English-only Research Articles

NEIGHBORHOOD SEGREGATION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF OLDER CHINESE IMMIGRANTS LIVING IN GREATER CHICAGO

Abstract Neighborhoods profoundly influence health of older adults, with those living in more affluent neighborhoods tending to be happier and healthier. However, which neighborhoods to live, is shaped by pull and push factors, particularly among racial/ethnic minorities that disproportionally live in segregated neighborhoods characterized by social and economic deprivation. Residential segregation, however, is not well-examined among older Asian Americans. This study aimed to close this gap by investigating neighborhood, sociodemographic, and health behavior characteristics among older Chinese immigrants living in segregated neighborhoods. Data were drawn from 3,097 participants from Population Study of Chinese Elderly (PINE). Residential segregation was operationalized using Index of Concentrations at the Extremes (ICE), and the tertiles of ICE scores were used to categorize neighborhoods into four groups, ranging from neighborhoods extremely segregated toward Chinese speakers to segregated toward English-only speakers. Results showed that, compared to neighborhoods segregated toward English-only speakers, neighborhoods extremely segregated toward Chinese speakers had lower neighborhood socioeconomic status and cohesion but higher neighborhood disorder. Also, participants in neighborhoods segregated toward Chinese speakers were more likely to be unmarried but less likely to live alone, receive less education, and live in the U.S. longer. These participants also reported lower acculturation and racial discrimination, were more likely to smoke, and had lower adoption of preventive health practices than those living in neighborhoods segregated with English-only speakers. Findings highlight challenges and opportunities among older Chinese immigrants living in segregated neighborhoods and provide insights into existing mixed findings on health impacts of residential segregation among this understudied population.

Code-Switching in the EFL Classroom: Yeah or Nay?

Code-switching between bilingual and multilingual teachers and students at St. Nicholas School (SNS) is a natural and inescapable language phenomenon. This motivated the researcher to study whether code-switching affected teachers and students negatively or favorably, particularly in terms of their academic activity. The researcher specifically delved into how English teachers and students in EFL classes at SNS saw code-switching and perceive the methods, purposes, and issues that came with it. To find out how respondents feel about code-switching, this study employed a mixed-methods research methodology and an adapted questionnaire to collect data. According to the study, code-switching has a ton of advantages for students and teachers, making teaching and learning rich, fruitful, and engaging. Also, it aided in the accomplishment of educational objectives, made it easier to understand complex ideas, and sped up the process of acquiring language abilities. Despite the positive outcome, some drawbacks impair teachers’ and students’ ability to communicate, particularly when dealing with English-only speakers when they are immersed in the outside world. Also, when utilized improperly, it might have compromised the teaching-learning process. Code-switching in the classroom is therefore both a yeah and a nay! To optimize the benefits of code-switching, the study suggested finding a balance. The long-term harmful effects of learning a language can be avoided in large part by teachers. The usage of the target language should be required in classroom settings where formal education takes place. Code-switching can only be used to bridge the gap between the text and the pupils’ comprehension if there is a communication breakdown. Only in such circumstances are code-switching instances tolerable, if not acceptable. When two languages are sufficiently developed, code-switching will finally produce more intellectual advantages than disadvantages. Keywords: English language; code-switching; EFL classroom, EFL teachers; Thai English Language Classrooms

Loneliness and Psychological Distress Among Older Californians: The Moderating Roles of Citizenship Status and English Proficiency.

Guided by the theory of stress proliferation, our study examined whether loneliness, citizenship status, and English proficiency were associated with psychological distress among older adults, and if citizenship status and English proficiency moderated these relationships. Using the older adult subsample (65+ years) of the 2019-2020 California Health Interview Survey (N = 15,210), we assessed cross-sectional associations between loneliness, citizenship status, and English proficiency on psychological distress by conducting multivariable linear regression models. Interaction terms were included in subsequent models to determine if citizenship status and English proficiency moderated the relationship between loneliness and psychological distress. In unadjusted models, greater loneliness was associated with higher distress. Both naturalized citizens and noncitizens, and those with limited English proficiency (LEP) exhibited greater distress than US born citizens and those who speak English only (EO). After adjusting for sociodemographic and health covariables, loneliness remained significant for distress although the relationships between citizenship status and English proficiency became attenuated. With the inclusion of interactions, the magnitude of the relationship between loneliness and distress was stronger for naturalized citizens and those with LEP than native-born citizens and those who speak EO, respectively. Loneliness was the most consistent stressor affecting multiple life domains. However, our findings demonstrate that stress proliferation is occurring among older immigrant adults and the interplay between loneliness, citizenship status, and English proficiency is contributing to heightened distress. Further attention is needed in understanding the role of multiple stressors influencing mental health among immigrant older adults.

Residential Segregation and Depressive Symptoms in Older Chinese Immigrants: The Mediating Role of Social Processes.

Older Chinese immigrants are at risk for depression due to acculturative stress and language barriers. Residential segregation with respect to language use plays an important role in the mental health of historically marginalized populations. Previous research provided mixed evidence about the segregation effect among older Latino and Asian immigrants. Guided by a model of social processes, we examined the direct and indirect effects of residential segregation on depressive symptoms via multiple mechanisms of acculturation, discrimination, social network, social support, social strain, and social engagement. Four waves of depressive symptoms were assessed in the Population Study of Chinese Elderly (2011-19, N = 1,970), and linked to the 2010-14 American Community Survey estimates of neighborhood context. Residential segregation was measured by the Index of Concentrations at the Extremes which simultaneously assesses Chinese and English language use within a given census tract. Latent growth curve models with adjusted cluster robust standard errors were estimated after controlling for individual-level factors. Residents of segregated Chinese-speaking neighborhoods had fewer baseline depressive symptoms but a slower rate of symptom reduction than those living in neighborhoods segregated with English-only speakers. Racial discrimination, social strain, and social engagement partially mediated the association between segregation and baseline depressive symptoms; social strain and social engagement partially mediated the association with long-term reduction in depressive symptoms. This study demonstrates the importance of residential segregation and social processes in shaping mental well-being among older Chinese immigrants and suggests potential mechanisms to alleviate mental health risks.

Examining the Impact of a Cognitive Strategies Approach on the Argument Writing of Mainstreamed English Learners in Secondary School

The stagnation of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Writing scores demonstrates the need for research-based instruction that improves writing for all students, especially English learners. In this article, we synthesize the literature on effective instructional practices for this diverse group of learners and describe how these strategies are leveraged in a teacher professional development program that has been previously shown to improve students’ argument writing. Then, we share results of a study that focuses on distinct subgroups of secondary English learners students to (a) determine their needs and challenges and (b) examine the impact of a cognitive strategies approach on rhetorical and linguistic aspects of writing at posttest. Results show English learners have considerable challenges with higher-order tasks involved in writing literary arguments and with the linguistic demands of academic writing before receiving the intervention. However, after receiving the intervention, using descriptive statistics and multiple hierarchical linear regression, we show that these students grew in the areas of presentation of ideas, organization, evidence use, and language use. For example, students designated as reclassified English learners (RFEP [Reclassified Fluent English Proficient]) and students who have even more limited English proficiency (designated as EL [English learner] here) show improvements in many aspects of writing, especially in their ability to write claims and use evidence. In contrast, improvements in language use components were more limited for both groups of learners. Moreover, some of the gains due to being in the treatment were significant enough to bring the average EL student close to parity or beyond their EO (English Only) / IFEP (Initial Fluent English Proficient) peers in the control condition at posttest. We conclude by discussing pedagogical implications for English learners.

Metalinguistic awareness in Spanish partial immersion and English-only elementary students

ABSTRACT This study compares metalinguistic awareness of students in a one-way partial Spanish immersion (IMM) program to that of their English-only (ENG) counterparts at the same school. Students in grades 3 and 5 from each program completed a sentence grammaticality judgment task in English delivered orally. Measures of IMM students’ Spanish proficiency were included to examine the relationship between L2 Spanish ability and metalinguistic awareness. Grade 5 IMM students outperformed ENG students on the grammatically anomalous sentences, but no difference was found at grade 3. For the semantically anomalous sentences, IMM students outperformed their ENG counterparts at grade 3, but the reverse was true for grade 5. In summary, IMM studentś performance on the anomalous sentence tasks did not show a robust bilingual advantage when compared to their ENG students at the same school, nor did there appear to be a strong relationship between L2 Spanish proficiency level and metalinguistic awareness.

Long-term English learners’ mathematics course trajectories: downstream consequences of early remediation on college preparation

ABSTRACT We investigated how high school mathematics course placement contributes to inequalities in college preparation for students categorized as “English Learners” (ELs), especially “long-term” English Learners (LTELs). We devised a base-2 enumeration approach that allowed us to process complex transcript data from one school district and enumerate the thousands of possible trajectories (combinations) of mathematics courses taken by students during high school. We observed significant disparities in college preparation across students by English proficiency designation. In comparison to English Only (EO) students, LTELs were funneled into fewer trajectories that predominantly included lower level mathematics courses. We found that enrollment into remedial mathematics courses in Grade 9 appears to restrict access to advanced courses, with grave consequences for Grade 12 college preparation.

Jeden naród – jeden język? Ruch English-Only w kontekście wcześniejszych prób uregulowania statusu języka angielskiego w Stanach Zjednoczonych

One Nation – One Language? The English-Only Movement in the United StatesSpeaking English is perceived as essential to American identity. The English language does not, however, have an official status in the United States. As a consequence of the change in the racial and ethnic composition of the US population, in particular the growth of the Hispanic/Latino minority, since the 1980s the country has witnessed the birth and growth of the English-Only movement. The aim of the movement is to give English an official status. Even though no federal regulations have yet been passed, Official English measures have been adopted by many American states.This article presents the English-Only movement within the context of earlier attempts to restrict the use of foreign languages in the US. It also briefly discusses some of the federal, state and local regulations.

Using scaffolded text with systematic progression of spelling patterns to promote Hispanic children’s early literacy

ABSTRACT This comparative, descriptive study examined the relationship between text-type use and early literacy outcomes of English language decoding ability. The representative sample was 80 grade 1 students receiving reading instruction using English language materials with a focus on the Spanish speaking, Hispanic English Language Learner (ELL) using scaffolded text when learning to read. The research aims were about specific pairwise comparisons. The comparisons were analyzed with t tests, noting the mean differences in correct number of English words decoded from a list of 253 words. Words correctly decoded were tallied for each student. There were three groups and two comparisons. Group 1: Hispanic, ELL receiving reading instruction using scaffolded text (ST)*. Group 2: Hispanic, ELL using non-scaffolded text (NST)*. Group 3: English only (EO) students using NST. Comparison 1: Group 1 and Group 2. Comparison 2: Group 1 and Group 3. Results show that Group 1 correctly decoded significantly more words than Group 2. Group 1 correctly decoded more words than Group 3; this difference was not statistically significant. Results of this study provide preliminary support for the use of scaffolded text in helping Hispanic ELL decode English text.

In our English-only research world, there is a need for reviewers who are tolerant of imperfect texts from non-anglophone authors

In our English-only research world, there is a need for reviewers who are tolerant of imperfect texts from non-anglophone authors

Who’s being ‘sheltered?’: How monolingual language ideologies are produced within education policy discourse and sheltered English immersion

ABSTRACT This paper critically examines the notion of ‘sheltered’ pedagogies for English language teaching in English-dominant contexts. I specifically explore how the increasingly popular Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) model has been interpreted in certain contexts to further monolingual language ideologies. Drawing on critical and poststructural approaches to policy analysis, I ask who is being sheltered through SEI – interrogating the degree to which the model accommodates multilingual learners as compared to ‘sheltering’ monolingual pedagogies, teachers, students, and policies of the status quo. Ultimately, this framing destabilizes assumptions around who benefits from ‘sheltered’ approaches. I first introduce a theoretical framework to challenge claims of a widespread transcendence of monolingual language ideologies through theoretical advances such as the pluri/multilingual turn. Next, I analyze the socio-historical trajectory of SEI’s use within U.S. English-only movements and the language ideologies produced therein. Finally, I provide a specific example of an SEI training mandate in the U.S. state of Massachusetts that demonstrates how monolingual language ideologies can be reinforced through teacher education, even in the absence of specific English-only policies. Beyond SEI classrooms, this analysis has implications for how language hierarchies are maintained across a broad range of educational settings and policies.

Assessing middle school dual language learners' and English-only students' motivation to participate in classroom discussion

This study investigated the constructs contributing to individual differences in Dual Language Learners' (DLL) and English-only (EO) students' (M age = 12.19; SD = 0.325) motivation to participate in classroom discussion. Study 1 describes the development of a 20-item measure, the Motivation for Classroom Discussion Questionnaire (MCD-Q). A focus group (Study 1a n = 11) evaluated the MCD-Q items. Data reduction techniques reduced the items to five motivational constructs (value, language-efficacy, extrinsic motivation, social motivation, and interest) for a sample of DLLs and EO students (Study 1b n = 208). Study 2 (n = 125) examined the relation between dimensions of students' motivation, language status (DLL, EO), and their audio-recorded amount of talk during English Language Arts. Study 2 demonstrated that of students who have high confidence in their language abilities (i.e., high language-efficacy), those who identified as EO students were more likely to engage in a greater amount of talk during classroom discussions than students who identified as DLLs.

Writing Studies’ Concessions to the English-Only Movement: Revisiting CCCC’s National Language Policy and Its Reception

This article analyzes how public policymakers responded to CCCC’s 1988 National Language Policy. While many treated CCCC as a leading critic of English-only policies, others interpreted the organization to be more of a hesitant critic, or even an outright ally of the English-only movement. Rather than cede rhetorical ground to monolingual ideologies, policies, and movements, I argue for language policies that place less emphasis on English and more on language as a right and a translingual practice.

Does Short-term Study Abroad Experience Change Female Second Language Learners’ Motivation and Attitudes Towards Classroom Language Choice?

The number of studies on the effects of studying abroad on second language (L2) learning has increased in the last two decades, with the majority dedicated to linguistic outcomes. Recently, the field has called for more research on the role of studying abroad, and its relationship to L2 learners’ perceptions and attitudes. To address this call, this study examines the effects of five-week, short-term study abroad (SA) on L2 learners’ motivation, and attitudes towards classroom language choice. Eighty-eight female Korean college students participated in four different SA programs in four different countries, that offered in-class language and outside-class cultural experience programs. Results reveal that the levels of some types of motivation (i.e. ideal L2 self), stated intention to continue to learn English, and attitudes towards an English-only (EO) approach, all increased significantly after the short-term SA. However, proficiency levels of participants were found to moderate these changes, with the lower-level group benefiting more. Results of a cluster analysis further show that after the five-week SA experience, different learner profiles emerged when grouped by target variables.

Latinx Students’ Perceptions of Bicultural Identity in English-Only and Two-Way Immersion Elementary Programs

Photo-elicitation interviewing (PEI) is a technique in which photographs are used within an interview context. In this paper, I describe the use of PEI as a means to examine the development of bicultural identity and sense of school belongingness of sixth-grade Latinx students in mainstream English-only (EO) and two-way immersion (TWI) elementary school programs at one school in the southwestern United States. Findings indicate (a) biculturalism is expressed differently by students based on their participation in the TWI or EO program and (b) overt displays of bicultural identity or mainstream cultural expectations affect students’ sense of school belongingness in and out of the school setting. I also examine the advantages and limitations of photography and photo-elicitation interviews. While not without its limitations, results from this study suggest that PEI is an appropriate method to use when studying complex concepts, such as bicultural identity, with elementary-aged students.

Sociolinguistic Consequences of Anglophone Education Policy in 1980's Miami: The Occurrence of Calques in Cuban-American Spanish

Since the first post-revolutionary exodus of Cuban migrants to the U.S., Cuban-American Spanish has undergone profound linguistic change. One particular element that distinguishes the Spanish of the younger generation from that of the older is the increased use of calques. This paper traces the sociological roots of calques in the younger generation of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County, the children and grandchildren of the Golden Exiles who arrived in the U.S. during the first migratory wave from 1958 to 1962. The study argues that the older generation’s expectation of prompt return and destruction of Fidel Castro’s government forged an attachment to a cultural politics of preservation. The older generation advocated bilingualism and disapproved of English monolingualism, expressing a more negative response to American-oriented acculturation. The reluctance to submit to American influence reached its peak in the 1980s as the English-only movement compelled the older generation to intensify its resistance to the prioritization of English proficiency in the Miami-Dade public schools attended by younger Cuban-Americans. With the rise of anti-bilingualism and the English-only movement, Spanish was no longer guaranteed a significant portion of the school curriculum. Previous works on the Cuban-American speech in Miami-Dade County have described calques characteristic of the younger Cuban-American generation. The study presents that this trait stemmed from bilingual instruction in the 1980s that sought to change the Cuban students’ dominant learning-language from Spanish to English. The development of original calques that formed as English meanings transferred onto Spanish is thus situated as sociolinguistic phenomena rooted in 1980’s Miami social and educational policy.

A comparison of narrative skill in Spanish-English bilinguals and their functionally monolingual Spanish-speaking and English-only peers

Purpose: The Spanish and English narrative skills of young (mean age = 5.65 years) Spanish-English bilinguals were compared to functionally monolingual Spanish and English-only speakers’ narrative skills, respectively ( n = 63). Method: Spanish and English oral retellings, elicited at the beginning and end of the kindergarten year, were transcribed and coded in terms of discourse- (story structure complexity), semantic- (word diversity) and grammatical-level (lexical and grammatical errors, revisions) skills. Data and analysis: Repeated measures ANOVAs, with Time (beginning-, end-of-year) and Language Status (bilingual and either functionally monolingual Spanish or English monolingual) or Language (English, Spanish) as factors, were used to compare children’s narratives in terms of story structure complexity, word diversity, errors and revisions. Pearson correlations examined the relation of revisions to word diversity and errors. Results: Time comparisons revealed significant gains in story structure complexity, with no statistically significant difference between bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ complexity scores. Bilinguals’ stories were also not different between English and Spanish. Yet, bilinguals included more errors in English than did English monolinguals, while engaging in a comparable number of revisions. Moreover, despite comparable error rates with Spanish monolinguals, bilinguals included more lexical and grammatical revisions in Spanish. Revisions and word diversity were positively correlated; no relation was found between revisions and errors. Conclusions: The relative differences in revisions between bilinguals’ and Spanish monolinguals’ narratives, versus English monolinguals’, highlight the linguistic strengths of bilinguals. In particular, bilinguals’ tendency to engage in revisions as they attempt to increase their language complexity, suggests that revisions require advanced linguistic knowledge, not language uncertainty. Originality: The children in this study were considered language minority learners in the United States. Moving past accounts of minority learners’ “low” performance on oral language and reading comprehension, our study findings reveal evidence of “advanced” linguistic knowledge for bilingual speakers.

Defying expectations: Vocabulary growth trajectories of high performing language minority students

We investigated general vocabulary and academic vocabulary growth trajectories of adolescent language minority students using an individual growth modeling approach. Our analytical sample included 3161 sixth- to eighth-grade students from an urban school district in California. The language minority students in our sample were classified as initially fluent English proficient (IFEP), redesignated fluent English proficient (RFEP), or limited English proficient (LEP) students. The analytical sample was not a nationally representative sample and included a great number of Asian students and students who receive gifted and talented education. Students were assessed at four time points on a standardized measure of general vocabulary and a researcher-developed academic vocabulary test. On both vocabulary measures, IFEP students slightly outperformed English-only (EO) students on average, and EO students scored higher than RFEP and LEP students at baseline. RFEP and LEP students showed slower rate of growth than their EO peers in general vocabulary. While both EO and language minority students showed summer setback with general vocabulary knowledge on average, the magnitude of summer setback was not as great for LEP students. In academic vocabulary, all subgroups of language minority students showed more rapid rate of growth than their EO peers. Only the REP students experienced a change in the learning trajectory during the summer months. We discuss the implications of these findings for all language groups.

Making English local

AbstractThis study examines the role of chronotopes in a municipal campaign to make English the official language. Drawing on theories of scale, localism, and chronotopes in discourse, this article traces how 30 town residents situated the English language in local and US history through talk and gesture. By evoking two contrasting chronotopes as they created and interpreted the language policy, people positioned monolingualism as a local tradition and multilingualism as a new, outside threat. Yet these chronotopes of local time and distant time were also recursive and fluid in two key ways. First, the US could be aligned with or against the local, which allowed English-only advocates to simultaneously criticize the nation and appeal to an idealized US past. Second, some critics of the policy reconfigured the chronotopes in order to posit multilingualism as the more authentic local tradition. These moves allowed the people involved to support, redefine and resist the English-only movement.

Using modeled writing to support English-only and English-learner second-grade students

ABSTRACTThis study compared 70 English learners (ELs) and English-only (EO) second-grade students' writing samples before and after a yearlong writing program. The school utilized Write From the Beginning (J. Buckner, 2006) and focused on personal narratives. A subgroup of students also participated in an intervention supporting expository writing on curricular topics. Sociocognitive theory framed the Modeled Writing (MW) used in this study. An analysis of covariance used prescores on 2 writing assessments to compare students' writing achievement at the end of the year, and t tests compared students' writing by gender, language, and group on various pre- and posttest scores. Results indicate that MW benefited both EOs and ELs and that the MW students outscored the controls on all items of the standardized writing assessment at year's end. The comparison affords greater understanding of writing development and achievement differences among young ELs and EOs and suggests instructional and research opportunities.