Official English: A False Policy Issue

Abstract

Making English the official language of the United States is a false policy issue. The evidence does not support arguments that the use of English is declining or that the use of other languages debilitates the social fabric of the United States. On the contrary, attempts to impose English on the U.S. population have served historically to divide the nation. The facts do not support linguistic or social fragmentation. English is the language of state and the common language of the U.S. population. Immigrants continue to enter the United States because of the protections and opportunities it offers, and they give highest priority to learning English. The real language-policy issues have to do with literacy and high-level multilingual skills. A sane national language policy would give primacy to literacy and would promote multilingualism. The nation's energies must be directed at language policies that empower all citizens rather than punish some.

State Implementation of Language Acquisition Policies and Reading Achievement Among Hispanic Students

“…Critics of the language models that replaced bilingual education charge that its emphasis on English acquisition is rooted in policies that have been used to exert social control via language to produce subordination or assimilation, policies reminiscent of earlier nationalist periods of our history (see Wiley & Wright, 2004). Many others have contributed to the extant literature on language contact, language and identity, and the political and ideological dimensions of de jure and de facto national and state educational language policies (e.g., González & Melis, 2000;Lyons, 2005;Madrid, 1990;May, 2003May, , 2005Wiley & Wright, 2004). Also, well documented are the issues related to the implementation of language acquisition policies (e.g., Combs, Evans, Fletcher, Parra, & Jiménez, 2005;Gándara, Rumberger, Maxwell-Jolly, & Callahan, 2003).…”

Full Volume 1: Working Papers in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education (WPLCLE)

“…At the same time, such legislation rarely results in a unified society speaking solely the mandated language(s)" (p. 129). Arturo Madrid (1990) summarized what I believe: For any nation, "far more important as forces to get itself unified were individual rights, freedoms, and protections; governmental and societal tolerance for cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity; democratic representation; and unfettered commerce" (p. 63).…”