Heritage language maintenance through digital tools in young Macedonian children - an exploratory study

ABSTRACT

Heritage language maintenance can be very challenging for diaspora communities worldwide. The role of technology on heritage language maintenance has recently started to spark the interest of researchers as a new emerging field but it still needs a lot of exploration. This exploratory study aims to provide an insight into Macedonian diaspora parents’ experiences with digital tools and heritage language maintenance for younger children using a phenomenological approach. Data collected from 23 participants examined the parents’ experience as members of these communities through surveys and follow-up interviews. Results reveal a strong interest in language maintenance, along with challenges such as lack of time and exposure and lack of digital resources for heritage language learning. Participants show a primary interest in using educational apps, emphasizing the need for interactional and engaging resources. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for developing technology-mediated heritage language maintenance tools.

KEYWORDS:

• Diaspora
• digital tools
• heritage language
• language maintenance
• technology

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Gulbahar Beckett for her tremendous support and help. Without her encouragement and guidance, this project would not have been possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Agata Guskaroska

Agata Guskaroska is a Fulbright Alumna, currently a PhD student in Applied Linguistics and Technology at Iowa State University. She taught EFL courses for 7 years and currently serves as a teaching assistant for English composition at Iowa State University. Her major interests include pronunciation instruction, sociolinguistics, and PBLL.

Thomas Elliott

Thomas Elliott is a PhD student in Applied Linguistics and Technology at Iowa State University. He worked as an ESL tutor prior to his current role, and currently serves as a teaching assistant for English composition and pronunciation courses. His interests include complexity in student writing, corpus linguistics methods, and second language acquisition.