Toward an interdisciplinary understanding of heritage language anxiety

Abstract

This paper summarizes recent research on heritage language anxiety (HLA) that three generations of the Turkish immigrant community in the Netherlands experience in their daily lives. Through an interdisciplinary perspective, it integrates an extended questionnaire (n=113), semi-structured interviews (n=30), and an experiment (n=30) in which physiological responses (i.e. electrodermal activity) are measured during a video-retelling task conducted in monolingual and bilingual modes. Findings illustrate the complex interplay of daily sociolinguistic and socio-emotional challenges, HLA and physiological reactions. In its application of interdisciplinary research, the paper provides a more integrative glimpse into the multifaceted dimensions that underpin heritage language anxiety, particularly in the immigrant context.