Abstract
The official English movement in the United States is unique in the world in that the discourse of protection is directed towards English, because of multilingualism, and not against English, in defense of minority languages. This chapter discusses the exceptional character of the official English movement, devoting particular attention to the 104th Congress (1995–1996) when, under the first Republican Party (GOP) majority for 40 years, the status of English in the United States achieved its much hoped for floor action resulting in a successful vote on 1 August 1996. The Bill Emerson Language Empowerment Act (1996) subsequently lapsed, but the official English movement remains, powerful and determined, pursuing energetically its controversial aim of inscribing English into the nation’s legal register. That official English is a movement in the United States, with its global economic dominance and cultural influence, invites curiosity as to its aims, origins, politics, and ideologies. The chapter discusses bilingual education as a key site of struggle in language policy in the US. The chapter concludes with a critique of language policy and planning theory in relation to official English.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adams, J. (1780/1992). Proposal for an American Language Academy. In J. Crawford, J. (Ed.). (1992) Language loyalties: A source book on the official English controversy. (pp. 31–33). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Baker, K., & de Kanter, A. (1981). The effectiveness of bilingual education programs. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.
Baron, D. (1990). The English-only question, an official language for Americans? New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Baron, D. (1992). Federal English. In J. Crawford (Ed.), Language loyalties: A source book on the official English controversy. (pp. 36–40). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Baugh, J. (2000). Beyond Ebonics, Linguistic pride and racial prejudice. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bernstein, R. (1994). Dictatorship of virtue: Multiculturalism and the battle for America’s future. New York: Knopf.
Birkales, G. (1986). About this book [Foreword]. In A. P. Blaustein & D. Blaustein-Epstein, Resolving language conflicts: A study of the world’s constitutions. Washington, D.C.: U.S. English.
Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Chavez, L. (1991). Out of the barrio: Towards a new politics of Hispanic assimilation. Basic Books. New York: Harper Collins.
Christian, D., Montone, C. L., Lindhohn, K. J., & Carranza, I. (1997). Profiles in two-way immersion education. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems.
Collins, J. (1999). The Ebonics controversy in context: Literacies, subjectivities, and language ideologies in the United States. In Blommaert, J. (Ed.), Language ideological debates (pp. 201–235). The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter.
Combs, M. C. (1999). Public perceptions of official English/English only: Framing the debate in Arizona. In T. Huebner & K. A. Davis (Eds.). Socio-political perspectives on language policy and planning in the USA. (pp. 131–155). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Congressional Record, 1967, p. 34703. Washington, D.C.: United States Congress.
Congressional Record 15024–30, 11 October, 1990. Washington, D.C.: United States Congress.
Crawford, J. (Ed.). (1992). Language loyalties: A source book on the official English controversy. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Crawford, J. (2000). At war with diversity: US language policy in an age of anxiety. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Crawford, J. (2002). Making sense of Census 2000. University of Arizona, Language Policy Research Unit.
Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cummins, J. (1992). Bilingual education and immersion education: The Ramirez Report in theoretical perspective. Bilingual Research Journal. 16, 91–105.
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Donahue, T. S. (1995). American language policy and compensatory opinion. In Tollefson, J. W. (Ed.) Power and inequality in language education (pp. 112–142). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Draper, J. B., & Jiminez, M. (1990/1992). A chronology of the official English movement. In Crawford, J. (Ed.) Language loyalties: A source book on the official English controversy. (pp. 89–94). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Ewen, D. T., Wrigley, H. S., & Chisman, F. P. (1993). ESL and the American dream: A report on an investigation of ESL service for adults. Washington, D.C.: The Southport Institute of Policy Analysis.
Ferguson, C. A. (1979/96). National attitudes to language planning. In Huebner, T. (Ed.) Sociolinguistic perspectives: Papers on language in society, 1959–1994. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fishman, J. A. (1988). ‘English Only’: Its ghosts, myths and dangers. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 74, 125–140.
Gingrich, N. (1995). To renew America. New York: Harper Collins.
Graddol, D. (1997). The future of English? London: British Council.
Hayakawa, S. I. (1985). (The English Language Amendment) One nation... indivisible? Washington, D.C.: Institute for Values in Public Policy.
Hinton, L. (1994). Flutes of fire: Essays on Californian Indian languages. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books.
Hirsch, E. D. (1988). Cultural literacy: What every American needs to know. New York: Vintage Books.
Honey, J. (1997). Language is power: The story of Standard English and its enemies. London: Faber and Faber.
House of Representatives Report 107-219 on the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2002.
Huebner, T., & Davis, K. A. (1999). (Eds.). Sociopolitical perspectives on language policy and planning in the USA. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Jernudd, B. H. (1992). Culture planning in language planning, what do we know about culture loss, survival and gain in relation to language loss, survival and gain? In G. Jones & C. Ozog (Eds.) Bilingualism and national development (Vol. 2) (pp. 491–531). Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
Kachru, B. B. (Ed). (1992). The other tongue: English across cultures (2nd ed.). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Kagan, R. A. (1991). Adversarial legalism and American government. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 10(3), 369–407.
Kloss, H. (1971). Language rights of immigrant groups. International Migration Review, 5, 250–268.
Kloss, H. (1998). The American bilingual tradition (2nd ed.). Washington DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics.
Knowles, G. (1997). A cultural history of the English language. London: Arnold.
Kobayashi, S. (August 3, 1999). English can save Japan, p. 16. The Japan Times.
Krashen, S. D. (1999). Under attack: The case against bilingual education. Culver City, CA: Language Education Associates.
Krauss, M. (1992). The world’s languages in crisis. Language, 68, 6–10.
Krauss, M. (1998). The condition of native North American languages. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 132, 9–21.
Lambert, R. D. (1992). Foreign language planning in the United States (Occasional Paper). Washington, D.C.: National Foreign Language Center, Johns Hopkins University.
Leith, D, (1997). A social history of English. London: Routledge.
Lo Bianco, J. (1999). The language of policy: What sort of policy making is the officialization of English in the United States? In Huebner, T. & K. A. Davis (Eds.), Sociopolitical perspectives on language policy and planning in the USA. (pp. 39–65). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Lo Bianco, J. (2001). Language policies: State texts for silencing and giving voice. In P. Freebody, S. Muspratt, S. Devlin, B. Devlin, & B. Difference (Eds.), Silence and textual practice: Studies in critical literacy (pp. 31–71). Cleveland, University of New Hampshire: Hampton Press.
Lo Bianco, J. (2002) Uncle Sam and Mister Unz. Australian Language Matters, 4, 1 & 3–8.
Macias, R. F. (2000). The flowering of America: Linguistic diversity in the United States. In S. L. McKay & S. C. Wong (Eds.), New immigrants in the United States (pp. 11–58). New York: Cambridge University Press.
McCormick, W. J. (1923/1992). “American” as official language. In J. Crawford (Ed.) Language loyalties: A source book on the official English controversy. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Mencken, H. L. (1936). The American language. New York: A. Kopf.
Miner, S. (1998). Legal implications of the official English declaration. In T. Ricento, & B. Burnaby (Eds), Language and politics in the United States and Canada: Myths and realities. (pp. 171–185). New Jersey and London: Erlbaum.
Morgan, M. (1999). US language planning and policies for social dialect speakers. In T. Huebner, & K. A. Davis (Eds.), Sociopolitical perspectives on language policy and planning in the USA. (pp. 173–193). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Nunberg, G. (1992). Afterword: The official language movement: Reimagining America. In J. Crawford, (Ed.) Language loyalties: A source book on the official English controversy. (pp. 479–495). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Parakrama, A. (1995). De-hegemonizing language standard: Learning from (post)colonial Englishes about “English”. Basingstoke and New York: Macmillan.
Porter, R. (1995). Forked tongue: The politics of bilingual education. New Brunswick: Transaction Books.
Pennycook, A. (1994). The cultural politics of English as an international language. New York and London: Longman.
Perkins, J. (Chair). (1979). US President’s commission of foreign languages and international studies, strength through wisdom, A critique of US capability (Final Report). Washington, D.C.: Government Publications Office.
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Phillipson, R., & Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (1996). English-only worldwide or language ecology? TESOL Quarterly 30, 429–452.
Piatt, B. (1990). Only English? Law and language policy in the United States. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Ramirez, J., Yuen, S., Ramey, D., & Pasta, D. (1991). Final report: Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, early exit and late-exit bilingual education programs for language minority children (Vol. 1) (US Department of Education). San Mateo, CA: Aguirre International.
Ricento, T. (1998). National language policy in the United States. In T. Ricento, & B. Burnaby (Eds.), Language and politics in the United States and Canada: Myths and realities. (pp. 85–103). New Jersey and London: Erlbaum.
Roca, A. (1999). Foreign language policy and planning in higher education: The case of the State of Florida. (pp. 297–313). In T. Huebner, & K. A. Davis (Eds.), Sociopolitical perspectives on language policy and planning in the USA. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Rossell, C., & Baker, K., (1996). The educational effectiveness of bilingual education. Research in the Teaching of English, 30(1), 7–74.
Rossiter, C. (Ed.). (1961). Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The federalist papers. New York and Scarborough: Penguin.
Rubin, J. (1978/1979). The approach to language planning within the United States. Language Planning Newsletter (East-West Center, Honolulu), 4(4), 1 & 3–6 and “Continued” 5(1), 1 & 3–6.
Schneider, S. G. (1976). Revolution, reaction or reform: The 1974 bilingual education act. New York: L.A. Publishing Company.
Shannon, S. M. (1999). The debate on bilingual education in the US: Language ideology as reflected in the practices of bilingual teachers. In J. Blommaert (Ed.), Language ideological debates (pp. 171–201). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Simon, P. (1981/1992). The tongue-tied American, Confronting the foreign language crisis. New York: Continuum Press.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (Ed) (1995). Multilingualism for all. Swets and Zeitlinger B.V.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T., Phillipson, R., & Rannut, M., (Eds.). (1994). Linguistic human rights: Overcoming linguistic discrimination. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Sonntag, S. K. (1995). Elite competition and official language movements. In J. W. Tollefson (Ed.) Power and inequality in language education (pp. 91–112). Cambridge University Press.
Stevens, G. (1994). Immigration, emigration, language acquisition, and the English language proficiency of immigrants in the U.S. In B. Edmonston & J. S. Passel (Eds.), Immigration and ethnicity: The integration of America’s newest arrivals (pp. 163–181). Washington, D.C: The Urban Institute Press.
Tarver, H. (1989). Language and politics in the 1980s: The story of US English. Politics and Society 17(2), 220–239.
United States Census Bureau. (1993, April 28). Number of non-English language speaking Americans up sharply in 1980s, Census Bureau says [Press Release]. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau.
United States Department of Commerce. (1993, Nov.). We the American... Hispanics. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
United States Census Bureau. (1994). 1990 Census of Population (CP-2-1A). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Veltman, C. (1983). Language shift in the United States. Berlin: Mouton.
Veltman, C. (1998). Quebec, Canada, and the United States: Social reality and language rights. In T. Ricento, & B. Burnaby (Eds.), Language and politics in the United States and Canada: Myths and realities, (pp. 310–317). New Jersey and London: Erlbaum.
Wiley, T. G. (1999). Comparative historical analysis of U.S. language policy and language planning: Extending the foundations. In T. Huebner, & K. A. Davis (Eds.), Sociopolitical perspectives on language policy and planning in the USA. (pp. 17–39). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Willig, A. (1985). A meta-analysis of selected studies on the effectiveness of bilingual education. Review of Educational Research, 55, 269–317.
Wilgoren, J. (2002, July 19). Divided by a call for a common language. New York Times, p. 13.
Woolard, K. A. (1998). Introduction: Language ideology as a field of inquiry. In B. B. Schieffelin, K. A. Woolard, & P. V. Kroskrity (Eds.), Language ideologies: Practice and theory (pp. 3–47). Oxford University Press.
Zelasko, N. F. (1991). The bilingual double standard: Mainstream Americans’ attitudes toward bilingualism. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Georgetown University, Washington DC: University Microfilm International; Dissertation Information Service, Ann Arbor Michigan.
Zinn, H. (1995). A people’s history of the United States. New York: The New Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lo Bianco, J. (2007). Protecting English in an Anglophone Age. In: Cummins, J., Davison, C. (eds) International Handbook of English Language Teaching. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 15. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46301-8_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46301-8_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-46300-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-46301-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)