Speaker:

Magdalena Grose-Hodge

University of Birmingham, Research Associate

Magda is a PhD Researcher in Linguistics at University of Birmingham, and a member of the Linguistic Lab at Friedrich-Alexander Universitat “LangCogFAU”. She is interested in individual differences, Heritage Language Acquisition and Bilingualism.

Title: Beyond Accuracy: towards a more equitable approach to assessing heritage bilinguals’ competency.”

Abstract: Heritage Language Speakers' abilities have often been assessed looking into accuracy and in relation to a monolingual standard (deficit approach). This contrasts greatly with approaches taken in the field of second language assessment. Our aim was to check whether monolinguals and heritage bilinguals' abilities are as different as many studies in the field of Heritage Language Acquisition would suggest. We applied a more equitable approach to studying the population in order to check whether the results would be similar to those commonly presented in HL literature. In this study we borrow the CAF (Complexity, Accuracy, Fluency) Framework from the field of second language acquisition and apply it to analyse speech samples of school age heritage bilinguals and monolinguals. As accuracy has been overemphasised, we focus on fluency and complexity. The results confirm that we should move away from viewing heritage speakers as failed monolinguals and advocate for a more balanced approach to studying the population.

Contact for Teams link: Mingtong LiLink opens in a new window