Paper for the 2008 CLTA-GNY Conference and Sixth International Conference on Teaching Chinese

College-Level Chinese Heritage Language Learners: The Question of Identification

Kenneth J. Yin

Lecturer

LaGuardia Community College/CUNY

As an instructor in Chinese at LaGuardia Community College, part of the City University of New York, I have seen the array of course offerings expand recently in the area of the Chinese language and literature. This increase in course offerings in Chinese-language and literature classes at LaGuardia reflects the rise in interest in China among the general student population, the increasing numbers of matriculated students at LaGuardia who are of Chinese ancestry, and the recent re-organization of the Program in Modern Languages and Literatures at LaGuardia. The current offerings in the Program in Modern Languages and Literatures, currently housed in the Department of Education and Language Acquisition, part of the Division for Academic Affairs at LaGuardia, include Elementary Chinese 1 and 2 (ELC101 and ELC102), Intermediate Chinese (ELC103), Chinese for Heritage Students (ELC105), and Modern Chinese Literature (ELC201). The Chinese heritage language classes constituting the ELC105 course have proven especially difficult to fill despite the fact that Asian-American students, the majority of whom are Chinese-American, represent the fastest-growing ethnic group at LaGuardia. This fact has led me to investigate the issues surrounding the identification of Chinese heritage language learners at the college level.

My own observations about Chinese heritage language learners in the college setting, as well as current research on heritage language learners in general, suggest the complexity of learner characteristics involved in the identification process of Chinese heritage learners. This paper will look specifically at how the identities of Chinese heritage language learners are constructed, taking into consideration the factors of self-identification as heritage learners, identification of learners by ethnolinguistic affiliation, and identification of learners by proficiency. The classical distinction between Chinese heritage and non-heritage learners may be limiting in capturing the full range of characteristics of Chinese-language learners in general. In developing specialized curricula for Chinese heritage language learners, there is the need to consider the variations that can occur both in linguistic proficiency and in sociopsychological needs.