It’s all about English: the interplay of monolingual ideologies, language policies and the U.S. Census Bureau’s statistics on multilingualism

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (252) ◽  
pp. 21-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Leeman
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Limited English Proficiency ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
National Belonging ◽  
History Of ◽  
Language Statistics ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Language Question ◽  
The U.S

AbstractIn this article, I argue that census language questions, policies and ideologies are intertwined and mutually reinforcing. Thus, critical analyses of census language questions must examine the specific policies for which language statistics are produced, as well as the ideologies that undergird those policies and the production of language statistics. After examining the history of language questions and related policies in the U.S., I apply this approach in an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s current language question, arguing that U.S. language policy and official statistics on multilingualism are constrained by monolingual ideologies that center on English as the key point of reference and the marker of full personhood and national belonging. My analysis focuses on four interrelated realms: (1) U.S. language policy and its emphasis on “Limited English Proficiency” in assigning language rights; (2) the broader ideological context; (3) the language question itself; and (4) the impact of language ideologies on survey design and data collection within the U.S. Census Bureau.

Minimizing Variability in Interpretation Modality Among Spanish-Speaking Patients With Limited English Proficiency

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-39
Author(s):  
Seiichi Villalona ◽  
Christian Jeannot ◽  
Mery Yanez Yuncosa ◽  
W. Alex Webb ◽  
Carol Boxtha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Limited English Proficiency ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vas Scores ◽  
Communication Modalities ◽  
The Impact

Introduction: Provider–patient language discrepancies can lead to misunderstandings about follow-up care instructions and decreased adherence to treatment that may contribute to disparities in health outcomes among patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). This observational study aimed to understand how emergency department (ED) staff went about treating patients with LEP and examine the impact of consistent interpretation modality on overall patient satisfaction and comprehension. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Spanish-speaking patients with LEP presenting to the ED. A survey was administered at two different time points: after patients provided their history of present illness and after the patient received information regarding follow-up treatment. Results: Analysis of average visual analog scale (VAS) scores by consistency of interpretation suggested higher overall scores among participants that received care via the same communication modalities during both the history of present illness and at disposition, when compared with patients that did not. At both time points, video-based interpretation was associated with higher VAS scores in comparison to other modalities, whereas phone-based interpretation was associated with lower VAS scores. Conclusion: Providing consistent modes of interpretation to patient’s with LEP throughout their ED visits improved their overall satisfaction of care provided and understandings of discharge instructions.

The Geopolitics of Mobility: Immigration Policy and American Global Power in the Long Twentieth Century

2018 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Belonging ◽  
Policy Regimes ◽  
American Law ◽  
History Of ◽  
Immigration Politics ◽  
The U.S

Abstract While the history of U.S. immigration policy has traditionally been directed “inward,” toward questions of American law, institutions, policy regimes, and modes of national belonging, an emerging historical scholarship is asking how U.S. immigration policy has been shaped by U.S. foreign relations. This essay draws together, builds on, and transforms this literature by foregrounding new questions of transnational, imperial, and global inequality in the making of U.S. immigration politics and policy, and by problematizing not only closures and exclusions, but selective openings in the U.S. immigration regime. Despite conventional claims that immigration is and has been a matter of “domestic” politics, in fact, U.S. immigration policy has long been self-consciously engaged with transnational realities. Indeed, as the essay argues, while serving as a way that Americans could define the nation against an “outside,” U.S. immigration policy has simultaneously been instrumentalized to project U.S. national-imperial power out into the world. This geopolitics of mobility has taken wide-ranging, overlapping, and often contradictory forms: the pursuit of labor power, the management of overseas colonies, the diffusion of U.S. goods, practices, and values, the building of legitimacy, the containment of enemies, and the rescue of friends. An imperial history of U.S. immigration control has the capacity both to frame new historical inquiries and to draw attention to the crucial ways that many migrants to the United States have already been enmeshed in U.S.-centered fields of power long before they approach the recognized boundaries of the U.S. state.

The politics of phosphorus-32: A cold war fable based on fact

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN KRIGE
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Atomic Energy Commission ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Diplomatic History ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

ABSTRACT In July 1949, and again in January 1950 the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission shipped useful amounts of the short-lived isotope phosphorus-32 to a sanatorium in Trieste, Italy. They were used to treat a patient who had a particularly malignant kind of brain tumor. This distribution of isotopes abroad for medical and research purposes was hotly contested by Commissioner Lewis Strauss, and led to a bruising confrontation between him and J. Robert Oppenheimer. This paper describes the debates surrounding the foreign isotope program inside the Commission and in the U.S. Congress. In parallel, it presents an imagined, but factually-based story of the impact of isotope therapy on the patient and his doctor in Trieste, a city on the Italian-Yugoslavian border that was at the heart of the cold war struggle for influence between the U.S. and the USSR. It weaves together the history of science, institutional history, diplomatic history, and cultural history into a fable that draws attention to the importance of the peaceful atom for winning hearts and minds for the West. The polemics surrounding the distribution of isotopes to foreign countries may have irreversibly soured relationships between Oppenheimer and Strauss, and played into the scientist's loss of his security clearance. But, as those who supported the program argued, it was an important instrument for projecting a positive image of America among a scientifc elite abroad, and for consolidating its alliance with friendly nations in the early years of the cold war——or so the fable goes.

Trends in LRE Placement Rates Over the Past 25 Years

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 236-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Williamson ◽  
David Hoppey ◽  
James McLeskey ◽  
Erica Bergmann ◽  
Hanna Moore
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Disability Categories ◽  
Restrictive Environment ◽  
Restrictive Settings ◽  
Educational Placements ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

The least restrictive environment (LRE) mandate suggests a preference for educating students with disabilities in general education settings provided their needs can be met there. This study examined national trends in the educational placements of students with disabilities ages 6 to 17 in the 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1990 through 2015. Data were retrieved electronically from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Census Bureau websites. Cumulative placement rates were then calculated. Findings indicate that from 1990 through 2015, (a) general education placements increased while more restrictive placements decreased, (b) students in secondary schools continued to be placed in more restrictive settings, and (c) the impact of disability categories on national LRE trends varied. Future research is needed to investigate the effect of increased identification rates in specific disability categories on national placement trends and explore how placement practices vary across schools, districts, and states.

scholarly journals The False Hope of Becoming a Neuropsychologist. A Call for Action!

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1299-1299
Author(s):  
M Furtado ◽  
I Ríos-Vázquez ◽  
S Sanderson Brown ◽  
K Belén
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Training Experience ◽  
Quality Healthcare ◽  
Postdoctoral Training ◽  
Human Resource Department ◽  
Work Training ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

Abstract The Problem According to the Census Bureau, the number of immigrants living in the US will increase to 69 million by 2060. Unfortunately, the number of international neuropsychologists who practice in the U.S. is behind in terms of this expected shift in the population. This is not due to a lack of interest - as many international students are accepted into neuropsychology doctoral programs each year. However, the acquisition of appropriate postdoctoral training proves to be a significant challenge. In general, the required two-year postdoctoral positions in neuropsychology are competitive, as they should be; however, international students are at a remarkable disadvantage. They cannot stay in the U.S. without a sponsor for a visa after a year of graduating, thus placing them in a disadvantaged state to secure a neuropsychology postdoctoral position. The Impact Given the projected population changes, neuropsychological assessments will have to be adjusted, new norms will need to be collected, and providers who speak non-English languages will be in higher demand. International neuropsychologists contribute to the field of neuropsychology through the addition of cultural competence, the enrichment in our understanding of cognition across racial and ethnic groups, and the development and selection of tests from a different perspective. In addition, they strengthen research pursuits, increase access to high-quality healthcare service to minorities, and provide quality service to non-English speaking patients. Finally, they can disseminate quality neuropsychological services throughout the world. Call for Action We encourage all neuropsychologists to create an action plan to support international students. There are many ways in which this could be accomplished: advocate to your human resource department to sponsor international students, educate yourself on the barriers and the process of sponsoring a work/training visa, and assist international students in strengthening their training experience with research, authorship, and collaboration.

More Delicate than a Flower, yet Harder than a Rock

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunaina Marr Maira
Keyword(s):  
Self Determination ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Afghan Refugee ◽  
History Of ◽  
Indigenous Sovereignty ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

This chapter addresses the invisibility of Afghan Americans and the absence of Afghan solidarity activism, arguing that Afghans in the U.S. are erased by a racialized discourse of humanitiarianism. The “Af-Pak” war is based on the notion of humanitarian rescue, of women and backward “others,” and degraded sovereignty, produced through a long history of colonial interventions in Afghanistan. The chapter also discusses the ways in which youth from Afghan refugee families grappled with questions of self-determination and indigenous sovereignty and the impact of displacement and suffering.

English in Swiss higher education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Studer ◽  
Aisha Siddiqa
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
National Language ◽  
Policy Planning ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
The Status ◽  
National Languages ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Language Question

This chapter reviews the current discourses surrounding English in higher education, focusing on the impact Englishization has had on education and language policy-planning in Switzerland. While English is in direct competition with national languages at the obligatory school levels, and the debate about the status of English is evident in national language policymaking, higher education institutes (henceforth HEIs) have taken a pragmatic approach, broadening their educational offerings to include English-medium courses and programmes at all levels. Taking legal, strategy and policy documents as its basis, this chapter discusses themes that impact thinking about language in higher education in a small multilingual nation and reviews how the language question has been addressed by policymakers at the national and institutional levels.

Workforce Development Policy: Unrealized Potential for Americans with Disabilities

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-18
Author(s):  
P. Golden Thomas ◽  
M. Bruyère Susanne ◽  
Karpur Arun ◽  
Nazarov Zafar ◽  
Vanlooy Sara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Workforce Investment Act ◽  
Rehabilitation Act Of 1973 ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

Individuals with disabilities have lower rates of workforce participation and lower earnings than their nondisabled peers. This article traces the history of the U.S. workforce development policy framework, including the Workforce Investment Act of 1998; the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; and the impact of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 on both of these policies. Reviewing literature and administrative data, we discuss how these policies have impacted current rehabilitation practice and identify remaining service delivery gaps. We conclude with a set of recommendations for enhancing the current workforce development policy and practice environment.

Office of Strategic Services versus Special Operations Executive: Competition for the Italian Resistance, 1943–1945

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-58
Author(s):  
Tommaso Piffer
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
World War ◽  
Special Operations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Military Support ◽  
Office Of Strategic Services ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The U.S

This article explores the relationship between the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in the Italian campaign during World War II. Drawing on recently declassified records, the article analyzes three issues that prevented satisfactory coordination between the two agencies and the impact those issues had on the effectiveness of the Allied military support given to the partisan movements: (1) the U.S. government's determination to maintain the independence of its agencies; (2) the inability of the Armed Forces Headquarters to impose its will on the reluctant subordinate levels of command; and (3) the relatively low priority given to the Italian resistance at the beginning of the campaign. The article contributes to recent studies on OSS and SOE liaisons and sheds additional light on an important turning point in the history of their relations.

scholarly journals Current issues in LPP research and their impact on society

AILA Review ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 11-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Darquennes
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
University Departments ◽  
Preliminary Discussion ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
The Impact

After a very broad description of what language policy and planning is about this paper presents an overview of some of the current preoccupations of researchers focusing on language policy and planning as one of the blooming fields of applied linguistics. The current issues in language policy and planning research that are dealt with include ‘the history of the field’, ‘language practices in different domains of society’, ‘ideas and beliefs about language’, and ‘the practical side of language policy and planning’. The brief sketch of current issues in language policy and planning research is meant to serve as the background for a preliminary discussion of the impact of language policy and planning research on society. That discussion takes the different ‘roles’ of academics working at university departments and doing research on language policy and planning as a starting point.

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