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This article examines the second-generation immigrants in California and focuses on their language use and cultural identity as Indonesian-Americans. This study investigated to what extent home language use and community involvement influenced mastery of Indonesian heritage language and what factors affected the forming of cultural identity. Data were drawn from self-assessed Indonesian Oral Proficiency Questionnaire and in-depth interviews of sixteen Indonesian-Americans aged fifteen to early twenties. Their parents were also interviewed as triangulation. Results show that parents' insistence in using Indonesian as home language and the youths' investment in support community have enhanced the mastery of Indonesian heritage language. Furthermore, exposure to the language and culture, investment, and community factors have affected the transformation of cultural identity.

A total of 38 students from my cultural studies research class participated in service-learning (SL) activities as one of the requirements of the course. They were divided into six groups, and each group worked with a group of approximately 15 to 30 young Indonesian elementary school children to do SL activities. They helped the children do their schoolwork, taught them English, played games and generally interacted with them. Students were also expected to present their reflections, starting from the initial encounter with the children and during the SL activities, at the end of the semester. The big sociocultural gap between the students and the children made students more aware of their lifestyles. These experiences apparently enhanced the students’ critical thinking towards others who are different. They also learned to share with and pay respect to one-another from their encounters with the children. Such awareness should be used as a way of enhancing students’ personal development and growth. It is also a way of building a more peaceful society, as they endeavour to understand others instead of judging them.

Traditional research methods have been dominated by positivism which assumes the importance of objectivity, contextual independency, linear causality and value free research. Feminist researchers found that such methods do not suit their inquisitive needs especially in the study of women. Naturalistic research methods, however, do not only suit them but they are also able to voice women's problems. Two methods, i.e. interviewing and ethnography are discussed as to how they are commonly used by feminist researchers on many social studies on women, including the linguistic studies of gender.