Abstract:
Heritage language families are families in which one or both parents are a native speaker of a language other than the dominant language of the national culture. When attempting to pass on the heritage language, parents have varying levels of success. Some children in heritage language families become native-like in their heritage language abilities while other children disregard the language and do not develop the skills to communicate in the heritage language. A great deal of qualitative work has been conducted on heritage language families, and some quantitative and mixed methods studies have been conducted in educational environments. These studies have revealed five common factors that may play a role in the child’s heritage language development: attitude, identity, access to resources, community interaction, and parental modeling. These factors have been discussed in numerous studies, but never have they been compared to their fullest extent. The purpose of this study has been to provide an example of how to use statistical analysis to uncover the extent of influence these factors have. This study may allow researchers to better understand what factors are most influential in motivating heritage language maintenance. The results of a survey were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric testing with Mann-Whitney U post-hoc analysis to test for significance alongside multiple regression analysis to examine the strength of the correlations. The results reveal a number of significance findings, particularly in relation to access to resources. The regression analysis also reveals strong correlations involving identity as a factor. These statistics could be used as an initial benchmark to examine larger sample sizes as well as more condensely designed studies. Nonetheless, improving the child’s connection to a balanced heritage-national identity seems to be a direction for developing balanced skills in both the heritage and national languages. With the proper use and access to resources, children will also have more opportunities to study the heritage language.
