Fifteenth Heritage Language Research Institute
Heritage speakers as real-world bilinguals
Monday, June 10, 2024 to Thursday, June 13, 2024
(Pacific Time)
Institute Director: Maria Polinsky (University of Maryland)
Institute Organizers:
- Gregory Scontras (University of California, Irvine)
- Julio Torres (University of California, Irvine)
The Heritage Language Research Institute serves as a venue that brings together researchers, practitioners, and graduate students fostering the presentation and discussion of current developments in the field of heritage language studies. The Institute returns for its fifteenth installment, this time at the University of California, Irvine, a campus well-known for its commitment to studies of bilingualism. Starting from the observation that many instances of bilingualism involve heritage speakers, our Institute will place special focus on broader real-world bi/multilingual contexts within which such speakers operate. This focus will allow us to transcend the more familiar academic settings in which research on heritage speakers is often conducted. By integrating research, targeted pedagogical recommendations, and issues of language policy and social justice, the Institute will serve as a bridge between different viewpoints on heritage bilingualism. Researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in fields that focus on or engage with (heritage) bi/multilingualism—regardless of theoretical, methodological, pedagogical, or disciplinary perspective—are especially encouraged to attend and participate in the dialogue.