This paper reports on the development and piloting of an adaptive, online placement exam that will be administered to L2 and heritage learners of Spanish at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Particular attention is given to the structure of the exam and the linguistic strategies employed to distinguish heritage speakers from L2 learners.…

This special issue of the "Heritage Language Journal", guest edited by Silvina Montrul, unites four papers on different aspects of heritage Spanish speakers' linguistic abilities. In this commentary, we reexamine these important contributions with an eye toward implications for instruction and toward general trends for the field. In particular, we…

The current study compared the effects of two second language (L2) instruction types--processing instruction (VanPatten, 2004) and traditional output-based instruction--on the development of the Spanish past subjunctive among U.S. Spanish heritage language speakers and traditional L2 learners. After exposure to instruction, both the heritage…

Describes a model of inservice Spanish for native Speakers (SNS) teacher training called Heritage Language Teacher Corps offered through a collaboration between the university teachers in accordance with several f the necessary teacher competencies for teaching SNS outlined by the American Association of Speakers of Spanish and Portuguese. (VWL)

Discusses heritage language students enrolled in Spanish as a foreign language courses. Students and teaching assistants answered questionnaires about course experiences and decisions. Results illustrate student perceptions about their level of expertise in Spanish, the advantages and disadvantages of having heritage fluency in a class of native…