This literature review examines recent research in the area of learner attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs about language learning and about themselves as language learners, together with the consequences of these perceptions on learning outcomes. After an overview of relevant definitions of these complex concepts, the review categorizes this research into three orientations: studies that have focused on how learner attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs relate to their traits and characteristics; studies that have examined how these notions relate to the learning environment; and studies that have looked at how these notions play out in the interaction between the learner and the environment. The review concludes with suggestions related to research design and research questions that would address current lacunae in the field.

Learner Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs in Language Learning

Despite the frequent references to identity within the field of heritage language education, it is only in the past decade or so that scholars have begun to conduct empirical research on this topic. This article examines recent research on identity and heritage language education in the United States. The article begins with a discussion of the simultaneous development of heritage language education as a field and growth of interest in identity and language learning, followed by a critical examination of the terms “heritage language” and “heritage language education,” as well as of “heritage language learner” as an identity category. Next is a review of empirical studies conducted within the past 5 years, including survey-based research that considered identity in the exploration of students’ reasons for heritage language study, in addition to qualitative and ethnographic research that focused specifically on heritage language learners’ sense of themselves and their relationship to the heritage language, as well as on the ways that heritage language learner identities are constructed, indexed, and negotiated in classroom settings. The next section looks at recent research on pedagogical approaches designed to engage heritage language learners in critical considerations of language and identity. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0267190514000245

Heritage Language Education and Identity in the United States

Culture awareness has become an important focus of modern language education, a shift that reflects a greater awareness of the inseparability of language and culture, and the need to prepare students for intercultural communication. The paper reports on an ongoing study into the presence and status of cultural understanding in EFL teaching. In this paper, the underlying assumptions and influences of culture awareness in Language teaching and learning critically analyzed.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1078919.pdf

Developing Cultural Awareness in Foreign Language Teaching

Spanish heritage language (SHL) programmes in post-secondary institutions must continue to redesign their curricula to accommodate the needs of a growing Latino population with a broad range of bilingual competencies. Despite the proliferation of research in heritage languages, pedagogically based research that incorporates students' voices is scarce. Though several studies have attempted to assess student attitudes and preferences at targeted levels within pre-established SHL programmes [see Beaudrie, S., & Ducar, C. (2005). Beginning level university heritage programmes: Creating a space for all heritage language learners. Heritage Language Journal, 3. Retrieved December 15, 2007, from http://www.heritagelanguages.org/; Beckstead, K., & Toribio, A. (2003). Minority perspectives on language: Mexican and Mexican-American adolescents' attitudes toward Spanish and English. In A. Roca & C. Colombi (Eds.), Mi lengua: Spanish as a heritage language in the United States (154–170). Washington, DC: Georgetown Uni...

Curricular perspectives in the heritage language context: assessing culture and identity

This article reports on an extensive survey administered to advanced heritage language (HL) learners to examine their language behaviors, attitudes, and backgrounds. To date, there have been no detailed categorizations of advanced HL learners to guide classroom instruction and curriculum design. Thus the present study is a first attempt to fill this gap by providing a sociolinguistic profile of these speakers, including their identifying characteristics, linguistic needs, and similarities and differences with lower-proficiency speakers. Survey responses indicate that advanced HL learners possess both productive and receptive skills in the HL, always use Spanish at home, are fluent speakers of a standard variety, already have basic academic skills in Spanish, and are therefore primarily interested in perfecting their academic writing skills. Key words: Spanish, attitudes, heritage language, language behavior, sociolinguistic profile Introduction According to a May 1, 2008, report by the U.S. Census Bureau, the estimated Hispanic population in the United States has surpassed 45 million. At roughly 15% of the total U.S. population, Hispanics comprise the largest minority group and their presence continues to grow. Consequently, heritage language (HL) speakers of Spanish have also become a rapidly growing presence at all levels of education, from elementary school through college (Lynch, 2003). According to Valdes (1997, 2003), most of these bilingual speakers have been enrolled either in traditional foreign language classrooms or in remedial courses intended to re-teach the basics of the heritage language they supposedly have not learned well at home. Though there has been substantial interest among researchers in this minority language population, most existing goals and pedagogical practices have been inappropriate, and few Spanish departments have offered special courses to target their real needs. As Draper and Hicks (2000) indicated, this situation has led to frustration for both language instructors and advanced HL speakers: Foreign language instructors have not been trained to deal with these bilingual learners, and HL speakers have not had their particular needs addressed. For example, although some HL speakers of stigmatized varieties of Spanish1 might need to resolve identity issues before concentrating on improving communicative proficiency, more advanced speakers might want to improve their textual competence rather than developing the communicative proficiency they already possess. Despite significant progress in curriculum development for teaching heritage speakers, a recent survey conducted by the National Foreign Language Center (NFLC) and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) reported that only 18% of the colleges and universities sampled (146 campuses) have classes for HL learners (Ingold, Rivers, Tesser, & Ashby, 2002, pp. 324-329). Moreover, most Spanish departments currently offering courses tailored for HL learners offer only a 2-semester sequence that parallels the 4-semester language courses required for traditional foreign language learners (Valdes, 1997). Consequently, HL speakers wanting to pursue a Spanish major or minor often have no upper-level courses to help them continue developing their linguistic competencies or maintain their HL. But who are these advanced HL speakers? What are their identifying characteristics and concrete linguistic needs? How different are they from their lowerproficiency counterparts? This article considers these questions by examining the sociolinguistic profile of advanced HL speakers of Spanish who responded to an extensive survey. In the present context, "sociolinguistic profile" means a descriptive summary of a specific group of speakers that highlights their language usage as well as the social and cultural factors influencing their linguistic choices, attitudes, and motivations, such as age, education, and ethnic identity. …

Advanced Heritage Learners of Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Profile for Pedagogical Purposes

This article addresses a key pedagogical issue of our time: the widespread yet generally unwelcome presence of machine translation (MT) in the language classroom. Studies have repeatedly shown that L2 students consult the most widely used translation tool, Google Translate (GT), in spite of the fact that its use is frowned upon by second language (L2) instructors. Even so, academic honesty violations are not always reported, nor is there a consensus on whether the use of MT constitutes a form of cheating. Recognizing the omnipresence of GT in L2 student work, this article examines current research on the use of MT, highlights the strengths and limitations of this technology, explores 21st‐century pedagogical solutions designed to harness the capabilities of both MT and alternative technologies, and suggests venues for future research with the goal of ensuring learners’ academic growth in line with ACTFL's Can‐Do Statements for Intercultural Communication

Machine translation and the L2 classroom: Pedagogical solutions for making peace with Google translate

Though much of the research looking at the issue of language in the Spanish heritage language field is intended to guide the Spanish heritage language teacher in the classroom, students' voices are often stifled. This article fills this gap by giving voice to students' opinions on language use in the Spanish heritage language classroom. Survey results from 152 Spanish heritage language students enrolled in an extensive Spanish heritage language program show that these students prefer to learn specific varieties of Spanish in their Spanish heritage language classes. Interestingly, 91% of those surveyed want their Spanish to be corrected. This article closes with pedagogical suggestions based on the students' preferences that may cause those of us working in the Spanish heritage language field to question our own pre-existing beliefs concerning which language variety best serves the Spanish heritage language student population. Key words: heritage language, standard language, student perspectives Language: Spanish Introduction As Valdes put forth in her seminal text in 1995, the four main pedagogical foci within heritage language pedagogy include: (1) Spanish language maintenance, (2) acquisition of a prestige dialect of Spanish, (3) expansion of bilingual range, and (4) transfer of literacy skills (1995, 2001). A quick glance at these goals reminds us of the primacy of language itself in the heritage language context. In fact, goals 1-3 are inherently tied to each other and have resulted in a boom of recent research in the Spanish heritage language field (see Carreira, 2000, 2003; Fairclough & Gutierrez, 2006; Gutierrez, 1997; Hidalgo, 1990, 1997; Martinez, 2003a; Peyton, Lewelling, & Winke, 2001; Potowski & Carreira, 2004; Valdes, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2006; Villa, 1996, 2002b). Virtually all of the aforementioned research, however, focuses solely on the perspective of the teacher. Though much of the research looking at the issue of language in the Spanish heritage language field is intended to guide the Spanish heritage language teacher in the classroom, our students' voices, which should also serve as guides, are often lost in the research. As Spanish heritage language research has already recognized, we must acknowledge that Spanish heritage language learners are bilinguals who are complex individuals that are fundamentally different from monolinguals (Valdes, 1995). It is my belief that the current situation within the U.S. educational framework upholds Train's (2003) findings that "successful language learners are those who have mastered the standard language" whether or not this was their intended goal (p. 8). In light of this finding, the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language finds itself in a paradoxical situation. The classes that bear the name Spanish for Heritage Learners, are, in theory, simultaneously respecting the "heritage variety"1 while concurrently teaching the standard. Yet if the students (and indeed educators) recognize the societal value placed on the standard language, then often, the original dual-focused goal becomes reduced to the acquisition of the standard language.2 Nevertheless, these authors, in their attempt to look at language in the Spanish heritage language context are answering important questions: What can we do to improve Spanish heritage language students' learning? How can we make Spanish heritage language teachers more sociolinguistically aware? How will increasing the teachers' metalinguistic awareness improve their ability to respect student dialects in the classroom? All of these questions, and the answers generated by this body of research have been imperative to improving the Spanish heritage language field and most importantly the classroom context for Spanish heritage language learners. This article, however, takes such research a step further. By examining the language practices and desires of Spanish heritage language students in a well established Spanish heritage language program, the current study connects the previous research and its pedagogical suggestions to the reality of the Spanish heritage language student. …

Cynthia Ducar

Papers

Machine translation and the L2 classroom: Pedagogical solutions for making peace with Google translate

Curricular perspectives in the heritage language context: assessing culture and identity

Student Voices: The Missing Link in the Spanish Heritage Language Debate.

Language Placement and Beyond: Guidelines for the Design and Implementation of a Computerized Spanish Heritage Language Exam.