Heritage languages and their speakers: State of the field, challenges, perspectives for future work, and methodologies

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of heritage-language studies, emphasizing the situation in the USA. Beginning with the definition of heritage speakers, the paper offers a brief summary of linguistic research on heritage languages and examines the intertwined relationship between research on heritage languages and educational practices. In addition, this paper argues that some existing methodologies employed in heritage-language research and testing, including grammaticality judgments in particular, are not appropriate for use with relevant populations. The next goal in heritage-language research is to fine-tune methodologies that work well and to establish effective testing methods for heritage language speakers. Such testing can find immediate application in the classroom, where educators can use it to screen their heritage language students and track their progress. One of the immediate needs in the education system is the establishment of a massive database on heritage students’ progress in class; acquiring such a database will necessitate the rigorous testing of heritage language re-learners before the class starts, in the middle of the term, and after the instruction is over.