Student Opinions of a High School
Korean Class: “Silver Linings” in
Mixed Heritage/Non-Heritage
Language Classes
Claire Chik (University of California, Los Angeles)
Dedicated HL/L2 Courses
“To place heritage speakers together with
students of Russian as a FL is to fail the needs of
the former and to intimidate the latter (Kagan &
Dillon, 2003, p. 6).”
HL find the pace too slow, become bored, and
do not progress (Kagan and Dillon, 2003, p. 3).
Non-HL are intimidated by HL students’
proficiency (Mazzacco, 1996, p. 3; Valdés, 1995,
p. 299).
In Practice…
Budgetary & enrollment considerations – two
distinct populations are placed within the same
class (e.g., Bowles, 2011; Potowski, 2002; Van
Deusen-Scholl, 2003).
In LA County schools, for instance:
California Dept of Education
(2012-2013)
Language
First/Second Year
Advanced
For Native Speakers
Korean
27 schools/64
classes
10 schools/19
classes
1 school/2 classes
Chinese
62 schools/199
classes
34 schools/66
classes
2 schools/5 classes
Japanese
29 schools/101
classes
17 schools/35
classes
0
Spanish
427 schools/3,539
classes
198 schools/745
classes
205 schools/1,260
classes
This Study
Korean 1
Korean 2
Korean 4/5
Total # of
students
23
21
24
HL students
19
13
22
Non-HL
students
4
8
2
Because of this reality
There is “an emerging area of research that
indicates that the key to providing effective
instruction in mixed contexts lies in offering
activities that are responsive to the needs of
both types of learners (Carreira, 2013, p. 8).”
Student Voices
Pino & Pino (2000): surveys; HL & non-HL students
While there were some misgivings, the majority of
students “seemed to be fairly well satisfied and
little interested in separate classes” (p.5).
Potowski (2002): surveys & focus group interviews;
HL students & TAs
More negative HL student reactions concerning
corrective feedback & expectations of what they
should know in terms of grammar; TAs untrained
This Small Pilot Study
High school setting in LA County
Surveys and one-on-one interviews with teacher
and students:
Korean 1
Korean 2
Korean 4/5
Survey Interv Survey Interv Survey Interv
HL
students
14
(19)
Non-HL
students
3
(4)
2
8
(13)
0
7
(8)
1
17
(22)
6
0
2
(2)
2
4 Areas
1. Learning Environment
2. Pedagogical Appropriateness
3. Study Relations
4. Social Relationships
1. Learning Environment
I like having beginners in Korean/students who
speak Korean at home in the class.
Strongly
agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
3
18
15
2
3
4
4
1
HL/Non-HL
Strongly
Disagree
Do you like having home speakers of Korean in
the class?
Zack (Non-HL, Korean 4/5)
Yeah….All the students in the class are friendly and they help each
other.
Margot (Non-HL, Korean 4/5)
Yeah, I do. Like it motivates you, I guess, like to be better. Cause
at first it’s kind of intimidating like, but then I guess I’m not there
for them and they’re not there for me, so I don’t think they care,
like they’re not going to laugh at you if you’re bad or anything,
like, and a lot of times they help ya like if you don’t know how to
say something, or like don’t understand what people are saying
they’ll like translate…They’re real helpful…It’s nice.
Do you think there should be separate classes
for speakers/non-speakers of Korean at home?
Harriet (HL, Korean 4/5)
I don’t thinks so because I believe if you
separate them I don’t think they’ll learn as
much…my level and their level would be of
course different but then if you separate them
then it might just be easy, like it just won’t be
challenging…they won’t learn as much as we’re
learning.
HL Linguistic Insecurity
Carreira (2001) “…the fragile linguistic selfesteem of heritage language speakers” (p. 127).
Allan (HL, Korean 4/5)
I’m not good at reading…my friends would make
fun of me, ‘Oh my gosh, Zack (non-HL student) is
faster than you!’ …and even my teacher would
laugh when I read.
But also:
They do it in a nice way…it’s like family…and I
guess I feel comfortable with them and no one is
kinda a bully or anything.
2. Pedagogical Appropriateness
The teacher said she “makes an environment” that
takes differences into account.
Used “same content different task” or “reciprocal
teaching,” a technique for managing group work;
e.g. with a reading passage, different students are
assigned different tasks so all students are
challenged and none intimidated. Mostly has
groups that are mixed ability.
Assessment:
Anyone who does the work and studies
hard can earn an A or B
Strongly
agree
Agree
25
12
10
2
HL/Non-HL
Neutral
Disagree
1
Strongly
Disagree
Teacher Background
Ms. Shin was trained:
• Credentialed teacher in single subject –
teaching Korean
• MA in App Ling
Ted (Korean 1)
The teacher’s wonderful!
3. Study Relations
I can learn from students who speak the
language at home.
Strongly
agree
Agree
Neutral
5
5
2
Non-HL
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Zack (non-HL, Korean 4/5)
Interviewer: Do you like having home speakers
of the language in class?
Zack: Yeah. It makes it more easy.
Interviewer: Easy?
Zack: Kinda, cause they help. So it makes it not
more easy but like less strenuous…cause the
teacher can’t like be with you all the time. So if
you sit next to people who can help you all the
time, then even if you’re just writing or reading
and they like tell you right, you’re still like
getting used to how it sounds.
HL Students
Ted (Korean 1)
If they [non-HL students] need help with like
vocabulary or anything or if they’re writing a
script for a play or something then I’d just go
and help them out. Like they usually ask
questions on like “Oh what’s this word?”
Lynne (Korean 4/5)
In some ways it makes me feel proud because,
wow, someone’s actually asked me who’s not
that good.
HL Students
Alona (Korean 4/5)
I was actually very flattered when she [Margot,
non-HL] asked me, so I really liked helping her
and if I didn’t know anything then I’d like ask my
mom or like Charlotte (HL) or Pam (HL).”
Caroline (Korean 2)
It was okay helping them [non-HL students] with
the easy parts – the harder parts I had to ask
Ms. Shin.
4. Social Relationships
I have made friends with some of the students
who speak/don’t speak the language at home.
Strongly
agree
Agree
Neutral
13
21
4
7
5
HL/Non-HL
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
HL Students
Harriet (HL; Korean 4/5)
I made new friends. Like Zack (non-HL) like I
didn’t know him and like became friends with
him.”
Janice (HL; Korean 4/5) (describing a video project
that had to be completed out of class)
They all [her group members] came over here
[her house] and we had fun. And with Margot
(non-HL) using her lovely Korean.
HL Students
Ted (Korean 1)
Having non-HL students in the class is “a good
chance to interact with the people cause I mean
many of the people who don’t speak Korean
they kind of they’re either older or they just
don’t hang out with us so umm it’s a good time
to like make friendships and stuff.”
Non-HL Students
Margot (Korean 4/5)
Apart from Alona (HL), her best friend, also met
with “Elaine (HL) and Janice (HL) and Catherine
(HL) a couple times.”
At Alona’s house: “Alona’s mom helps me
sometimes…She’ll help me translate things.”
When she visits her Korean friends they and their
families “talk slower around me so I can like try to
like understand.”
Her boyfriend is also Korean.
Beyond the Classroom
For many students, Korean became more than
an academic subject – it influenced activities
and interactions outside of the classroom. The
mixed HL/non-HL format provided systematic,
sustained contexts and opportunities for crosscultural interactions.
Lee (1996)
“My data suggest that Academic High was
racially factionalized…there was little in the way
of interracial socializing. Students spoke to each
other in classes, but interracial friendships were
the exception” (p. 111).
Mixed HL/non-HL – cut across this tendency,
creating interracial friendships that extended
into the after-school hours & into the
community.
Conclusion/Caveats/Future Research
• Mixed classes ideal?
• Could HL students advance faster in dedicated HL
classes?
• With proper training, mixed classes can work;
• Students don’t know any other teaching
situation;
• This is a very small study – need more classes,
more students, and more extensive ethnographic
study;
• Need more fine-grained analysis of HL/Non HL
ratios of students.
References
Bowles, M. (2011). Exploring the role of modality: L2-Heritage learner interactions in the
Spanish language classroom. Heritage Language Journal 8(1), 30-65.
Carreira, M. (2007). Teaching Spanish to native Speakers in mixed ability language
classrooms. In K. Potowski & R. Cameron (Eds.), Spanish in contact: Policy, social and
linguistic inquiries (pp. 61-80). Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
Carreira, M. (2013). Advanced proficiency: A practitioner’s perspective on this special
issue. Heritage Language Journal, 10(2), 1-14.
Carreira, M. (2014). Basic principles for teaching mixed classes. Retrieved from
http://www.international.ucla.edu/media/files/guide.carreira.2013.doc
Kagan, Olga and Dillon, K. (2003). A New Perspective on Teaching Russian: Focus on the
Heritage Learner. Heritage Language Journal, 1(1).
Lee, S. (1996). Unraveling the “model minority” stereotype: Listening to Asian American
youth. New York, NY: Teachars College Press.
Mazzacco, E. 1996. The Heritage versus the Non-heritage Language Learner: The Five
College Self-Instructional Language Programs Solutions to the Problem of Separation or
Unification.” ADFL Bulletin, 28(1), Fall 1996, 20-23.
Pino, B., & Pino, F. (2000). Serving the heritage speaker across a five-year program. ADFL
Bulletin, 32(1).
Potowski, K. (2002). Experiences of Spanish heritage speakers in university foreign
language courses and implications for teacher training. ADFL Bulletin, 33(3).