Survey of Heritage Language Teaching at UCLA

Appendix 4: Recommendations for the maintenance and promotion of heritage languages from the 1999 Survey of Heritage Language Students

In order to promote and develop heritage language skills on campus, it is recommended that initiatives be encouraged and supported in the following areas:

  • Wider recognition of the value of heritage language skills as a major national resource, leading to wider support for projects on campus for practical, innovative schemes to promote those skills
  • Promotion, for example at orientation, of the advantages of maintaining a heritage language
  • Collaboration across Language Departments to share information, ideas and resources for developing heritage language courses, particularly related to literacy and academic language use
  • Recognition and equitable support for the efforts of teachers coping with the many levels and varied needs of heritage speakers
  • In collaboration with the Careers Center, workshops on careers to show the growing need for language skills locally, nationally and internationally as communications become increasingly globalized
  • Collaboration with the Education Abroad Program to encourage heritage language speakers to take up opportunities to develop their language skills
  • Promotion of projects which involve service learning and community service involving the use of heritage languages, such as those developed for Spanish and other languages with the Center for Educational and Experiential Learning (CEESL)
  • Support for student projects such as peer tutoring, for example through the development and promotion of special training courses for students involved in language instruction
  • Support for UCLA language teachers to collaborate with other language teachers nationally and internationally to develop techniques, materials, curriculum and standards for less commonly taught languages
  • Support for projects involving technological innovation such as computer assisted programs for less commonly taught languages.

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This survey project, conducted Fall 1999, was produced under the auspices of the Language Resource Center, by Helen Reid, in collaboration with Olga Kagan, Chairperson of the Foreign Language Resource Committee.