LINGUISTIC MINORITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Immigrant Students, Language Issues, and Transitions From High School to Community College

This paper explores research that contributes to an understanding of the language-related issues impacting the education of students from immigrant backgrounds who attempt to make the transition from U.S. high schools to community colleges in pursuit of academic goals. A number of language-related challenges face these students and the institutions responsible for serving them. The English language demands of community college coursework required for a terminal degree or transfer may be greater than students have encountered in high school, and students may also be academically under-prepared. Students are thus often placed either in either English as a Second Language (ESL) classes or developmental/remedial education. Yet U.S.-educated language minority students, sometimes called "Generation 1.5," bring characteristics, strengths, and needs that diverge from students traditionally served in both kinds of classes. This paper reviews and synthesizes relevant research, suggests implications for policy and practice at both the high school and community college level, and articulates areas for further inquiry.

Predicting college going among Latino linguistic minority adolescents: Gender, language use and social integration

This study explores the post secondary pathways of Latino linguistic minority young adults. These students face a unique set of challenges as they transition from the secondary school system into higher education, the work sector, or a combination of the two. On the whole, linguistic minorities participate in higher education at a lower rate than native English-speakers (Klein, Bugarin, Beltranena, & McArthur, 2004). In addition, less than a third of Latinos age 25 and older enroll in college, and only 10% hold a bachelors degree or higher; in contrast, 55% of whites 25 and older enroll in college, and 27% hold a bachelors or more (Census, 2000). Research has addressed several factors influencing Latinos' post secondary pathways such as academic preparation, family resources and generational status (Fry, 2002; Hauser, 1993; A. Hurtado, García, & Buriel, 1994; Wojtkiewicz & Donato, 1995). A relative handful of studies focus on positive predictors of success (Gándara, 1982; A. Hurtado, Figueroa, & García, 1996). Among mainstream student populations, academic preparation and extra-curricular involvement predict college going (Adelman, 2004; Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003); how these same factors influence Latino linguistic minority adolescents remains less well understood. Using data from the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project (THEOP), this study finds home language maintenance and use to predict post secondary involvement for Latino linguistic minority males in a field focused largely on their failure. Alternatively, results show social integration to predict females' post secondary participation.

Revisiting Language Planning Policy in U.S. Education

In the United States, English proficiency is often the misdirected goal of education policy to improve the educational success of immigrant and non-immigrant students who come to school speaking little or no English. Could this goal instead be a large part of the problem? Data show that increasing educational attainment is the most crucial part of bettering non-English speaking immigrant and non-immigrant schooling, and the focus on English acquisition works to counter this alternate goal. Current education policy implies a preference for changing the student into an English language speaker rather than providing the non-English speaking student the most possible years-of-schooling and the best possible education services. Specific reference is given to Mexican origin/ancestry persons, who demonstrate Spanish is an American language which gets devalued by policy, research, and practice that advocate the falsity that Spanish is foreign to the U.S. and promotes English monolingualism.

The Economics of Language

This paper synthesizes a body of research that has focused on two key issues regarding language acquisition among immigrants. One is the determinants of destination or host country language proficiency among immigrants who come from a different linguistic background. The other is the implications for labor market outcomes, primarily earnings and employment, of destination language proficiency. The analysis of the determinants of language proficiency is based on three conceptual variables--exposure to the destination language, efficiency in language acquisition, and economic incentives for dominant language acquisition. Empirically measurable variables are developed from these concepts. Particular attention will be given to the interrelationships among various types of skills. The labor market analysis is based on standard models augmented to account for immigrant status and language proficiency. Empirical results from studies of the US, Canada, Australia, and Israel will be explored. The public policy implications of the analysis will be developed.

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Immigrant Youth in High School: Understanding Educational Outcomes

Building upon my previous work on immigration and education in New York City, my paper explores barriers to successful integration into American society for one of the largest immigrant groups, students of Mexican origin. The purpose of the paper is to show that barriers to integration and school completion must be understood in socio-cultural contexts that take into account parental and community characteristics. To understand these characteristics, my research moves beyond the idea that in order to understand the academic achievement of children of Mexican origin it is sufficient to examine the interaction between schools and families and the obstacles that children and youth face in schools in the United States. My research indicates that it is also important to look to transnational factors in order to explain schooling patterns of the Mexican population, starting before they migrate to the United States in their communities of origin. Using administrative data for the New York City public high school graduating cohort of 1999, I found that among immigrant Mexican students, their arrival before starting high school and their rapid break away from ELL courses are two salient predictors of their high school graduation.

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May 9, 2007: REMOVED FOR FURTHER REVISIONS BY AUTHOR'S REQUEST

Practicing Theory and Theorizing Practice in a Migratory Era

This paper investigates the intersection of policies, theories, and practices in the education of linguistic/cultural minorities. I describe Hawai`i high school and community college projects in which students became researchers investigating discourses and ideologies both within and outside of school. Critical language awareness activities help students unmask power-laden text while providing the means for access to academic discourses. Students examine multimodality not only in terms of technology, but also as visual, gestural, and performative modes of representation realized in daily community practices. They explore hybridity as multiple languages and cultures in a state of transition, ambivalence, conflict and yet also as potentially rich and enriching resources. Exploration of home languages/literacies and appropriation of academic English culminate in student-produced research reports and public service announcements, aired on public television, concerning community and school experiences with social (in)justice. The paper concludes with preliminary theorizing of the tensions and transformations realized through school- and community-based student research.

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Beyond the Myth of Mathematics as a Universal Language: Negotiating Mathematics with an English Language Learner

Current reform in elementary mathematics education emphasizes the development of conceptual mathematical understanding in young students (NCTM, 2000). The high language demands of conceptually based mathematics create new challenges for English language learners (Lee & Jung, 2004). Building upon sociocultural theories of learning, this paper reports the findings of a qualitative case study of one teacher's attempts to negotiate meaning in mathematics with an English language learner (ELL). (Cobb, Jarworski, & Presmeg, 1996; Voigt, 1996). Using stimulated recall (Lye, 2003), I explore the instructional decisions made by a facilitative teacher during a mathematical dialogue with an English language learner. Facilitative teachers (Nelson, 2001) engage students in meaningful mathematical discussions to co-construct knowledge. My findings demonstrate how this facilitative teacher negotiated both language and mathematics. She adapted her inquiry strategies to determine the student's linguistic and mathematical understanding. This paper argues that the assumption that mathematics is a universal language is flawed, and offers a deeper analysis of the challenges facing elementary classroom teachers teaching both content and language.

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Inquiry Based Professional Development: A Look at Factors that Contribute to Instructional Decision Making for English language Learners

The population of English Language Learners has increased in our schools considerably during the past decade. Many mainstream teachers find themselves ill prepared to serve the needs of this diverse student population. This study looks at an inquiry based professional development model that facilitates teams of teachers and paraeducators as they work together to develop action plans to make positive changes for ELLs at their school sites. Data were derived from a year long professional development experience where researchers functioned as participant observers. In looking at whether this model of professional development is adequate for addressing the needs of ELLs, we situate our findings within existing systems of communication that mediate the coherence and structure of services for ELLs. Factors that contribute to these systems and the subsequent instruction of students are the use of teacher innovation vs. mandated curriculum, school culture, and teacher ideologies regarding ELL students.

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Perceptions of Ghanaian Teachers and Teachers-in-Training of the New Language Policy and its Implications for Linguistic Minority Primary School Students

This project examined the opportunities and challenges arising from Ghana's new language policy on education through the perspectives of teachers and teachers-in-training, with an emphasis on linguistic minority students at the primary school level. As the first in-depth investigation into the new language policy from those who are most responsible for implementing it, the study provided insights into the new language policy and its impact on teaching and learning from the viewpoint of teachers and teachers-in-training.

One-on-one interviews were conducted with the participants, as they were asked, among other things, to answer a series of questions pertaining to their opinions on the new language policy. In addition, classroom observations were utilized to provide insights into the opportunities and/or challenges that the policy presents to student learning, including minority students, from classroom practice. Findings indicated that the new language policy presents both opportunities and challenges to the practice of teaching and student learning, including linguistic minority students at the primary school level.

Critical Race Theory and Adolescent Latin Immigrant Students in Secondary School: A Tale of Two High Schools

This paper applies Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a framework to study two high schools serving large numbers of Latino/a immigrant students, many of who are learning English. Using CRT as a guide, we identify social and academic inequalities disguised as "neutral" and "objective". We examine structures, processes, and narratives of school curriculum, specifically as they relate to English language learners. We focus on two high schools, both of which are working toward countering racism by consciously adapting the school curriculum to ensure the success of their Latino/a immigrant students by paying attention to teacher expectations and practices geared specifically for Latino/a English learners. Our goal is to present what these two schools do to enable Latino/a students, regardless of their English proficiency or prior socio-academic experiences, to engage in high quality schooling that prepares them for graduation and post-secondary education opportunities.

Language Attitudes among 5th grade Latino Bilingual Students

This paper looks at language attitudes among fifth-grade bilingual Latino students in two cities, specifically, investigating the role of heritage language use and proficiency in supporting positive attitudes toward the heritage language. A qualitative analysis of student interviews revealed that students in Chicago, who lived in a tightly knit Mexican enclave, reported seeing, hearing and speaking more Spanish than did the Caribbean-Latino students in Boston, who lived in a much more ethnically and linguistically diverse neighborhood. Students from Boston presented slightly more negative attitudes toward Spanish than did students from Chicago, while no differences were found in language attitudes for students when grouped by levels of Spanish language proficiency. The surprising lack of variation in attitudes across language groups suggests that perceived language proficiency, heritage language use, as well and an understanding how language connects students to their families and ethnic communities, may play a role in promoting positive language and ethnic attitudes. Further, differences in language attitudes noted across cities points to a need to systematically investigate the ethnic and linguistic contexts in which students live.

Bridging Two Worlds: Mexican and Somali Newcomer Students in Texas

Texas has one of the largest newcomer student populations in the nation. This paper examines the educational practices used to effectively transition two distinct immigrant student populations from newcomer to regular classrooms in central and south Texas. The first distinct group-Somali Bantu refugee students, K-5-receive services in a large metropolitan area with a majority Latino population. The second distinct group-Mexican immigrant students-are served at a recently opened New Arrival Center (NAC), located in a rural middle/high school. At both sites, multiple ethnographic research methods have been employed to investigate: What are the programmatic and instructional challenges in meeting the language, literacy and social needs of newcomer immigrant and refugee students? What educational practices are effective for their successful integration in mainstream classrooms? Findings from the rural newcomer center indicate that the secondary immigrant students (n=35) learn English and content from diverse opportunities, while the Somali Bantu refugee students (n=40) in the urban district benefit more from language assignments and literacy projects that provide cultural intersections with their majority Latino counterparts.

CONTESTED AND CONTESTING LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES

Within the processes of globalization and de-territorialization, the sociopolitical contexts for immigration, education and language are embedded within ideological formations regarding nations and borders. How can we as educators approach the shifting social landscapes in our schools in our pedagogical practices? Our English-learners are not just learners, but are also products of the movements of peoples across many kinds of borders and the discourses surrounding immigration and language are implicated in the educational experiences of language learners. How do we attempt to reconcile the out-of-school circulating discourses surrounding immigration and language with in-school approaches to language learning?

Academic Literacy in the Literature Classroom: Investigating Instructional Decisions of New Teachers of English Learners

This longitudinal case study examined the perspectives and instructional practices of two new English teachers who prepared for teaching academic literacy in a preservice program with a focus on instruction for English learners. Portfolios with artifacts from each of the case teachers' preservice coursework and inservice classroom practice included assignments, interviews, classroom observations, videotapes, and stimulated recall logs. Those data provided evidence of the teachers' applications of literacy development principles learned in preservice when they moved into new and demanding secondary teaching environments. Analysis of classroom literature lessons using a theoretical framework to describe the dimensions of academic English revealed a wide range of skills being taught and reinforced to students. The case teachers demonstrated a deep understanding of academic language and the importance of its development for students transitioning to mainstream English language arts classes from English language development programs.

Two-Way Language Immersion Students: How do they Fare in Middle and High School?

This paper presents the results of an in-depth study of two-way language immersion students. This study compares students who participated in an elementary school two-way language immersion program to students who did not participate in the program. Three main constructs were evaluated: Academic achievement, self-esteem, and cultural appreciation. Academic achievement was measured by comparing students' English language arts and mathematics standardized test results, evaluating students' grade point averages, analyzing the number of advanced classes students selected, and surveying students' attitudes and behaviors towards school. Self-esteem and cultural appreciation were measured by evaluating students' responses to survey questions pertaining to self-esteem and cultural appreciation. The objective of this study was to determine if any group of students (non two-way, two-way, Caucasian or Hispanic) demonstrates academic, personal, or cultural advantages when they reach middle and high school.

Immigration, Race, and Higher Education Outcome

Academic achievement and immigrants' access to education have received much attention in recent years, and educational attainment has become ever more important for competency in labor markets. Using the nationally representative NELS:88 data set, this study examines the characteristics of 8th grade students in different race/ethnic groups and specifically focuses on the issue of whether immigrant status and home language environment are related to the 8th graders' eventual attainment of baccalaureate degrees or above after twelve years. Findings are discussed in terms of relevance for education policy makers, school admission's office, and teachers regarding immigrant students and cultural stereotypes.

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Theory, Research, and Theory-Driven Research: Explanations of Academic Achievement Differences Among English Language Learners

We empirically evaluate three distinct theories regarding academic achievement differences among English Language Learners: (1) the Threshold Hypothesis; (2) the Facilitation Theory; and (3) the Time-on-Task Principle. Measures of academic achievement and Spanish and English language and literacy were collected from 116 sixth graders who had been continuously enrolled in U.S. schools and who had not started learning English until kindergarten. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analyses offered strongest support for the Facilitation Theory, which may be regarded as a more parsimonious version of the Threshold Hypothesis which achieves effect sizes for predicting achievement that are nearly as large. The Time-on-Task Principle is found to suffer from empirical and theoretical weaknesses.

A Validity Study of the Stanford English Language Proficiency Test (SELP) as Used for Classifying English Language Learners

With the introduction of a new language proficiency test in 2005, many Arizona teachers and administrators voiced a concern that the Stanford English Language Proficiency Test (SELP) was reclassifying ELLs as Fluent English Proficient (FEP) at an unexpectedly fast rate, and that as a result students were being placed in mainstream classrooms before their English language skills were sufficiently well developed as to permit them to succeed independently. This article contributes to the growing validity evidence used by policy makers in Arizona and in other states for the purpose of validating the use of instruments designed to measure language proficiency of ELLs in grades kindergarten to eight. This study uses 2005 and 2006 language proficiency and achievement test scores from English language learners (ELLs) in Arizona to answer research questions about the condition of education for ELLs. Policy recommendations will be discussed.

Challenges in meeting the needs of migrant early learners: A comparative study

This paper reports on a comparative study of the education of migrant children in Minneapolis, MN and in Hamburg, Germany, with a focus on early years and primary level education. The first section provides an overview of migration trends and relevant policy discourse in the two cities. The second section provides a brief overview of the education systems and policies targeting migrant students in the early years - this includes formal, non-formal, and in-formal educational provision for early years. Section three includes an account of the UN inspection of US and German primary schools, in which the author participated as an observer, with special attention to the human rights of children and the experiences of migrant students. Section four reports on fieldwork conducted in both cities, including interviews with and surveys of immigrant parents and teachers on the educational provision and needs of migrant children. The conclusions include opportunities for transatlantic dialogue and a number of issues for consideration among practitioners, policy makers, and researchers.

What Have Immigrants Wanted from American Schools? What Do They Want Now?

In this paper I will argue that there has been a basic continuity between what immigrants historically have sought from American schools, and what contemporary immigrants seek. In neither case have immigrants sought to utilize the schools to "reproduce" or to "preserve" cultures separate from the American mainstream. Rather, immigrants have consistently sought to utilize American schooling for purposes of incorporation into a system of American ethnic groups which exhibit aspects of both acculturation and retention. I make the case for continuity through an examination of the fate of homeland languages in the public schools during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the role of parochial schooling in the first third of the twentieth century, Crystal City, Texas' Mexican Americans' resistance to "schooled ethnicity" during the 1970s and 1980s, and the attitudes of contemporary immigrants toward bilingual education.

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Reviving Bilingual Education

In the late 1970's advocates believed that a national mandate for bilingual education was just around the corner. Today one can count on several fingers the number of jurisdictions that require schools to offer bilingual education. If one hopes to reverse this situation, it is important to understand what went wrong, to respond to legitimate concerns, and to minimize intelligently those hostilities which are based on emotion and/or ethnocentricism. The speaker, a bloodied participant of battles going back to the early 1970's will trace the history of the rise and fall of bilingual education, and offer his recommendations for turning things around.

A Survey to Assess Teacher Candidates' Preparation and Preference to Work with English Learners: Pilot Results from Two Universities

Data-based studies of the preparation of teacher candidates to work with English Learners (EL) are very few. This study is an intensive examination of the results of over 400 teacher candidates' performance on a survey designed to track their developing knowledge regarding the effective instruction of EL students, and to provide evaluative feedback to credential programs. Results showed that the survey is an effective tool for teacher education programs committed to improving their graduates' readiness to effectively instruct EL students. An assessment instrument of this type is needed to focus teacher education on its pressing responsibility to graduate beginning teachers equipped with sound theory and practices that, in turn, facilitate the language and academic development of EL students.

A Language Graveyard? The Evolution of Language Competencies, Preferences and Use among Young Adult Children of Immigrants

This paper examines the evolution of English and non-English language competencies, preferences and use among young adult children of immigrants in the United States. It focuses on the last wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS), which followed several thousand 1.5- and second-generation youth in Southern California and South Florida for more that a decade from mid adolescence in 1992 to their mid twenties; and it supplements it with newly available data from the Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles (IIMMLA) survey, which collected equivalent data on language and education from a multigenerational sample of nearly 5,000 respondents in their 20s and 30s. The samples permit both comparative and longitudinal analyses of language fluencies across a range of groups from widely different national, cultural and class origins, in distinct generational cohorts (defined by age of arrival and by the nativity of parents and grandparents), and in different sites of incorporation. Implications of different linguistic and educational trajectories and outcomes are discussed.

Reconstituting the School: Its Impact on Linguistic Minority Students

This study examines an urban, northern California school district's past and present approaches to the education of its linguistic minority students, its efforts to improve their educational achievement, and its more recent struggles to meet the requirements of NCLB. The paper identifies the central experiences of different stakeholders in the school, before and after reconstitution, and analyses the extent to which these experiences are compatible or contradictory with those embodied in reasons given for reconstitution. The research design analyzes each group of data affecting the students, teachers, parents, and administrators before and after reconstitution. Using these time points, qualitative and quantitative comparisons are made of classroom environment, curriculum, staff interaction and morale, linguistic minority student performance, discipline, parental expectations and participation, curriculum, school appearance, and community involvement. Policy makers considering reconstitution may encounter mixed results as they seek to create a new context for student learning and adult interactions. This may serve to reconfirm or dispute the underlying motivations for reconstitution.

Early Literacy Instruction for Spanish-speaking English Language Learners: A Comparison of Three Treatment Conditions

This study investigated three instructional conditions on precursors to successful reading for Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELL) within a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. Although a large body of scientific evidence now exists to support early instruction to prevent reading disabilities, this literature largely focuses almost exclusively on early acquisition of word reading skills (McCardle, Scarborough, & Catts, 2001; Torgesen, 2002). Virtually no literature exists that similarly demonstrates effective early interventions for ELL that specifically target later reading comprehension. This study entails a randomized, alternate treatment control group experiment to test effects of intensive instruction that targets specific precursors to reading decoding and reading comprehension in a sample of ELL (n=81) who may be at risk for later reading failure. Two randomly assigned experimental intervention groups and one treatment control group were created to test the effectiveness of three different instructional interventions. The two experimental intervention groups received listening comprehension (LC) and phonological awareness (PA) instruction titrated by different doses of listening comprehension instruction, creating a LC concentration group and a PA Concentration group. The treatment control group received only phonological awareness instruction. The results indicate that students in the LC concentration group outperformed students in the other two intervention groups on most dependent variables. Additionally, at-risk students in the listening comprehension group outperformed at-risk students in the other two intervention groups on all dependent measures.

A Synthesis of the Roles of Heritage languages in the Lives of Children of US Immigrants: What Educators Need to Know

The education of both foreign-born and US-born children of immigrants in the U.S. has mainly focused on the acquisition of English language competence. The assumption, "if they only speak English, then the achievement gap will be lessened," is a major misconception that is held by the general public including many educators and educational policy makers. This paper shifts the attention to the dual linguistic and cultural realities that immigrant children face on a daily basis by recognizing the importance of not only English language acquisition, but also their heritage/community language as a critical factor in their development. It presents a systematic and analytical review of the research literature that addresses the relevance of heritage language use in the personal, academic and social lives of children of immigrants. By doing so, this paper aims to provide a critical framework that will help educators to better identify and more clearly understand the potential roles of the heritage language in the development of the whole child.

Through the Lens of Gender: How School Contexts Inform the Ways Vietnamese Immigrant Youth Negotiate Social Identity and Learning"

This paper examines how recent Vietnamese immigrant youth negotiate the processes of gender identity formation as they transition to U.S. schooling. In an ethnographic study focusing on 20 immigrants, the authors explore the perceptions and tensions that students struggle with as they bring their own values and practices into the school site. The findings from this study reveal that gender functions as a complex social category that changes and shifts across time and contexts. The authors argue that accounting for a full picture of gender identity more accurately captures the manner in which recent immigrant students adapt to U.S. schooling.

A Dynamic Approach to the Determinants of Immigrants' Language Proficiency: The United States, 1980-2000

Previous research has mostly used a static approach to immigrants' second-language proficiency. This article proposes and tests a dynamic perspective, in which hypotheses are formulated about individual and contextual determinants of immigrants' language skills at arrival (entry level) and about the speed with which immigrants learn the language thereafter (language acquisition). It pools data from the 1980, 1990 and 2000 U.S. census, 5% files, and uses a synthetic cohort design to analyze the language skills of immigrants within the first 30 years after migration. Findings from multilevel logistic regression models illuminate the advantages from a dynamic approach to language. It is observed that years of schooling has a double-positive effect on language: higher educated immigrants arrive with better language skills, and they learn the language quicker as well. The size of the immigrant group has a double-negative effect on language skills: it attracts less skilled immigrants, and it strongly hampers language learning. These and other findings are discussed in light of current theory on immigrants' second-language proficiency.

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Khmer Heritage Language Retention and Loss of Cambodian American Students

Cambodian (Khmer) Americans are a fairly recent immigrant group in the United States, the majority having been in the country for less than 22 years, but there are already deep concerns among parents and community leaders about Khmer language loss among their youth. This study investigates the nature and degree of Khmer native language retention and loss among Cambodian American youth. Khmer language proficiency tasks were developed, including a picture vocabulary test, and a story retelling task (using the wordless picture book Frog, Where are You?). Baseline data were collected from monolingual Khmer elementary school students in a village near Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Data were then collected from Cambodian American youth participating in a Khmer heritage language program in California. Comparisons of these data, along with the results of language use questionnaires completed by the Cambodian American youth, are analyzed, and implications for the role HL programs can play in reversing L1 loss are discussed.

Stakeholder Views of Korean and Chinese HL-CL Schools and Education in Phoenix: A Comparative Study

This study examines stakeholder perspectives on Korean and Chinese heritage language (HL) and community language (CL) schools in Phoenix, Arizona. It compares the similarities and differences between Korean and Chinese HL-CL schools in terms of their histories/origins, resources, and types of populations served. The role of the schools, the goals of HL-CL education, the major challenges, and future prospects as viewed by stakeholders (principals, teachers, and parents) are also investigated in this paper. Two Korean and two Chinese community schools are selected based on the highest enrollment and funding. In-depth interviews with Korean and Chinese school principals, teachers, and parents are conducted. In addition, surveys are administered among Korean and Chinese teachers and parents from all of the Korean and Chinese community schools in Phoenix. Findings from this research are discussed for the benefits of Korean and Chinese HL-CL schools and education.

Parental Attitudes towards Mandarin maintenance in Arizona: The Examination of a Group of Immigrants from the People's Republic of China

This study focuses on a specific Chinese immigrant subgroup: immigrants from the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Arizona, and details the impact of different immigrant experiences and settlement patterns on parents' attitudes towards Mandarin maintenance. Data were collected from a year-long ethnographic research in Arizona. The findings suggest that despite their misconceptions of bilingualism, these parents generally have positive attitudes or "language loyalty" towards Mandarin. Variations exist among parents depending how they incorporate into American social and economic context and what their future orientations are. Participants generally do not see themselves as having a role in promoting Mandarin in public schools, indicating that PRC immigrant parents in Arizona have weak demographic capitals and yet to organize themselves to address the lack of heritage language accommodations in the public realm.

Attitudes toward Standard Mandarin, Chinese 'Dialects', and English, among Chinese Immigrants and Students in the United States

This session presents findings from three language attitude surveys of over 750 immigrants and students of Chinese-origin in the United States. A majority of the respondents were multilingual speakers of Mandarin, English, and at least one other Chinese "dialect." The study focused on language attitudes toward standard Mandarin, major Chinese "dialects," and English. It concentrated on the perceptions of respondents toward various languages and multilingualism. The study also considered the extent to which respondents were interested in the preservation of heritage/community languages. The findings indicated that the majority of respondents support the maintenance and promotion of Mandarin and to a lesser extent Chinese dialects. They likewise have strong support for the acquisition of English and English education.