Heritage Language Anxiety in Canadian Post-Secondary Heritage Speakers of Spanish

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dc.contributor.authorCervantes, Eloisa
dc.contributor.supervisorArchibald, John
dc.date.accessioned2023-05-03T19:52:55Z
dc.date.available2023-05-03T19:52:55Z
dc.date.copyright2023en_US
dc.date.issued2023-05-03
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Linguistics
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en_US
dc.description.abstractHeritage Language Anxiety (HLA) refers to when anxiety and discomfort regularly occur in an individual during the use of a heritage language (HL). This can arise in post-secondary HL classrooms since learners who mainly acquired their HL in informal settings may find it nerve- wracking to later receive formal instruction in the HL (Torres et al., 2020). There is currently no tool consistently used across studies that is designed to measure classroom HLA, and previous research tends to use scales intended for foreign language learners. These may not be the most appropriate instruments for investigating HLA because they do not consider the academic or social contexts that can shape heritage learners’ anxieties (Jee, 2020; Tallon, 2009). Furthermore, much of the research on Spanish as a Canadian HL is ongoing; contributing to this area of study is valuable for understanding Heritage Spanish and its speakers in Canada, but also for developing conceptualizations of HLA and HLs that are generalizable to more contexts. The current study addresses these issues by presenting data about HLA in 11 Canadian post- secondary heritage learners of Spanish (e.g., anxieties about grammar, speaking, etc.). I remotely administered questionnaires (N = 11) and semi-structured interviews (n = 7) inquiring about participants’ backgrounds and their experiences as heritage learners. Key findings from descriptive statistics and a content analysis indicate that HLA in these speakers does relate to factors that current scales may not recognize, such as writing in the HL or external expectations of HL proficiency. In particular, learners experienced HLA if they felt that their existing knowledge of Spanish was not accepted by others. Participants also discussed social factors such as: the association of Spanish with identity; monolingual language standards; and low access to a Spanish-speaking community while growing up. Based on these findings, I present a preliminary Spanish Classroom HLA Scale alongside the implications for both researchers and practitioners.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/15105
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectheritage languagesen_US
dc.subjectheritage language anxietyen_US
dc.subjectSpanishen_US
dc.subjectheritage speakersen_US
dc.subjectlanguage anxietyen_US
dc.subjectpost-secondary language learningen_US
dc.subjectheritage language measurementen_US
dc.subjectheritage language educationen_US
dc.subjectSpanish in Canadaen_US
dc.titleHeritage Language Anxiety in Canadian Post-Secondary Heritage Speakers of Spanishen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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