“Their Greek goes to waste”: Understanding Greek heritage language teachers’ language ideologies and instructional practices

Abstract

Framed within critical poststructuralist sociolinguistics, this narrative study sheds light on the language ideologies and practices of eight Greek heritage language (HL) teachers in Greek schools in Montreal and Toronto. Examining the teachers’ ideologies and practices is important, as they can either engage or alienate HL learners. Engaging HL learners is significant, because for many of them the Greek school is their only opportunity to use the language. Language portraits, written tasks, and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data, which were then analyzed narratively and thematically. The findings suggest that the teachers’ attitudes towards students and practices are largely shaped by their monolingual ideologies. The need for targeted teacher training is highlighted, to ensure that HL teachers are equipped to accommodate all their students’ needs.