Predictors of language proficiency and cultural identification in heritage bilinguals.

ABSTRACT: According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau, more than 66 million residents over the age of 5 in the United States speak a language other than English at home. Some bilinguals become dominant in the majority language that is spoken in the community as opposed to their native "heritage" language acquired at home. The objective of the current study was to uncover the predictors of language proficiency and cultural identification in different groups of heritage speakers. In our sample, heritage speakers acquired their heritage language first and English second and rated their proficiency in their heritage language lower than in English. We found that English proficiency was most reliably predicted by the duration of heritage language immersion, while heritage language proficiency was most reliab

SUBMITTER: Hayakawa S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9912478 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature