Heritage language development and identity construction throughout the life cycle

The objectives of this chapter are twofold: to argue for an identity-centered, composite-lifespan approach to heritage language (HL) research and to showcase a specific study that gives prominence to the connected and collective meanings of life histories. I begin with the need for an identity-centered approach to examine HL development, then assess the benefits and shortcomings of a life-history-based narrative approach to understand identity formation and transformation and finally use my own research on Chinese as a heritage language (CHL) as an example to illustrate a methodology that entails multiple sites, perspectives, data types, and time scales. Given the multiplicity and complexity of these factors, I argue that issues associated with learner identity are no longer confined to national borders or ethnic barriers in the context of immigration and globalization.