Reconceptualizing Asian Heritage Languages Education for a Plurilingual Reality: Policies, Practices, and Possibilities

• In Event: Heritage Language Education as a Civil Right: Policy and Practice in Indigenous, Latina/o, Asian American, and African American Communities

Abstract

Despite systematic exclusion from the national language policies in the U.S., Asian sub-ethnic groups have carried on their heritage languages education through community-based language schools. This presentation discusses the challenges that Asian sub-ethnic groups face in improving heritage languages education and the lack of policy support to address the plurilingual diversity among these groups in the U.S. Through a critical analysis of the socio-cultural and socio-economic consequences of the existing limited opportunities for Asian heritage languages education, this presentation calls for a realignment between federal policies, mainstream school curriculum, and community practices to maximize the full potential of becoming multilingual in a globalized society.

Author

• Guofang Li, Michigan State University