An invited lecture for the SLA Talk Series on Emotion Research in SLA and for the Language Ideologies and Linguistic Discrimination Working Group
Meagan Driver
Assistant professor, Department of Romance and Classical Studies
Core faculty member, Second Language Studies PhD Program
Michigan State University
Wednesday, October 2, 4:00-5:00pm
1418 Van Hise Hall
About the talk
While heritage language education (HLE) and emotions in second language acquisition (SLA) have seen parallel increases in research interest over the last two decades, only limited attention has been focused on affective variables for HL communities (Driver & Prada, 2024). I begin this talk with a brief introduction to foundational elements of emotions in HLE and highlight the most pressing investigative needs within the field. Anchoring on perspectives within critical HLE, I then expand on my own research with both HL learners and educators from HL backgrounds in order to highlight the positive and negative emotions, such as pride and linguistic insecurity, that predominate in- and outside the language classroom from multiple stakeholder viewpoints (Driver, 2024, forthcoming). In addition, I pull from quantitative and qualitative findings from two data sets (Driver, 2023, 2024) with learners and educators to challenge the positive-negative dichotomy of emotions and highlight the complexity of affect within HL spaces. Together, we will explore how the HL classroom can act both as a trigger of social injustice, linguistic insecurity, and family conflict and, at the same time, as a space instigating affective reactions associated with social rebellion, linguistic confidence, intergenerational healing, and emotional refuge. I conclude this talk by sharing how my work has evolved to address participatory action methods in HLE and emotion and the most pressing gaps that remain, as I see them, in the field.
About the speaker
Dr. Meagan Driver is an assistant professor in the Department of Romance and Classical Studies and a core faculty member in the Second Language Studies (SLS) PhD Program at Michigan State University. Dr. Driver is an applied linguist who specializes in mixed-methods approaches to heritage and Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Within this realm, her research implements cognitive theories and methodologies to explore topics including emotion, bilingualism and multilingualism, and study abroad and the relationship with a range of linguistic, psychological, and social factors, including vocabulary learning, moral judgment, and identity, to name a few. A heritage speaker of Spanish herself, she adapts instruments and methodologies in her research that address the reality and needs of linguistically and socially diverse learner populations. Presently, her work explores the relationship between various emotions, including anxiety, interest, and linguistic insecurity, and questions surrounding linguistic and ethnoracial identity, specifically with respect to the acquisition of a heritage or foreign language. At MSU, she teaches undergraduate, masters, and PhD courses in applied linguistics and SLA in both the Spanish and SLS programs and serves as Director of the Multilingual Lab.
Co-sponsors: Second Language Acquisition PhD Program and the Language Institute, with the Language Ideologies and Linguistic Discrimination working group
Funding: International Division
Contact: Jana Martin
The UW-Madison Language Institute is committed to inclusive and accessible programming. To request an accommodation for this event, please contact Language Institute associate director Jana Martin three business days in advance.