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Citizenship Testing in the Anglophone Countries: The UK, Canada and the USA

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From Migrant to Citizen

Part of the book series: Language and Globalization ((LAGL))

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Abstract

Language skills have played a significant role in the history of assessment of applicants for citizenship. The United Kingdom, Canada and the United States have a long history of political, cultural and social interaction and each country has, on occasion, looked to the others when considering possible solutions to issues such as immigration and citizenship. The link of a common language, despite the development of different standard varieties, has facilitated this interaction and all three countries now stipulate that citizens should be able to speak basic English. This chapter focuses on how these countries assess English language skills as part of the process for naturalising adult applicants. An overview is given of the backgrounds to testing in each country, the changing emphases and priorities for testing, and the methods now employed to assess potential citizens. The validity, reliability and practicality of the current citizenship regimes are considered and finally an analysis is made of the vocabulary employed in each of the tests.

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Authors
  1. Marian Hargreaves
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. City University, London, UK

    Christina Slade

  2. Macquarie University, Australia

    Martina Möllering

Copyright information

© 2010 Marian Hargreaves

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Hargreaves, M. (2010). Citizenship Testing in the Anglophone Countries: The UK, Canada and the USA. In: Slade, C., Möllering, M. (eds) From Migrant to Citizen. Language and Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230281400_6

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