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Part of
Teachability and Learnability across Languages
Edited by Ragnar Arntzen, Gisela Håkansson, Arnstein Hjelde and Jörg-U. Keßler
[Processability Approaches to Language Acquisition Research & Teaching 6] 2019
► pp. 237–259

Chapter 11
Heritage language development and the promise of Processability Theory

| University of Illinois
Heritage language acquisition is a type of early bilingual acquisition that takes place in a specific sociolinguistic environment. The heritage language is a societal minority language, acquired as a first language, either by itself or simultaneously with the majority language. Very often the heritage language is not supported at school, and it is common for heritage speakers to eventually achieve greater fluency and proficiency in the majority language than in the heritage language. As a result the heritage language shows many of the linguistic characteristics of a second language. The acquisition of heritage languages has been approached from different perspectives within linguistics, bilingualism and language acquisition. This chapter considers the applicability of Processability Theory, primarily conceived to explain second language acquisition and processing, to the acquisition of heritage languages.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Similarities between second language acquisition and heritage language acquisition
    • 2.1Grammatical development
    • 2.2Input and experience
    • 2.3Instruction
  • 3.PT for heritage language acquisition
  • 4.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 6 June 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/palart.6.11mon
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