How Heritage Language Learners Can Reclaim Their Funds of Knowledge in High School

• In Event: Understanding and Extending the Advantages of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education

Abstract

This paper uses Positioning theory as a lens to conduct an analysis that examines both how students are acquired by particular positions and how they engage in positioning of self and others. The main questions in this paper are: How does an extracurricular bilingual program offer heritage language learners opportunities to develop multilingual funds of knowledge with linguistically diverse peers? More specifically. how do students and teachers use discursive acts of positioning to create a productive context for learning? The discursive moves of positioning revealed in this study are an important part of the context that offers affordances for multilingual language use and development among students with distinct linguistic funds of knowledge.

Authors

• Kayra Alvarado Merrills, University of Maryland

• Melinda E. Martin-Beltran, University of Maryland - College Park