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Author: Barry R. Chiswick Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
This paper analyzes the determinants of English language fluency among adult foreign-born men and women in the United States. It shows that fluency rates are higher among those for whom the benefits of English language fluency are greater and the costs are lower. The data are from the PUMS file of the 1990 Census of Population and a set of variables added to the Census file. The latter variables include a minority language concentration measure, an index of linguistic distance between English and the origin language, the geographic distance from the origin to the U.S., the return migration rate from the U.S., and a measure of the extent of foreign language media (i.e., the number of radio stations in Spanish). The language model is based on the integrating of migration theory and human capital theory. The conceptual variables (exposure, efficiency and economic variables) are converted into empirically measurable variables. It is shown that the model is very robust. In particular, fluency rates are higher for those with more schooling, who immigrated at a younger age, who lived in the U.S. a longer period of time, who live in areas with fewer origin language speakers, and, among women, who have fewer and younger children. Fluency rates are also higher for those with less access to origin language media, with a lower probability of returning to the origin, whose country of origin is geographically further from the U.S., and whose origin language is linguistically closer to English.
Author: Barry R. Chiswick Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
This paper analyzes the determinants of English language fluency among adult foreign-born men and women in the United States. It shows that fluency rates are higher among those for whom the benefits of English language fluency are greater and the costs are lower. The data are from the PUMS file of the 1990 Census of Population and a set of variables added to the Census file. The latter variables include a minority language concentration measure, an index of linguistic distance between English and the origin language, the geographic distance from the origin to the U.S., the return migration rate from the U.S., and a measure of the extent of foreign language media (i.e., the number of radio stations in Spanish). The language model is based on the integrating of migration theory and human capital theory. The conceptual variables (exposure, efficiency and economic variables) are converted into empirically measurable variables. It is shown that the model is very robust. In particular, fluency rates are higher for those with more schooling, who immigrated at a younger age, who lived in the U.S. a longer period of time, who live in areas with fewer origin language speakers, and, among women, who have fewer and younger children. Fluency rates are also higher for those with less access to origin language media, with a lower probability of returning to the origin, whose country of origin is geographically further from the U.S., and whose origin language is linguistically closer to English.
Author: Terrence Wiley Publisher: Multilingual Matters ISBN: 1847693806 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 325
Book Description
The Education of Language Minority Immigrants in the United States draws from quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to inform educational policy and practice. It is based on cutting-edge research and policy analyses from a number of well-known experts on immigrant language minority education in the USA. The collection includes contributions on the acquisition of English, language shift, the maintenance of heritage languages, prospects for long-term educational achievement, how family background, economic status, and gender and identity influence academic adjustment and achievement, challenges for appropriate language testing and placement, and examples of advocacy action research. It concludes with a thoughtful commentary aimed at broadening our understanding of the need to provide quality immigrant language minority education within the context of globalization. This collection will be of value to students and researchers interested in promoting educational equity and achievement for immigrant language minority students.
Author: Gregory Cunningham Publisher: ISBN: Category : English language Languages : en Pages : 164
Book Description
"The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship between English language proficiency among immigrants to the United States an the level of their engagement i public life. As Parker (1996) notes, American democracy has changed over the years as the number and typ of groups to whom citizenship has been extended has increased. Immigrants have changed and continue to change the face of the nation, forcing a reexamination of our definition of democracy (Torres, 1998). While the United States has no official language, English has become the "glue" that has unified many disparate linguistic groups. As a result, English is the language of the public arena in this country. In light of this, English proficiency is an important aspect of participation in American democracy. Historically, however, English has played an ambiguous role, both within and outside the United States. On one hand, it has been a unifier of diverse groups; on the other, it has been used to promote Anglo culture and suppress native ones. In this thesis, the importance of English proficiency to civic engagement is examined in light of this ambiguous role through an examination of three linguistic groups in the United States: Native American, Irish, and Japanese. This is followed by the presentation and analysis of an event that took place in Toppenish, Washington, in which the predominantly Hispanic population was able, through the help of a bilingual organization, to challenge the dominant Anglo power structure in town and pass a school bond issue, the first one in twenty years"--Document.
Author: Terrence G. Wiley Publisher: Multilingual Matters ISBN: 1847692109 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 325
Book Description
This book focuses on educational language minority immigrant issues in the United States. It draws from quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to inform educational policy and practice. The contributions are grouped according to three broad themes: factors predicting language proficiency, the role of language and identity in the lives of immigrant language minority youth, and issues of educational policy related to this group.
Author: Dominika Baran Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1108508812 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 389
Book Description
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 a 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 the fields of linguistics, education policy, history, sociology, and politics are 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.
Author: Alberto Dávila Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Employing U.S. Census data, this study analyzes how English-language fluency affected the earnings of self-employed immigrant men in the 1980s. Our results suggest that English proficiency became a more important determinant of earnings for foreign-born entrepreneurs in 1990 compared with 1980, even while controlling for factors affecting selection into self-employment.
Author: Geoffrey Carliner Publisher: ISBN: Category : English language Languages : en Pages : 33
Book Description
This paper uses data from the 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census of Population to examine the English language skills of natives and immigrants. The first main finding is that lack of fluency in spoken English is rare among native- born Americans. In 1990, 98.4 % of natives aged 18 to 64 reported to the U.S. in large numbers during the past 30 years, such as Hispanics and East Asians a substantial fraction were not fluent when they entered grade school, but at most 3-5% of teenagers and adults in these groups reported speaking English poorly or not at all. Second the vast majority of immigrants speak English well. In 1990, only 1/4 of immigrants reported speaking English poorly or not at all, though more than 1/2 of Mexicans and 1/3 of immigrants from other non- English speaking western hemisphere countries could not speak proper English. Although English skills improve with length of residence, after 30 or more years in the U.S. over 1/4 of Mexican immigrants spoke English poorly or not at all. Third, since the 1950s there has been a trend decrease in the probability of fluency (speaking only English or speaking it very well) among new immigrants of about 0.1 % per year, caused by the shift from European immigrants with strong English skills to Latin American and East Asian immigrants who arrive speaking less English. Overall, women are slightly more likely to be fluent than men, especially East Asian and European women. Even after controlling for differences in education, years since arrival and other factors, large differences in English skills by region of origin remain. These differences seem to be more associated with geographic distance from the U.S. than with the source country's per capita income or linguistic distance from English
Author: Nicholas Haase Publisher: GRIN Verlag ISBN: 3640819683 Category : Foreign Language Study Languages : en Pages : 14
Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Applied Geography, grade: 1,0, University of Göttingen (Seminar für Englische Philologie), course: History and Current Issues of Immigration in the United States, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction “What do you call a person who speaks two languages?“ “Bilingual“ “And one who knows only one?“ „American.“ (unknown) The above joke, which source is unknown, is a stereotypical joke, not a rascist one. It mirrors a common perception about U.S.-born citizens all over the world. These stereotypes do not come out of nowhere, since the USA have a long history of immigration and the problems involved, e.g. language diversity, cultural differences and the forming of a melting pot. Therefore the topic of immgration and the policy of language shall be analyzed in this term paper. First of all I want to give an overview why the proficiency of English was and still is important for immigrants in order to live at least a decent life or become very succesful within the US society. Next I want to give a summary of the history of language policy and politics in the United States to show the commencements and recent developments of these politics. In the end I want to discuss the key issues of the battle over language, which cause great controversies all over the USA.