H10.pdf

• Γλώσσα: Dutch
• Έκδοση: ASP editions - Academic and Scientific Publishers 2024

This chapter offers a pedagogical reflection on heritage language (il)literacy in transnational adoption. In line with an international trend among transnational adoptees relearning their heritage languages, adolescent and adult adoptees in Flanders and the Netherlands are increasingly reclaiming their heritage languages (Adoptiepedia, 2022; FIAC-Horizon, 2021; Plan Angel, 2022). This contribution uses the term "heritage language" as a translation of the English "heritage language," referring to the language spoken by the family of origin. Conversely, this text uses the concept of "second language" to refer to the language of the adoptive community. Transnational adoptees typically inhabit a unique intersection of multilingualism, characterized by high proficiency in the second language and illiteracy in the heritage language. Illiteracy in the heritage language (Fiorentino, 2022; Mouring, 2019) as well as heritage language acquisition among adult adoptees remain underexplored topics in the public debate around transnational adoption in Flanders and the Netherlands. The simultaneous high proficiency in the second language and illiteracy in the heritage language is an (un)intentional result of a parenting dynamic within the adoption landscape. I refer to it as a parenting dynamic and explicitly not as a parenting policy because policy documents such as the Hague Adoption Convention of 1993 do not address the role of the heritage language. Therefore, there is no intentional policy. Heritage language illiteracy is rather a consequence of adoptive parents choosing to make their child proficient in the second language as quickly as possible. This unwritten rule has expanded into a normative parenting dynamic. On the one hand, this dynamic ensures that adult adoptees gain linguistic access to numerous opportunities for development within the adoptive community. On the other hand, this dynamic results in adoptees losing their heritage language, making dialogue with the community of origin impossible. I reconsider this parenting dynamic from the perspective of critical pedagogy as an academic discipline.