| Amy Lutz
SUNY-Albany
Bilingualism in the USA: Language outcomes and consequences for Hispanic youth
FINAL REPORT:
This dissertation utilizes both NELS:88 longitudinal data and qualitative interviews to investigate two basic research questions: 1) how do schools, neighborhoods, and families influence whether children of Hispanic origin become bilinguals or monolinguals?, and 2) how does language affect educational attainment and achievement?. Four theoretical perspectives of immigrant incorporation are used: assimilation, multiculturalism, internal colonialism, and segmented assimilation. While the results suggest that one theoretical perspective does not seem to hold all of the explanatory weight, the research largely supports the segmented assimilation perspective. It finds that Latinos vary in their language proficiencies and that language provides a protective function in the form of enhanced educational attainment and achievement for those who are biliterate.
Hispanic children are making English their usual language very quickly and acquiring high levels of proficiency, even within the first generation. At the same time, most Latino children are immersed in a bicultural environment. Generation has a profound impact on the use and proficiency of Spanish; the amount of Spanish used at home declines markedly over generations, as does proficiency in Spanish. Language proficiencies and use are also structured by gender, race, and other types of factors such as family-specific issues and community context.
Biliteracy in English and Spanish offers Hispanic students a significant educational advantage both in terms of achievement and attainment. However, even for those who have high proficiency in both English and Spanish, race plays a role in educational success. Overall, Hispanic students have high rates of dropout and low rates of college enrollment compared to other groups. Hispanic students also lag behind non-Hispanic whites in achievement test scores. This research indicates that much of the difference in educational attainment can be explained by differences in social and demographic variables. When these are taken into account, Hispanic biliterates have equivalent or even superior educational attainment compared to their non-Hispanic white peers. While educational achievement of Hispanic students, even those with high dual language proficiency, still lags behind that of their non-Hispanic white peers, this research demonstrates that Hispanic biliterates come the closest to parity with non-Hispanic whites.
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