Exploring views on heritage language use and bilingual acquisition: quantitative and qualitative evidence from teachers and immigrant students in the Greek context

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we present a synthesis of a series of studies, carried out by our research groups, from the Greek educational context on teachers’ and immigrant students’ views on issues of bilingual acquisition and of heritage language learning and teaching. Albeit including heterogeneous samples and employing quantitative and qualitative instruments, our data functioned in a complementary way, forming a converging ‘picture’ about the status of heritage language and immigrant students in the Greek educational context. From the total of our studies, it was revealed that both teachers and immigrant students oscillate between the opposing forces of assimilation and acceptance of the ‘other’/resistance to assimilation.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigrant students
• bilingual acquisition
• heritage language
• bilingual education policies/practices

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.