ABSTRACT
Long before the recent developments in research that focus on and promote Heritage Languages (HLs), HL learning took place in communities throughout the United States in multiple formal and informal settings (Fishman, 2001; Kloss, 1998). HL education was usually sponsored and sustained by immigrant and expatriate communities, and sometimes extended into the public and private school systems in the form of bilingual, dual language, or immersion programs. In most cases, these immigrant communities were cut off from their countries of origin, often having migrated for political or economic reasons. With a few notable exceptions, they received little or no support from their former national governments in these efforts to maintain their languages. In addition, governmental support for HL learning in the United States has experienced ebbs and flows, from extensive support for German in schools prior to World War I, for example, to more recent laws rendering bilingual education illegal in some states.
