Abstract
This chapter will examine the effects of language development among Hispanic women and how such learning is shaped by multicultural and bilingual practices while navigating institutions of higher education. Unfortunately, new immigrants have been discouraged from using their native tongue and stop teaching it to their children; it is argued that it might create confusion if the child is not exclusively immersed in the new culture and language. Much of the research has been focused on the sociological aspect of the acquisition of English rather than on the value of maintaining their mother tongue or on the importance of a simultaneous development of a diversified sociolinguistic fund of knowledge. Due to the fact that the dominant language in the United States is English in its most important sectors—government, corporations, education, hospitals—it is not surprising that the focus is on English acquisition rather than other-language maintenance. Pew Research reported that 95% of Hispanics who continue speaking Spanish at home and those who are first-born generation indicated that it is to them important that future generations learn their mother tongue.
TopAssessment With A Focus On Reading With Latino Language Minority
The Census Bureau projected that 2020, Hispanics who speak English at home were expected to increase from 11,128 to 20,478 and those who spoke Spanish 33,544 to 39,621. Other than English, Spanish was the most frequently spoken language in the United States in 2020. It was used by 2.6 million non-Hispanics and 35.8 million Hispanics. Those figures mean that 3 of 4 (73 percent) ages 5 and older spoke Spanish at home. It seems as if the story of the Spanish language in the United States continues unfolding before our eyes.
New immigrants continue coming to the land of opportunities and the job of an educator is to serve the students as a whole and help them with their dreams of becoming a successful human being. Suárez-Orozco and Suárez-Orozco (2001) conducted a survey asking Hispanic students to say what opinion they think most Americans have of them. Some of their answers were: “most Americans think that we are … stupid,” “…we can’t do the same things as them in school or at work,” “…we are garbage,” “… we are members of gangs,” “…we are thieves,” “…we are lazy, gangsters, drug-addicts, that only came to take their jobs away,” and “…that we don’t exist” (p. 96).
Rumbaut (1999), in his article The Crucible Within, quotes Antin who was an immigrant himself:
What the child thinks and feels is a reflection of the hopes, desires and purpose of who brought him overseas, no matter how precocious and independent the child may be… My parents knew only that they desired us to be like American children… The result… makes for friction, and sometimes ends in breaking up a family… This sad process of disintegration of home life may be observed in almost any immigrant family of our class and with our traditions and aspirations. It is part of the process of Americanization… It is the cross that the first and second generations must bear… (p.748)
Student success for Latinas and Black women is needed to be provided by teachers with transformational and transformative mentality. It is important to teach emancipatory educational practices toward social justice considering all inequitable social structures, stimulating important conversations, being neutral, and working against oppressive systems (Barrón, 2020; Bennett, 2019; Freire, 1970; Galloway, 2012; Rancière, 1991). Harro (2009) indicates that “as people come to a critical level of understanding of the nature of oppression and their roles in this systemic phenomenon, they seek new paths for creating social change and taking themselves toward empowerment or liberation” (p. 618). Cooper (2008) adds that “people can and do change throughout their lives, and by incorporating ethics into the curriculum, we can challenge students to think and help make sure they have the tools to recognize an ethical dilemma, think it through, and make the right decision” (p. 364). Emancipatory education will increase students’ love for education, critical thinking, and compensate initial disparities in the educational pipeline.
TopLanguage Acquisition
Languages are indeed intricate. They differ in vocabulary, grammar syntax, semantics, written format and countless other characteristics that go along with the prominent culture. Even for the smallest task the brain has to decode either the written, verbal and/or listening structure to process information. Hill and Björk (2008) believed an individual’s speaking process starts with the understanding of the language. Sadly, immigrants have been discouraged from using their native language and/or teaching it to their children as if that might decrease their cognitive abilities. However, research shows that if the mother tongue is preserved while learning a second language, that process helps to increase the cognitive and sociolinguistic abilities significantly. Adults who arrived in the United States when they were 10 years old or under are labeled as the 1.5 generation indicating they are between first and second-generation immigrants (Alvarez, 2020). Third-generation Latinos are more likely to be English monolinguals (Linton & Jiménez, 2008).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Cultural Brokers: Latinas who become translators and advocates, of their parents during medical appointments, community, schools (Dorner, 2012; Feliciano & Rumbaut, 2005; Lee & Hatteberg, 2015; Valenzuela 1999).
Native or Non-Native English Speakers (NES, NNES): Some materials contrast native English speakers (NES) with non-native English speakers (NNES). As with monolingual , the term native speaker is increasingly unclear, given how many long-term ELLs speak English fluently without a “foreign” accent and yet technically have another world language as their home or first language.
Paradigm: An interpretive framework used to explain social phenomena (Collins, 2009).
Monolingual: This term is used to refer to people who speak only one language (Fleischer, 2017).
English Language Learner (ELL): The term refers to a complex, heterogeneous range of students who are in the process of learning English (Fleischer, 2017).
Newcomer: May have limited literacy in their first language (L1) (Fleischer, 2017).
Spanglish: Is often used to complete oral sentences and rarely used in written format (Otheguy & Stern, 2010).
Language acquisition: Is a window on the operation of the human mind. The patterns of language emerge not from a unique instinct but from the operation of general processes of evolution and cognition (Encyclopedia, 2020).
Coordinate Bilingualism: Also known in some quarters as subtractive bilingualism , in this type the individual learns the languages separately, in separate environments, and maintains this separation after mastering both (D’Acierno, 1990; Diller, 2015; Nacamulli, 2015; OneHourTranslation, 2013).
First Language (L1) and Second Language (L2): L1 has been used to refer to students’ “mother tongue” or “home language” as they learn additional languages (referred to as L2 ) (Fleischer, 2017).
English as a Second Language (ESL): Currently the term usually refers to programs of instruction (i.e., study of English in an English-speaking country) (Fleischer, 2017).
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency: Develops through social interaction from birth. Academic language proficiency, social context of schooling, “for immigrant students to approach grade norms in academic aspects of English” (Cummins, 2008, p. 73). It takes at least five years for those who had support in their native language; and it may take more than seven years for those who had parents with low education attainment.
Biliteracy: Is the interrelationship between lingualism and literacy which is the ability to decode and encode written format, comprehend, read, and even speak fluently in two languages (Reyes, 2012).
Bilingual, Multilingual, or Plurilingual: These terms refer to the ability to use (i.e., speak, write, and/or read) multiple languages. For many ELL-designated students in US schools, English is actually the third or fourth language they have learned, making bilingual not necessarily an accurate term (Fleischer, 2017).
Subordinate Bilinguals: Are those who will learn a second language by streaming information through their primary language. All types of bilinguals have the potential to become fully proficient in both languages and in biliteracy (D’Acierno, 1990; Nacamulli, 2015).
English as an International Language (EIL) or English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): These are terms used to refer to global conceptions of English, or English used for communication between members of various nations (Fleischer, 2017).
Limited English Proficiency (LEP): This abbreviation may be used in some educational contexts to refer to a designation used by the US Department of Education. Many scholars see this as a deficit term because of its focus on subtractive language (language that implies a deficiency) under a monolingual assumption of proficiency (Fleischer, 2017).
Compound Bilinguals: The individual learns the languages in the same environment and context and they are often used concurrently or even interchangeably. Sometimes known as additive bilingualism . Compound bilinguals are usually children ages two to seven (D’Acierno, 1990; Diller, 2015; Nacamulli, 2015; OneHourTranslation, 2013).
Emergent Bilingual: This term has been proposed as a more appropriate term than LEP or ELL , because it points to possibilities of developing bilingualism rather than focusing on language limits or deficiencies (Fleischer, 2017).
Linguicism: Is discrimination based on language or dialect: linguistically argued racism. It's also known as linguistic discrimination (ThoughtCo, 2020).
English as a Foreign Language (EFL): Refers to non-native English-speaking students who are learning English in a country where English is not the primary language (Fleischer, 2017).
Dual Language: Programs focus on the development of high levels of language proficiency and literacy in two program languages, while attaining high levels of achievement, and multicultural understanding (Boyle, August, Tabaku, Cole, & Simpson-Baird, 2015).
Generation 1.5: This term, originally used in higher education, often refers to students who have been long-term residents born in the United States (Fleischer, 2017).
Basic Inter-Communication Skills: Are language, oral and listening, skills that people need to interact with their peers, to engage in sports or to socialize. These skills are not cognitively demanding but it is a language that is use on a daily basis. Conversational proficiency takes between six months and two years after arrival or enrollment in a school (Cummins, 2008).
English Learner (EL): This is the preferred term emergent bilingual students enrolled in public schools (Fleischer, 2017).
Long-Term English Language Learner (LTELL): Currently in use in some states, this term refers to K–12 students who have been enrolled in US schools for many years and continue to be stuck with the ELL designation long past the time it should take for designation (Fleischer, 2017).