Luce Pathways Project: A Pilot Project for Heritage Language Speakers of Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Japanese

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article describes the development process of a project for heritage language speakers of Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Japanese at a high-enrollment community college in the northeast United States. This pilot project, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation, aimed to empower minority group students through active reinforcement of students’ heritage language and culture, crossdisciplinary faculty collaboration, and a cohort-based advisement model. The pilot project consisted of mentorship by faculty members who shared the same heritage language and culture, incorporation of heritage language and international business courses into students’ curricula, and weekly seminars that focused on developing students’ heritage culture and professional skills. A cohort of nine students demonstrated that such a model is effective for minority students by achieving a remarkably high completion rate (66.67%) compared with an average rate for public 2-year institutions in the United States (21.20%).