Dr. Janire Zalbidea

About the speaker:

Born and raised in the Basque Country, Janire Zalbidea received her Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics from Georgetown University. She is the Principal Investigator of the Temple University Multilingualism and Second Language Acquisition Lab (TUMSLAB) and directs the Spanish for Heritage/Bilingual Speakers curriculum in the department. Her interdisciplinary research program focuses on second and heritage language acquisition, including task-based language teaching and development in study abroad contexts. She is also interested in multi-site approaches in second language research. Her current work is funded by a Language Learning Early Career Research Grant.

About the talk:

In the last decades, substantive empirical work has focused on understanding the construct of language learning motivation. However, past research has overwhelmingly centered on second and foreign language learner populations, with little attention directed towards heritage language (HL) learners (i.e., native bilingual speakers who began acquiring a minority language at an early age at home). I report on a recent collaborative project that investigated interconnections among key psycho-affective variables relevant to HL learning motivation (e.g., the possible HL selves, HL achievement goal orientations, perceived classroom environment, critical language awareness) in the context of Spanish HL bilingualism in postsecondary education. In line with a complex systems perspective, mutually interdependent connections among key variables were estimated using psychological network modeling, a novel statistical approach that can prove useful for exploring system-level interdependencies in ever-changing, complex psychological phenomena. Theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological implications will be discussed.