The influence of Hakka language immersion programs on children’s preference of Hakka language and cross-language

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether one Taiwan’s heritage language immersion influences children’s preference for the heritage language or cross-language. The research questions are: (1) What are children’s attitudes toward the Hakka language (HL)? Does a significant difference exist in children’s attitudes between those in the Hakka Language Immersion Program (HLIP) and children not participating in the program? (2) What are children’s language preferences? Is there a significant difference in children’s language preference between HLIP and non-HLIP (NHLIP)? This study used a causal comparative method to identify relationships between independent and dependent variables after the HLIP was implemented. The participants were selected from one HLIP (n = 37) and one NHLIP (n = 39). Both groups of children received a pretest and posttest, namely, the ‘HL attitude measurement test,’ which included ‘HL opinion’ and ‘language preference’ tests and had satisfactory reliability and validity. This study used covariate analysis to determine if a significant difference could be observed. The results demonstrated that the preference for the HL or cross-language in the HLIP was not significantly higher than those in the comparison group. Nevertheless, the children’s HL preference in the cognitive domain and cross-language preference in the behavior domain exhibited a significantly positive effect.

KEYWORDS:

• Hakka immersion program
• Hakka language attitude
• cross-language attitude
• heritage teaching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Two-way immersion is a dual-language educational model that integrates students from two language groups for instruction in both of their languages for all or most of the day. The goals of TWI are to promote high academic achievement, first- and second-language development, and cross-cultural understanding in all students (Lindholm-Leary, 2005).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology [grant number MOST 106-2633-H-153-001].

Notes on contributors

Ya-Ling Chen

Ya-Ling Chen is a professor in early childhood education department. Her major research interests are: early bilingual education, heritage language immersion, early STEM education, and curriculum & instruction for young children

Tien-Lung Tsai

Tien–Lung Tsai is an assistant professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics. Hismain research areas are: mathematics education, statistics, probability, andquantitative research method.