Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage Language Students: Curriculum Needs, Materials, and Assessment

Abstract

Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage Language Students: Curriculum Needs, Materials, and Assessment, edited by Kimi Kondo-Brown and James Dean Brown, is a collection of empirical research on Japanese, Korean, and Chinese heritage language (HL) education. To contextualize the research, the editors define HL learners as individuals “who have acquired their cultural and linguistic competence in a nondominant language primarily through contact at home with foreign-born parents and/or other family members” (p. 3). The book covers important and timely issues, such as the two-track system of heritage and non-heritage language (NHL) learners, the assessment of HL proficiency, and the intricacies of HL curriculum design, currently under contemplation in the field of HL education. The wide array of articles collected in this publication will interest researchers, policy makers, curriculum writers, teacher educators, and teacher trainees at all levels. Prior publications on HL education have been predominately based on Spanish as an HL and do not directly address matters that are unique to East Asian HL education. This volume provides HL educators of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese a much-needed resource that speaks to their unique experience and needs.