Volume: 8  Number: 2&3  Page: 188–195

Innovative Language Education Programmes for Heritage Language Students: The Special Case of Puerto Ricans?

G. Richard Tucker Department of Modern Languages, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

In this paper, I discuss current interest in educational reform in Puerto Rico, the need for better and more appropriate assessment tools, the growing realisation in the USA that two-way bilingual programmes can provide an effective vehicle for fostering the development of bilingual proficiency, bicultural competence and subject-matter knowledge for heritage language students; and the possible confluence and implications of these three threads of work for the education of Puerto Rican children who participate in the so-called ‘migrant stream’ moving regularly between the island and the mainland. The paper concludes with the listing of a number of prospective research questions that might form the basis for a set of planned-variation studies to examine diverse factors associated with improving the quality of language teaching and learning in Puerto Rico.

Keywords: Puerto Rican, migrant, heritage, education, proficiency, achievement

© 2005 G.R. Tucker

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