Speaking, Reading, and Earnings among Low-skilled Immigrants

2019 ◽  
pp. 363-384
Author(s):  
George J. Borjas ◽  
Barry R. Chiswick ◽  
George J. Borjas ◽  
Barry R. Chiswick
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Reading Fluency ◽  
English Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Skilled Immigrants ◽  
English Reading ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Language Fluency

This chapter is concerned with the determinants of English language fluency among immigrants and the effects of fluency on earnings. Using special survey data on a sample of more than 800 aliens, the analysis shows the importance of certain variables which were not previously available: speaking fluency at migration and English reading fluency. English speaking and reading fluency both increase with duration in the United States, and the increase with duration is greater for those with more schooling and who are not Hispanic. The chapter shows that reading fluency is more important than speaking fluency as a determinant of earnings.

scholarly journals Daily and Nondaily Smoking Varies by Acculturation among English-Speaking, US Latino Men and Women

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Pulvers ◽  
A. Paula Cupertino ◽  
Taneisha S. Scheuermann ◽  
Lisa Sanderson Cox ◽  
Yen-Yi Ho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Relative Risk ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
English Language ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Latino Men ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Nondaily Smoking

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Higher smoking prevalence and quantity (cigarettes per day) has been linked to acculturation in the United States among Latinas, but not Latino men. Our study examines variation between a dif­ferent and increasingly important target behavior, smoking level (nondaily vs daily) and acculturation by sex.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An online English-language sur­vey was administered to 786 Latino smokers during July through August 2012. The Brief Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans–II (ARSMA-II) and other accul­turation markers were used. Multinomial lo­gistic regression models were implemented to assess the association between smoking levels (nondaily, light daily, and moderate/ heavy daily) with acculturation markers.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Greater ARMSA-II scores (rela­tive risk ratio, <em>RRR</em>=.81, 95% CI: .72-.91) and being born inside the United States (<em>RRR</em>=.42, 95% CI: .24-.74) were associated with lower relative risk of nondaily smoking. Greater Latino orientation (<em>RRR</em>=1.29, 95% CI: 1.11-1.48) and preference for Spanish language (<em>RRR</em>=1.06, 95% CI: 1.02-1.10) and media (<em>RRR</em>=1.12, 95% CI: 1.05-1.20) were associated with higher relative risk of nondaily smoking. The relationship between acculturation and smoking level did not differ by sex.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study found that among both male and female, English-speaking Latino smokers, nondaily smoking was associated with lower acculturation, while daily smoking was linked with higher ac­culturation.</p><p><em>Ethn Dis. </em>2018.28(2):105-114; doi:10.18865/ed.28.2.105.</p>

scholarly journals The Earnings Disadvantage of 21st Century Immigrants in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Fahad Gill ◽  
Waseem Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
21St Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Decomposition Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Low Levels

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the earnings disadvantage of 21st century immigrants in the United States. The study is the first to decompose the earnings disadvantage faced by recent immigrants to present the channels through which immigrants lag behind their native counterparts. The decomposition of the earnings disadvantage reveals that the time spent in the United States is the key determinant of the earnings disadvantage. Other important sources of the earnings disadvantage of immigrants are the levels of English-language proficiency and educational attainment. The decomposition analysis also suggests that low levels of human capital cause an even larger disadvantage for immigrants in the years following the 2008-2009 recession as compared with the corresponding relative returns of the prerecession period. The decomposition analysis and trends in returns to human capital variables highlight the merits of a selective immigration system that favors young, English-speaking, and highly educated individuals. JEL Classifications: J1, J3, J6

Soviet Jews in the United States: An Analysis of Their Linguistic and Economic Adjustment

1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry R. Chiswick
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
English Language ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Economic Adjustment ◽  
Soviet Jews ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
European Immigrants

This article reviews the literature and analyzes 1980 Census data to study English language fluency and earnings among Soviet Jews. The literature review reveals: 1) the importance of employment and attaining premigration occupational status for self-esteem; 2) the difficulty of adjusting to the wide range of choices in the United States; 3) the greater difficulty and economic importance of learning English; and 4) the rapid linguistic and economic mobility. The multivariate analysis supports the latter two points. Soviet Jews have a difficult initial adjustment, but after five years in the United States they achieve parity in English fluency and earnings with other European immigrants, ceteris paribus.

Fluence et prononciation de phonèmes en L1 et L2

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-312
Author(s):  
Lucie Vialettes-Basmoreau ◽  
Nathalie Spanghero-Gaillard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Home Environment ◽  
Reading Fluency ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
The United States ◽  
French Immersion ◽  
Reading Habits ◽  
English Speaking

Learning how to read is an important step in a child’s education. Our longitudinal study focuses on four native English-speaking children going to a French immersion school in the United States, as well as their families. These children learn to read in French, which is a foreign language to them. We aimed at finding out whether their home environment could explain good results in reading in the two languages: English, their mother tongue, and French, the foreign language, as Cummins (1981) suggests. To this end, we measured their performance in reading through their pronunciation and their reading fluency, and we had their family complete a questionnaire about their reading habits at home. The results show that the home environment does seem to play a role in the children’s performance but more generalizations must await further research.

scholarly journals Translation as Charitable Currency: Internationalization Through International Alumni Giving

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (Winter) ◽  
pp. 199-202
Author(s):  
Zachary Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
International Alumni ◽  
Currency Internationalization

As higher education continues to internationalize, the United States higher education system remains a predominantly English-speaking entity. This research-in-progress will examine how United States institutions of higher education engage with English-language learning international alumni to explore how these alumni are asked to give back to their alma mater. I hypothesize that many institutions of higher educaiton may be perpetuing academic capitalism by viewing international alumni as sources of financial support and not as sources of rich linguistic capital that could be leveraged to further diversify the institution and facilitate equitable access to higher education.

The Lingua Franca Mandate

2019 ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Tsedal Neeley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
The United States ◽  
Work Process ◽  
Marketing Manager ◽  
Work Requirements ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
The Core ◽  
English Speaking

This chapter sets the stage with the dramatic announcement by Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of Rakuten, informing his 10,000 employees, of which over 7,100 are Japanese nationals, that from that day forward they would need to speak English in the workplace. In two years, they would be required to clear a proficiency test or risk demotion. This chapter introduces three employees who represent the categories that make up the core of the book. The first is Kenji, a Japanese engineer gripped by shock and fear that his years of hard work with the company will count for naught, who then receives the technical and emotional support to practice new English language skills. Next is Robert, a native English-speaking marketing manager from the United States, thrilled that the company is switching to his native language and who anticipates an easy career advance only to have his sense of privilege curtailed by new, daily work requirements, followed by a trip to Japan where his cultural blinders begin to loosen. Finally, there is the German IT technician, Inga, who is pleased by the announcement, who hopes it will streamline her work process—and learns that it does once she climbs the steep and often frustrating learning curve.

The Speech-Language Assessment of English Language Learning Students: A Non-Standardized Approach

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 95-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kraemer ◽  
Allison Coltisor ◽  
Meesha Kalra ◽  
Megan Martinez ◽  
Bailey Savage ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
The United States ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
English Speaking

English language learning (ELL) children suspected of having specific-language impairment (SLI) should be assessed using the same methods as monolingual English-speaking children born and raised in the United States. In an effort to reduce over- and under-identification of ELL children as SLI, speech-language pathologists (SLP) must employ nonbiased assessment practices. This article presents several evidence-based, nonstandarized assessment practices SLPs can implement in place of standardized tools. As the number of ELL children SLPs come in contact with increases, the need for well-trained and knowledgeable SLPs grows. The goal of the authors is to present several well-establish, evidence-based assessment methods for assessing ELL children suspected of SLI.

Working With Interpreters to Support Students Who Are English Language Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 15-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette W. Langdon ◽  
Terry Irvine Saenz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Second Best ◽  
Support Students

The number of English Language Learners (ELL) is increasing in all regions of the United States. Although the majority (71%) speak Spanish as their first language, the other 29% may speak one of as many as 100 or more different languages. In spite of an increasing number of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who can provide bilingual services, the likelihood of a match between a given student's primary language and an SLP's is rather minimal. The second best option is to work with a trained language interpreter in the student's language. However, very frequently, this interpreter may be bilingual but not trained to do the job.

Rethinking Canada: Canadian Studies and Study Abroad

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Beach ◽  
George Sherman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
University Admissions ◽  
American University ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
Canadian Education ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Canadian Studies ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
English Speaking

Americans have been studying “abroad” in Canada on a freelance basis for generations, and for many different reasons. Certain regions of Canada, for example, provide excellent, close-to-home opportunities to study French and/or to study in a French-speaking environment. Opportunities are available coast-to-coast for “foreign studies” in an English-speaking environment. Additionally, many students are interested in visiting cities or areas from which immediate family members or relatives emigrated to the United States.  Traditionally, many more Canadians have sought higher education degrees in the United States than the reverse. However, this is about to change. Tearing a creative page out of the American university admissions handbook, Canadian universities are aggressively recruiting in the United States with the up-front argument that a Canadian education is less expensive, and a more subtle argument that it is perhaps better.

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