The Challenges of Maintaining Farsi as a Heritage Language in an Iranian Diaspora Community in Canada

Research suggests that immigrants’ heritage languages need to be maintained to facilitate ethnic identity construction (Babaee, 2010), educational achievement (Cummins, 2001) and familial relationships (Wong Fillmore, 1991) for immigrant children. Heritage language maintenance (HLM) refers to the ability to use one’s ancestral language in a bilingual or multilingual context (Richards, Platt & Platt, 1992). Previous studies on heritage language maintenance in Iranian Diaspora communities tend to focus on the degree to which Farsi has been maintained (Modarresi, 2001; Najafi, 2009; Namei, 2012; Sohrabi, 1997) without investigating potential challenges Iranian immigrants might face in maintaining or transmitting Farsi. Moreover, such studies lack educational implications to facilitate maintaining Farsi for Iranian children. To bridge these gaps, this study attempts to examine a HL program at a Farsi community school in a major city in Canada. Data, drawn from a larger, ongoing critical case study on HLM in an Iranian community in Canada, include semester-long classroom observations, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with five students, five parents and five HL teachers, and reflective notes on the interviews and observations. Educational challenges faced by the students, parents and teachers include community school’s time (Saturdays), teacher-centered classes, a traditional teaching style, de-contextualized literacy materials and conflicting ideologies transmitted through textbooks. Conclusion follows and recommendations for HL teachers and materials developers to improve HL programs are offered in the end.