Heritage Language Education: A Growing Field

In the Untied States a focus on English literacy, teaching immigrants and non-native speakers English, has always been a central goal of education. In addition, schools have focused on foreign language learning or instruction in a language students have not been exposed to other, such as French, German, and Spanish. This type of instruction has historically commenced in junior high or high school. A new addition to the language focus of U.S. education is heritage language education.

The movement toward heritage language education began In the 1980s when educators recognized the need to support students who had previous exposure to a language other than English, but were not fluent in this language. At this time there was an awareness that were heritage speakers, have previous exposure to the language, cultural connections to the language, have some proficiency in it, require language instruction that is specifically tailored to their needs.

Research has shown that heritage language learners can exhibit a large variety of language skills. Some are fully fluent and illiterate. Others are fluent with no literacy skills, while some have heard the language but have limited expressive skills, and others are fluent in a non-prestige variety (a variety that is used int he home) of the language. The differing profile of abilities and needs of heritage speakers is different than the variety of abilities that is usually found in foreign language classes for non-native speakers. This makes teaching heritage language speakers in traditional foreign language classes very difficult. Heritage language learners requires teachers that appreciate the differences they bring to the classroom and have training in how to support their unique learnign needs.

Beyond teaching that is specifically tailored to the needs of heritage language speakers, having family and community involvement in the language learning process has been found to be critical. Currently the triad of formal education tailored to heritage language speakers, family involvement, and community involvement, is seen as best practice in the field of heritage language education.

Photo Credit: Santi Vedrí on Unspalsh.

Information for this piece was sourced from: Heritage Briefs: What are the similarities and differences between English language, foreign language, and heritage language education in the United States.