Language Policies, Immigrant Assimilation, and Minority Group Advancement in the United States

Abstract

English predominates in the United States even though it has not been designated as the country’s official language. Some of the fifty states have official languages; however, controversies have occurred concerning those designations and about imposing language requirements on prospective immigrants.

The manner in which children from immigrant households are educated has also been debated. Research has found that children whose home languages are not English can be educated effectively in American schools using either Structured English Immersion, or Bilingual Education, or Dual Language Schools. Additional research has demonstrated that it is often helpful for such youth to selectively retain aspects of their ancestral cultures while becoming literate and fully bilingual in both English and their home languages. Immigrant assimilation takes place over time, frequently facilitated by communication that occurs within ethnic enclaves. There is now, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, greater acceptance of cultural and linguistic diversity in the United States than existed during the first half of the twentieth century.