Western Kentucky University
An autoethnography on the desires and emotions in heritage language learning: The effect of external pressures
Institution 24-25
Western Kentucky University
KY House District #
5
KY Senate District #
1
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Juyoung Song, PhD
Department
Department of English
Abstract
When an immigrant family has a child in a strictly monolingual community, there is not an apparent reason for the child to learn the heritage language (HL) without an external pressure. This autoethnography explores external pressure and its emotional effects on the author and her desire to learn the HL language.
Narratives on key events impacting the author’s HL journey were analyzed through the concepts of feeling rules and emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983), with focus on how external pressures influenced her desire to learn and maintain the Korean HL.
It was revealed that external pressure, in the form of feeling rules, shapes all, if not a majority, of a child’s desires to learn their HL. Feeling rules enforced by broader society and peers generate emotional labor to meet the expected genuineness of desire. Fear of shame and embarrassment from not meeting racial expectations, like the expectation of bilingualism from a non-white living in a white community or from an HL speaker in an HL speaking community, further extends that pressure. Immigrant parents generationally pressure their child to learn their HL out of obligation or perceived future benefit. Complying to these pressures led to the creation of a specific type of desire towards learning the heritage language. However, over time, the recognition of cultural and career benefits transformed the external desire into the author’s, leading to the construction of her own bilingual identity. This study provides a nuanced view of HL learning from a child’s perspective, highlighting how children’s motivations are shaped by both societal and generational pressures, as well as giving insight on potential mental health, diversity, and education policies that can create inner motivation towards learning the HL.
An autoethnography on the desires and emotions in heritage language learning: The effect of external pressures
When an immigrant family has a child in a strictly monolingual community, there is not an apparent reason for the child to learn the heritage language (HL) without an external pressure. This autoethnography explores external pressure and its emotional effects on the author and her desire to learn the HL language.
Narratives on key events impacting the author’s HL journey were analyzed through the concepts of feeling rules and emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983), with focus on how external pressures influenced her desire to learn and maintain the Korean HL.
It was revealed that external pressure, in the form of feeling rules, shapes all, if not a majority, of a child’s desires to learn their HL. Feeling rules enforced by broader society and peers generate emotional labor to meet the expected genuineness of desire. Fear of shame and embarrassment from not meeting racial expectations, like the expectation of bilingualism from a non-white living in a white community or from an HL speaker in an HL speaking community, further extends that pressure. Immigrant parents generationally pressure their child to learn their HL out of obligation or perceived future benefit. Complying to these pressures led to the creation of a specific type of desire towards learning the heritage language. However, over time, the recognition of cultural and career benefits transformed the external desire into the author’s, leading to the construction of her own bilingual identity. This study provides a nuanced view of HL learning from a child’s perspective, highlighting how children’s motivations are shaped by both societal and generational pressures, as well as giving insight on potential mental health, diversity, and education policies that can create inner motivation towards learning the HL.