Research Problem and Method Paper

In the late 19th century an influx of immigrants to the United States—mostly Irish, Italians, Jews, and Poles—prompted a public campaign to socialize the norms, values, and languages of these immigrants through the use of the public school system (Brandon, Taliaferro Baszile & Berry, 2009; Schaefer, 2006). It was believed that such a cultural transition from the immigrant’s native tongue to the monolingual, English structure of the American public school system would aid in the academic, and later when they became adults, the economic development of the students. Notwithstanding, today there is a new inflow of immigrants from Latin America—Mexico in particular—Asia, and Puerto Rico who do not speak English as their primary language, and the predominant response of the U.S. public school system is the use of translators in the classroom (Parker, Rubalcava & Teruel, 2005). I propose a research study design to isolate the utility of monolingual—with translator—and bilingual education to the assimilation of information by students from grades 3-5 in the public school system. The remainder of this paper will examine the interplay between language and education, the relationship between race/ethnicity and socialization in contemporary American culture, and the research design proposed to investigate the aforementioned interactions.

Language and Education

For those immigrants coming to America that do not speak English, the overwhelmingly White and monolingual (English Only) educational system can be an impediment to primary and secondary education (Brandon et al, 2009). The educational system has tried to overcome this obstacle by creating bilingual classroom environments that make use of translators and bilingual educational material. Parker et al (2005) found that in Mexico, “…a sizable language barrier remains