Heritage language learners of English: Linguistic gaps and cognitive strengths.

Purpose: This study examined whether Heritage Language Learners (HLLs) of English display profile effects in their performance on knowledge- and processing-dependent measures relative to the standardised mean scores of monolingual speakers. The study also investigated the influence of several experiential factors on HLL performance.

Method: Participants were 59 Arabic-speaking HLLs from six to nine years old.