Hmong Heritage Language Learners: Self-Constructed Images Exploring Meaning and Identity

• In Event: Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: Hmong Heritage Language Learners: Self-Constructed Images Exploring Meaning and Identity

Abstract

This study uses a phenomenological approach to understand the essence of Hmong heritage language learning. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews and the use of self-constructed images representing heritage language learning. Findings detail the tension between a collective Hmong identity past, present, and future and the process of internalizing the heritage language. By examining the visual representations of the heritage language learning experience, we begin to understand the role of heritage languages and the construction of identity and culture. These results suggest a broader understanding of Hmong heritage language learning and how language shapes thought, identity, and culture. Images reveal the internal process that reveal a new conceptualization of identity and meaning of past, present, and future experiences.

Author

• May Vang, Concordia University - Wisconsin