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Part of
Studies in Turkish as a Heritage Language
Edited by Fatih Bayram
[Studies in Bilingualism 60] 2020
► pp. 39–62

Chapter 3
Correlates of Turkish vocabulary in adolescent Turkish heritage language learners in Germany

An explorative study

| Ruhr-Universität Bochum
| Ruhr-Universität Bochum
| Ruhr-Universität Bochum
| Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Little is known about resources for adolescent heritage language learners’ vocabulary. In a sample of adolescents (n = 78), we exploratively examined correlates of seventh-graders’ Turkish vocabulary as potential resources. Drawing on what is known about young heritage language learners and monolingual adolescent vocabulary learners, we considered a number of adolescent characteristics such as nonverbal reasoning (analogies subtest of the SON-R, Snijders, Tellegen, & Laros, 2005) and their self-reported identification with Turkish culture (Berry et al., 1993; Phinney & Ong, 2007). We also considered adolescents’ self-reports on reading activities, language use in the family and among friends, the percentage of Turkish speakers among their friends, as well as whether they attended Turkish classes. Turkish receptive vocabulary was assessed with an adapted research version modelled on the PPVT-4 (Dunn & Dunn, 2007; Glück, 2009). A set of regression analyses indicated that adolescent characteristics such as nonverbal reasoning skills and identification with the Turkish culture explained the most variance in Turkish vocabulary. This suggests that being motivated to maintain the heritage language may be major resources for adolescents’ vocabulary. However, it raises the question from what sources adolescents are receiving input in their heritage language. We discuss various reasons for why the other factors such as language use in the family and reading activities may not have shown significant connections to Turkish vocabulary and provide impulses for further research.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Young heritage language learners’ vocabulary development
    • 1.2Monolingual adolescents’ vocabulary development
    • 1.3Adolescent Turkish heritage language learners in Germany
  • 2.This study: Potential resources for adolescents’ Turkish heritage language vocabulary
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Recruitment
    • 3.2Participants
    • 3.3Measures
      • 3.3.1Turkish receptive vocabulary
      • 3.3.2Adolescent questionnaire
      • 3.3.3Nonverbal reasoning
    • 3.4Procedure
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Bivariate correlations
    • 4.2Multiple regression analyses
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Adolescents own characteristics are potential resources
    • 5.2Reading as a resource?
    • 5.3Family language use as a resource?
    • 5.4Friends as a resource?
    • 5.5Instruction as a resource?
    • 5.6Limitations and future directions
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 18 November 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.60.03wil
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