Abstract
Studies on heritage language (HL) teaching and learning have emphasized that the needs of HL learners are different from those of foreign language (FL) learners (Lynch 2003; Montrul 2016; Parodi 2008; inter alia) because an “HL by definition is neither a second nor a foreign language” (Trifonas and Aravossitas 2014, xiii). Montrul (2016, 252) summarizes the difference between HL and FL: while the former is often first learned during childhood through oral interactions with native speakers in a naturalistic setting (for example, at home), the latter, in the US context, is commonly learned afterward (around puberty or later) in the classroom, with exposure to written materials from the start. Among other differences between HL and FL learners is how they may approach grammar. According to Parodi (2008, 211), this process is the opposite for the two groups: “While foreign language students employ grammar to have access to the language, heritage speakers use the language to have access to the grammar.