ENGLISH-ONLY LANGUAGE POLICY ANALYSIS

Untitled Slide

LANGUAGE LEARNERS

• 3 out of every 4 public schools in the nation
• 9% of all public school students in the nation, 8.3% in Minnesota
• Program deficits a national concern

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

• BICS 2-3 years
• CALP 6-10 years
• Interdependence Theory
• Bilingual Education

FEDERAL LANGUAGE POLICY

• Title VII of the Bilingual Education Act (BEA)
• Lau v. Nichols (1974)
• Equal Education Opportunity Act
• Castañeda v. Pickard (1981)
• NCLB - Data, Testing, Bilingual

ENGLISH-ONLY LAWS

• Ron Unz - Initiative Process
• California - Proposition 227
• Arizona- Proposition 203
• Massachusetts - Question 2

DATA

• SEI - No growth, skewed data
• Psychological affects
• School successes - positive, additive environments

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Reevaluate policies with data that is considered credible by top researchers
• Look at Longitudinal data
• Policy-makers need to look at data in an ethical, valid manner

"Other languages coexisted with English in the colonies with notable exceptions. Enslaved African Americans were prohibited from using their native tongue for fear it would facilitate resistance or rebellion...thus the very first formal language policies were restrictive with the explicit purpose of promoting social control." (Wiley & Wright, 2004, p. 144)


"English-only policies "...are rooted in policies that have been used to exert social control via language to produce subordination or assimilation..."
(Wiley & Wright, 2004, p. 145)

References
Brisk, Burgos, & Hamerla, 2004
Castañeda & Pickard, 1981
Cordoso, Coggins, & Smith, 2008
Collier & Thomas, 1997
Cummings, 1979
Krashen & McField, 2005
Heineke, 2015
Lau v. Nichols, 1974
Parish et al., 2006
Tijeria Revilla & Asato, 2002
United States Department of Education, 2013