CLIC Speaker Abstracts

Agnes Weiyun He (Department of Asian & Asian American Studies, SUNY-Stony Brook): " Speaking the Heart: Toward an Identity Theory of Learning Chinese as a Heritage Language " January 18, 2006, 5pm. Haines 332.

In this talk, I look at how the learning of Chinese as a heritage language (CHL) takes place as the learner moves across time and space. I consider learner identity (trans-)formation as the primary motivation for CHL learning and situate the learner in his/her ongoing, evolving assessment and adjustment of him/herself vis-à-vis other persons in interactions across varying settings and during different developmental stages. I posit that CHL development is contingent upon the degree to which the learner is able to construct continuity and coherence of identity in multiple communicative and social worlds. Positioning CHL development in a three-dimensional framework of time, space, and identity and conceptualizing the overall goal of CHL education as fostering rooted world citizenry with competence in Chinese, I further put forth ten hypotheses to describe and predict the key variables responsible for CHL development. The talk will be grounded in analyses of recorded, reported, and published interactional data and field notes from school, home and community as well as from a period that spans from kindergarten to university.