Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Selection, context, or both? The English fluency of Mexican immigrants in the American Midwest and Southwest

  • Published:
Population Research and Policy Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aponte, R. & Siles, M.E. (1994), Latinos in the Heartland: The Browning of the Midwest, JSRI Research Report No. 5, The Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bean, F.D., Corona, R. Tuiran, R. & Woodrow-Lafield, K. (1997), The Quantification of Migration Between Mexico and the United States. Team Report to Mexico/United States Binational Study on Migration.

  • Bills, G.D. (1989), The U.S. Census of 1980 and Spanish in the Southwest, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 79: 11-28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binational Study: Migration between Mexico and the United States (1997), A Report of the Binational Study on Migration. Commission on Immigration Reform.

  • Borjas, George J. (1989), Economic theory and international migration, International-Migration-Review 23(3): 457-485.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borjas, George J. (1999), Heaven's Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryk, A.S. & Raudenbush, S.W. (1992), Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis. Newbury Park: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryk, A.S., Raudenbush, S.W. & Congdon, Jr., R.T. (1996). HLM: Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear Modeling with the HLM/2L and HLM/3L Programs. Scientific Software International, Inc: Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bustamante, J. (1973), The historical context of undocumented Mexican immigration to the United States, Aztlan 3: 257-281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bustamante, J. (1984), Changing patterns of undocumented migration from Mexican states in recent years, pp. 15-32 in R.C. Jones (ed.), Patterns of Undocumented Migration: Mexico and the United States. Totowa, N.J: Roman and Allanheld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bustamante, J. (1990), Undocumented migration from Mexico to the United States: Preliminary findings from the Zapata Canyon Project, pp. 211-226 in F. Bean, B. Edmonston & J. Passel (eds.), Undocumented Migration to the United States: IRCA and the Experience of the 1980's. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bustamante, J. (1999), Personal Communication, Spring 1999.

  • Cantu, L. (1995), The peripheralization of rural America: A case study of Latino migrants in America's heartland, Sociological Perspectives 38 (3): 399-414.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardenas, G. (1976), Los Desarraigados: Chicanos in the Midwestern region of the United States, Aztlan 7(2): 153-186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carliner, G. (2000), The language ability of U.S. immigrants: assimilation and cohort effects, International Migration Review. 34 (1): 158-182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Census Bureau. (1994), We asked...You told us Language Spoken at Home, Census Questionnaire Content, 1990 CQC-16 Bureau of the Census. February. http://www.census.gov/apsd/cqc/cqc16.pdf.

  • Charvat-Burke, S. & Goudy, W.J. (1999), Immigration and community in Iowa: How many have come and what is the impact? Annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Chicago, IL, 1999.

  • Chiswick, B. (1984), Illegal aliens in the United States labor market: Analysis of occupational attainment and earnings, International Migration Review 18: 714-732.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiswick, B. & Miller, P.W. (1995), The endogeneity between language and earnings: International analyses, Journal of Labor Economics 13: 246-288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiswick, B. & Sullivan, T. (1995), The new immigrants, in R. Farley (ed.), State of the Union: American in the 1990's, Volume Two: Social Trends. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dagodag, W.T. (1975), Source Regions and Composition of Illegal Mexican Immigration to California, International Migration Review 9: 499-511.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delechat, C.C. (1995), Mexican Labor Migration to the United States: Determinants, Labor Market Outcomes and Dynamics. Dept. of Economics, Georgetown University. Unpublished dissertation.

  • Denton, N.A. & Massey, D.S. (1989). Racial identity among Caribbean Hispanics: The effect of double minority status on residential segregation, American Sociological Review 54: 790-808.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denton, N.A. & Massey, D.S. (1991), Patterns of neighborhood transition in a multiethnic world: U.S. metropolitan areas, 1970-1980, Demography 28 (1): 41-63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durand, J. & Massey, D.S. (1992), Mexican migration to the United States: A critical review, Latin American Research Review 27: 3-42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durand, J.,Massey, D.S. & Kao, G. (2000), The changing geography of Mexican immigration to the United States, 1910-1996, Social Science Quarterly, Spring 2000, 81(1).

  • Espinosa, K.E. & Massey, D.S. (1997), Determinants of English proficiency among Mexican migrants to the United States, International Migration Review 31: 28-50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fix, Michael & Passel, Jeffrey S. (1994), Immigration and Immigrants: Setting the Record Straight. The Urban Institute Report, <http://www.urban.org/pubs/immig/immig.htm>

  • Gamio, M. (1930). Mexican Immigration to the United States: A Study of Human Migration and Adjustment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • García, J.R. (1996), Mexicans in the Midwest, 1900-1932. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gouveia, L. & Saenz, R. (1999), Latino/a immigrants and new social formations in the Great Plains: An assessment of population growth and multiple impacts. Paper presented at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. Chicago, IL. August 1999.

  • Gouveia, L. & Stull, D.D. (1997), Latino immigrants, meatpacking, and rural communities: A case study of Lexington, Nebraska. JSRI Research Report No. 26, The Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grenier, G. (1984), Shifts to English as usual language by Americans of Spanish mother tongue, Social Science Quarterly 62: 537-550.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griswold Del Castillo, R. & De Leon, A. (1996), North to Aztlan: A History of Mexican Americans in the United States. New York: Twane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guzmán, Betsy (2001), The Hispanic Population: Census 2000 Brief. United States Census Bureau.

  • Harrison, Roderick J. & Weinberg, Daniel H. (1992), Racial and ethnic residential segregation in 1990. Revised version of paper presented at the 1992 Population Association of America Annual Meetings.

  • Hondagneu-Sotelo, P. (1994), Gendered Transitions: Mexican Experiences of Immigration. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Immigration and Naturalization Service (1999a), Legal Immigration, Fiscal Year 1998. U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Planning and Policy Statistics Branch. Number 2: May 1999.

  • Immigration and Naturalization Service (1999b), 1997 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, L. (2000), Immigration overload, GovExec.Com. February. <http://www.govexec.com/features/0200/0200s6.htm>

  • Jasso, G. & Rosenzweig, M.R. (1990), The New Chosen People: Immigrants in the United States. New York, NY: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberson, S. (1961), The impact of residential segregation on assimilation, Social Forces 40: 52-57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindstrom, D. & Massey, D.S. (1994), Selective emigration, cohort quality and models of immigrant assimilation, Social Science Research 23: 315-349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopez, D.E. (1996), Language: Diversity and assimilation, in R. Waldinger & M. Bozorghmehr (eds.), Ethnic Los Angeles. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, P., Taylor, J.E. & Fix, M. (1996), Immigration and the changing face of rural America: Focus on the Midwestern States. JSRI Occasional Paper No. 21, The Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D.S. (1986), The settlement process among Mexican migrants to the United States, American Sociological Review 51: 670-682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D.S. (1987), Do undocumented workers earn lower wage than legal immigrants? New evidence from Mexico, International Migration Review 21: 236-274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D.S. & Denton, N.A. (1987), Trends in the residential segregation of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians: 1970-1980, American Sociological Review 52: 802-825.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D.S. & Denton, N.A. (1988), The dimensions of residential segregation, Social Forces 67: 281-315.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D.S. & Denton, N.A. (1989), Hypersegregation in U.S. metropolitan areas: Black and Hispanic segregation along five dimensions, Demography 26(3): 373-391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D.S., Alarcón, R., Durand, J. & Gonzalez, H. (1987), Return to Aztlan: The Social Process of International Migration from Western Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D.S. & Garcia Espana, F. (1987), The social process of international migration, Science 237: 733-738.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D.S. & Espinosa, K.E. (1997), What's driving Mexico-U.S. migration? A theoretical, empirical, and policy analysis, American Journal of Sociology 102: 939-999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D.S., Goldring, L. & Durand, J. (1994), Continuities in transnational migration: An analysis of nineteen Mexican communities, American Journal of Sociology 99: 1492-1533.

    Google Scholar 

  • McManus, W., Gould, W. & Welch, F. (1983), Earnings of Hispanic men: The role of English language proficiency, Journal of Labor Economics 1: 101-130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mexican Migration Project (1999), MIGFILE. [MRDF] October 1999 ed. Philadelphia, PA: Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania [producer and distributor].

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, D. & Park, J. (1998), Growing English proficiency and adoption of English at home by immigrants in Southern California, Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA.

  • Park, R.E. & Burgess, E.W. (1969), Introduction to the Science of Sociology. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Passel, J.S. & Woodrow, K.A. (1987), Change in the undocumented alien population in the United States, 1979-1983, International Migration Review 21: 1304-1323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Passel, J.S. & Zimmerman, W. (2000), Are immigrants leaving California? Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America. Los Angeles, CA.

  • Rosales, F.A. (1978), The regional origins of Mexicano immigrants to Chicago during the 1920's, Aztlan 7(2): 187-201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saenz, R. & Cready, C.M. (1996), The Southwest-Midwest Mexican American migration flows, 1985-1990, Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society. Des Moines, Iowa.

  • Sanchez, R. (1996), Mapping the Spanish language along a multiethnic and multilingual border, Aztlan 21: 49-104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, G. (1992), The social and demographic context of language use in the United States, American Sociological Review 57: 171-185.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stolzenberg, R.M. (1990), Ethnicity, geography and occupational achievement of Hispanic men in the United States, American Sociological Review 55: 143-154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valdes, D.N. (1992), Divergent roots, common destinies? Latino work and Settlement in Michigan, JSRI Occasional Paper No. 4, The Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. May.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vargas, Z. (1993), Proletarians of the North: A History of Mexican Industrial Workers in Detroit and the Midwest, 1917-1933. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verduzco-Iguartua, Gustavo (1990), The urban migration to the United States: A case of Western Mexico, Estudios Sociologicos 8(22): 117-139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wherritt, I. & Gonzalez, N. (1989), Spanish language maintenance in a small Iowa community, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 79: 29-39.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University, USA

    Eileen Diaz McConnell

  2. University of Notre Dame, USA

    Felicia B. Leclere

Authors
  1. Eileen Diaz McConnell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Felicia B. Leclere
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McConnell, E.D., Leclere, F.B. Selection, context, or both? The English fluency of Mexican immigrants in the American Midwest and Southwest. Population Research and Policy Review 21, 179–204 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019559824717

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019559824717

Keywords

Search

Navigation