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Heritage Learners

A heritage learner is an individual who is raised in a home where a language other than English is the primary language. The student may speak, sign, or merely understand the heritage language and may be, to some degree, bilingual in English and the heritage language. A Heritage Learner may also be an individual who has been raised with a strong cultural connection to a particular ethnolinguistic group. Heritage learners may possess different abilities and levels of proficiency across communication and intercultural skills.

Resources and Instructional Supports for Heritage Learners

Explore Ohio's resources, virtual meetups, and recordings for supporting Heritage Learners.

Building Community
Writing Strategies
Reading Strategies and Free Library Resources
Heritage Learners Workshop (OSU)
UCLA: National Heritage Language Resource Center
Center For Applied Linguistics: Heritage Language Module

Multilingual Learners

Supports for multilingual learners who are classified as English Learners

General Education Resources for Diverse Learners

References

CARLA (Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition). University of Minnesota.
https://archive.carla.umn.edu/learnerlanguage/spn/ll/activity4.html.

Center for Applied Linguistics. Heritage Language Assessment Module. https://www.cal.org/flad/heritage-language-assessment-module/.

Chen, Peggy Li Hui, Deborah Pichler, Diane Lillo-Martin, and Jeffrey Palmer. Contrastive focus in American Sign Language: Evidence from prosody and syntax. University of Connecticut, 2018, https://lillomartin.linguistics.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1112/2018/09/Chen_Pichler_Lillo-Martin_Palmer_2018.pdf.

Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Spanish for Heritage Learners. The Ohio State University. https://sppo.osu.edu/undergraduate/spanish-heritage-learners.

Last Modified: 9/16/2025 9:54:00 AM