This edited volume brings together research presented at the Advances in Second/Foreign Language Acquisition: Heritage Language Acquisition and Learning international conference, held at the University of Nicosia in 2025. The collection explores heritage languages, multilingualism, identity, and cultural belonging, showing how language practices are shaped by intergenerational transmission, language ideologies, educational policies, and sociopolitical engagement across global contexts. The chapters examine migrant and diasporic communities, minoritised and indigenous languages, and classroom practice. Contributions address Greek, Filipino, and Chinese heritage languages in Europe and North America, Pomak-speaking children in Greece, endangered indigenous languages in Mexico, and culturally responsive, multilingual approaches such as project-based learning and game-based instruction. Foregrounding speakers and learners who move between languages and cultures, the volume offers insights for researchers, educators, and policymakers in sociolinguistics, heritage language education, multilingual education, and second and foreign language learning.

Aretousa Giannakou is Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages and Literature at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Cambridge, UK and has extensive experience teaching Greek as a heritage language in Chile and the UK. Her research focuses on comparative syntax, second language acquisition, bilingualism, heritage languages, language contact, migration and its linguistic dimensions, applied linguistics, and intercultural education.

Christine Savvidou is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the PhD TESOL programme at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. She holds a doctorate in Teacher Education from the University of Nottingham, UK. Her work examines TESOL, second language teacher education, teacher professional development, professional knowledge and identity, and the pedagogical and ethical implications of generative AI.

Georgios P. Georgiou is Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Associate Head of the Department of Languages and Literature, and Director of the Phonetic Lab at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. His research spans phonetics, phonology, speech and language acquisition, communication disorders, machine learning, and AI. He has authored more than 90 publications, presented at over 100 conferences, secured grants, and received the Cyprus Research Award, Young Researcher 2023, in Humanities and Social Sciences.