The role of the family in heritage language use and learning: impact on heritage language policies

Abstract

We analyze the way children and youngsters perceive the role of family in the use and acquisition of the heritage language (HL), through two complementary means: drawings produced by children and students participating in a discussion forum. Our study reveals: (1) the convergence of perceptions that children and adolescents have about family involvement and its roles in the maintenance of the HL, in terms of affective, cognitive, and interactional support; and (2) the affective, cognitive, and interactional scaffolding family provides for HL development. The analysis guides the proposition of several means of fostering the family's engagement in HL education, going beyond traditional roles and encouraging participative and deliberative actions within the curriculum, the programs, and the classroom.

Keywords:

• heritage language
• role of the family
• linguistic policy

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Camões, ICL and the Portuguese Embassy in Berlin for giving us all the support to develop this study. We would also like to express our gratitude regarding all teachers, pupils and students who collaborated in this project. The following children are the authors of the drawings: drawing 1 (NR, 7 years old, Kirchheim Teck), drawing 2 (M, without reference to age, Renningen), drawing 3 (RC, 10 years old, Minden), drawing 4 (DP, 11 years old, Ulm), Drawing 5 (VM, 8 years old, Gross-Umstadt), and Drawing 6 (L, without reference to age, Renningen).

Notes

1. West Germany, during the cold war, as opposed to German Democratic Republic, also known as DDR or ‘East Germany’.

2. Drawings have also been used with adults, specifically in teacher education contexts (Richards 2006), and with adolescents in several domains, such as the study of literacy (Kendrick and Jones 2008).

3. In 2013, a rather small financial contribution for Portuguese HL was introduced in Europe by Camões, Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua. This new legislation did not directly lead to higher quality demands (except diminishing teachers’ absenteeism or getting better classrooms) or to the assumption that parents should more actively participate in HL daily-life.