Heritage Language Maintenance among Native English Speakers Living in Israel

Abstract

<p>Heritage language maintenance research most often focuses on heritage languages in English dominant societies. This paper presents a case-study, the second in a series, which focuses on the family language policy experiences, strategies, and outcomes of native English speakers raising children in a Hebrew dominant environment in Israel. </p>

The Second Generation: Heritage Language Maintenance – Native English Speakers Living in Israel – Case Study No. 3

“…Participants in our case studies fall in the middle where all are bilingual to a greater or lesser degree. Among our subjects the Weiss family (Kayam, 2013) represent the strongest commitment to heritage language maintenance with both parents speaking only English to their children and providing extra English language reinforcement in the form of English speaking babysitters and classes for native English speakers. Debbie's family (Kayam and Hirsh, 2012) come next with the mother Debbie speaking only English and taking her children for extended stays in the States though that stopped as her children got older.…”

“…We interviewed Dina Heller about both her birth family and her and her sister's current families regarding the role of English in their lives. We also compare and contrast the Heller family decisions to those of the families interviewed in our previous articles (Kayam and Hirsh, 2013;Kayam, 2013).…”