Turkish Heritage Language Acquisition and Maintenance in Germany Fatih Bayram and Clare Wright Contents Introduction ....................................................................................... 2 Turkish Migration to Germany ................................................................... 3 The History of Turkish Migration to Germany ............................................... 4 Turkish Heritage Language Proficiency in Germany: Educational Impact .................. 5 The Study ......................................................................................... 9 Experimental Design .......................................................................... 9 Parental Perspectives Survey ................................................................. 14 Discussion and Conclusion ....................................................................... 16 References ........................................................................................ 18 Abstract This chapter discusses the case of Turkish as a heritage language in Germany, considering the factors affecting heritage language maintenance and education, including parental and institutional perspectives. We contextualize this within a brief review of the history of Turkish migration to Germany, highlighting the relationship between the challenging integration process experienced by many Turkish immigrants to Germany, and the social, educational, and linguistic Fatih Bayram is funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, REF: B.14.2. TBT.0.06.01-21514107-020-155999 F. Bayram (*) University of Ordu, Ordu, Turkey University of Reading, Reading, UK e-mail: fthbyrm@gmail.com C. Wright University of Reading, Reading, UK University of Leeds, Leeds, UK e-mail: c.e.m.wright@leeds.ac.uk # Springer International Publishing AG 2016 P.P. Trifonas, T. Aravossitas (eds.), Handbook of Research and Practice in Heritage Language Education, Springer International Handbooks of Education, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-38893-9_49-1 1