Gladys González

Heritage Language Maintenance

Abstract

A heritage speaker has been defined as a member of a linguistic minority community who has grown up with a language other than English in their homes, whether they were born in the majority language country, or immigrated (Baker, 2006). In recent years there have been many conversations regarding the social, political, cultural, and linguistic phenomenon of heritage language maintenance and loss.

This study will examine how individuals’ background experiences, specifically of having attended a bilingual high school influenced their linguistic realities. It will measure nuanced linguistic issues of maintenance and loss in the Spanish language. The tasks will involve an oral production, and written acceptability judgment task. The oral measure will be individually administered, while the written task will be administered in small groups to leverage participant’s time and it will be triangulated in order to obtain a complete picture of Heritage Language Maintenance and competence. There will be 20-25 participants who attended all four years of Cesar Chavez High School, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This is a unique population because they received formal language and literacy instruction in Spanish. It is also one of the few high schools in the country which offers this type of systematic heritage language development.

Some of the current findings are that all participants understand the importance in maintaining their heritage language, all participants spoke Spanish with their family members, and in terms of who they socialized with also played a role in how they influenced their heritage language.

When populations immigrate to a different country it is possible for them to experience

heritage language loss due to adaptation to a new culture, social forces, or simply as a result of

advancement in the societally dominant language. However, that is not always the case for all

heritage speakers. This study focuses on the heritage (Spanish) language maintenance and loss of

young adults of ages 18 to 25 who graduated of a small urban high school with a Latino core

curriculum aimed to maintain bilingualism even after situations or circumstances influenced their

heritage language maintenance. The high school is located in the south side of Milwaukee, was

founded by nine bilingual high school teachers, their students, a university professor, and a group

of parents. The chartering document, which states the mission of university preparation, anti-

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racist, anti-linguicism, anti-sexist, and anti-classist pedagogies, college preparation, and the

development of bilingualism. This study will use information gathered from interviews and

grammar instruments which test grammatical awareness of students to better understand the

individual, social, and institutional factors that support Spanish Maintenance. This study will

also examine how individuals’ background experiences; specifically that of having attended a

bilingual high school influenced their linguistic realities. The purpose of this study is to see how

individual situations and circumstances influence heritage language maintenance and

development. This research is different because the population being interviewed is different in

the sense that they were educated and influenced to maintain their heritage language.

Heritage speaker is defined as an ethnolinguistically, minority language who was exposed

to the language in the family since childhood and as adults wish to learn, relearn, or improve

their current level of linguistic proficiency in their family language (Montrul, 2010). Despite

different language backgrounds, cultures, educational and social classes all heritage speakers

share a common trait: they have partial command of the family language. However, recent

linguistic, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and pedagogical research has identified a series of

grammatical areas that are affected in heritage language grammars (Montrul, 2010). Some of

these linguistic areas are vocabulary, article semantics, and conjunctions. Yet, this does not

mean that heritage speakers display rogue grammar.

In most cases children in the ages of three to four normally acquired the basic structural

system of their language, vocabulary learning, semantics and constant learning that takes place in

the school-age period. Around age four, children’s metalinguistic ability develops through

evolving literacy and continues at school where children learn to read and write. These children

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become educated for a lifetime making them capable of functioning in different social and

professional worlds (Montrul, 2010). Children growing in bilingual and multilingual

environments such as the heritage speakers become full linguistic competence in one, two or all

languages exposed to.

Individual situations and circumstances influence heritage language maintenance. For

example, parental strategies, status of languages in the community, availability of a speech

community, attitudes toward the language, and access to education in the language (Montrul,

2008). Since heritage language is the minority language, chances are that it is spoken primarily

at home. The observation of bilingual children is that they were exposed to the heritage language

and the majority language since birth, either because one or the two parents also speak the

majority language or because they received child care in the majority language. Other children

are heritage language-dominant to at least age five in which the two parents speak the minority

language and used only at home. Then, there are other children who immigrate with their parents

in mid-childhood that learn the majority language at school. If there are siblings in the family,

the typical pattern is that the older siblings in the family have stronger understanding of the home

language than the younger children in the family (Montrul, 2008). An additional pattern is that

heritage learners’ development is grounded in the learner’s participation in social practice and

continuous adaptation to the unfolding, multiple activities and identities that constitute the social

and communicative worlds. As learners evolve, it is who they socialize that allows both parties

to contribute to their heritage language learning experience.

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Another point of view is presented by Agnes Weiyun He in the article, “The Heart of

Heritage: Sociocultural Dimensions of Heritage Language Learning”. It approaches on the

sociocultural dimensions of heritage language learning. The difference between the two

approaches is that one takes correlation perspective, while the other is social constructivist

perspective. However, both approaches recognizes the close connection and mutual dependency

between heritage language learning processes and socio-cultural processes.

For instance, to the heritage language learner, the language may provide valuable

personal, familial and national resources or it can also be a linguistic and cultural liability. On the

other hand, there have been debates at social and political views on whether heritage language

learners should maintain it and whether the loss of heritage language is part of the acculturation

into the new society. What are the decisive factors for the success of Heritage Learners

development and maintenance? How do learner attitude, motivation, and social network enhance

or hinder Heritage language development? How do the political history, geography,

demography, and social status of the Heritage language impact its maintenance or attrition? What

factors, such as years of schooling, parental educational ideas and gender determine the

proficiency of the language?

Based on a full-length book dedicated to a single heritage language population, Gibbons

and Ramirez examine the development of English and Spanish as a heritage language in a given

speech community. This study also associates variables that contribute to the language

maintenance such as societal factors, personal relationships, education, media and attitudes. It

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focused more on the impact of macro-level in societal infrastructures and schools on the

development and maintenance of bilingualism. The authors correlated the

socio-demographic information of the Hispanic teenager population under study with their levels

of language proficiency, concluding that there was little correlation between social class and

language achievement.

Theoretical Framework

Spanish is the language with the strongest current enrollments at both the secondary and

post-secondary levels. At the secondary level, Spanish accounts for 64.5% of all enrollments

with courses for heritage speakers accounting for a small (9%) but rapidly growing segment of

these enrollments (Valdes & Fishman, 2008). However, there is not any state that certifies

Spanish teachers to work with heritage speakers which makes the instructor not as specialized.

Therefore, these instructors frequently have little understanding of bilingualism. As a result,

bilingual individuals, contact varieties of language, factors influencing the retention or

abandonment of their heritage language.

Research shifts to more refined theoretical framework in order to better measure the

process of language maintenance and to include additional social variables, such as identity,

linguistic attitudes, and diachronic analyses of intergenerational language. The need to

understand how to best measure the process a language is maintained or lost motivated scholars

to propose research methodologies and theoretical frameworks. In addition, one takes into

account the experience of the heritage speaker who seeks to develop or reacquire Spanish in

formal content. For some theoretical accounts, the learning mechanisms deployed in childhood

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and adulthood are very different and, therefore, the outcome of L1 and L2 acquisition is also

different (Montrul, 2011 ).

A heritage speaker has been defined as a member of a linguistic minority community who

has grown up with a language other than English in their homes, whether they were born in the

majority language country, or immigrated (Baker, 2006). In recent years there have been many

conversations regarding the social, political, cultural, and linguistic phenomenon of heritage

language maintenance and loss. Should heritage languages be maintained? Or is the loss of a

heritage language simply the price to be paid for assimilation into mainstream society? The

phenomenon has also attracted the attention of researchers in a variety of disciplines. As defined

by Montrul (2005), heritage language loss in a second language (L2) environment may include

first language (L1) loss by immigrants who are native speakers, or what has been termed

“incomplete acquisition” by those speakers exposed to two languages simultaneously since birth,

but not equally, or in a large variety of contexts(Pucci, 2012).

As stated by Montrul in her article, “Contact and Contracting Spanish”, “If bilinguals

display patterns of language loss, of particular interest for linguistic theory is to identify the

potential vulnerable areas of grammatical knowledge, and to seek reasons to explain why

systematic patterns of erosion or incompleteness, if they exist, look the way they do.” It is

pointing out that bilinguals whose speech is sampled between 1-4 demonstrate forms of complete

core Spanish grammar. For example, heritage speakers’ written narratives present inappropriate

forms indicating of a loss of the discursive constraints that use of insignificant subjects.

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Methodology

This research will take a mixed methodological approach. The interviews will be

conducted to a group of high school graduates to understand the experiences of heritage

language. The type of questions asked will be open ended to have a more clear understanding of

the life histories, details, and the reflections of the young adults Spanish heritage language

speakers. Each interview will approximately be forty to sixty minutes. All interviews will be

audiotaped for transcription and analysis. There will be an analysis used to sort the data into

categories in order to make reasonable conclusions.

The second methodological approach will be a language competence measured to obtain

more complete results such as linguistic issues of maintenance and loss. This study will appeal

from that of empirical base. The language competence measures will involve an oral production

task, and a written acceptability judgment task. The oral measure will be individually

administered, while the written task will be administered in small groups to leverage

participant’s time. Mean percentages will be calculated, and specific components of language

will be analyzed.

There will be 20-25 participants who attended all four years this particular high school.

However, if the participant decides to withdraw from the research, the data will not be used to

make a final conclusion. All participants must be graduates of Cesar Chavez High School (High

school name has been changed for confidentiality purposes), have attended for all four years of

high school, and be heritage speakers of Spanish. Contact information will come through

personal knowledge of the principal investigator, networking and participants who can connect

us other potential participants. Finally, participants will be asked to complete an initial

biographical questionnaire which will ask about their education, linguistic background, and

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length of residence in the city and country, and other factors. Participants may choose to

withdraw from the study at any time. Should a participant withdraw, all data provided by that

participant will be omitted. In addition, these methodological approaches will also be conducted

with the assistance and guidance of Professor Pucci.

Results

Participant 1 was born and raised in Milwaukee, but with Mexican heritage. Participant 1

school attended K4-K5 Bruce Guadalupe Community School, elementary and middle school in

Prince of Peace Catholic School, 7th and 8th grade in Holy Wisdom Academy, ninth grade and

partial tenth grade in Thomas More High School and finally tenth to senior year in Advanced

Language & Academic Studies (ALAS) High School. The participant is currently attending

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. All Kindergarden through Thomas More High School,

student attended catholic monolingual school with predominantly heritage speaking students.

As the youngest child of three in his family he learned English among siblings. Spoke

Spanish at home with family and relatives, except with siblings who he spoke English only. The

participant does not often travel back to Mexico because of daily duties, however he did travel a

few months ago and while in Mexico he only spoke Spanish and did not had any difficulty. The

participant characterizes his language usage using mostly Spanish at work among workers and

when referred to manager in English. Meanwhile, with friends the participant speaks either

language. In addition, the student casually reads at home Spanish newspapers and when he took

the Advanced Placement Spanish exam in high school received a five, being the highest level.

Participant 2 was born in Leon, Guanajuato Mexico attended kindergarden in Mexico

speaking Spanish only. Then, participant was brought to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended

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St. Anthony’s Pre-School Catholic School. He was “thrown in there” referring that the

participant was placed in a monolingual program without knowing any English. Participant went

to school from first grade to fourth grade and then returned back to Mexico to continue fifth and

sixth grade. As a fifth and sixth grader, the participant did not know how to write and read

Spanish. However, he was able to adapt and performed great in school. Participant returned back

to Milwaukee entering seventh grade in Holy Wisdom Academy and had to rapidly accustom

himself. It took him a month to adapt to English since the school prohibited students to speak

Spanish and among friends he still socialized in Spanish. When entering high school, he attended

Advanced Language and Academic Studies (ALAS) High School and although he did not have

much education in Spanish, he still received a five in the Advanced Placement Exam.

Due to the language changes and environments the participant is comfortable to speak in

either language. When socializing with friends it all depends who he associates with, in some

cases he may speak “Spanglish”; with family and girlfriend he specifically speaks Spanish,

meanwhile at work since he is in bilingual community he speaks both clearly. As stated by him,

70%-80% spoke English during weekdays since most of his time was at the University. The

student does not often go back to visit Mexico because of occupations. The last time he went

back was last year in the summer for one month in which he spoke only Spanish. He casually

reads and writes in Spanish; when chatting in social networks he tends to write in Spanish with

cousins.

Participant 3, attended Kindergarden, first and second grade in Mexico. He arrived to

Milwaukee at age of eight and attended Allen-Field Elementary School in the bilingual program.

The participant was in the United States third, fourth and fifth grade. Then he returned back to

Mexico to continue 6th and 7th grade. When returning to Milwaukee, he entered eighth grade in

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the bilingual program in Kosciuszko Middle School. Both in Allen-Field and Kosciuszko,

students were taught one week in Spanish and one week in English reading and writing each

language separately. Participant 3, would read in Spanish since he was given books. He

continued his studies from ninth grade to eleventh grade in South Division High School, finished

twelfth grade in Advanced Language and Academic Studies (ALAS) High School.

The experiences regarding his language adaptation from one country to another was easy

and sought normal because at home he spoke Spanish with his family and friends in school. The

participant’s experiences in South Division High School were that one semester he was in the

monolingual program where it was promoted as being more advanced. Later, the student

transferred back to the bilingual program since learning was interactive and had more social

connections. In ALAS High School he took the Advanced Placement test in Spanish and

received either a four or five, does not currently remember the specific grade. He graduated in

2005 and currently works and speaks only English at work and does not read much since it is not

his favorite subject. However, he does translate letters to family from English to Spanish.

Participant 4, graduated in 2006 from Advanced Language and Academic Studies High

School. He currently works and is the music coordinator of the church group. He was born in

Guanajuato, Mexico and arrived to Milwaukee at the age of thirteen entering eighth grade in

Kosciuzsko Middle School in the bilingual program. The participant did not know any English at

all and neither did his family. For him, it was difficult at first because as a shy personality he

would feel embarrassed at first, but since he likes school he began to improve. He now feels

comfortable in either language, but prefers Spanish since it is more expressive. Based on himself,

he tends to read more in English and seems to comprehend it more. At home he speaks to his

family in Spanish and only to his youngest sibling speaks in English. Furthermore, participant’s

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high school experiences influenced by challenging him to try his best in his studies and

providing a family environment with more attention and focus.

Participant 5, graduated in 2006 from ALAS High School and went freshman year in

South Division High School. She currently works and continue her education in college. She was

born in Jalisco, Mexico and has been living in Milwaukee for eleven years. In the beginning, the

student would feel foreign to the new life, but since she was in a bilingual program she was able

to adjust fairly and time progressed she began to advanced. However, it would frustrate her when

teachers would ask her to write essays in English and up until today she does not like English. At

home, her sisters and dad know how to Speak English but at home only Spanish is used. The

participant does read frequently in Spanish biographies, in some cases she goes to the public

library but since there is not a lot of variety she buys them online. In English she does not tend to

read because there are certain words she does not understand and since she does not want to

forget her heritage language she is constantly reading to expand her vocabulary in Spanish. She

also comments that when she travels to Mexico she gets excited to learn new terms and builds

her determination to learn more.

Participant 6 arrived when he was ten years old and graduated in 2002. His experiences in

school in the beginning were hard because of the language barrier and as a result had to repeat 5th

grade. He believes that if he would have been in a monolingual program, he would have learned

the language a lot faster. In middle school, he attended Kosciuzko Middle School in which he

made new friends, he learned to accustom to the culture and teachers spoke more Spanish.

Eventually school got better because his English advanced, he understood the teacher and he was

more committed to going to school. Now, just graduated from University of Wisconsin Parkside,

he speaks more English at school, but Spanish at home. When socializing with friend and

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wherever he goes he tends to speak more Spanish unless he absolutely has to then he speaks

English. In addition, every now and then he reads in Spanish magazines and novels. Since he is a

father, he encourages his daughter to speak, read, write in Spanish because he does not want her

to lose her heritage language. The child’s mother also speaks to the daughter in Spanish.

Participant 7 attended a bilingual elementary and middle school. In 6th grade, the student

was more determined and pushed herself to learning more English because she knew that was the

only way she could advance in school. However, in MECH Middle School at the time they had a

special bilingual program where it was more challenging because they wanted students to

advance in their heritage language. When the student got to 7th and 8th grade she started to

struggle in Spanish because it was advanced and her friends spoke in English only. Therefore,

the student had to use dictionaries that translated English to Spanish. High school did not

influence her to learn more terminology in Spanish. Currently, having her bachelor’s in

electronics technician mechanics, certified as an English/Spanish translator and hand reader

translator has learned way more Spanish than any time before since she is a translator and

volunteers at medical places. Other factors that influenced her Spanish to improve are that she

spends more time in her boyfriend’s family, writes reference letters, quality forms, inspects and

qualifies workers, and translates to patients. The participant speaks Spanglish (Half Spanish and

half English) to her mother, Spanish to her dad and boyfriend, and siblings and friends in

English. She just sees how importantly it is that the more languages you know the more

opportunities there are.

Participant 8 is currently a teacher’s assistant at St. Anthony’s Elementary School in

which she sometimes has to translate because children’s parents are Hispanic and do not know

the language and the school is monolingual. At St. Anthony’s Elementary School they are very

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strict and they have English only policy even when they know that kids come in talking Spanish

only. As an employee she still has to follow policies and translates for parents. The participant

was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the United States. At home she speaks to her sibling in

English unless she absolutely needs something then she asks in Spanish, her mother speaks to her

in Spanish but she replies in English, and when she is at church; she preaches in Spanish and

reads or follows along in English. In elementary and middle school she was always placed in the

monolingual program even if there was a bilingual program at the school. In high school, the

bilingualism did not influence her unless she was socializing with peers.

Participant 9 was born in California and both parents from Mexico. She is currently a full

time student at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and graduated from high school in 2010.

She has lived in Ontario California until the age of twelve and then moved to Milwaukee in

2004. As a K5 student, she was in a predominantly Caucasian school in which the school did not

provide a bilingual program. Her parents did not had any way of communicating with the

teacher, the teacher herself did not know any Spanish and there was not any older cousins that

could translate since her mother was the oldest and first to be in the United States. As said by the

participant, she did not have any circle, network or her “people” that could direct her; she was

foreign to English. In the beginning, she was a little frustrated because she did not understand or

could communicate with her teacher and she looked up to her mom without knowing any

answers. To the participant, it was culture shocking moment. At the moment, the teacher

suggested a different program. Eventually, the participant learned when to “switch” or change

from one language to another. Then from first grade to third grade she was transferred to a

bilingual program on the other side of Ontario. In 4th grade, since she was an intelligent child was

advised to pursue a more advanced program in the monolingual program. It proceeded from 4th

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until 6th grade in the monolingual program where she was eager to learn and advance her

vocabulary in English to be successful that she forgot about her heritage language. In 7th to 8th

grade she went to Walker Middle School in Milwaukee where the school was monolingual only.

In high school, although it was a bilingual school she did not feel as if she learned any more than

her standard Spanish. Also, even if there were history or science textbooks in Spanish, she would

rather go for the English since she felt the most comfortable. However, when she took Spanish

class in high school she would read the books and would improve so when she took the

Advanced Placement Exam she received a five.

Moreover, the participant does not always travel back to Mexico. She is the oldest of five

siblings and to her sister who follows after her just talks to in Spanish, the following brother is

proficient in both languages but has more friends who speak more English so English is spoken

the most, and the following siblings do not read or write in Spanish. So at the participant’s home

English is spoken the most but the participant does have to translate from the youngest siblings

to her mother. Also, she does read the bible in Spanish.

Findings

When populations immigrate to a different country it is possible for them to experience

heritage language loss due to adaptation to a new culture, social forces, or simply as a result of

advancement in the societally dominant language. However, that is not always the case for all

heritage speakers. There will be 20-25 participants who attended all four years this particular

high school. Since it is an emerging theme and we have only interviewed nine people it is still

difficult to come to certain findings or discussion because it is not congruent to make

assumptions. However, the findings as of now are that all participants understand the value of

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maintaining their heritage language because they know the opportunities a bilingual individual

has and advantages. Furthermore, who they associate it with also plays an important role in

maintaining their heritage language.

Discussion/Conclusion

This study examines how individuals’ background experiences; specifically that of

having attended a bilingual high school influenced their linguistic realities. The purpose of this

study is to see how individual situations and circumstances influence heritage language

maintenance and development. This research is set apart from other because the population being

interviewed is different by their education and their motivation to maintain their heritage

language. In addition, there are economic and social implications impacted positively in the

individuals and in the United States.

Only nine interviews have been completed and the current major findings of this study

are that all participants understand the importance in maintaining their heritage language. They

all spoke Spanish with their family members, in terms of who they socialized with also played a

role in how they influenced their heritage language. The meaning of the findings are cultural or

natural heritage that are of outstanding interest in the United States and that language need to be

preserved as part of the world heritage of mankind. Furthermore, the findings are significant

because it fills in the gap and responds to certain researchers who believed that heritage speakers

in the United States are “illiterate” in Spanish. However, in this study not all the participants

were educated in a bilingual program, but that did not stop the participants to attain a bilingual

education later on in their education.

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References

Baker, C. (2006). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (4th ed.). Clevedon:Multilingual Matters LTD.

Montrul, S. (2010). Current issues in heritage language acquisition. Annual Review of AppliedLinguistics, 30, 3-23.

He, A. (2010). The heart of heritage: Sociocultural dimension of heritage language learning.Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30, 66-82. LeCompte, M. and Preissle, J. (1993).Ethnography and qualitative design in educational research. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Villa, D. J., & Villa, J. R. (2005). LANGUAGE INSTRUMENTALITY IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE LOSS OF SPANISH IN THE SOUTHWEST. Southwest Journal Of Linguistics, 24(1/2), 169-184.

Gibbons, J., & Ramirez, E. (2004). Maintaining a minority language: A case study of Hispanicteenagers. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

VALDES, G. (2005). Bilingualism, heritage language learners, and sla research: Opportunities lost or seized?. The Modern Language Journal.

Zapata, G., Sanchez, L., & Toribio, A. (2005). Contact and contracting Spanish. International Journal of Bilingualism, 9(3 & 4), 377-395. Retrieved from http://ijb.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/9/3-4/377

Valdes, G., Fishman, J., Chavez, R., & Perez, W. (2008). Maintaining spanish in the united states: Steps toward the effective practice of heritage language re-acquisition/development. American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, 91(1), 004-024. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20063620