Caught in a Time Warp: The Education Rights of English Language Learners (original) (raw)
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Enlarging the pie: another look at bilingualism and schooling in the US
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2002
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This essay explores the interconnections among language, identity, and schooling as they relate to the right of linguistic minority children to a “meaningful” education. In doing so, it uses contrasting discourses on multilingualism and multiculturalism in the United States and Western Europe as a framework for examining how history and politics have shaped attitudes on immigrants and their languages and how the current political rhetoric at times defies the reality of education policies. It begins with the United States, where the argument for preserving immigrant languages in the schools enjoys diminishing political and legal support despite widespread embrace of an unofficial “multiculturalism lite” in a society that prides itself on its diverse immigrant roots. By way of contrast, the essay discusses Western European nations where most notably the European Commission and the Council on Europe officially promote multilingualism (in certain “national” languages) in the interests o...
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International Journal of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education, 2012
This article discusses ramifications of the Census 2010 reports, a substantial increase in languageminority populations, and an atmosphere of mistrust towards bilingual and bidialectal people felt by mainstream society in America. It also examines the process of assimilation, immersion, and silencing of immigrant/minority cultures, resulting in the loss of their identity. The pejorative effects of this can be observed in the lower selfesteem, lower grades and continuing school dropout rates of languageminority children today. By looking at models of bilingual or multilingual countries, the article also highlights that lawmakers and communities recognize the cultural histories of bilingual/multilingual learners and acknowledge the benefits of bilingualism. It goes on to recommend ways to increase the marketability of future American citizens, both monolingual and bilingual, in an era of globalization and plurality of the English language.
… of the National Society for the …, 2010
Educational policies for English language learners (ELLs) tend to focus on English language acquisition. In this chapter, we argue that educators need to give more attention to the development of bilingualism and biliteracy to draw upon the tremendous intellectual, linguistic, and cultural resources that bilingual children bring to our schools. Bilingual education programs have the potential to develop language resources of multilingual immigrant students and ELLs that are otherwise neglected in monolingual English programs. In their call for a new educational policy agenda to meet the needs of immigrant students, C. Suárez-Orozco and argued that all students of the 21st century should be able to function in multiple languages. They recommended that the new administration "urge more schools to implement dual-language programs that, when well designed and managed, produce excellent results to prepare competent bilingual speakers, immigrant and native alike" (C.
Immigration, Language, and Education: How Does Language Policy Structure Opportunity?
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education
Background/Context According to U.S. Census figures, 11 million elementary and secondary students of immigrant families were enrolled in the public schools in October 2005, representing 20% of all students, and this figure is expected to grow in the coming years. Most of these students enter school as English learners (ELs), and most ELs have exceptionally low performance on measures of academic achievement and attainment. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This article examines how language policy in the United States has shaped educational opportunities and outcomes for the nation's immigrant students. First, we examine the role of federal policy in shaping these students’ educational opportunities, showing how the changing political landscape in Washington has resulted in inconsistencies in funding and direction for states attempting to serve EL students. Then we focus on how two states with high concentrations of ELs— California and Texas—have responded to th...
Bilingual education in an immigrant community: Proposition 227 in California
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Drawing from multiple data sources (observations, interviews, and focus groups) collected during two ethnographic studies in a Latino immigrant community in Los Angeles, California, we analyse community members' perspectives on bilingualism and language uses -views that have been largely neglected in recent policy debates about bilingual education. We explore parents' and children's talk about language; both emphasised the importance of English, but for very different reasons. Parents focused on their children's language learning as a measure of their academic progress, and a tool for future opportunities; children treated language as a tool for signalling particular kinds of identities, and especially to present themselves as 'American'. We situate these views within the social context and historical moment: a time when many immigrant families lead transnational lives, actively negotiating across linguistic as well as national borders; and a time in which bilingual education has come under intense attack in the state.
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Exploring the complex relationship between language and immigration in the United States, this timely book challenges mainstream, historically established assumptions about American citizenship and identity. Set within both a historical and current political context, this book covers hotly debated topics such as language and ethnicity, the relationship between non-native English and American identity, perceptions and stereotypes related to foreign accents, code-switching, hybrid language forms such as Spanglish, language and the family, and the future of language in America. Work from linguistics, education policy, history, sociology, and politics is brought together to provide an accessible overview of the key issues. Through specific examples and case studies, immigrant America is presented as a diverse, multilingual, and multidimensional space in which identities are often hybridized and always multifaceted.