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Abstract
My study participants were Chinese heritage language learners of Taiwanese ethnicity. The participants enrolled in Chinese language courses at a large R1 university in the Southeastern United States in the last three years. The qualitative case study of these participants examined: 1) which languages and/or language varieties circulated in their Taiwanese American communities; and 2) how their language ideologies shaped their language use, their perspectives on heritage language learning, and their sense of ethnic identity. The bounded context of my case study allowed me to focus on information-rich sources, including participants’ interviews, completed Language History Questionnaires, and relevant mass media documents. I conducted semi-structured interviews as the primary source of data to address the research questions. The Language History Questionnaires supported the interview data, providing me with a broad understanding of participants’ language use, heritage language learning perspectives, language ideologies, and ethnic identity, among other factors. The interview data were contextualized through my exploration of relevant mass media documents. Findings from the study include three constructed themes: 1) multilingual repertoires, digital resources, and context-driven language use; 2) balance between practical learning, cultural identification, and heritage preservation; and 3) integration of Taiwanese ethnic identity and Asian American pan-ethnic identity. The findings on the participants’ language ideologies indicated that not all Chinese heritage language learners begin with the mainstream Chinese language varieties taught in classrooms or associate their ethnic identity with these varieties. The implication of my study was that K-12 and college Chinese language teachers, curriculum developers, and language policymakers should respect non-mainstream Chinese language varieties because these varieties were often linked to Chinese heritage language learners’ ethnic or other identity. By extension, the study highlighted the necessity of fostering respect for diverse language varieties in heritage language education across Chinese and other languages.