Editors' Foreword
Olga Kagan (UCLA) and Kathleen Dillon (UC Davis)
We are very pleased to publish this first guest-edited issue of the Heritage Language Journal, dedicated to issues of concern in Chinese heritage language teaching and learning. Sunday community schools have been teaching heritage speakers of many Chinese dialects for generations. It is relatively recently, however, that universities and K-12 public schools have realized that there is a compelling need to develop special programs, typically in Mandarin, for Chinese heritage students. This issue is the Journal’s first response to the emergence of Chinese heritage programs, and we anticipate publishing additional articles in the future as research projects continue to develop.
Hongyin Tao, Associate Professor of Chinese Language and Linguistics and Applied Linguistics and TESL at UCLA, is the guest editor of this special issue. We are immensely grateful to Hongyin for the intense and lengthy efforts that were required to bring this special issue to completion.
This guest-edited issue will be followed by three other special issues that are already in the works. One of them focuses on the connection between ESL and heritage languages (editors Linda Jensen, UCLA, and Debra Suarez, College of Notre Dame). In addition, two language-specific issues are also in preparation: Russian (edited by David Andrews, Georgetown University) and Korean (edited by Jin Sook Lee, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Sarah Shin, University of Maryland, Baltimore County).
We encourage researchers and practitioners from all disciplines and languages to contribute articles to the Journal. We also welcome suggestions for other guest-edited issues. Please contact us at sbauckus@earthlink.net.