Contrary to popular perception,
nearly all Hispanic adults born in the U.S. of immigrant parents
report they are fluent in English. By contrast, only a small
minority of their parents describe themselves as skilled English
speakers. This finding of a dramatic increase in English-language
ability from one generation of Hispanics to the next emerges
from a new analysis of six Pew Hispanic Center surveys conducted
this decade among a total of more than 14,000 Latino adults.
The surveys show that 23 percent of Latino immigrants report
being able to speak English very well. However, fully 88 percent
of their U.S.-born adult children report that they speak English
very well. Among later generations of Hispanic adults, the
figure rises to 94 percent. Reading ability in English shows
a similar trend.
As fluency in English increases across generations,
so, too, does the regular use of English by Hispanics, both
at home and at work. For most immigrants, English is not the
primary language they use in either setting. But for their
grown children, it is.
The surveys also find that Latino immigrants
are more likely to speak English very well, and to use it
often, if they are highly educated, arrived in the U.S. as
children or have spent many years here. College education,
in particular, plays an important role in the ability to speak
and read English. Among the major Hispanic origin groups,
Puerto Ricans and South Americans are the most likely to say
they are proficient in English; Mexicans are the least likely
to say so.
The transition to English dominance occurs at a slower pace
at home than it does at work. Seven percent of foreign-born
Hispanics speak mainly or only English at home whereas about
half of their adult children do. By contrast, four times as
many foreign-born Latinos speak mainly or only English at
work (29%). Fewer than half (43%) of foreign-born Latinos
speak mainly or only Spanish on the job, versus the three-quarters
who do so at home.
The main data sources for this report are six surveys conducted
for the Pew Hispanic Center from April 2002 to October 2006.
They included interviews with more than 14,000 native-born
and foreign-born Latino adults, ages 18 and older, irrespective
of legal status. Latinos born in Puerto Rico, many of whom
arrive on the U.S. mainland as Spanish speakers, are included
as foreign born.
In analyzing the data on English use and prevalence
from these surveys, this report relies on four measures based
on respondents’ ratings of their English-speaking skills,
their English-reading skills, their level of English use at
home, and their level of English use at work.
Two of these surveys, along with a more recent
nationwide survey of Latinos taken by the Pew Hispanic Center
in October and November of this year, also provide a clear
measure of how Hispanics believe that insufficient English
language skill is an obstacle to their acceptance in the U.S.
In surveys taken in 2007, 2006 and 2002, respondents were
asked about potential sources of discrimination against Hispanics.
In all three surveys, language skill was the most frequently
cited cause of discrimination.
The full report is available for download at
www.pewhispanic.org.
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In
This Issue of
Language
Magazine
Krashen
on Ending All Literary Crises
Integrating
English Learners
Interdisciplinary
Teaching
Resources
for Struggling Readers
Spanish
Immersion
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