Heritage Language Fluency: Effects on Second Generation, Asian American Youth's Bicultural Identity

Abstract

This paper studies the bicultural experiences of second generation, Asian American high schoolers, specifically regarding heritage language. As this population is constantly in different environments where they have to adhere to different cultural contexts, many disconnects have continuously arised due to cultural gaps or clashes. Among these cultural disconnects is language disparities between that of the host and heritage country. Thus, the objective of this paper was to examine the relationship between fluency of heritage language and this demographic’s bicultural identity through a mixed-method survey. After conducting correlational and thematic analysis of the results, it was found that while significant commonalities are present in perspectives toward heritage language, there were unique intricacies within each data set that were molded by participants’ personal experiences and situations. Thus, from the data collected, heritage language fluency does play a part in shaping bicultural identity, but there is a lack of direct correlation. Asian American youth’s bicultural experiences and other fundamental aspects like assimilation pressures and surrounding communities work in conjunction with language to impact the bicultural experience. Therefore, considering the diverse sources of assimilation pressures, a cross-context collaboration is needed, where heritage language learning is supported and valued.