Heritage Language Education and Learner Identity

Heritage language education encompasses the teaching and learning of a community’s ancestral tongue, often maintained within family or community settings yet under-resourced within mainstream curricula. Central to this field is the concept of learner identity, which refers to how individuals perceive themselves as users and inheritors of their heritage tongue, negotiating cultural belonging, linguistic competence and social recognition. Learner identity in these contexts emerges through interactions among personal narratives, family ideologies, institutional practices and broader power relations. Research demonstrates that spaces which legitimise the heritage language—such as dual-language programmes, community schools and culturally attuned classrooms—foster positive identity construction and sustain intergenerational transmission. Conversely, experiences of marginalisation, linguistic insecurity or commodification of the heritage tongue can disrupt identity formation and lead to attrition. The global significance of heritage language education is evident in multilingual societies where diasporic communities seek both integration and cultural preservation. Pedagogical implications extend from curriculum design that validates diverse language varieties to teacher training that cultivates critical awareness of sociolinguistic equity. By foregrounding learner identity, educators and policymakers can develop practices that empower heritage speakers, promote biliteracy and strengthen cultural resilience across generations.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Heritage Language Education and Learner Identity publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in heritage language education and learner identity across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Heritage language (HL): A language spoken by a community through familial or ancestral transmission, distinct from the dominant societal language.

Heritage speaker (HS): An individual raised in a home where a non-majority language is spoken, possessing varying degrees of proficiency.

HL identity development: The ongoing process by which heritage speakers construct their self-concepts in relation to their ancestral tongue and cultural heritage.

Dual-language bilingual education: An instructional model that provides balanced literacy and language instruction in both a heritage language and a societal language.

Transformative positive psychology: An approach that emphasises emotional well-being and resilience within critical and social justice frameworks.

References

1. Heritage language identity matters: Tracing the trajectory of a Chinese heritage mother and contested Chinese dual language bilingual education. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching (2024).
2. Different Trajectories of Heritage Language Identity Development through Short-Term Study Abroad Programs: The Case of Chinese Heritage Learners. Sustainability (2023).
3. Realities of comfort and discomfort in the heritage language classroom: Looking to transformative positive psychology for juggling a double‐edged sword. Modern Language Journal (2024).