Introduction

The focus on heritage learners in second language acquisition studies is a relatively recent development (e.g., Brinton, Kagan and Bauckus 2008). There is a significant distinction between heritage and foreign language acquisition – the former beginning at home, while the latter takes place in a classroom (UCLA Steering Committee 2000, 339). The establishment of heritage language education as a valid and distinct research field at the turn of the twenty-first century was a landmark event in second language acquisition and foreign language education (Valdés 1995; Peyton et al. 2001; Kagan and Dillon 2001; Lynch 2003). Heritage language studies provide a crucial link between second language acquisition and bilingual education by focusing research attention on the nature of language acquisition by both children and adults; on the revival of the mother tongue; on the unique characteristics of heritage speakers; and the challenges their bilingualism poses for language instruction (Krashen 1998; Andrews 1999; Campbell and Rosenthal 2000; Valdés 2001, 2006; Douglas 2005; Hornberger and Wang 2008; Brinton 2008). Today, heritage Russian speakers constitute a diverse growing population in American and European language classes, which makes Russian an important part of heritage language studies (Brecht and Ingold 1998; Andrews 2000; Zemskaya 2001; Polinsky 2000, 2004, 2006; Polinsky and Kagan 2007; Kagan 2008; Davidson 2010).

The term heritage speaker or heritage learner, though relatively recent, is becoming more widely used since its first appearance in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (ACTFL 1996).