‘Mentor, friend, teacher, and learner’: The beauty, opportunities, and challenges of heritage speakers as heritage language educators

Abstract The last decade has seen an increased interest in heritage language education (HLE), yet only limited work is guided by in-group scholars and community members who themselves identify as heritage speakers (i.e. individuals with family connections to a non-English language). The present study addresses a lack of in-group representation in the research by investigating current barriers and opportunities in HLE through semi-structured narrative interviews with eight in-group HS educators from five different heritage language backgrounds. A thematic analysis of qualitative findings uncovered a multitude of common and critical issues experienced by HS educators, including the benefits and hardships of sharing a sociolinguistic background with HL students and the emotional roller coaster of teaching a personal HL. Findings also outline numerous needs specific to this community of educators, such as increased in-group representation in the field and greater support for social-emotional and professional success and well-being. Results suggest a number of institutional implications to empower current HS educators and encourage a pipeline from HL student to HL teacher for individuals from minoritized language backgrounds.