The Politics of Official English: Exploring the Intentions and Outcomes Behind English-Only Policies in the United States

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: English Language Learners and the Politics of Education Policy

Abstract

This paper, drawing from critical discourse analysis as a theoretical framework and methodological approach, analyzes the discursive and generic structure and the rationale and stated outcomes of official English policies. Using a logistic regression model, social, economic, educational, and geopolitical indicators are analyzed to shed light on key characteristics of the states that adopted these policies. Finally, state expenditures on language programs for linguistic minorities in K-12 public schools and their academic outcomes in the two groups of states are compared. The results indicate that, in contrast to its stated outcomes, the legislation does not have any relation to increasing access to English in terms of funding for the education of linguistic minority students or to their academic results.

Author

• David Nieto, University of Colorado - Boulder