Response to inquiry: Differences between heritage & non-heritage learners

[Scott McGinnis]

From: Margarita Hidalgo [mailto:mhidalgo at mail.sdsu.edu]
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 4:54 PM


	I still believe--and beliefs are after all subjective--that the
inquiry RE 'Differences between heritage and non-heritage learners' is
one of the most relevant to this forum.
I am certain that many of us want to exlore a series of
psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, and
psychosocial variables that impinge on the learning of the heritage
languages as opposed to the learning and/or acquisition of the same
languages by second-language learners.

	Where do we start?  Do we go back to the 1960's to explore the
attitudinal variables and the differences between the two groups of
learners in their respective social milieu, as the Canadian researchers
used to say?  Do we continue with issues of motivation and anxiety?  Do
we go on to advance a model of (re)acquisition and (re)learning for
those speakers that have undergone significant attrition?  I think we
have a tough agenda ahead of us.

	Perhaps we need to start with these underlying issues and then
move on to others that are more related to educational policies.  The
advances in the education of Spanish speakers in colleges and
universities is a significant example of such practices.  Here we may
start by comparing our long-term and short-term goals, our
accomplishments and our setbacks, our curricula, our instructional and
testing materials and so on.  I think that if we approach these pressing
issues, we can provide some  tentative answers to those who are trying
to teach other-than-Spanish heritage languages .

	Finally, I did not mean to say that everything else was
"irrelevant".  In fact, if my memory does not betray me, you posted some
very good references about new journals (mostly published in Europe)
about 'mother tongue acquisition'.  I have not looked into those, but we
can use them as a point of departure, if there is a way to retrieve the
complete entries.  I think they were posted in the early months of this
year.

	I am sorry IF I sounded too crude in my previous message.
Thanks a lot for work you are doing.

	Margarita Hidalgo
	San Diego State University



At 12:55 PM 11/12/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Fine by me -- I'm only sorry that Margarita (and perhaps others?) have
>found what I've been taking a good deal of time to post to the list
>over the past year so "irrelevant".
>
>Scott McGinnis
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Joy Peyton [mailto:joy at cal.org]
>Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 12:52 PM
>To: Scott McGinnis; heritage-list at Majordomo.umd.edu
>Subject: RE: Response to inquiry: Differences between heritage &
>non-heritage learners
>
>
>I agree with Margarita. I would like to see the discussion about this
>issue, in response to Hi-Sun Helen Kim's query. Thanks!!
>
>Joy Kreeft Peyton
>Center for Applied Linguistics
>4646 40th St., NW
>Washington, DC 20016
>202-362-0700
>joy at cal.org
>www.cal.org
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Scott McGinnis [mailto:smcginnis at nflc.org]
>Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 12:49 PM
>To: 'heritage-list at Majordomo.umd.edu'
>Subject: Response to inquiry: Differences between heritage &
>non-heritage learners
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Margarita Hidalgo [mailto:mhidalgo at mail.sdsu.edu]
>Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 12:45 PM
>To: Scott McGinnis
>Cc: 'heritage-list at Majordomo.umd.edu'
>Subject: Re: Inquiry: Differences between heritage & non-heritage
>learners -- ADDENDUM
>
>
>Scott McGinnis:  This inquiry RE Differences between heritage and
>non-heritage learners is the most interesting I have seen in more than
>a year, if not the only one that is truly relevant to to the Forum
>"heritage-list".   Can you leave it on the air for a while just to see
>which direction it takes?  All the best,
>
>	Margarita Hidalgo
>	San Diego State University
>
>
>
>On Mon, 12 Nov 2001, Scott McGinnis wrote:
>
>> With apologies for my careless omission...if you want to respond
>directly
>> to Ms. Kim, her e-mail address is:
>>
>> 		hisun at hawaii.edu
>>
>> Best,
>> sm
>>
>> (original posting follows)
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm interested in looking into cognitive/ lingusitic differences of
>> heritage learners in comparison to non-heritage learners and other
>learners.
>>
>> I was wondering if there are any (empirical) studies done in the
>literature
>> on linguistic characteristics, cognitive styles (psycholinguistic),
>and/or
>> aptitude of heritage learners?
>>
>> I would appreciate any suggestions for direction.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Hi-Sun Helen Kim
>> University of Hawaii at Manoa
>> Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literature
>> Korean Linguistics (Ph.D.)
>>