Trisha McKee

Mr. Newman

English 101: Rhetoric

15 September 2013

Statement of Scope for the Annotated Bibliography

Being able to speak, read, write or even just understanding another language has become a priority in the workspace when communicating with other people. When someone goes into an interview at a bank, store, major incorporations, and many more they have a higher chance to be hired if they are bilingual. In Gabriel Thompson’s book Working in the Shadows, when he went to the Dole office looking for a job as a lettuce cutter he was offered a promotion because he could speak Spanish along with English. Many Americans don’t like the idea of immigrants coming into our country and not speaking our language, but The United States of America doesn’t have an official language. In the past the USA didn’t have many programs to teach people another language and give them the chance to become bilingual because so many don’t look to see the benefits of learning a second language.

This essay will explore the ways that being bilingual with help to benefit individual’s lives with the ability to break the barrier that languages create. I will explore how learning multiple languages as a toddler will make it easier to become fluent in both the languages. I will also go into how Americans view immigrants and being bilingual within our country. I will discuss some of the school programs in the country to teach multiple languages.

This selected bibliography includes sources that address Americans and their views on immigrants and bilingual education. I have sources on different aspects and examples of being bilingual in America. The Amselle and Katz articles explore the educational part of becoming bilingual. They show the programs that have been created for the purpose of learning multiple languages. The Ladkin article goes into the negativity that some Americans feel towards immigrants being in our country speaking in another tongue. The Parrillo and Myerhoff articles explain learning at a young age to speak another language and the benefits of knowing more than one. Together these sources help show how being bilingual can help people and a nation become more connected.

Annotated Bibliography

Amselle, Jorge. "Bye-bye to Bilingual Ed?" The World & I 1 Mar. 2000: n. pag. Print. This

article shows the effect that allowing people to freely learn multiple languages has on

people and their families. One of the effects that it has was better test scores from the

people who were bilingual. Another is now schools all over the country have opened

programs to learn other languages. The effects knowing multiple languages have majorily

been positive outcomes, though many americans have poor views on people in country

speaking anything but English.

Katz, Susan Roberta. "Does NCLB Leave the U.S. Behind in Bilingual Teacher Education?"

English Education 1 Jan. 2004: n. pag. Print. This article is an example of the different

perspcetives of bilingual education. In europe schools support and encourage the

education of learning two languages because it opens up a barrier between people of two

languages. In the US during that time most people were not supportive of people learning

multiple languages so they were not able to push beyond that boundary.

Ladkin, Steven M. "The Immigration Debate." Harvard International Review 1 Oct. 2006: n.

pag. Print. This article shows the negavtivity the AMerican people tend to have on many

immigrants, espeacially mexican immigrants. This article shows the fear we americans

have towards immigrants in our country and one of the reasons we didn't encourage

teaching foreign language because we did not encourage people who speak foreign

languages in our country. This article says that what we really feared was an anarchy

coming in.

Myerhoff, Michael K. "Second language learning." Pediatrics for Parents 1 Jan. 2003: 8. Print.

This article is about how amazingly easy it is for people to learn a language at such a

young age because when we are young our minds are extremely flexible. This whole

article is about the benifts of learning two languages espeacially when you are a toddler

because that is the time when your mind is the most flexible and efiicient. Also it's about

what the best ways to become fluent in multiple languages.

Parrillo, Vincent N. "A challenge for educators: Dealing with demographic changes in the school

system." Vital Speeches of the Day 15 Oct. 2001: 19. Print. This article is an excellent

example of why this coutry needs to bilingual. There are millions of people, legal and

illigeal immigrants, that do not speak english. So being a bilingual nation would benifit

us by giving us the chance to expand our lteracy skills and communication skills because

we will be able to speak with a larger cultural variety of people.