The Handbook of Informal Language Learning

4How Learning Context Shapes Heritage and Second Language Acquisition

SILVINA MONTRUL

Introduction

Heritage language acquisition is the acquisition of a first language, which is a sociolinguistically minority language, in a bilingual or second language (L2) context, and takes place in a predominantly natural or informal environment (Montrul 2016). Some heritage speakers receive formal instruction in their heritage language as adults, but most do not (Polinsky and Kagan 2007). Second language acquisition is the acquisition of an additional language after the basic structural foundations of the native language are in place. A fundamental belief in the study of adult second language acquisition over the years has been that the process of learning a second language does not depend on the context in which the language is being learned (Gass and Selinker 2001; Larsen Freeman and Long 1991; Ortega 2009). At the same time, much of second language acquisition takes place in formal environments – the classroom. In many ways, the linguistic development of instructed second language learners and of heritage speakers in their second and heritage language show seemingly comparative overall profiles in their acquisition of syntax, semantics and morphology, and apparently similar outcomes despite different contexts of learning. The goal of this chapter, however, is to show that context of learning does play a critical role in shaping the type of linguistic knowledge that heritage speakers ...