Friendship Across the Border. An Overlooked Predictor of Heritage Language Skills and Cultural Knowledge in Teenagers of Polish Origin in Germany Przyjaźń przez granicę. Niedoceniony czynnik w kształtowaniu kompetencji językowej i wiedzy o Polsce u dzieci

Abstract

The study demonstrates and analyzes the reasons of the outstanding impact of friendship with an age-mate in Poland on Polish language skills and knowledge about Poland in teenagers of Polish origin in Germany. In a preliminary quantitative study of 41 teenagers raised in Regensburg, Germany, data collected by means of an oral questionnaire and a standardized language test was used to estimate the association between these competences and a range of environmental and attitudinal factors. A long-term friendship with an age-mate in the home country, that had not been included in any earlier quantitative study on predictors of competence in heritage languages, was identified as a strong predictor of Polish language skills and language-dependent cultural knowledge. To find out why it played such an important role, a follow-up study has been conducted, using qualitative data collected in semi-structured interviews conducted with teenagers and their mothers. It is claimed that such friendships are  a powerful impact factor in skill development because they play a crucial role in language socialization into the heritage language community. The claim is interpreted from the perspective of language socialization approach to language acquisition, which emphasizes the identification function of language as a basic factor in its natural acquisition.