Heritage Language Learner

A student who is raised in a home where a non-English language is spoken, who speaks or at least understands the language, and who is to some degree bilingual in that language and in English. Based on Valdés 2000.

Input

The language a person listens to, hears, or sees (in the case of sign language) that has communicative intent.

Literacy

The process of meaning-making, in our case, from and through language, that is both creative and critical. As the multiliteracies movement advocates, meaning-making “should be regarded as a dynamic process of transformation, rather than process of reproduction.” Writers, in this sense, are not just replicating conventions, but questioning and transforming them.  ‘Multiliteracies’: New Literacies, New Learning Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis

Proficiency

“The ability to use language in real world situations in a spontaneous interaction and non-rehearsed context and in a manner acceptable and appropriate to native speakers of the language. Proficiency demonstrates what a language user is able to do regardless of where, when or how the language was acquired.” ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners 2012, page 4.

The text below provides general instructions on ILETC’s ILE grants, which are currently on hiatus due to changes in funding.
For information on past projects and recipients, visit: 2014-2015; 2016-2017; 2017-2018; 2019-2020.

Purpose

The purpose of the ILE grants is to foster and sustain a culture of research, collaboration, and creativity in language education across the CUNY campuses that will impact language instruction and research, as well as recruitment and retention of language students.

Proposals will be accepted in all areas of language pedagogy, second language acquisition theory, and translingual and transcultural communication. Special, but not exclusive, consideration will be given to projects impacting one or more of the following areas:

• The teaching and learning of heritage languages;
• The teaching and learning of less commonly taught languages;
• The integration of technology into the language classroom (e.g., telecollaboration, hybrid instruction, computerized testing, etc.)
• The connection between classroom instruction and linguistic communities of NYC (e.g., community-based service learning, internships, etc.);
• Intercampus collaborations.

Awards

Awards may be individual or collaborative (i.e., within a department or between departments or colleges). Individual grants will be in the amount of $2,000. Collaborative grants shared by two or more group members will be in the amount of $5,000. The awards will be in the form of honoraria disbursed directly to the grantees.

Eligibility

All full-time and part-time instructors at all CUNY campuses are eligible to apply. Priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received an ILE Grant.

Expectations

Grant recipients must:

• Contribute 100-word project abstracts, 50-word bios, and photos to be published on the ILETC website;
• Submit a progress report in April 2020;
• Commit to participate in a dissemination activity (examples of past dissemination activities include: presentation at the ILETC Forum, delivery of a workshop based on research results, and on-line publication of pedagogical recommendations based on research results);
• Submit a final report in June 2020.

Selection Process

Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis through blind review by an ad-hoc ILETC committee. Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of several criteria, including relevance, feasibility, innovation, and potential impact.

Proposal

• Submissions are now closed.

Important Dates

• There will be no competition in 2022-2023, due to changes in funding.
• Check back here for more updates.

Criteria

The following tables reproduce the ACTFL descriptors for Advanced and Superior writing proficiency. Use them to understand what an Advanced writer can do and what this writer needs to master to become a Superior writer. We recommend you explore the complete publication of the ACTFL Guidelines 2012, available on the ACTFL site as well as the ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners.

Find here a simplified rendition of the descriptors organized by the four assessment criteria: Functions, Context/Content, Accuracy/Comprehensibility, and Text Type. This table and the profiles that follow are designed to assist in identifying strengths and weaknesses of writers in support of specific pedagogical approaches and interventions. Always keep in mind that proficiency is global, and all criteria develop interdependently—a writer moves to a higher proficiency level only by mastering all criteria (i.e., demonstrating the evidence to sustain all criteria across the topics and tasks of the level all the time).

General Considerations

While considering the profiles that follow, keep in mind that

• proficiency is global, and all criteria develop interdependently—a writer moves to a higher proficiency level only by mastering all criteria (i.e., demonstrating the evidence to sustain all criteria across the topics and tasks of the level all the time).
• While the elements of proficiency cannot be taught or learned discretely, an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of learners in discrete domains allows instructors to use strengths to scaffold and develop targeted activities to address specific weaknesses.
• Moving from one sublevel to the next may be a lengthy process; one semester might not be enough to observe such advancement, and as such, instructors and learners must set realistic expectations for both short term and long term growth.
• Levels (with the exception of Superior) are divided in sublevels: Low (minimal performance at level), Mid (quantity and quality at level), and High (showing ability at the next major level, but unable to sustain it). The strengths and needs of learners at the different sublevels are diverse; and it follows that writers at the High sub-level attempting the functions of the next major level will show less breakdown than their Low and Mid counterparts. These writers might require less time to move to the next major level than their Low and Mid peers. Differentiated instruction—using, for example, an increasing complexity of writing prompts—is essential for a curriculum that is aligned with realistic and equitable goals for growth.

Mandarin Chinese

Korean

Spanish

Moving from Advanced to Superior: Implications for instruction

Criteria

The following tables reproduce the ACTFL descriptors for Intermediate and Advanced writing proficiency. Use them to understand what an Intermediate writer can do and what this writer needs to master to become an Advanced writer. We recommend you explore the complete publication of the ACTFL Guidelines 2012, available on the ACTFL site as well as the ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners.

General Considerations

While considering the profiles that follow, keep in mind that

• proficiency is global, and all criteria develop interdependently—a writer moves to a higher proficiency level only by mastering all criteria (i.e., demonstrating the evidence to sustain all criteria across the topics and tasks of the level all the time).
• While the elements of proficiency cannot be taught or learned discretely, an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of learners in discrete domains allows instructors to use strengths to scaffold and develop targeted activities to address specific weaknesses.
• Moving from one sublevel to the next may be a lengthy process; one semester might not be enough to observe such advancement, and as such, instructors and learners must set realistic expectations for both short term and long term growth.
• Levels (with the exception of Superior) are divided in sublevels: Low (minimal performance at level), Mid (quantity and quality at level), and High (showing ability at the next major level, but unable to sustain it). The strengths and needs of learners at the different sublevels are diverse; and it follows that writers at the High sub-level attempting the functions of the next major level will show less breakdown than their Low and Mid counterparts. These writers might require less time to move to the next major level than their Low and Mid peers. Differentiated instruction—using, for example, an increasing complexity of writing prompts—is essential for a curriculum that is aligned with realistic and equitable goals for growth.

Mandarin Chinese

Korean

Spanish

Moving from Intermediate to Advanced: Implications for instruction

General Definition

The most widely used definition of heritage language learners (HLLs) in the US, taken from Valdés (2000), identifies an HLL as a student who is raised in a home where a non-English language is spoken, speaks or at least understands the language, and is to some degree bilingual in that language and in English.

The heritage language is a complex phenomenon in itself, existing as a heterogeneous set of linguistic features and cultural practices in its US context, rather than as an extension of the language and culture of a community outside the US. An HLL participates in a complex multilingual and multicultural environment.

HLLs are not a monolithic group—there is robust variation among HLLs with respect to whether and how they embody each of the elements presented here. For example, some HLLs will have high levels of proficiency in the language, others low. Some HLLs will have strong connections to the heritage culture, others minimal. In this site, we focus on HLLs who have at least an Intermediate level of proficiency in the heritage language.

Here we examine some of the key elements that shape the language of heritage learners and consider which of these elements predict proficiency in writing in order to leverage this information in placement and pedagogical decisions.

Unpacking the Definition: Heritage Language Learners

Unpacking the Definition: The Heritage Language

Implications for Instruction

PDF available

Our Workshops are available on-demand.

Contact ILETC@gc.cuny.edu

Developing the Writing Proficiency of Chinese Heritage Language Learners

Developing the Writing Proficiency of Spanish Heritage Language Learners