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ERIC Number: EJ831196
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1550-7076
EISSN: N/A
Heritage Language Reading in the University: A Survey of Students' Experiences, Strategies, and Preferences
Jensen, Linda; Llosa, Lorena
Heritage Language Journal, v5 n1 p98-116 Sum 2007
This paper examines the reading experiences, strategies, and curriculum preferences of university-level heritage language students. One hundred and twenty eight students enrolled in four different heritage language programs at UCLA--Korean, Russian, Thai, and Vietnamese--completed a survey about their exposure to print, early and current reading experiences, strategy use, learning goals, and preferences. The survey revealed that the majority of the students were interested in achieving university-level academic reading proficiency, yet students reported spending little time reading in their HL despite the availability of print in many of their homes. This might be explained by the fact that students reported not transferring skills from English to the HL and that they perceived themselves to be slow readers. Moreover, most HL students expressed that their reason for learning the HL was to maintain their cultural identity and thus would like to read texts embedded with cultural and historical information in the HL classroom. The survey results underscore the importance of sustaining students' motivation in HL literacy courses by selecting appropriate materials that are connected to students' goals for learning the HL, and providing explicit instruction in reading skills and strategies in both English and the HL. Results of this study will be of particular use to HL curriculum planners and material developers. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)
National Heritage Language Resource Center and UC Consortium for Language Learning & Teaching. 1333 Rolfe Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1411. Tel: 310-825-1138; Fax: 310-206-5183; e-mail: hlj@international.ucla.edu; Web site: http://www.heritagelanguages.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A