Post # 11

            Chapter four in the book by McKay was overall about how determining an official language can have consequences for language learning and teaching. There is a section about the English-only movement that I found very interesting. The movement included the idea that the only time languages other than English could be used was “as a transitional method of making students who use a language other than English proficient in English.” It also says that bilingual ballots were not going to be allowed and that there could not be bilingual education programs that were dedicated to maintaining the native language. This bill obviously was never carried through with and actually died in its first stages, but I didn’t even know that something like this was ever created. I find it funny though because even though that bill didn’t pass, there are currently so many things that are in two languages, like signs, menus, etc. I also enjoyed the quote by Donahue, “a common language benefits a country and its people. In our country this common bond is more important than in most because Americans continue to be diverse in origin, ethnicity, religion, and native culture.” I find this quote to be true. I find it sad that the United States doesn’t have an official language, but I don’t think that if an official language is established, that there should be no other languages allowed. I think that is a very unrealistic idea. Even though the US is a mixture of so many different cultures and religions just like the quote says, I think that an official language should at least be determined. I remember a few years ago when I first found out that English isn’t the official language of the United States, I was so confused, and I didn’t understand why it wasn’t considered the official language. I didn’t realize how much more complicated it is to determine an official language. I don’t think that determining an official language for our country would have an obvious positive impact, but I think it would be a much more indirect influence, but still very beneficial. Another controversial topic that the chapter discusses is the idea of bilingual education. I never knew how many people disagreed with it. The book states that the controversial part of bilingual education is the “role of the minority language.” It then goes on to say how some people view the goal of bilingualism to be monolingualism.” This is also a very sad idea in my opinion. I wonder if one of the reasons that I view bilingual education as a good thing is because I speak another language. I think that some people who only speak English may not fully understand the concept of bilingual education, and may see it as a bad thing that students are learning English while maintaining their native language. If this is true, this view needs to be changed. The article by Farr and Song talks about how most people think that when someone is bilingual, it means that they have “two linguistic systems,” seeing them as “double monolinguals with ideally equal competence in each language.” But a lot of times the two languages are mixed, and they tend to code-switch between the two languages.