korean adolescents) were avid participants in instant messaging, online community posting, online diary writing, etc. to discuss topics of personal interest with their peers;

• Yi argues that HL literacy should be tied to personal interests and peer relations.

Knowledge of the HL: It boils down to exposure

• Order of acquisition: Simultaneous bilingual < sequential bilingual;

• Age of acquisition of English: The later the better• Home use:

Only HL < HL + English < Overwhelmingly English• Schooling:

No schooling < schooling (a variety of types)• Other exposure (media, church, peers, family, travel abroad, social clubs, etc.)

Also…

• Language-learning aptitude• General academic aptitude• Motivation

Mini-activity

Order the following in terms of likely proficiency in the HL

(1) Sequential bilingual, attends church services in the HL, speaks English and HL at home;

(2) Simultaneous bilingual, speaks English and HL at home;

(3) Sequential bilingual, three years of community school, lives in a neighborhood with many HL speakers, speaks mostly the HL at home.

Order the following in terms of probable proficiency in the HL

(1) Sequential bilingual, attends church services in the HL,, speaks English and HL at home, high language learning aptitude, is studying the HL to learn about his roots and connect with friends and family;

(1) Simultaneous bilingual, speaks English and HL at home, has visited his HL country several times, wants to make professional use of the HL;

(1) Sequential bilingual, three years of community school, lives in a neighborhood with many HL speakers, speaks mostly the HL at home, is taking HL to fulfill a language requirement

Order the following in terms of HL learning motivation/persistence

(1) Sequential bilingual, attends church services in the HL,, speaks English and HL at home, high language learning aptitude, is studying the HL to learn about his roots and connect with friends and family;

(1) Simultaneous bilingual, speaks English and HL at home, has visited his HL country several times, wants to make professional use of the HL;

(1) Sequential bilingual, three years of community school, lives in a neighborhood with many HL speakers, speaks mostly the HL at home, is taking HL to fulfill a language requirement

Take away message

• It’s not so easy to classify HL learners for purposes of teaching;

• Greater proficiency does not always mean “better” from the point of view of teaching/learning;

• Variation has many dimensions (background, aptitude, motivations, etc.);

Take away message

• It’s not so easy to classify HL learners for purposes of teaching;

• Greater proficiency does not always mean “better” from the point of view of teaching/learning;

• Variation has many dimensions;• Design the curriculum with the “typical HL

learner” in mind (roughly), build in pathways for all learners;

Now we have a plan for the typical learner


Topics

Grammatical features acquired after age 5 – aspect, mood, subordination, perfective tenses

Skills acquired in school – reading, writing, register

Vocabulary

Socio-affective needs (broad definition)

Topics that respond to the need to

Build self-understanding and connect with roots;

Connect with friends and family in the US.

Make professional and social use of the HL

Horizon expanding experiences

Activity time again!

Activity II, p. 4

ARE WE DONE?

Traditionally, language teaching has been “what centered”

“What centered” = “curriculum centered”

Teachers start at the front of the curriculum

The what-centered view with L2 learners

The curriculum-centered classroom

But what if…

And...

The curriculum-centered approach in a mixed class (HL + l2 learners)

The curriculum-centered approach with HL learners (An HL class – all HLLs)

Classes with HL learners are always heterogeneous

• Specialized HL classes;• Mixed classes (HL + L2);

Effective teaching in both of these contexts requires dealing with issues of learner variation.

To respond to variation: Focus on the “who”

The learner

“Who” centered teaching

Keep your eye on your learners

Why do we need learner-centered teaching?

• HL learners differ from each other and from L2 learners with regard to key pedagogical issues:- linguistic ability (in the HL and in English)- language aptitude- academic skills

- affective needs- goals for their HL

The institutional context introduces additional variation

One-track program: L2 and HL learners together (mixed classes)

Dual-track program: Separate classes for L2 andand HL learners (HL classes)

Type 1: Only one HL course (most common);

Type 2: Two levels of HL instruction;

For now…HL classes

A fitting metaphor for HL teaching

What not to do

Don’t…

• Ignore diversity (i.e. exclude learners who don’t fit the model)

I did not give particular consideration to HL--they are usually a very small segment of the class. (The programs survey)

Don’t…

• Enforce the paradigm/status quo at all cost: (i.e. force all learners to conform to the curriculum)

(Name of book) does not address the needs of HL but it does a good job at the beginning level where the majority of our students take the (name of language) as a general language requirement and where we have less HL (15%) than at more advanced levels.

Don’t

• Create courses than are ill-conceived from a linguistic standpoint.

An HL Class: Arabic 100 for HL learners

Arabic: Diglossia • Modern Standard Arabic (High prestige, formal situations, written, known by educated speakers, lingua franca among Arabs from different countries);

• Colloquial Arabic (Low prestige, home language, informal communications, not commonly written, mutually unintelligible regional dialects) (Maamouri 1998)

Arabic 100: • 11 students from six Arab countries (Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Egypt) and 1 student from Indonesia (Muslim). • 2 have four or more years of education abroad, 3 have three years of religious education in Arabic in the US; the rest have no literacy skills in Arabic;

Variation in Arabic 100

• Between HL learners (as a function of life experiences)

• Dialectal (language-specific properties)• Diglossic (language-specific properties)

An HL Class: Hindi 100 for HL learners

India: Hindi is the official language of the country. Individual states have their own official languages. 29 languages have over 1 million speakers. India’s languages stem primarily from two language families: Indo-Aryan in the north, and Dravidian in the south. Many languages have their own writing systems (Brass 2005, Hasnain 2003).

Gambhir (2008) identifies two primary categories of HL learners in Hindi classes – ancestral, associate (cognate and non-cognate)

Hindi 100: 16 students from five different language backgrounds;Hindi/Urdu (7); Gujarati (4); Punjabi (2);Telugu (2); Marathi (1)

Variation in Hindi 100

• Dialectal• Cross linguistic (different languages)• Between learners (HL and L2)

The crux of the problem

• In the Arabic and Hindi programs “HL classes” are seen as a “catch all” destination for all students that do not meet the traditional profile of L2 learners.

• Arabic and Hindi 100 do not make linguistic sense.

A better conceived class: Japanese 300 (Third year college course)

• 16 students (12 HL learners + 4 L2 learners)• HL learners:

All have intermediate-to-advanced aural skills8 had three or more years of schooling;4 had one to two years of schooling;

• L2 learners: All had taken four semesters of Japanese

Do…

Program level: Mitigate the problems of diversity through smart curriculum design and placement. 1) Design courses that are tailored to the local student population and that make linguistic sense for them (orient teaching around the typical learner)2) Use placement to build maximally homogeneous classes.

Class level: Accept and deal with diversity through Differentiated Teaching (DT). Build in pathways for all learners.

Taking stock

The “what” centered view of teaching enforces the paradigm at all cost

Not so good Better Best

Start at the front of the book, curriculum is fixed

Start with a student-focused curriculum that targets the needs of the typical learner

Start with a curriculum that targets majority needs and is flexible enough to respond to the needs of individual learners.

May work in relatively homogeneous classes, not in highly heterogeneous classes

Weakness: Neglects those who fall outside that group.

Strength: Meets the needs of all learners.

The “who” centered curriculum for the typical HL learner ignores diversity








The next step…

The differentiated way: Build in pathways for all learners








T/F?

• The narrow definition focuses on linguistic issues;

• The “what” centered view of teaching is better suited to teaching HL learners than the “who” centered view of teaching;

• Background factors can give an indication of linguistic ability in HL learners

This is a tool of differentiation

• Checks for understanding;• Tiered activities;

Tiered activities

• Teach the same concepts and skills, but at different levels of complexity;

• All have common benchmarks

Writing activity

• Change the genre (go from short story to poem, song, etc.);• Reduce the text;• Writing inspired by the text

Change the genre -> Poem

My name means hopeIn Spanish It has too many letters Sadnessand w a I t I n gIt is the number 9A muddy colorMexican recordsMy father playsWhen shaving, songsLike sobbing

Recall…

• Dragon Wings, Online workshop, Lesson 4 • Novel -> play

Writing activity

• Change the genre (go from short story to poem, song, etc.);• Reduce the text;• Writing inspired by the text

My Name : 324 -> 126 words

In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It was my great-grandmother's name and now it is mine. My great-grandmother. I would've liked to have known her, a wild, horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn't marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window. I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees.

Writing activity

• Change the genre (go from short story to poem, song, etc.);• Reduce the text;•Writing inspired by the text

Acrostic Poem

MotherlyAppreciativeResilientInventiveAffectionate

ESPERANZA

EngagingSincerePlayfulEarnestRebelliousArtisticNostalgicZestyArticulate

Writing inspired by the text

My grandmother is a piano sonata;Lavender soap;A rocking chair;A pearl necklace;Nilla wafers after school.

Activity time again!

Activity III, pp. 4-5

WHY TIERED ACTIVITIES?

• Tiered activities differentiate product – i.e. how students demonstrate mastery of the material.

• You can differentiate product by learner interest, readiness, learning style…

What else can you differentiate?

• Product: How you demonstrate mastery of the material;

• Process: How you gain mastery of the material;

• Pacing: The rate at which you progress through the material;

• Content: The material

Furthermore, you can differentiate each of these elements by

• Readiness level• Interest• Student choice• Learning style…

• Product;• Process;• Pacing;• Content

Principles of Differentiated Teaching (DT)

In differentiated classrooms, teachers begin where studentsare, not the front of a curriculum guide. They accept and buildupon the premise that learners differ in important ways…Indifferentiated classrooms, teachers provide specific ways foreach individual to learn as deeply as possible and as quicklyand possible, without assuming one student’s roadmap forlearning is identical to anyone else (Tomlinson, 2000:2).

Everyday examples of differentiation

• Running errands• Driving to a destination• Meal preparation

Everyday examples of differentiation

• Running errands -> a “to do list” helps with pacing;

• Driving to a destination -> Google directions help with process.

• Meal preparation -> Choice with regard to the components helps with product.

Summarizing: Five core principles• Know your students, both as members of a




Exit Card

Describe an “Aha!” moment in this lesson.

understanding hl learners and learner variation in the classroom

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