This dissertation presents findings from a research project on a 7-week-long telecollaboration project between students at a US-American university and students at a Southern German university. This dissertation utilizes theories of identity and capital to analyze the experiences of two heritage language learners (HLLs) during telecollaborative exchanges, as well as in classroom discussion forum posts and in a follow-up interview. Identity refers to a person's understanding of their place in a given context, as well as their understanding of their possibilities for the future (Darvin & Norton, 2015; Norton, 2013). Capital refers to the social goods one possesses, such as wealth, knowledge, networks, and language abilities (Darvin & Norton, 2015). While each of the two subjects came from different backgrounds and had different relationships to their German heritages, both negotiated their identities and their relationships to their capital during the telecollaboration. The results of this study support previous findings which suggest that telecollaboration can offer HLLs a place to negotiate their identities as members of target language-speaking communities (see Telles, 2015). While Kathy was able to negotiate a more stable identity and sharpen her focus on her imagined futures, Lilly's experience was marked by a greater deal of ambiguity toward both her identities and her capital. This dissertation offers pedagogical, theoretical, and methodological implications, as well as directions for future research on HLLs' identities and capital during telecollaboration.
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