Identity Development of Heritage Language Learners in the Study Abroad Context: A Literature Review from the Chinese Heritage Language Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v37i3.784Keywords:
Chinese heritage language learners, heritage language education, identity, study abroadAbstract
Study abroad (SA) programs often underrepresent minority students, including heritage language learners, and overlook their unique needs. This study provides a critical literature review on the identity development of Chinese heritage language learners (CHLLs) in the SA context, a significant yet underexplored topic compared with more commonly studied heritage languages, such as Spanish and French in the field. While identity plays a crucial role in SA experiences, studies on CHLLs remain limited and are often constrained by small sample sizes, limited program types, and overgeneralized CHLL group categorizations. Given the distinct challenges of CHLLs, including linguistic diversity and sociopolitical factors, this review underscores the need for more comprehensive and controlled research. A deeper understanding of CHLLs' experiences will offer insights into the complexity of identity negotiation in heritage language learning and contribute to more inclusive SA program development.
Abstract in Mandarin Chinese出国留学（SA）项目往往低估了少数群体学生的参与，包括语言传承学习者，并忽视了他们的独特需求。本研究提供了一项关于中国语言传承学习者（CHLLs）在留学背景下身份发展的关键文献综述，这一话题在该领域中相较于西班牙语和法语等较为常见的语言传承研究，仍然是一个重要但被忽视的领域。尽管身份在留学体验中扮演着至关重要的角色，针对CHLLs的研究仍然有限，且通常受限于样本量小、项目类型单一和对CHLL群体类别的过度概括。鉴于CHLLs面临的独特挑战，包括语言多样性和社会政治因素，本综述强调了进行更为全面和受控研究的必要性。深入理解CHLLs的经验将为语言传承学习中的身份谈判复杂性提供见解，并有助于推动更具包容性的留学项目发展。
Downloads
References
Baker-Smemoe, W., Dewey, D. P., Bown, J., & Martinsen, R. A. (2014). Variables affecting L2 gains during study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 47, 464–486. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12093
Beausoleil, A. (2008). Understanding heritage and ethnic identity development through study abroad: The case of South Korea [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of California at Santa Barbara. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/567022fg
Benson, P., Barkhuizen, G., Bodycott, P., Brown, J. (2012). Study abroad and the development of second language identities. Applied Linguistics Review,3, 173–193. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2012-0008
Block, D. (2007). The rise of identity in SLA research: Post Firth and Wagner (1997). Modern Language Journal, 91, 863–876. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2007.00674.x
Burgo, C. (2020). The impact of study abroad on Spanish heritage language learners. Journal of Latinos and Education, 19(3), 304–312. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2018.1518139
Carreira, M. (2004). Seeking explanatory adequacy: A dual approach to understand the term ―heritage language learner. Heritage Language Journal, 2(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.2.1.1
Davidson, D. E., & Lekic, M. D. (2012). Comparing learning outcomes and target-language utilization in the Russian flagship. Heritage Language Journal, 10(2), 88–114. https://doi.org/10.70163/0036-0252.1157
De Costa, P. I. (2016). The power of identity and ideology in language learning: Designer immigrants learning English in Singapore. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30211-9
DeKeyser, R. M. (2010). Monitoring processes in Spanish as a second language during a study abroad program. Foreign Language Annals, 43, 80–92. DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.2010.01061.x
DeKeyser, R. (1991). Foreign language development during a semester abroad. In B. Freed (Ed.), Foreign language acquisition research and the classroom (pp. 104–119). D.C. Heath. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820988423
Diao, W. (2017). Between the standard and non-standard: Accent and identity among transnational Mandarin speakers studying abroad in China. System, 71, 87–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2017.09.013
Ding, T. (2015). Interactions between language learning and identity: a case study of heritage learners and non-heritage learners of Chinese studying abroad in China [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Cambridge.
Du, H. (2015). American College Students Studying Abroad in China: Language, Identity, and Self-Presentation. Foreign Language Annals, 48(2), 250–266. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12138
Du, H. (2018). The Complexity of Study Abroad: Stories from Ethnic Minority American Students in China. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 38, 122-129. DOI: 10.1017/S0267190518000065
Duff, P. A., & Li, D. (2009). Indigenous, minority, and heritage language education in Canada: Policies, contexts, and issues. Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes, 66(1), 1–8. DOI: 10.1353/cml 0.0100
Duff, P. A. (2015). Transnationalism, multilingualism, and identity. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 57–80. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026719051400018X
Doerr, N. M. (2019). Transforming study abroad: a handbook. Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781789201161
Doerr, N., & Lee, K. (2013). Constructing the heritage language learner: Knowledge, power and new subjectivities. Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614512837
Draper, J., & Hicks, J. (2000). Where we’ve been; what we’ve learned. In J. Webb & B. Miller (Eds.), Teaching heritage language learners: Voices from the classroom (pp. 15–35). ACTFL.
DuFon, M. A., & Churchill, E. (2006). Language learners in SA contexts. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.27195488
Fishman, J. (2001). 300-plus years of heritage language education. In J. K. Peyton, D. A. Ranard, & S. McGinnis (Eds.), Heritage languages in America: Preserving a national resource language in education: Theory and practice (pp. 87–97). Center for Applied Linguistics. DOI: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0500.pub2
Freed, B. (Ed.) (1995). Second language acquisition in a study abroad context. John Benjamins.
Grey, S., Cox, J. G., Serafini, E. J., & Sanz, C. (2015). The role of individual differences in the study abroad context: Cognitive capacity and language development during short-term intensive language exposure. The Modern Language Journal, 99(1), 137–157. DOI: 10.1111/modl.12190
Gore, J. (2005). Dominant beliefs and alternative voices: Discourse, belief, and gender in American study abroad. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203959046
Guntermann, G. (1995). The peace corps experience: Language learning in training and in the field. In B. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a SA context (pp. 149–170). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.9
He, A. W. (2006). Toward an Identity Theory of the Development of Chinese as a Heritage
Language. Heritage Language Journal, 4(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.4.1.1
He, A.W. (2016). Heritage Language Learning and Socialization. In: Duff, P., May, S. (eds) Language Socialization. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02327-4_14-1
Institute of International Education. (2024) Open Doors report on US study abroad. https://opendoorsdata.org/data/us-study-abroad/student-profile/.
Isabelli-García, C. L. & Isabelli, C. A. (2019). Researching Second Language Acquisition in the Study Abroad Learning Environment: An Introduction for Student Researchers. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1177/17454999211067588
Jing-Schmidt, Z., Zhang, Z. & Chen, J. (2016). Identity Development in the Ancestral Homeland: A Chinese Heritage Perspective. The Modern Language Journal, 100(4), 797–812. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12348
Kinginger, C. (2009). Language learning and study abroad: A critical reading of research. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1017/S0272263111000398
Kinginger, C. (2010). Contemporary SA and foreign language learning: An activist’s guidebook. CALPER Publications. https://calper.la.psu.edu/publications-cpt/contemporary-study-abroad-and-foreign-language-learning/
Kinginger, C. (2013). Identity and language learning in study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 46(3), 339–358. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12037
Lafford, B. A. (1995). Getting into, through and out of a survival situation: A comparison of communicative strategies used by students studying Spanish abroad and ‘at home.’ In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Studies in bilingualism (Vol. 9, p. 97-121). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.9.08laf
Leeman, J. (2015). Heritage language education and identity in the United States. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 100–119. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000245
Le, J. (2004). Affective characteristics of American students studying Chinese in China: A study
of heritage and non-heritage learners’ beliefs and foreign language anxiety. Unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation. University of Texas, Austin. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/1352
Comstock, L., & Kagan, O. E. (2020). The Heritage Language Learner in Study Abroad Programs: Challenges to Achieving Intercultural Competence. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 19(6), 428–442, https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2020.1726752
Marijuan, S., & Sanz, C. (2017). Technology-assisted L2 research in immersive contexts
abroad. System, 71, 22–34. DOI: 10.1080/2331186X.2024.2346044
Marijuan, S., & Sanz, C. (2018). Expanding Boundaries: Current and New Directions in Study Abroad Research and Practice. Foreign Language Annals, 51(1), 185–204. DOI: 10.1111/flan.12323
Maxwell, J. A. (2012). The importance of qualitative research for causal explanation in education. Qualitative Inquiry, 18(8), 655–661. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800412452856
Mertens, D. M. (2015). Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology (4th ed). Sage.
McGinnis, S. (2008). From mirror to compass: The Chinese heritage language education sector in the United States. In D. Brinton, O. Kagan, & S. Bauckus (Eds.), Heritage language education: A new field emerging (pp. 229–242). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315092997
McLaughlin, T. R. (2001). Perspectives on learning Spanish as a heritage language in Mexico: Four Chicana case studies [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Universidad de las Américas.
Miyahira, K., & Petrucci, P. R. (2007). Going home to Okinawa: Perspectives of heritage language speakers studying in the ancestral homeland. In M. Montero (Ed.), Identity and second language learning: Culture, inquiry, and dialogic activity in educational contexts (pp. 257–282). Information Age Publishing.DOI: 10.1080/15348450903130447
Moreno, K. H. (2009). The study abroad experiences of heritage language learners: Discourses of identity [Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation]. University of Texas at Austin. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/9744
Mukesh Gandhi, M. (2010). Heritage learners in study abroad: An inter-Asia comparative case study [Doctoral dissertation]. UCLA: UMI Dissertation Publishing.
Parra, M. L. (2016). Understanding identity among Spanish heritage learners: An interdisciplinary endeavour. In Advances in Spanish as a Heritage Language (pp. 177–204). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.49.10par
Petrucci, P. R. (2007). Heritage scholars in the ancestral homeland: An overlooked identity in study abroad research. Sociolinguistic Studies, 1, 275–296. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v1i2.275
Polinsky, M., & Kagan, O. (2007), Heritage Languages: In the ‘Wild’ and in the Classroom. Language and Linguistics Compass, 1, 368-395. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00022.x
Quan, T., Pozzi, R., Kehoe, S., & Menard-Warwick, J. (2018). Spanish Heritage Language Learners in Study Abroad across Three National Contexts. In Sanz, C., & Morales-Front, A. (Eds.), the Routledge Handbook of Study Abroad Research and Practice (Vol. 1, pp. 436–451). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315639970-29
Rees, J., & Klapper, J. (2008). Issues in the quantitative longitudinal measurement of second
language progress in the study abroad context. In Ortega, L. & Byrnes, H. (Eds.), the
Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities (pp. 89–105). Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203871652
Savicki, V., Brewer, E., & Whalen, B. (2015). Assessing study abroad: theory, tools, and practice. Stylus. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003443087
Sanz, C., & Morales-Front, A. (Eds.). (2018). The Routledge handbook of study abroad research and practice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315639970
Shively, R. L. (2016). Heritage language learning in SA: Motivation, Identity work, and Language Development. In D. Pascual y Cabo (Ed.), Advances in Spanish as a heritage language (pp. 259–280). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.49.14shi
Shively, R. L. (2018). Spanish Heritage Speakers Studying Abroad. In Potowski, K., & Muñoz-Basols, J (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of Spanish as a heritage language. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315735139
Taguchi, N., Xiao, F., & Li, S. (2016). Effects of Intercultural Competence and Social Contact on Speech Act Production in a Chinese Study Abroad Context. The Modern Language Journal, 100(4), 775–796. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12349
Tong, P., Liang, C., & Liu, Y. (2019) Australian-Chinese heritage language identity development in a short-term study abroad programme. Chinese Applied Linguistic Research (Chin. J.), 9, 134–158.
Tong, P., & Tsung, L. (2023). Different Trajectories of Heritage Language Identity Development through Short‑Term Study Abroad Programs: The Case of Chinese Heritage Learners. Sustainability, 15, 6392. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086392
U.S. Census Bureau (2013). Top Languages Other than English Spoken in 1980 and Changes in Relative Rank, 1990-2010. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/dataviz/visualizations/045/
U.S. Census Bureau (2019). The Chinese Diaspora: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Trends. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2019/demo/chinese-diaspora.html
Van Der Meid, J. S. (2003). Asian Americans: Factors influencing the decision to SA. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 9(4), 71–110. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v9i1.116
Valdés, G. (2005). Bilingualism, heritage language learners, and SLA research: Opportunities lost or seized? Modern Language Journal, 89(3), 410–426. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2005.00314.x
Wang, S.C. (2008). The Ecology of the Chinese Language in the United States. In: Hornberger, N.H. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education (pp. 3054–3067). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_229
Wilson-Oyelaran, E. (2006). Diversity in education abroad: Why it matters to the nation. Keynote Address Colloquium on Diversity in Education Abroad. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED520119.pdf
Wong, K. F., & Xiao, Y. (2010). Diversity and Difference: Identity Issues of Chinese Heritage Language Learners from Dialect Backgrounds. Heritage Language Journal, 7(2), 153–187. https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.7.2.8
Wu, S.M. (2008). Robust learning for Chinese heritage learners: Motivation, linguistics and technology. In K. Kondo-Brown & J. D. Brown (Eds.), Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean heritage language students: Curriculum needs, materials, and assessment (pp. 271–297). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI: 10.7916/salt.v8i1.1504
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Li Yang
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
