The Importance of Teaching Heritage Languages and of Promoting Policies for Multicultural Korean Children in the Environment of Learning Korean, English, and a Heritage Language

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to answer questions concerning what languages multi-cultural children learn at home or school; why or why not they learn their heritage languages; whether or not they learn English at home or from other sources; and (2) to support the idea of promoting the necessities of teaching multi-cultural children their heritage languages. For data collection, this study conducted a survey and an oral interview among mothers of multi-cultural families in two cities in Korea. Findings from the data analysis seemed to support the urgent necessity of teaching multi-cultural children their heritage languages, especially those children from Vietnamese background in comparison to those from other language backgrounds: Reasons were explained in details. It is found that more emphasis should be given on the merits of learning heritage languages in parent-teacher associations and family consultations. Multi-cultural families commonly lack authentic materials from their heritage countries, such as story books, bibles, magazines, catalogs, newspapers, and so on. This study will draw social and political attention to the importance of teaching heritage languages to multi-cultural children.