Crossing borders that are not geographical: intercultural thinking in heritage speakers

titleCrossing borders that are not geographical: intercultural thinking in heritage speakers
start_date2025/02/21
schedule09h
onlineno
location_infoamphi F417
summaryAccording to a widely accepted definition, a heritage speaker is an individual who is raised in a home where a language other than the majority language is spoken. This implies that he or she is, to some degree, bilingual in the home (heritage) and the majority language” (Valdés, 2000). Heritage speakers live, to a greater or lesser extent, between two or more languages and cultures. Despite this fact, there is scarce research on their intercultural thinking. This might be due to the common belief that they are used to navigate between cultures and, therefore, capable of doing it without any difficulty. They seem to have intercultural competence ‘by default’. But can we really assume this? This talk will provide an overview of research on the intercultural thinking of heritage speakers, considering cognitive and affective dimensions. Affective factors are particularly important, since heritage speakers experience from within different language and cultures that may have an impact on their family bonds.
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