Heritage Language Learners in the Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract

Heritage language learners are a heterogenous group themselves, and prevalent contrasts exist between them and foreign language learners. This presents challenges for the amalgamation of heritage language learners and foreign language learners within a single language classroom. Reviewing relevant literature, this paper discusses the differences between heritage language learners and foreign language learners, and how these can be accounted for by educators. It argues that, without specific, individualised differentiation, the foreign language classroom is inappropriate for the heritage language learner due to its inability to sufficiently account for their heterogeneity, diverse backgrounds and unique motivations for language learning. The difficulty defining heritage language learners is covered first, followed by their heterogeneity and differences they exhibit with foreign language learners. The relevant literature is then tied into implications for the language classroom and a discussion of how heritage language learners may be best included within these contexts