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Chapter 5. From Russian Motherland to German Fatherland: Russian Germans or German Russians
The present study analyzes four adult Russian-Australian 1.5ers, heritage bilinguals whose first
language is Russian, and who immigrated to Australia or New Zealand during their primary
school years. Semi-structured interviews conducted with the case-study participants examined
their attitudes toward their Russian, their L1, and English, their L2. The interviews explored
the participants’ schooling history, language use, perceived language proficiency, dominance
and use, perceived L1 attrition, and feelings about their identity. The aim of the study was to
understand the connections between language, particularly L1 attrition, and identity for this
cohort of 1.5 generation speakers, as well as factors that may influence their identity perception.
The results emerging from the study’s data reconfirm the role played by language in identity
construction. At the same time, they suggest that for 1.5ers the relationship between language
and identity also needs to be considered in relation to L1 attrition. This factor, in fact, might
contribute to identity conflicts and trigger the desire to return to one’s roots.
https://www.heritagelanguages.org/Journal.aspx
This study was part of an ethnographic research project in the 2010 Census Assessment and Research Program to observe the 2010 Census Nonresponse Followup interviews with households that speak a language other than English, in areas of the U.S. with heavy concentrations of residents with limited English proficiency. A multilingual research team consisting of seven sub-teams in the seven primary languages (Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese) was commissioned to carry out the research in the 2010 Census.
The objectives of this research were to identify: (1) how language and socio-cultural factors affect the enumeration of non-English-speaking populations during the Nonresponse Followup interview process; (2) what measures were taken by enumerators to negotiate and maintain access to non-English-speaking households and to collect the required census data from these households; (3) how in-language census materials were used in the field; (4) how non-English speaking immigrant populations perceived and reacted to the census and its public messaging; and (5) what changes, if any, are needed to improve the enumeration process with households that have limited or no English proficiency. Findings from this study will help develop recommendations for planning the 2020 Census, including the Decennial Language Program, questionnaire development, translation of census questions, use of interpreters in enumeration interviews, and interviewer training.
This report presents findings from the Spanish research team of bilingual ethnographers who studied the Spanish community to highlight the issues observed in the research. While the findings clearly draw attention to the importance of linguistic competency among NRFU enumerators, they also demonstrate that we need more than linguistic competency, language aids, and minority language media campaigns in order to increase successful census participation among linguistic minorities. The negotiation of interview access, effective communication about the census’ objectives, the translation of concepts that do not carry conceptual equivalence, the ability to successfully sustain the interview as a communicative event, and ultimately the ability to elicit the information that the census is designed to obtain —are all demonstrated to require robust understandings of the highly differentiated social and cultural contexts of particular immigrant communities. Drawing on findings from the ethnographic study, the report suggests recommendations for planning the 2020 Census.
The authors argue in this article that new approaches are needed in the study of psychological acculturation. They posit that a new model of psychological acculturation should incorporate contemporary work in social and cognitive psychology. The model they present builds on previous research in the areas of social cognition, cultural competence, social identity, and social stigma. Each of these perspectives is discussed in accordance with its relevance to the acculturative processes operating in immigrants. They hypothesize that acculturation is more difficult for those persons who must cope with the stigma of being different because of skin color, language, ethnicity, and so forth. Finally, the authors believe that the theoretical framework present here will lead to more productive insights into the adaptation process of immigrants than has heretofore been the case.
Examined the relationship between language status (LS) and differences in attitudes and motivation as they relate to using a 2nd language (L2). Ss were 293 Canadian francophone university students with either a minority or a majority background in terms of demographic representation and institutional support. Minority group members evidenced more self-confidence and greater proficiency in using the L2 (English). Level of acculturation was a function of proficiency in the L2 and an interactive function of LS and frequency of contact. Correlational analyses revealed that proficiency and acculturation were most strongly associated with self-confidence. Results are discussed with reference to L2 education programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)
Research in both cross-cultural psychology and the social psychology of language has examined the changes in identity and language behavior that occur when two ethnolinguistic groups come into contact. This study attempted to integrate these two fields of inquiry through an investigation of the relations between identity, interethnic contact, linguistic self-confidence, and psychological adjustment in 179 Chinese undergraduates (aged 17-38 yrs). Various rating scales were used to assess the aforementioned variables. The findings indicated that exclusive identification with either the first or second language group was the most commonly endorsed identity. Correlational and path analyses of the relations between interethnic contact, self-confidence in using the English and Chinese languages, Chinese and Canadian identities, and adjustment variables supported the proposed model in which communication variables mediate the influence of inter- ethnic contact on identity and adjustment. The results are interpreted within the context of current formulations of acculturation and intercultural communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)
"Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrages stehen erste Ergebnisse eines deutsch-israelischen
Forschungsprojektes über die Produktion und Rezeption von Medien durch ethnische und
kulturelle Minderheiten. Die Frage der sozialen Integration ethnischer Minderheiten und die
Rolle der Massenmedien in diesem Prozeß werden mit Blick auf die Dilemmas der
Identitätsbildung und Kommunikation von Russlanddeutschen Aussiedlern diskutiert. Im
konzeptuellen Teil des Papiers wird soziale Integration unter der Perspektive von Inklusion
und Exklusion von Minderheiten diskutiert. Soziale Integration wird als komplexer Prozess
gegenseitiger Austauschbeziehungen von Minderheit und Mehrheit konzipiert, in dem
Prozesse der Selbstdefinition und Fremddefinition eine wesentliche Rolle spielen. Die Medien
sind entscheidende Größen in diesen Aushandlungsprozessen, weil sie eine gemeinsame
soziale und politische Realität herstellen und dadurch das entscheidende Referenzsystem für
die öffentliche Aushandlung kultureller und ethnischer Identitäten bilden. Vor diesem
Hintergrund wird die kulturelle und ethnische Identität, die Medienumwelt und die
Mediennutzung russlanddeutscher Aussiedler untersucht. Empirische Basis sind sechs
Gruppendiskussionen mit Russlanddeutschen in Bersenbrück und Berlin. Die Ergebnisse
zeigen, daß die Gruppenidentität der Aussiedler mit dem Dilemma zusammenhängt, daß diese
einerseits aufgrund ihrer deutschen Staatsangehörigkeit zur deutschen Mehrheitsgesellschaft
gehören und sich andererseits wegen ihres kulturellen Erbes, der Erfahrung der Migration und
Sprachproblemen ausgeschlossen, d.h. nicht als 'richtige' Deutsche akzeptiert fühlen. In
bezug auf die Rolle der Medien zeigt die Studie, daß die Identitätsprobleme der
Russlanddeutschen weder in den Aussiedlermedien noch in den deutschen Mehrheitsmedien
auch nur annähernd repräsentiert sind. Vielmehr zeichnen sich die russischen Zeitungen für
Russlanddeutsche dadurch aus, daß sie die Probleme ihrer Leser banalisieren und
boulevardisieren." (Autorenreferat) "This paper reports preliminary findings generated by a German-Israeli research project an the production and consumption of media by and for ethnic and minority communities. It discusses questions of social integration of ethnic minorities and mass media with respect to dilemmas of identity formation and communication among German-Russian Aussiedler. In the conceptual part, it is assumed that integration must be seen as a complex process of reciprocal social exchange between minority and majority communities, in which self-deinitions and other-definitions play a crucial rote. The media enter the picture as the negotiations of group identities are based an communication in the public sphere. Mass media create a social and political reality, thereby providing a reference system for both majority and minority communities. Against this background, identity politics and mass media functions are examined an the basis of focus group discussions with German-Russian Aussiedler. Identity politics among ethnic Germans is fundamentally linked to the dilemma that, an the one band, as full German citizens they belong to the majority society in legal terms. On the other band, because of their cultural heritage, the experience of migration and language barriers, they feel excluded from the majority community to which they want to belong so badly. Concerning the rote of mass media, we found that identity formation, as it is revealed by the orientations of ethnic Germans, is not made an issue whatsoever in either minority media nor majority media. Not even the media produced for Russian-Germans in Germany touch an questions of identity or self-location of the minority vis-a-vis the majority. Instead, the minority media are fall of practical cookbook-recipes of how to behave properly in a stereotypically-portrayed German society." (author's abstract)
"In Germany the discussion [of immigration] is taking place between two extreme positions, one that denies Germany is de facto an immigration country...and one that compares Germany with traditional immigration societies like the United States, Canada, or Australia. As will be demonstrated, both arguments are too simplistic.... To illustrate the importance of migration movements for Germany's national fabric, first an overview of the history of pre- and postwar migrations and refugee movements as well as their effects on the domestic situation in Germany are presented. Next, the origins of the contradictory nature of the current asylum, citizenship and naturalization regulations and the need to redefine Germany's legal framework, immigration policy, and national identity after unification are discussed."
Purpose
To develop a reliable and valid questionnaire of bilingual language status with predictable relationships between self-reported and behavioral measures.
Method
In Study 1, the internal validity of the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q) was established on the basis of self-reported data from 52 multilingual adult participants. In Study 2, criterion-based validity was established on the basis of standardized language tests and self-reported measures from 50 adult Spanish–English bilinguals. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were established on healthy adults whose literacy levels were equivalent to that of someone with a high school education or higher.
Results
Factor analyses revealed consistent factors across both studies and suggested that the LEAP-Q was internally valid. Multiple regression and correlation analyses established criterion-based validity and suggested that self-reports were reliable indicators of language performance. Self-reported reading proficiency was a more accurate predictor of first-language performance, and self-reported speaking proficiency was a more accurate predictor of second-language performance. Although global measures of self-reported proficiency were generally predictive of language ability, deriving a precise estimate of performance on a particular task required that specific aspects of language history be taken into account.
Conclusion
The LEAP-Q is a valid, reliable, and efficient tool for assessing the language profiles of multilingual, neurologically intact adult populations in research settings.
Междисциплинарный аспект этой статьи рассматривает вопрос идентичности и национальности, и в частности, вопрос этничности и национальности в восприятии русских иммигрантов в США. Более узкий ракурс статьи касается концептуальной неэквивалентности термина «национальность» в пределах теории смыслового смещения. Статья основана на данных двух исследований: первое было проведено во время последней переписи населения в США в 2010 году; второе является частью научного проекта, связанного с русской иммиграцией. Результаты двух исследований показали, как термин «национальность» интерпретируется иммигрантами на официальном уровне во время переписи населения и как русские иммигранты хотят, чтобы их воспринимали американцы в повседневной жизни. Данные двух исследований являются вкладом в изучение сложного вопроса негоциации идентичности иммигрантами.
Mfost of social psychology's theories of the self fail to take into account the significance of social identification in the definition of self. Social identities are self-definitions that are more inclusive than the individuated self-concept of most American psychology. A model of optimal distinctiveness is proposed in which social identity is viewed as a reconciliation of opposing needs for assimilation and differentiation from others. According to this model, individuals avoid self-construals that are either too personalized or too inclusive and instead define themselves in terms of distinctive category memberships. Social identity and group loyalty are hypothesized to be strongest for those self-categorizations that simultaneously provide for a sense of belonging and a sense of distinctiveness. Results from an initial laboratory experiment support the prediction that depersonalization and group size interact as determinants of the strength of social identification.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a clarification of the relationship between acculturation and assimilation through the development of a conceptual framework. By means of a careful review of theoretically relevant literature prevalent characteristics related to each concept are delineated and discussed in order to identify and synthesize common, as well as contrasting, elements. A comparison of these elements or characteristics is then undertaken pursuant to proffering a clarification. In short, then, this paper seeks to compare and contrast salient characteristics of the concepts of acculturation and assimilation in order to clarify and delineate the relationship between them.
Acculturation as varieties of adaptation
- Berry
- Lunde