Proximity to Heritageness: Tensions From Research and Practice

ABSTRACT This conceptual paper explores the construct of heritage speakers drawn from our work as dual language teachers and scholars. Prompted by teacher talk in a National Professional Development project, we examine how heritage speaker is taken up in practice and shaped by ideological binaries like native speaker and heritage speaker. We draw on historical and conceptual framings to situate the heritage speaker construct, identifying three key tensions: (1) temporality; (2) identification/naming processes; and (3) assessment. Our future research commits to building upon this conceptual grounding to inform how teachers and students navigate these labels across time and varied schooling contexts.