Book Review

Heritage language (HL) education has a long history, but research on heritage language education is a relatively new field. It is rising as a ‘hot topic,’ and becoming a sub-discipline in foreign language education and applied linguistics. It is no surprise that many HL studies focus on the applied aspect, or language instruction and acquisition. For these studies, research subjects, or ‘heritage language learners (HLLs),’ are usually defined objectively as learners who acquired competency of a non-dominant language in their society mainly through interaction with foreign-born parents and other family members. However, as the authors of this volume point out, “the heritage language learner is often defined without critical discussion of what it means . . .” (p. 7) and a more theoretically sound definition is needed. In contrast to many other HL studies that treat the HLL as an agreed-upon category of individuals, Constructing the Heritage Language Learner argues that it is a constructed notion whose meaning is contested and negotiated by researchers, school administrators, teachers, and the students themselves. The label ‘HLL’ does not objectively exist; rather, it is an identity on which individuals ponder and use to (re)define who they are by relating themselves to others, school programs, communities, and homelands.