http://www.us-english.org/inc/printad2.htm
http://www.us-english.org/inc/printad3.htm
http://www.us-english.org/inc/printad4.htm
Don’t be alarmed, some of these “questions” are really just comments to guide you through the reading or additional notes that might be of interest. You will be able to use the book during the quiz, so if you’ve done a reasonably good job reading it & answering these questions, you will be fine.
Chapter 1
1. As of 2000, twenty states had official English laws. How many states have such laws today? Go to:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/langleg.htm#IA
and find out. Look under "State Official English Laws," about halfway down the page.
2. What two indicators of public opinion did Tse study to find out what Americans think about adult immigrants learning English and about bilingual education? Tell me which argument or quote you found most notable (surprising, disturbing, etc.).
Chapter 2
3. Tse notes that immigrants at the end of the 19th century came mostly from Europe, while today they come from Latin American and Asia. Do you think this is significant? Why?
4. Why is it important to note that there are actually fewer foreign-born residents today (10.6%) versus in 1900 (13.6%)?
5. What is a crucial difference between making a living in 1910 versus today?
6. What indicator of English proficiency does Tse use to “prove” that immigrants are using English? How reliable is this?
7. How can an immigrant’s socioeconomic status affect their English acquisition? List four other factors that can also influence it.
8. Briefly summarize the study & findings of Portes & Hao (1998) and Portes & Rumbaut (1996).
9. Even if there were enough adult ESL evening classes offered to meet the demand, why do some immigrants have trouble taking advantage of them?
10. Note Tse’s interesting observation that “…when people say immigrants are not learning English, they usually mean that they don’t sound like native speakers.” Recall that this kind of attitude is part of what Schiffman (1996) calls our linguistic culture. We’ll see in the video American Tongues that native U.S. citizens, like citizens of many other countries, hold very strong beliefs about language.
11. Tse notes that immigrants often feel alienated from native speaker co-workers. If you are interested, I prepared a short book review about this topic at http://brj.asu.edu/v2512/articles/art12.html
If you have missed class, you can recuperate some points in your participation grade by handing in a two-page summary & reaction to my review of Norton’s book.
Chapter 3
12. Describe the typical pattern of immigrant language loss. Do you or someone you know fit this description?
13. Why is it that children who live in apparently heritage-language-rich environments often do not develop high levels of heritage language & literacy proficiency?
14. Tse mentions that some bilingual programs are oriented toward maintenance of the heritage language. I have told you that I am studying a dual-immersion school in Chicago with strongly stated Spanish maintenance goals. Despite the high levels of Spanish acquired by some native- and non-native Spanish speakers, students are clearly English dominant and some students do not know much Spanish at all. The English “stream” is very strong to swim against.
15. UIC’s Department of Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese is striving to be a national leader in Spanish for Heritage Speakers education and research. We offer a heritage Spanish track like those Tse describes on pp. 36-37, with three different levels serving approximately 125 students per semester. We are one of a handful of postsecondary institutions in the U.S. that offers formal training to instructors of both college and high school heritage Spanish courses.
16. Richard Rodríguez’ novel Hunger of Memory is a very poignant memoir about family & school pressures to abandon Spanish. If we have time, I’ll read excerpts during class.
17. Why is it incorrect to assume that residents of a visibly high-density Mexican immigrant community such as Pilsen or Little Village are “not learning English”?
18. What is the difference between additive and subtractive bilingualism?
Which one is most prevalent in the U.S.?
Chapter 4
19. Summarize the argument for the importance of using the L1 (first language) for school learning.
20. Summarize the individual and social benefits of being bilingual.
21. Endnote #25 (p. 54) is quite important; please read it well.
22. P. 54: “When non-English languages and bilingualism are developed, heritage-language-speaking children are more likely to become proficient in English, to succeed academically, and to contribute positively to the job force as adults, precisely the same goals held by language assimilationists.” So why do Americans prefer to believe that it’s better to erase the heritage language?
23. P. 54: “Some of the same students who are denied the opportunity to develop their heritage language during their formative years in school are, in junior high and high school, encouraged to become bilingual by learning a (new) “foreign” language.” I hope this strikes you as counterproductive.
24. According to Tse, how successful are college foreign language programs?
Chapter 5
25. According to Tse, heritage language learning is most likely to occur when the person sees the heritage group as desirable and feels good about being associated with it. Why might this be true?
26. Describe the findings of Hornberger (1988) about Quechua-speaking
children in different school types.
Chapter 6
27. You should bee able to mention the five basic arguments of
this book (pp. 71-72) and whether you believe Tse’s evidence for them.