Presentation Panel: Experimental Methods
Heritage Language Development in Dual Language Schools: Methodological Innovations and Future Directions
- Patrick D. Thane, M.Ed., Ph.D., University of Houston
Research on the morphosyntactic development of Spanish heritage speakers (HSs) has continued to amass rapidly. However, very little work has compared the acquisition of Spanish by children attending dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs with development in the context of traditional monolingual education. This presentation incorporates recent data from DLBE schools on the development of subjunctive mood (Thane, 2024b; Thane et al., 2025), differential object marking (Thane, 2024a), and direct object clitic gender (Austin et al., 2024) in children between ages 7 and 14 using elicited production and forced choice tasks. Findings across studies suggest that DLBE provides a subtle advantage in children’s acquisition of differential object marking compared to monolingual education. Older children demonstrated greater command of the structures tested, and children who self-reported using Spanish more frequently produced and recognized the morphosyntactic structures in question more frequently.
Together, these findings show that DLBE is an essential but insufficient component of heritage language acquisition and maintenance. The presentation concentrates primarily on the link between methods from formal approaches to bilingualism and heritage language education. Implications and opportunities for DLBE programs beyond language acquisition theory are emphasized for both a research audience and the general public. While these projects utilize formal approaches to bilingualism, they are methodologically innovative in that they set the stage for implementation science research in DLBE programs such as studies of the effectiveness of pedagogical interventions in bilingual classrooms.
References
Austin, J., Thane, P. D., Rodríguez, S. A., & Goldin, M. (2024). The comprehension of clitic gender in child heritage and second language Spanish: Evidence from a dual language program. Frontiers in Language Sciences, 3(1334269), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2024.1334269
Thane, P. D. (2024a). On the acquisition of differential object marking in child heritage Spanish: Bilingual education, exposure, and age effects (in memory of Phoebe Search). Languages, 9(26), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010026
Thane, P. D. (2024b). School, age, and exposure effects in the child heritage language acquisition of the Spanish volitional subjunctive. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.23057.tha
Thane, P. D., Austin, J., Rodríguez, S. A., & Goldin, M. (2025). The acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive by child heritage and L2 learners: Evidence from a dual language program. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 18(1), 193–223. https://doi.org/10.1515/shll-2025-2007