‘Is there an app for that?’ Exploring games and apps among heritage language families

Abstract

Heritage language families inhabit multiple languages, literacies and cultures. Enabling children to participate in heritage language and culture has beneficial effects in terms of identity, and cognitive development. Games-based technologies are opening up avenues for playful engagement with heritage language and literacy, but little is known about how families use such technology to support heritage languages. This paper seeks to address this gap, reporting an original study of the relationship between heritage language families and games-based technology for heritage language and literacy development, in terms of attitude, attached values, and use. A survey involving 212 heritage language families, followed by 10 interviews, most of which included children, explored families’ attitude towards and use of games and apps for heritage language development, whilst focusing on how these technologies link to children’s self-awareness as heritage language speakers. Significantly, the study concludes that both children and parents differentiate between being ‘learners’ or ‘players’, and that collaborative family practices may help children overcome barriers not only in the way they access technology, but also how this technology impacts on their relationship with the heritage language.

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