Understanding the Oral and Written Translanguaging Practices of Emergent Bilinguals

Insights from Korean Heritage Language Classrooms in the US

Chaehyun Lee

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000350494
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

Detailing qualitative research undertaken with elementary-grade children in a Korean heritage language school in the U.S., this text provides unique insight into the translanguaging practices and preferences of young, emergent bilinguals in a minority language group.

Understanding the Oral and Written Translanguaging Practices of Emergent Bilinguals examines the role of sociocultural influences on emergent bilinguals' language use and development. Particular attention is paid to the role of immigrant parental involvement and engagement in their bilingual children's language learning and academic performance. Presenting data from classroom audio-recordings, writing, and drawing samples, as well as semi-structured interviews with children and parents, the book identifies important implications for the education of emergent bilinguals to better support their overall language and literacy development.

This text will primarily be of interest to doctoral students, researchers, and scholars with an interest in bilingual education, biliteracy, and early literacy development more broadly. Those interested in applied linguistics, the Korean language, and multicultural education will also benefit from this volume.

1 Introduction

Introduction to the chapter

This chapter addresses the rationale of bilingual education and research by providing an overview of the past to current research on emergent bilingual learners’ language use and development. Since the book focuses on Korean-American bilingual students’ language use and literacy performance, the chapter describes the historical backgrounds of Korean immigration and Korean immigrant parents’ beliefs on their children’s bilingual education. The chapter illustrates the phenomenon of heritage language (HL) attrition among children of immigrant families in the U.S. to understand its impact on bilingual education. Then, the chapter discusses the merits of HL learning and immigrant parents’ practices and involvement in their children’s HL development. By introducing a heteroglossic perspective moving away from monoglossic perspective, the chapter discusses a new research paradigm that García (2009) conceptualized with the term “translanguaging,” which describes bilingual learners’ strategy to utilize their integrated and entire language repertoires. The chapter ends with the aim of the current study in this book that connects the link between the studies on early bilingualism and HL education to recognize and value the sustainability of bilingual students’ HL for their bilingual development.

Overview of past research on emergent bilingual students in the U.S.

In the past, researchers interested in the language development and use of emergent bilingual children in the U.S.—children who know one language at home (heritage language) and who are acquiring English (societal language) at school (García, Kleifgen, & Falchi, 2008)—paid attention to the language development of young bilingual children from a monoglossic perspective (Creese & Blackledge, 2010; Wei, 2011), in which bilinguals were viewed as developing competence in two separate languages since “[they] are expected to be and do with each of their languages the same thing as monolinguals” (García, 2011, p. 189). From this monoglossic point of view, researchers and educators studied bilingual learners’ language uses by considering their two languages as separate rather than continuous notions (Cook, 2001; Martin-Beltran, 2010). As a result, researchers who investigated emergent bilingual children’s language use often analyzed their use of each language independently of each other.

In addition, studies in bilingual and biliteracy education have focused more on the bilingual children’s development and use of their second language (L2, English) than on their first language (L1) or heritage language (HL) (August & Shanahan, 2010; Goldenberg, 2011; Shanahan & Beck, 2006). For example, a number of researchers investigated how emergent bilinguals developed their English language and literacy skills (e.g., Francis, Lesaux, & August, 2006; Golberg, Paradis, & Crago, 2008; Hinton, 2015; Rodriguez-Mojica, 2017; Yang, Fox, & Jacewicz, 2015). Yet, comparatively, little attention has been given to emergent bilinguals’ language and literacy development in their HLs (August & Shanahan, 2010; Goldenberg, 2011; Seals & Peyton, 2017; Szilagyi & Szecsi, 2020).

Several researchers reported that when emergent bilingual children attended U.S. schools where the instruction was delivered in English only, the children often lost or did not continue to develop their HL (Hinton, 2008; Montrul, 2018; Polinsky, 2011, 2018; Ro & Cheatham, 2009; Shin, 2005; Tse, 2001). Other researchers reported that language shift or “the replacement of one language by another as the primary means of communication and socialization within a community” (Mesthrie, Swann, Deumert, & Leap, 2001, p. 253) had largely occurred with Latinx students (Beaudrie, Ducar, & Potowski, 2014; Gandara & Hopkins, 2010; Potowski, 2016; Suarez-Orozco, Suarez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008) as well as Korean immigrant children in the U.S. (Chung, 2008; Lee & Wright, 2014; Shin & Lee, 2013).

Understanding the phenomenon of HL attrition in the U.S.

According to Montrul (2008, 2010), HL loss occurs when an individual’s primary language shifts to a new language or second language (L2) when the individual lives in an L2 environment as a result of immigration (Tse, 1998, 2001; Veltman, 1983). Schmid (2010) pointed out that immigrant children are susceptible to losing the knowledge of their HLs if they have not fully mastered their HLs before being exposed to a new language. Most young immigrant children in the U.S. are identified as potential linguistic emigrants (Veltman, 1983), who could lose their HLs when they are surrounded by the English language rather than their HLs. Several researchers pointed out that when immigrant children want to be accepted into the mainstream culture (Murphy, 2014), they are more likely to engage in English practices, which consequently leads them to experience language shift from HL to English and/or language loss in their HLs (Polinsky, 2018; Polinsky & Kagan, 2007; Shin & Krashen, 1996; Valdés, 2005).

It is important to note that language shift and loss are related to power relations between two languages. When people immigrate to a new country, the language that is used in the country is regarded as a dominant language, which has privilege and supremacy, and the immigrants’ HLs are often regarded as minority and less privileged languages (Schmid, 2010; Veltman, 1983). For this reason, some immigrants want to assimilate into the majority culture by actively participating in the majority language group using the majority language only (Shin, 2005). Veltman (1983) explained this phenomenon as linguistic emigration. It applies to language minority groups who immigrate to a country where the majority language is considered a high prestige language since they are more likely to assimilate to the majority culture by losing their HLs and ceasing to participate in the communities of origin.

Veltman (1983) considered language minority children in the U.S. as potential linguistic emigrants who have the potential to lose their HLs. Many of them are not only massively expose to and frequently use the societal language (English in the U.S.) but also want to be accepted into the mainstream culture to avoid alienation (Murphy, 2014; Tse, 2001). These practices are likely to lead them to shift their dominant language from HL to English and eventually experience HL attrition or loss (Polinsky, 2011; Valdés, 2001, 2005). Researchers reported that language minority students in the U.S. often undergo a language shift by mainly interacting with interlocutors of the majority language (English), which results in them failing to gain native-like proficiency in their HLs (Carreira & Kagan, 2017; Seals & Peyton, 2017; Murphy, 2014).

The context and reasons of HL loss among Korean immigrants

Since the Immigration Act of 1965, the number of Korean immigrants to the U.S. has grown rapidly; throughout the 1980s, approximately 1 million Korean immigrants resided in the U.S., and the number has continued to increase (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). Korean immigrant parents often decline bilingual education services (Becker, 2013; Shin, 2005). Many of them believe that their children’s Korean literacy skills have little direct relevance to their U.S. school performance, while the mastery of English directly impacts their children’s success in school (Hinton, 2008; Lee, 2013; Shin, 2014). The parents’ desire for their children to have educational success and prestigious careers in the future leads them to immerse their children in English-only instruction (Kim & Pyun, 2014; Shin, 2014; Tse, 2001).

In an earlier study, López (1996) reported that among Asian ethnic groups in the U.S., Koreans were less likely to maintain their HL at home than other Asian ethnic groups. Indeed, Shin’s (2005) study that involved 251 Korean teenagers (either U.S. born or immigrated to the U.S. at young ages) found that the majority of them experienced HL shift and/or loss as they developed English by attending all-English classrooms in the U.S. Shin pointed out that “the most common outcome for Korean immigrant children in America is not bilingualism but monolingualism in English” (p. 51). Murphy (2014) correspondingly reported that Korean children’s HL loss is a natural process among Korean immigrants in the U.S. because of the exposure to the English language in American schools and in the mainstream culture.

Several researchers reported the reasons for immigrant children’s HL loss. One of the reasons is that many immigrant parents in the U.S. often assumed that teaching a language other than English would hinder their children’s English learning and school success (McCabe, 2016; Shin, 2014; Shin & Krashen, 1996; Tse, 2001). This false assumption has resulted in the immigrant parents discouraging their children from speaking their HLs. As research has revealed, many immigrant parents often show more interest in developing their children’s English proficiency than HL learning because HL development does not directly influence on their children’s school performance, whereas the mastery of English is seen to exert immediate influence on their children’s success in school (Caldas, 2012; Hinton, 2008; Lee, 2013; Shin, 2014; McCabe, 2016). Hence, immigrant parents’ desire for their children to have educational success and prestigious careers would lead them to allow their children to speak only in English (Becker, 2013). However, a substantial amount of research revealed that children’s HL use and learning did not hinder their English acquisition. Instead, children who used their HLs at home and who were supported in HL development by their parents showed success in their academic performance at school because HL attainment largely impacted their establishment of bilingualism (Fogle, 2013; Kwon, 2017; Li, 2006; Lü & Koda, 2011; Nesteruk, 2010).

Another reason for immigrant children’s HL loss is that many U.S. schools do not provide sufficient instruction in language minority children’s HLs. The most common type of bilingual education is a transitional early-exit bilingual program where the students’ L1 is only viewed as a bridge to learning English (Baker, 2011; Crawford, 2004). Thus, instruction in L1 is minimized and eliminated when the students gain proficiency in English. Another type of bilingual education in the U.S., dual-language program, is designed to develop language minority children’s L1 (HL) and L2 (English). However, according to Kondo-Brown (2011), there are not enough dual-language programs in East Asian languages in U.S. public schools; thus, school-aged...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• About the Author
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The framework for the study
• 3 Pathway to translanguaging research: Creating translanguaging spaces
• 4 Oral and written language use and translanguaging functions of 1st-grade Korean bilingual students across school and home contexts
• 5 Oral and written language use and translanguaging functions of 3rd-grade Korean bilingual students
• 6 A longitudinal study: Focal students’ bilingual language use over time and the sociocultural influences on HL development
• 7 Summary, discussions, and implications
• Appendices
• Index