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Downloaded from Brill.Com10/07/2021 08:18:25AM Via Free Access 297 Heritage Language Journal, 16(3) December, 2019 296 Heritage Language Journal, 16(3) https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.16.3.2 December, 2019 “I’m a Heritage Speaker of the Damascene Dialect of Arabic”: Negotiating the Identity Label of Arabic Heritage Language Learner Sara Hillman Texas A&M University at Qatar ABSTRACT Utilizing an ecological perspective of heritage language learner (HLL) identity (Hornberger & Wang, 2008), this study investigates how an underexamined group within HLL studies—language learners with diverse ties to the Arabic language—perceive the label of HLL and how they position themselves and their classmates relative to this label during interviews and in an advanced Arabic language classroom. I draw on interview, observational, and videotaped classroom interaction data collected as part of a larger ethnographic study of this classroom community and show how a priori educational labels assigned to these students did not always match with their self-concepts and ignored the nuances of their relationship to the umbrella term “Arabic.” These labels also affected students’ classroom roles, self-esteem, and participation in the classroom. I examine the implications of educational classifications and assigned identities that are constructed by stakeholders such as researchers, teachers, or administrators, rather than negotiated by the language learners themselves, and critique Arabic HLL as an identity and educational classification. Finally, I offer some suggestions for how to engage language learners (HLLs if they choose to identify themselves as such) in critical discussions about their relationship with the language of study. KEYWORDS: heritage language and identity; Arabic language learners; Muslim language learners; Arabic language ideologies; ecological perspectives INTRODUCTION In conceptualizing how various kinds of language learners are shaped by educational institutions and stakeholders, Kibler and Valdés (2016) argue that “formalized language instruction both creates and requires categorizations/classifications of learners that are not neutral and that often have life-impacting consequences for individuals” (p. 96). Labeling students serves practical purposes of categorizing complex individuals of multiple backgrounds, experiences, proficiencies, and motivations, but these labels also shape students’ self-concepts, or identities, and their relationship with the target language and culture (Leeman, 2015). Leeman calls it a “two-way relationship” between the policies and practices that play a role in these classifications and how learners “construct, negotiate, and perform their identities” (p. 100). The terms foreign/second and heritage language learner (HLL) are often assigned as a priori identities by stakeholders such as researchers, teachers, or administrators, but they do not always match with the learners’ self- concepts and ignore the complexity of their relationship with the language of study. This study investigates how an underexamined group within HLL studies— language learners with diverse ties to the Arabic language—perceive the label of HLL and how they position themselves and their classmates relative to this label discursively during interviews and in practice in an advanced Arabic language classroom community. I first discuss why identity is so inextricably Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 08:18:25AM via free access 297 Heritage Language Journal, 16(3) https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.16.3.2 December, 2019 linked with studies of HLLs and then discuss some of the characteristics and ideologies of the Arabic language and the complexities in defining who is an Arabic HLL. Next, I describe the ten participants and the context of the study, and examine similarities and differences in terms of how the participants position themselves and their classmates relative to the label of HLL and the impact of this upon their roles, self-esteem, and participation in the classroom. I then further examine the implications of educational classifications and assigned labels/identities that are constructed by stakeholders rather than negotiated by the language learners themselves, and critique Arabic HLL as an identity and educational classification. Finally, I offer some suggestions for how to engage language learners (HLLs if they choose to exert their identity as such (Hornberger & Wang, 2008)) in critical discussions about their relationship with the language of study. IDENTITY AND HLLS: AN ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Defining who HLLs are is a complex task that can vary greatly depending on the purpose for defining them (e.g., policy, history, sociopolitical status, program development, pedagogical implications, operational criteria for research studies, and identity) and can be based on language background, proficiency, ancestry, ethnicity, and so forth. Definitions are continually critiqued for being either too inclusive or exclusive, often depending on the reason for defining HLLs and the outcomes sought. For example, Polinsky and Kagan (2007) dichotomize definitions of HLLs into “broad and narrow” ones (p. 369); broad definitions may include learners with only cultural and/or familial connections to a language (e.g., Fishman, 2001; Van Deusen-Scholl, 2003), whereas more narrow definitions (e.g., Valdés, 2000) highlight the criterion of some proficiency in the heritage language. Because Polinsky and Kagan are interested in diagnosing language proficiency, they prefer the narrow definition, in order to explore the continuum of heritage speakers’ distance from the “baseline language” that they were exposed to as children (p. 372). They stress that the order of language acquisition is crucial; a HLL is someone who learns the heritage language first at home, but does not fully acquire the language because of a switch to another dominant language (p. 369-370). Importantly though, all definitions of HLLs are heavily intertwined with learners’ identities. As Leeman (2015) writes, “heritage language learner is not simply an educational classification but also an identity, one constructed largely by researchers, educators, and administrators, and assigned to a group of students, rather than by heritage language learners themselves” (p. 104). In the past two decades, researchers (e.g., Abdi, 2011; Avineri, 2012; Carreira, 2004; Cho, 2014; Doerr & Lee, 2013; Dressler, 2010; He, 2004, 2006; Hornberger & Wang, 2008; Kang, 2013; Kim, 2017; Lee, 2005; Leeman, 2015; Makoni, 2018; Maloney & De Costa, 2017; Trentman, 2015; Seals, 2018; Shin, 2016; Venturin, 2019; Wiley et al., 2008; Wong & Xiao, 2010; Yilmaz, 2018, Yu, 2015) have become increasingly interested in examining how HLLs construct, position, negotiate, perform, and (re)organize their identities through language displays and across various contexts, and how they are socialized into different communities. Although researchers have approached the study of HLL identity from diverse perspectives, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of how language learners exert their agency in identity construction and positioning. How do they exert power, capacity, or an impulse to “imagine, take up, and perform new roles or identities”? (Duff, 2012, p. 417). Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 08:18:25AM via free access 298 Heritage Language Journal, 16(3) https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.16.3.2 December, 2019 The theoretical framework of this study draws on Hornberger and Wang’s (2008) work, which takes an ecological view of HLL identity in the classroom. They define HLLs as “individuals with familial or ancestral ties to a language other than English who exert their agency in determining if they are HLLs of that language” (p. 6). Hornberger and Wang’s definition, with its focus on learner’s agentive role in co-constructing their identities alongside how society or educational stakeholders may position them, takes into consideration learners’ self-concepts. The term self- concept, which Hornberger and Wang use interchangeably with identity, involves “the perceptions, descriptions, and evaluations of one’s self in relation to significant others, the social environment, and specific contexts” (p. 6). An ecological perspective of HLL identity asks how language learners “see, perceive, interpret, present, and represent themselves” in classroom settings (p. 6). An ecological perspective on HLLs considers how they negotiate multiple identities and memberships. Their self-concepts can be multifaceted and fluid depending on when, where, and with whom they interact. How HLLs choose to position themselves might be different from how others choose to position them, but HLLs may also reorganize this positioning every time they use language (Norton, 2013). Hornberger and Wang (2008) write that identity consists of “hierarchical, multidimensional, but ever-changing images, descriptions, projects, and evaluations of self and self in the eyes of others” (p. 13). Self-concepts and self-positioning often lead people to categorize themselves as belonging to certain groups and not others. People build their identities based on inclusions and exclusions vis-à-vis various communities. As the self is defined, so is the other (Turner, 1999; Wallace, 2004). For HLLs, this self-positioning inside some groups and outside of others can be based on such variables as ethnicity, nationality, cultural background, religion, and expertise in a language. Within a language classroom, learners often negotiate assigned groups such as native speakers, HLLs, and non-HLL or second language (L2) learners. Lee (2005) argues that when a learner is deciding
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