Language Programs

HL Weekend or Afterschool Programs

These locally run and typically nonprofit organizations offer programs that are designed for extracurricular, community-based linguistic and cultural maintenance (usually on Friday nights or Saturday mornings). They can be run by civic or religious groups or by a network of families. The main goal of these programs is to offer HL instruction and to educate children about traditional cultural values, beliefs, and practices. Some HL programs also enroll nonheritage students and adoptees who have an interest in learning the language and the culture. The organization and quality of instruction in HL programs vary according to each community. For example, some programs may receive support from their home country in the form of funding or teaching materials, and the teachers in these programs may have had previous teaching experience. As these programs are community-based initiatives, a language group with interested learners that has access to resources such as teaching materials, teaching staff, and a location to house the program may develop an HL program. The HLs taught at these programs are vast and include languages such as a variety of Chinese languages, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Marathi, Mongolian, Samoan, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Tibetan, Tongan, and Urdu. HL weekend or afterschool programs are sometimes critiqued because there is a mismatch between the teachers' and students' goals, teaching style, and content matter. Researchers note the need for a more culturally responsive pedagogy that reflects the linguistic identities for Asian American students as well as material incentives for students to continue attending HL programs, such as foreign language credits that can fulfill school requirements.

HL Tertiary Programs

These programs teach HLs at the tertiary level to heritage and nonheritage language speakers alike. To distinguish the two types of learners, these classes are often taught through dual-track programs: One track is for the language taught as an HL and the other for the language taught as a foreign language. The need for a dual-track system arose when tertiary language departments saw heightened enrollment of HL speakers in their foreign language programs and found that the needs of these learners were different from those who were learning the language as a foreign language. Students enroll in these courses for academic credit, and courses are generally taught by an instructor with an advanced degree in the language or pedagogy. Because these language courses operate within the contexts of a university or college setting, funding becomes an issue when it comes to which languages are taught. As such, critical languages, or those deemed instrumental to the United States' economic and defense interests (for example, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, and Mandarin) are most likely to be taught at the tertiary level, while other languages that may be widely spoken in various communities (for example, Cantonese, Korean, and Tagalog) might be localized to only certain tertiary institutions.

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