Oficial Language of U.S.
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Unlike many other countries, the United States has never established an official language, although paradoxically, Founding Father John Jay in the Federalist Papers "saw the English language as the tie that bound the federal structure together" (McKay & Weinstein-Shr, 1993, Autumn, 1993, p. 400). Even current literacy requirements for naturalization and permanent residency in amnesty situations were a relatively late addition to the entry and naturalization standards of what was often called a nation of immigrants. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, alternating periods of nativist sentiment failed to swamp an underlying belief that immigration was tied to the cultural history and destiny of the United States. Immigrants were welcomed for their willingness to work, if not for their culture, and low educational standards and the need for strong backs provided a role and a welcome even for those with little English. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, however, technological advances and a changing view of immigrants .shifted towards an expanding gatekeeper role for English literacy in determining permanent residency status and citizenship (McKay & Weinstein-Shr, 1993, Autumn, p. 400). Although the first test recommended by a federal Immigration Commission in 1907 specified that language requirements might be met by literacy in any language, concern for literacy reflected prejudices and attitudes about immigrants who "were thought to be less intelligent and
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native language proficiency and literacy and assess learners purely on their ability with English are a prime example. Wiley also cites "a need to abandon stigmatizing constructs such as 'semilingualism' that confuse prior educational opportunity and school-based literacy in a standard language with language proficiency. Broader learner profiles are needed to take these factors into consideration" (Wiley, 1993, October, p. 427).
Other programs Guth describes in such geographically diverse locations as Rhode Island and Seattle help participants use their own lifetime experiences and such cultural materials as folktales to create relevant English-language and literacy texts. The struggle to create learning texts that hold the interest of adult learners while meeting pedagogical requirements is a frequent subject for discussion in the growing body of adult ESL literature.
Participatory, or, as they are sometimes called, "learner centered," approaches to ESL usually involve some attempt at "drawing curriculum content from the social context of learners, lives as well as involving them in curriculum development processes" (Auerbach, E. 1993, Autumn, p. 543):
The main tenet of the learner-centered approach is that adults learn bes
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3758
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)
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