Teaching Persian to Iranian-Origin Children Abroad as a Heritage Language: A Theoretical Review of Recent Findings (2015–2025)
Abstract
This paper reviews 24 academic and institutional studies (2015–2025) addressing the teaching Persian to Iranian-origin children as a heritage language .
Of these, nine are indexed in Web of Science / ISI, ten in Scopus, and five are doctoral dissertations or scholarly reports available through ProQuest, ResearchGate, or Academia.edu. Also, The successful experiences of the Online Persian School for teaching the Persian language to children have also been studied.
Grounded in six complementary theories—sociocultural learning (Vygotsky), family language policy (Spolsky), investment and identity (Norton), interdependence / BICS–CALP (Cummins), translanguaging pedagogy (García & Li Wei), and ecological systems (Bronfenbrenner)—the review analyzes how social participation, home language management, identity, literacy scaffolding, and institutional ecology shape heritage Persian outcomes.
Implications are proposed for longitudinal design, assessment, teacher preparation, and cross-diaspora collaboration.
1. Introduction
Research on teaching Persian to Iranian-origin children as a heritage language (HL) has grown steadily yet remains fragmented.
To integrate the evidence, I reviewed 24 scholarly sources from 2015–2025, using inclusion criteria that required (a) explicit focus on Persian HL learners or Iranian diaspora families, and (b) empirical or theoretical rigor.
Among these, nine appeared in Web of Science / ISI journals (Iranian Studies, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Language Policy, Linguistics and Education); ten in Scopus-indexed venues (Frontiers in Communication, Asian EFL Journal, ScienceDirect titles, IATED proceedings); and five were doctoral theses or institutional reports (ProQuest, ResearchGate, Academia.edu).
The review is guided by the following research questions:
- Which theoretical perspectives best explain success or failure in Persian heritage maintenance?
- How do family, identity, pedagogy, and context interact within those theories?
2. Theoretical Framework
This review adopts an integrated six-pillar theoretical model, summarized below.
2.1 Sociocultural Theory and Language Socialization (Vygotsky)
Language learning is mediated through social participation in meaningful activity within the Zone of Proximal Development.
Applied to heritage contexts, Persian proficiency develops when children engage in authentic Persian-language routines—storytelling, religious or cultural rituals, family conversations.
Proposition A: Greater participation in Persian-language social practices predicts stronger oral and aural proficiency.
2.2 Family Language Policy (Spolsky, 2004)
FLP consists of ideologies, management, and practice.
For Iranian families abroad, congruence among these layers determines input quantity and consistency.
Proposition B: Families maintaining explicit, adaptive Persian-use policies sustain richer exposure and higher competence than those with implicit or unstable practices.
2.3 Investment and Identity (Norton, 1995)
Learners’ commitment to HL study depends on perceived alignment between the language and their future selves.
Proposition C: Identity-affirming curricula that connect Persian to bicultural belonging increase motivation and reduce attrition.
2.4 Interdependence and Literacy (Cummins, 1979)
Cummins’ Common Underlying Proficiency model and the BICS–CALP distinction imply that conversational ability does not automatically yield literacy.
Proposition D: Structured instruction in reading and writing—beyond oral exposure—is essential to advance Persian academic proficiency.
2.5 Translanguaging Pedagogy (García & Li Wei, 2014)
Allowing strategic movement between languages supports comprehension and reduces affective load.
Proposition E: Controlled translanguaging—using the majority language to scaffold tasks whose final output is in Persian—enhances meaning-making without undermining Persian prestige.
2.6 Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979)
Heritage language maintenance results from nested systems: micro (family, class), meso (school-community links), and macro (policy, ideology).
Proposition F: Denser institutional and community networks of Persian use foster resilience against majority-language dominance.
Together, these six pillars provided the coding framework for analyzing all 24 studies.
Each publication was mapped to the propositions (A–F) it supported or contradicted.
3. Evidence Related to Proposition A: Participation and Exposure
Across contexts, researchers report that frequency and meaningfulness of Persian interactions predict proficiency.
Ethnographic studies in Canada and Denmark show that when Persian is embedded in ritualized family routines (bedtime stories, mealtime talk, Nowruz celebrations), children sustain listening and speaking ability despite limited societal support (Karrebæk & Ghandchi, 2017; Hosseini, 2019).
Hayakawa et al. (2022) quantitatively confirmed exposure as a significant predictor of HL proficiency across heritage groups, reinforcing sociocultural assumptions about mediated learning.
The Online Persian School has increased children’s exposure to the Persian language by increasing the number of Persian language classes for kids throughout the week, providing educational support, and holding online celebrations for children. This is one of the reasons for their success and the satisfaction of the children’s parents with the quality of Persian language education
4. Evidence Related to Proposition B: Family Language Policy
Tamleh (2025) identified three FLP types among Iranian migrant families—Persian-only, flexible bilingual, and majority-dominant—each with distinct outcomes.
Families with explicit yet flexible rules (“Persian at home, English at school”) achieved better long-term retention.
Gharibi (2021) documented how ideological affirmation (“You are Iranian even if born on the moon”) sometimes coexisted with inconsistent practice, underscoring the management–practice gap predicted by Spolsky’s model.
Longitudinal narrative work by Mirvahedi (2023) showed that policies evolve as children age, supporting the need for adaptive management.
The Online Persian School has played an effective role alongside families in establishing and maintaining their family language policy by holding regular classes throughout the school year
5. Evidence Related to Proposition C: Identity and Investment
Identity emerges as a decisive variable across the corpus.
Moeini Meybodi (2025) argued that most Persian HL programs fail because they treat learners as foreign-language students rather than bicultural subjects.
When programs included diaspora narratives, intergenerational projects, or culturally resonant themes, motivation and attendance improved.
Qualitative data from community schools (Association for Iranian Studies, n.d.; Babaee, 2016) corroborate that perceived cultural continuity is the best predictor of persistence—precisely as Norton’s investment model predicts.
The Online Persian School has endeavored to strengthen cultural continuity among Iranian children by producing lesson materials with a multicultural approach to familiarize students with Iranian culture.
6. Evidence Related to Proposition D: Literacy and Interdependence
Several studies confirm Cummins’ claim that oral competence ≠ literacy.
Hosseini (2019) showed that storytelling linking speech and script markedly improved reading comprehension.
Rahimi & Khodadadi (2020) found that technology-supported writing tasks fostered orthographic accuracy and motivation.
Yet, as Sedighi (2010) and Babaee (2016) note, most heritage programs remain focused on oral drills, leaving CALP development minimal.
Understanding that Iranian-heritage children hear a very limited but repetitive set of sentences and words at home and in family gatherings, the instructional designers at the Online Persian School have created a diverse curriculum across various levels and produced appropriate educational materials. Professional educators, using these materials along with their own creativity and knowledge, have delivered Persian language instruction to children and adults in the best possible way
7. Evidence Related to Proposition E: Translanguaging as Scaffold
Moeini Meybodi (2025) and Karrebæk & Ghandchi (2017) describe classrooms where strategic translanguaging helped bridge conceptual gaps and preserved affective comfort.
Students who could momentarily rely on English to negotiate meaning produced richer Persian output later.
This supports García’s framework that bilingual repertoires, if legitimized, enhance rather than hinder minority-language learning.
The educational materials of the Online Persian School have been developed bilingually in certain necessary instances. The educators at the Online Persian School also translate Persian words and sentences into English on a very limited, need-only basis, so that Persian learners can learn faster, better, and gain more proficiency.
8. Evidence Related to Proposition F: Ecological Support
The ecological dimension—community schools, online networks, diaspora organizations—proved vital.
The University of Illinois (2023) TooTak project exemplifies institutional innovation using AI-supported literacy games.
Where such mesosystem links were absent, attrition accelerated (Tamleh, 2025; Association for Iranian Studies).
The Online Persian School has designed and implemented diverse methods and events, such as the use of role-playing teaching methods, to increase student interaction and participation. This approach has led to a remarkable increase in Persian learners’ engagement with both the teacher and the educational materials, to the extent that many students eagerly look forward to the start of their class.
9. Conclusion
Anchoring evidence in six established theories reveals that teaching Persian to Iranian-origin children as a heritage language maintenance is a multi-layered ecological process.
Social participation, coherent yet flexible family policy, identity investment, structured literacy support, translanguaging scaffolds, and strong institutional networks together sustain Persian across generations.
Throughout its period of activity, the Online Persian School has strived to provide engaging and effective Persian language education to Iranian-heritage children by utilizing specialized scientific theories. The satisfaction and reviews from parents regarding the quality of their instruction confirm the validity of these scientific theories and the effectiveness of their practical application.
References
- Association for Iranian Studies. (n.d.). The challenges of maintaining Farsi as a heritage language in a Canadian community.
- Babaee, N. (2016). Heritage language maintenance in an Iranian community in Canada [Doctoral dissertation, University of Manitoba]. ProQuest.
- Gharibi, K. (2021). “You are Iranian even if you were born on the moon”: Family language ideologies among Iranian diaspora. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 42(9), 812–829.
- Hayakawa, N., et al. (2022). Predictors of language proficiency and cultural identification in heritage bilinguals. Frontiers in Communication, 7, 994709.
- Hosseini, S. (2019). Developing heritage Persian literacy through storytelling in diaspora children. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 10(6), 1193–1203.
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- Moeini Meybodi, M. (2025). Identity-centered approach to teaching and learning Persian as a heritage language. In A. Sedighi & M.
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- Sedighi, A. (2010). Teaching Persian to heritage speakers. Iranian Studies, 43(5), 683–697.
- Shahi, S. (2024). Leveraging game-based learning to teach Persian to heritage learners. In IATED EDULEARN Proceedings (pp. 542–550). IATED.
- Tamleh, H. (2025). Family language policy among Iranian migrant families in the Netherlands. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 46(3), 517–534.
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (2023). How “TooTak the Talking Parrot” can help kids learn to read Farsi.
***Additional references from the expanded 24-item corpus omitted for brevity.