Viktoria Driagina-Hasko
 

Many Southern states have been experiencing a significant growth of immigrant population over the past decade. For example, during 2000-2006 the foreign-born population in Georgia increased by more than 48.9% (FAIR, 2008). This trend has a number of important implications for the field of language education; this paper focuses on the challenge of preserving the valuable linguistic resource that immigrant communities bring to the US: their heritage languages. Specifically, the paper addresses the adjustments (and lack of thereof) that schools systems have made in the Southern state of Georgia to develop specialized programs which would sustain and develop linguistic proficiency of heritage language learners in their native languages.
            First, the paper will offer the overview of the recent population changes in Georgia and will describe who the speakers of the heritage languages are. Second, drawing on a state-wide survey of K-12 school administrators, district supervisors, and educators, the paper will describe existing heritage language programs in Georgia, including the specifics of the linguistic curricular that have been implemented. Third, the author will discuss these programs in the light of the current research on language acquisition of heritage speakers. Specifically, she will discuss how the dynamics of second language acquisition in “true” foreign language learners is different from the linguistic development of heritage speakers; she will point out the methodological and curricular adjustments that need to be made by language educators who are accustomed to the needs of the former student population and faultily transfer the same instructional techniques to heritage language classes. The author will close by making recommendations for the curricular and methodological changes as well as changes in teacher education programs that need to take place for the effectiveness of heritage language programs to increase.