Almost one in five households in the US speak a language other than English, yet where are the literacy statistics? This article will delve into an under-researched facet of a large piece of the United States' population.
Amongst heritage language speaking, or HL speaking, 42 university students surveyed from Texas Tech, ~82.35% ranked their comfort in speaking in their heritage language above a 5/10, but only 23.52% did the same about their comfort in writing. Having lived in multiple communities with heritage speakers, this is in line with my own personal experiences. Why does this phenomonena occur? To better understand, we need to define what a heritage speaker is.
"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"
- Who Are Heritage Language Learners? by the ILETC
Heritage languages are the minority in a community. This means that no formal education in early childhood is typically given in that language. Instead, it's in these formative years where children learn to read, write, and socialize with peers in ways that foster fluent-speaking levels in the community's language. For heritage speakers, this leaves a dilemma; what do you do when your predominant source for language learning is your household? How extensive can your vocabulary be having never written literature class essays or made doctor's appointments in a heritage language?
Univeristy gives the unique oppurtunity of allowing heritage language speakers access to foreign language classes where they can essentially "relearn" their heritage language. However, is this really necessary? In a country where English is the predominant lanugage, how often will an HL speaker with Vietnamese heritage, for example, find it necessary to speak, let alone write, in Vietnamese?
While there are multiple options that can be explored in how to improve literacy rates amongst non-English speakers here in the US, would attempts be effective? How necessary or even motivated to pursue literacy are heritage speakers, especially university students with a more formal access to gaining literacy? Through interviewing and surveying HL speakers in a university, a better picture of the relationship between heritage languages and their speakers can be found.
After creating a survey, I asked my two largest classes to fill it out. The questions and most common reasons are the following:
Other than English, what language(s) were you raised around?
Spanish
What is your heritage?
My grandparents were raised in a non English country
How comfortable are you speaking in your heritage language?
7 (out of a 10 point scale)
How comfortable are you writing in your heritage language?
2 (out of a 10 point scale)
How comfortable are you reading in your heritage language?
3 (out of a 10 point scale)
How often do you speak your heritage language?
Daily
How often do you read in your heritage language?
Every few days
How often do you write in your heritage language?
The most common answer were people writing that they do not in the "other" option.
Are you or do you plan to take language classes in your heritage languag(s)?
Yes
Please explain why for the above question
Noting the popularity/use of the language(by Spanish speakers) was the most common response, followed by easiness of the course as a heritage speaker or AP credit split evenly. Most responses listed multiple reasons.
Notable from the survey, out of the 31 responses who said they were taking a course in their heritage language, 6 said they wanted to foster a better cultural connection and only 4 said a reason was their illiteracy (taking into account 3 responses wanting to improve specifically their spelling).
Despite a small sample size relative to the campus, there seems to be a trend amongst HL speakers of prioritising convenience over literacy; its logical to take courses in a pre-requisite class that would be easy, especially if you have credits in that course that could help you get a minor. Out of the 7 responses who said they were not taking a course in their heritage language, 5 said they "know enough" with no clear trend in comfort levels in speaking, writing, or reading amongst them. From these findings, we can tentatively conclude that the first step towards higher literacy would be to foster a convenenient reason for people. It seems that the acutal illiteracy itself is not a problem in day to day life for heritage speakers, who likely don't find themselves often in settings where its absolutely necessary to read and write. With the prevalence of translating technology, it makes the skill even less necessary.