Seventh Heritage Language Research Institute

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Shaping bilingual advantages from early ages: For whom, when and how?

Following new interest and emphasis in supporting heritage language maintenance from early ages (Polinsky, 2011; Montrul, 2002, 2008), in this presentation I will discuss a one-year longitudinal study of four Latino children in a transitional bilingual kindergarten program in the Boston area. I will emphasize the importance of conceptualizing the maintenance of Spanish and the acquisition of English as part of the child’s school adaptation process.

I will utilize the four stages of the school adaptation model proposed by García-Sellers (1997) (Unadapted, Transferred, Adapted and Adapted with support) as a frame to understand how the interplay between home and school shapes oral and literacy development both in Spanish and English, and impacts academic outcomes in kindergarten.

I will underscore that our work in supporting heritage language maintenance must take into account the complex socio-cultural setting within which a heritage speaker develops her bilingual abilities. Developmental psychology (García-Sellers, 1997) and social cognition models ((Padilla and Perez, 2003) provide us with a solid framework to understand in a more comprehensive way the impact of home-school relations in heritage languages maintenance and the building of bilingual advantages for heritage speakers.