Teacher development and national standards for Spanish as a heritage language

Given the increasing presence of heritage speakers at both the high school and postsecondary levels, greater numbers of preservice and in-service Spanish teachers need exposure to Spanish for native speakers (SNS) issues. This is because well-structured SNS courses should look more like native language arts courses than like Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) courses. Therefore, traditional foreign language methodology courses are insufficient to prepare teachers to work with heritage-speaking populations. In addition to offering considerations for national standards in SNS teaching, the authors suggest coursework components designed to prepare teachers to work more effectively with SNS students.