English In United States
April 18th, 2007 | by Ridhima Suri |Today I stumbled onto an interesting survey in the context of the United States. The Survey is called Census Bureau in 2006, published in Advertising Age, and look!!!! it comes just in time to wing my thoughts on English as a medium of instruction and communication in India (You would not be cluless had you read the previous post titled “English in Indian Schools”). I live in California, which is like the cultural pot of the world, with people from different ethnicities living in one state. A lot of diversity here.
So I have this habit of deviating from the main point and philosophizing 360 degree!!!!! Knock. Knock. Back to English.
In California, which is on the West Coast of the United States, 42% of Californians speak a language other than English at home, with 2/3rds of that group (about 28%) speaking Spanish and the rest, speaking some other tongue. No surprises, especially when 27% of the Californians are foreign-born, the highest of any state in the country. People are English, Irish, Hispanics, Asians, Germans, Russians….voila!! However, this is the picture at home. Primarily, the common launguage of communication is English.
On the East Coast (or say mid-Atlantic region) of United States the picture is totally different. West Virginia has the lowest percentage of foreign-born residents (1%) and highest share of English speakers (99%). About 95% of the West Virginia residents are white and non-hispanic (vs. 43 % in CA).
Figures speak their own story..so need I say more..:) For a change, let me rest my thoughts here..:)
Please see here as well.
While I was discussing how there is an urgent need to use English as a medium of instruction in Indian schools, it did not surprise me when I read the details of the following survey in the context of the United States.
As in any other country, another debatable issue in the US is use of bilingual teaching instruction in Public Schools.
The issue explored : Bilingual Education
Survey conducted by : Gallup/CNN/USA Today Poll.
Time period :May 8-10, 1998.
N=1,005 adults nationwide.
I am quoting one of the questions asked and the response in the following lines.
“When there are a large number of non-English speaking students in a public school, these students are usually taught using one of the following two methods. After I read both methods, please tell me which one you prefer:
Bilingual education, which means teaching these students their core subjects such as math and history in their native language, while providing them gradual training in how to read and speak English.
Immersion, which means teaching these students all of their subjects in English, while giving them intensive training in how to read and speak English.”
Immersion 63%
Bilingual education 33%
Both/Depends (vol.) 1%
Neither/Other (vol.) 1 %
No opinion 2%
63% preferred preferred the method of Immersion, which in itself advocates, English as a medium of instruction. However, strict uniformity is not possible. Wherever there is diversity, there has to be flexibility and wherever there is flexibility, it takes the form of a co-existent Immersion-Bilingual formula (US context) or a Three-point formula (in Indian context).
English is becoming the global language and students world-wide are getting prepared to talk fluently in schools and colleges…:)
One Response to “English In United States”
By Disha on Apr 29, 2007 | Reply
Very informative article.
I agree that english has become a global language be with an american accent or a british accent but it is made mandatory to talk fluently in schools,colleges or work place.