Heritage Language Students: A Valuable Language Resource
Russell Campbell and Joy Kreeft Peyton

In recent years, educators and researchers in the foreign language field have turned their attention to the language education of heritage language students. Often referred to as language minority students, heritage language students speak a language other than English as their first or native language, either because they were born in another country or because their families speak a language other than English at home (Campbell, 1996). Interest in this student population has been triggered by major demographic changes in this country. For example, the foreign-born population was 24.6 million in 1996, up from 19.8 million recorded in the 1990 census (Current Population Survey, 1997). Thirteen percent of the school-age population speak a language other than English at home (National Center for Education Statistics, 1997). Most heritage language speakers (43 percent) are Hispanic Americans (Spanish-speaking immigrants and Americans of Hispanic descent). This group is now the fastest growing and most diverse population group in the United States and includes Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Central and South Americans. Other heritage language groups include Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Korean Americans.

Heritage language students come from many different countries and cultural backgrounds and have varied levels of proficiency in their native language. They can be third- or fourth-generation immigrants who speak predominantly English and understand and speak only a few words and phrases in their heritage language (which they learned from their parents and grandparents) or more recent immigrants or U.S.-born students who are fluent in their heritage language but have little or no formal education in it and little or no ability to read or write it.¹ Although these students' oral vocabulary can be extensive, it may be restricted to home and community topics and may not extend to academic subjects. Their speech may also deviate considerably from the standard form of the language that is taught in school.

Until recently, little attention has been given to developing and coordinating well-designed and carefully articulated foreign language programs for heritage language students. Most foreign language courses are designed for monolingual speakers of English, who generally begin their foreign language study with no competence in the foreign language and with minimal knowledge about the people who speak it and the cultures involved. However, an increasing number of heritage language students are entering foreign language classes in K-12 programs and in colleges and universities (Valdes, 1995).

A number of school systems and postsecondary institutions have begun to address the needs of heritage language students by developing separate programs specifically designed to meet their needs. These programs are usually called Spanish for Spanish speakers, Korean for Korean speakers, and so forth. Courses in Spanish for Spanish speakers are the most prevalent, a development led by Valdes (1981) in California. Schools that are currently providing specialized instruction to heritage language speakers include Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland; Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia; the University of California at Davis and at Los Angeles; Stanford University; and New Mexico State University, which hosts a summer institute on Spanish for Spanish speakers. Chinese heritage community language schoolsCwhich usually hold sessions after school, on weekends, or during the summerCare also widespread and are an integral part of the Chinese community in many cities (Chao, 1997).

Schools face a number of challenges as they seek to provide appropriate instruction for heritage language students.² One challenge concerns assessment--determining the proficiency level and needs of individual students in order to place them in appropriate classes and to measure their progress. Needs assessments and progress assessment instruments and procedures need to be developed for all language groups. Another challenge concerns developing appropriate instruction that addresses a range of needs, including the need for age-appropriate literacy instruction for students who are orally fluent but nonliterate in their native language and the need for instruction in the standard language for students who speak a nonstandard dialect of it.³ Another challenge that schools face involves identifying and developing appropriate instructional materials. The field of Spanish for Spanish speakers leads the way, with a number of textbooks (for example, Ahora Si: Expresion Comunitaria Para Hispanohablantes, Dime, and (Ven Conmigo!) and literature from various groups (for example, Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican) available for classroom use. However, Spanish materials are still scanty, and materials in many other heritage languages taught in school are nearly nonexistent. Schools may need to add special courses for heritage language speakers to their foreign language offerings and to hire additional teachers to teach those courses. If these courses cannot be added, schools can provide special training for teachers who have heritage language speakers in their traditional foreign language classes. Finally, school staff need to be aware of, and have respect for, the heritage language dialects spoken in the school, whether or not these dialects represent the standard language traditionally valued in education and public life.

The linguistic and cultural knowledge that heritage language speakers possess is a valuable resource--both for the students themselves, as a strong base on which they can build their linguistic competence, and for this country, as the basis for developing competent professionals with high-level language skills who can work in such areas as international business, diplomacy, and academics. Preserving the language skills and cultural knowledge of heritage language students while helping the students become fully proficient in English and another language is an important educational priority in an increasingly global marketplace.

References

Ahora Si: Expresion Comunitaria Para Hispanohablantes. 1994. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Campbell, R. 1996. "New Learners and New Environments: Challenges and Opportunities." In R. C. Lafayette, ed., National Standards: A Catalyst for Reform. Lincoln-wood, IL: National Textbook Company.

Chao, T. H. 1997. "Chinese Heritage Community Language Schools in the United States." ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 409 744.

Colombi, M. C., and F. X. Alarcon. 1997. La Ensenanza de Espanol a Hispanohablantes: Praxis y Teoria. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Current Population Survey. March 1997. "The Foreign-Born Population: 1996." Current Population Reports, Series P20-494. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Dime. 1994. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.

Merino, B. J., H. T. Trueba, and F. A. Samaniego, eds. 1993. Language and Culture in Learning: Teaching Spanish to Native Speakers of Spanish. London: Falmer.

National Center for Education Statistics. 1997. The Condition of Education 1997. NCES Number 97-388. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Roca, A. 1992. "Spanish for U.S. Hispanic Bilinguals in Higher Education." ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 350 881.

Rodriguez Pino, C. September 1997. "Teaching Spanish to Native Speakers: A New Perspective in the 1990s." ERIC/CLL News Bulletin 21 (1): 4-5.

Rodriguez Pino, C., and D. Villa. 1994. "A Student-Centered Spanish-for-Native-Speakers Program: Theory, Curriculum Design, and Outcome Assessment." In C.A. Klee, ed., Faces in a Crowd: The Individual Learner in Multisection Courses. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Valdes, G. 1981. "Pedagogical Implications of Teaching Spanish to the Spanish-Speaking in the United States." In G. Valdes, A. G. Lozano, and R. Garcia-Moya, eds., Teaching Spanish to the Hispanic Bilingual: Issues, Aims and Methods. New York: Teachers College Press.

Valdes, G. 1995. "The Teaching of Minority Languages as Academic Subjects: Pedagogical and Theoretical Challenges." The Modern Language Journal 79 (iii): 299-328.

!Ven Conmigo! 1996. Austin, TX: Holt, Rhinehart, and Winston.

Notes

¹ See Campbell, 1996, and Rodriguez Pino and Villa, 1994, for descriptions of the range of proficiencies that students may have in their heritage language.

² Roca (1992) reviews these challenges, with suggestions for addressing some of them. Although she focuses on Spanish-speaking students in higher education, the challenges described apply across languages and instructional levels.

³ Rodriguez Pino (1997) describes a number of instructional activities that can develop the language abilities of heritage language speakers (see also Colombi and Alarcon, 1997; and Merino, Trueba, and Samaniego, 1993).

Russell Campbell is Professor Emeritus of the UCLA Department of Applied Linguistics and Director of the UCLA Language Resource Program. He is the author of numerous books and articles on language teaching methodology, immersion language programs, program evaluation, and heritage language education. Fluent in Spanish, he is a former teacher of Spanish and English as a foreign language. Joy Kreeft Peyton is Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in Washington, D.C. She is also Director of the National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education and Vice President of CAL. She has had many articles published on instructional strategies for language learners and is a former teacher of Spanish. She speaks Spanish fluently.

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