Teaching Persian to Heritage Speakers

Although Persian language instruction has been facing demand outside Iran, little research has been conducted and few findings are available on teaching Persian to heritage speakers. This work studies teaching Persian language to students with a Persian background or second-generation Persians who have been raised outside Iran. I study the characteristics of heritage Persian speakers and describe their linguistics abilities and attitudes. Heritage learners are different from both foreign learners of Persian and native speakers of Persian. This article provides an underlying foundation for the research within the field of teaching Persian to heritage Persian speakers. Providing this general sketch will hopefully draw more attention to the promotion of a stronger educational system and more research on preserving and revitalizing Persian language amongst the new generation of Iranians living abroad.