Immigrant Communities' Engagement in Reclaiming Bilingual Education in the United States

Abstract

This study reviews the empirical studies on community-based heritage language (HL) schools to understand their unique roles in immigrant students' bilingualism and biliteracy. The findings highlighted that community-based HL schools provided literacy education and language socialization opportunities. It was also evident that engagement and participation in HL schools contributed to immigrant students' ethnic identity and HL proficiency. HL schools encountered several challenges in motivating immigrant in a monolingual oriented society. Finally, this study urges educators to collaborate with HL schools to enrich immigrant students' learning and to acknowledge heritage language schools as complementary education.