EPSL-03-01-101-LPRU

The phenomenal growth in the number of Spanish speakers and their purchasing power has not gone unnoticed. In fact, the private and public sectors' efforts to adapt to more Spanish-speaking customers and clients are shifting communication from just English only to people's language of choice.

Approximately three quarters of Arizonans speak English only, according to Census 2000. Without question, English is the language of the world's only superpower and the global economy and imperative for all Arizonans to learn and use. However, Thomas Jefferson, a master of five languages, offered a piece of advice to eighteenth-century Americans that still rings true today. He said, "Bestow great care on the study of Spanish and endeavor to learn it, for in that language is written the history of this hemisphere." Two centuries later, Spanish is the language of everyday life and business for millions of people. Except for English, more Americans use Spanish daily than any other language. (Note 1) Among the U.S.'s western hemisphere neighbors, only Mexico, Argentina and Columbia have more Spanish speakers than the United States. (Note 2)

In Arizona, the number of those who speak only English declined from 79 percent in 1990 to 74 percent in 2000. (Note 3) Now, approximately 20 percent of residents (or more than 1 million of Arizona's 5+ million people) speak Spanish at home and about half of these (more than the combined populations of Mesa, Kingman, Show Low, Marana and Flagstaff combined) say they speak English less than "very well."

Recent developments in the media industry are only one of the many changes that highlight the growing influence of Spanish. NBC's recent acquisition of Telemundo, a Spanish- language television network with viewers in the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries, underscores the firm's recognition of a Spanish market and their desire to stake a claim to the dollars of the Spanish-speaking audience. In a similar move, Univision Communications—already the biggest Spanish-language TV conglomerate in the United States—announced it would buy Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC) to create the nation's largest television, radio and music company for the Spanish-language population. The expanded Univision will own 50 TV stations, 2 TV networks and 55 radio stations, including 5 radio outlets and 1 TV station in the Phoenix area. (Note 4)

President George W. Bush has, at times, presented his weekly radio address in Spanish. In May 2002 Jimmy Carter became the first former president to deliver a speech—entirely in Spanish—in Cuba. Another aspect of Spanish in public life is the fact that Spanish-language ads for candidates and issues have become so common as to be an unremarkable feature of the political landscape.

The recent growth in the number of Spanish speakers and their purchasing power (pegged at $581 billion) has not gone unnoticed. In fact, the private and public sectors' efforts to adapt to more Spanish-speaking customers and clients are shining the spotlight on communication in people's language of choice. The now-ubiquitous ATM (automated teller machine) provides a good example if how the desire to serve people better—thereby being more competitive or responsive—changed the habits and expectations of many. In the early 1900s, ATMs began to ask customers to select the language for their transaction. A taken-for-granted feature today, ATM language choices always include Spanish. With little fanfare, ATMs became multilingual tellers for financial institutions regardless of whether they had a multinational reach or just local interests. As debates about the teaching English raged outside their doors, many companies, in addition to banks, acknowledged that Spanish is the language of choice for millions of Americans and adopted it for services. A sizable number of Arizona firms and agencies are adapting to a multilingual society in many ways, including: Phoenix firefighters studying Spanish, the Maricopa County Medical Interpreter Program graduating its first class in May 2002 and voting and motor vehicle processes in Spanish. The Medical Interpreter program, with 48 graduates in 2002, is a joint effort between the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and Phoenix Children's Hospital. This potentially life-saving program was developed in response to reality—the growing need to communicate with more and more Spanish-speaking patients. (Note 5)

The Presence of Spanish Raises Good Questions

Many indicators highlight the importance of Spanish in business and society and raise two questions: (1) If Spanish is so widespread and important, why are we collectively so nearsighted about its value? (2) Why has the study and teaching of languages relevant to specific places (such as Spanish in Arizona) not been embraced? To begin to answer these questions, it is instructive to review the historical record with respect to languages in the United States.

As reflected in the history of public policy, the United States from its earliest years seems to have been ambivalent about the role of other-than-English languages in society generally and in education specifically. (Note 6) With few exceptions, political and educational leaders have shown little interest in managing the country's language resources, or in maximizing our language competencies by encouraging residents to teach, learn and maintain languages other than English. With the exception of recent state and national moves to make English the official language, languages have never been center stage in national conversations about education policy or almost any other kind of policy for that matter. (Note 7)

On the rare occasions when languages have been an issue, discussions have tended to start from a negative perspective that seems to parallel a fear of immigrants. Perhaps because of our status as the world's economic and political leader and our location between two oceans, citizens of the United States have not felt a great need to study other languages, assuming that the world will adopt our language along with other ideas. This outlook, though, can minimize the importance of native language and culture to human beings. Every group ascribes beauty, value and merit to its own brand of "peoplehood," including their language.

Numerous Approaches to Languages

Considering the mobility of people and goods (and money), the global nature of communications and the responses of business and institutions to demographic shifts, the time seems right to take language into consideration for the state's future.

Arizona is no stranger to the long-term debates about English, although other aspects of language have received scant notice. In 1988, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure that made English the state's official language, although it was later found unconstitutional. In 1992, a federal lawsuit was filed to redress Arizona's lack of funding for and "alleged failure to provide limited English-speaking children with a program of instruction designed to make them proficient in English and enable them to master the standard academic curriculum." In response over the years, the Arizona Legislature studied and made some changes in bilingual education policies, programs and funding, but the federal judge still found the dollars appropriated to serving limited English proficient students wanting. The ruling in Flores v. Arizona is being implemented.

Then in 2000, Arizona's voters again made a decision about language by passing Proposition 203, a measure modeled after a successful California initiative that largely eliminated transitional bilingual education programs from the state's public schools and replaced them with English-immersion programs. On the other hand, Arizona is one of the few states to encourage the teaching of a foreign language in elementary grades officially. Even so, resources for language teaching remain scant. It is a common criticism that high school graduates who took language classes often cannot use it as a communication tool outside of school. Few districts require demonstrated competence or fluency even in this age of high-stakes testing. In Arizona and the United States, languages seem to be something students take, not something they master.

States have played a role in the teaching and learning of languages for decades. Schools in New Mexico and Louisiana, once officially bilingual states, at one time taught languages in addition to English. As the English-speaking population grew in both places, however, and sentiment increased nationally for the use of one language, these states discontinued this policy. In several other states where German was once an important language such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin-schools practiced dual language education well into the twentieth century until anti-German sentiment caused the schools to change.

Used But Not Taught

Today, aside from English, Spanish is the language most commonly taught in the United States and it is deeply rooted in Arizona. Spanish was spoken in the Southwest before the first English speakers arrived and the language was enormously important in the development of the western economy, especially the cattle industry. J. Frank Dobie, a prominent regional historian and folklorist, has noted that the cattle industry would not have been possible without the skills, experience and knowledge of Mexican ranchers and their ranch hands. The English-speaking cowboys learned the cattle trade and its lingo from the vaqueros, their Spanish-speaking mentors. In addition, many other early English-speaking migrants to the region learned Spanish and used it routinely in daily life. Although communicating in Spanish was common, local schools essentially ignored Spanish instruction because of the desire to emulate the curriculum of Eastern schools.

As the Southwest became more urban and the density of English speakers increased, the descendants of the first English speakers began to move away from the bilingual tradition. This process intensified after Mexico's defeat in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). President Polk's and other politicians' intense anti-Mexican campaign contributed to an enduring anti- Mexican sentiment in some parts of the United States. Only local leaders who knew the value of Spanish in community politics continued to use the language. It is interesting to see the practice being revived now as Republican and Democratic candidates for offices from city council to president vie for the increasingly organized and influential Hispanic vote.

Colleges and universities in the Southwest traditionally have tended to brush Spanish aside as well. Early curriculum planners may have thought that Spanish was the language of the past rather than the future. Another policy change was occurring nationwide that supported that idea. American colleges and universities once required students to study one or more foreign languages to graduate at the baccalaureate level. Even the land grant institutions developing in the unique Southwest tended to imitate the colleges of the East and gradually abandoned foreign language requirements in many fields of study. As a society too, Americans had other things on their minds. With the United States transitioning from an agricultural society to industrial powerhouse to world leader, the nation became increasingly monolingual and interest in recognizing the importance of other languages and cultures narrowed. During the last half of the twentieth century, schools and colleges gave up foreign language requirements at a rapid pace and with little fanfare. Today, even the doctorate can be earned in most fields without knowledge of another language or culture. Departments of "foreign languages" have survived in most universities, but they play minor parts in student requirements. In addition, many schools cling to the study of languages from a grammar-translation approach, instead of focusing on the practical importance of language in the life of the region.

Churches are one of the major entities to retain the Spanish language throughout the Southwest. Institutions that expect to serve recent immigrants remain bilingual or offer Spanish-language services. In recent years, there has been a tendency toward differentiation of religious participation according to recentness of immigration and language dominance. Middle-class Hispanics often attend English language services where they mingle with persons of similar socioeconomic status. The result has been the stratification of churches along language lines. Recent immigrants frequently worship in Spanish, while the children and grandchildren of the last wave of newcomers often worship in English in the company of other English speakers.

The Nation Emulates the States

States, regions and local communities are not alone in the randomness with which they have approached non-English languages. The federal government has responded with the same lassitude to the nation's language needs, even when some of its own agencies pointed out problems. After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, a flurry of activity took place in federal agencies to determine why the Soviet Union beat us to space. Government officials concluded that the emphasis in Soviet schools on math, science and foreign languages was the principal reason for their leap forward in space technology. The U.S. Congress moved rapidly to enact a program that provided funding to schools and universities to overcome the Soviet Union in these areas. But the ardor behind the legislation—the National Defense Education Act of 1958 (NDEA)—cooled quickly once the American space program was perceived to have caught up with that of our rival.

After NDEA, there was a prolonged policy lull until President Jimmy Carter's Commission on Foreign Languages and International Studies issued its report in the final months of his administration. The commission's report attempted to raise public concern for the conclusion that the nation had allowed itself to become inadequate in communicating with anyone in any language other than English. It also criticized the lack of emphasis on area studies, a situation that diminishes our capacity to understand cultures other than our own. (Note 8)

In the heat of the 1980 political campaign, though, the report was largely ignored. Neither the U.S. Congress nor the federal Department of Education ever took up its recommendations. These were ignored as well by state boards of education, the White House and national education organizations. In the years since the issuance of the report, no president or Congressional committee has broached the subject again. Several Spanish-speaking leaders have expressed hope that President Bush's excellent relations with his Mexican counterpart will produce demonstrable support for adopting some of the recommendations of President Carter's commission.

The neglect of languages other than English has not been absolute across the decades. In fits and starts, government agencies and the military have responded to their needs for language competency in various ways. The armed services have approached the foreign language needs of their personnel most systematically and creatively. In 1946 in Monterrey, California's eighteenth-century Spanish presidio, U.S. military leaders created the Defense Language Institute, an institution that became the most comprehensive military language school in the world. Later renamed the Army Language School, the institution developed effective methods for teaching languages to motivated adults. However, since the training often was done in secret, it took more than a decade for the school's methods and practices to appear in civilian classrooms.

These practices aided the development and diffusion of the "audio lingual method," an approach to language teaching that emphasizes active use of the language being studied compared to the more traditional "grammar-translation" method. By the mid-1960s, many schools and universities were experimenting with the audio-lingual method. By the end of the century, though, the pendulum had swung back to a combination of audio lingual and traditional forms of teaching languages. After several decades of successful teaching of languages and cultures, the Defense Department "downsized" the Army Language School. In 1993, however, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission rejected suggestions that the Army Language School be moved or closed altogether. (Note 9) It recommended instead that the school's mission be continued in a different form. Monterey Peninsula College made an agreement with the Army Language School that students could earn a maximum of 27 credit hours in any of the college's language programs. These credits count toward an Associate of Arts degree.

Spanish and Economic Strategy

Until recently, American marketers concentrated on selling goods and services in English. Most assumed that buyers could be motivated by factors other than language to purchase everything from candy bars to cars. Beginning in the 1980s, though, marketing acquired a Spanish accent. Radio and TV began to include numerous advertisements in Spanish. Today, every large metropolitan area includes marketing organizations devoted to selling goods and services in Spanish only. These firms are just one reflection of the potential connections between the Spanish language and economic growth and revitalization.

For a time little attention was paid to the revitalization of Miami and to economic development in southern Florida spurred by money from Cuban American and Latin American investors. Today the picture is different. The Miami "miracle" is well known. Observers posit that it occurred largely because the area's bilingual business leaders focused on the Latin American market. The ability to connect to business and commerce in Latin America has made Miami the unofficial financial "Capital of Latin America." El Paso and San Antonio are the two Southwestern cities where steps have been taken to link U.S., Mexican and Latin American business interests, but neither is as strong as Miami.

The language of business, it turns out, can be almost any language spoken in the community. Technology has played an important part in providing the tools for services in multiple languages and for tracking transactions. Services such as airlines, hotels and credit card companies now routinely answer their telephones with a recorded menu. Commonly, these answering systems begin by asking the caller to "press l to continue in English," or "oprima el dos para continuar en espanol." (Press 2 to continue in Spanish.)

To a modest degree higher education in Arizona, especially private institutions, has begun to echo the steps taken by large corporations in responding to Spanish speakers. The University of Phoenix, one of the nation's most successful nontraditional institutions, offers courses in Spanish and English to a clientele that is both domestic and international. As a result the University of Phoenix has a student body that is distributed throughout the hemisphere.

Ideas for Arizona

Demographic shifts and economic issues are clearly at the core of a statewide-even nationwide- need to reassess our relationship with the Spanish language. Arizona's Hispanic population is growing dramatically, their spending power commands attention. One in every six Arizona workers is Hispanic and as many as 150,000 may be Spanish speakers. Vital today, these workers also comprise a critical part of tomorrow's workforce since much of the predominantly White labor force is approaching retirement age and the Hispanic population is young. Mexico is Arizona's number one export customer and Mexican visitors spent an estimated $963 million in the state in 2001, according to a study by the Economic and Business Research Program at the University of Arizona. Arizona's location links it to a broader "borderlands" region. No one is suggesting de-emphasizing English in Arizona, and the passions for one way or another of teaching English will probably run high for some time to come. But, some observers are now introducing a "third way" that encourages teaching for a bilingual, even multilingual, society. The following examples of "dual language" programs are provided to supply readers with background on educational options that have not been discussed widely.

Arizona High School for Hemispheric Studies

A High School for Hemispheric Studies (HSHS) could serve the business and cultural needs of the region. Modeled possibly as a magnet school, a board of educators and business and cultural leaders would set school policy, provide input on the curriculum, secure community resources and help recruit teachers and administrators. To enrich the experience, the school could employ a residential model in which students would spend part of the year living on campus for the purpose of intensive language practice. Following the lead of the Illinois Science and Mathematics Academy, the school could provide residential scholarships to Spanish-speaking students who would assist other students in mastering Spanish. Dormitories and classrooms would employ advanced technologies for language teaching and for studying the cultures of other lands.

Travel and study opportunities in Spanish-speaking nations could enhance the experience further. Such opportunities for students and faculty could ensure that the school's programs remain fresh and timely. This aspect of the program would be linked to the state's university system and, abroad, would be advised by an international cadre of teachers, university professors, area experts and civic leaders.

Heritage Language Program for Elementary Schools

In conjunction with a High School for Hemispheric Studies, school districts might establish dual-language schools in which students would prepare to attend the HSHS or simply master more than one language. New research in foreign language education highlights the great promise of heritage" language education, school-based language programs that are closely linked to community language resources. (Note 10)

Such programs, because they connect schools to communities in creative ways, reduce the isolation of the language instruction as if it were just another school subject. Partnerships with ethnic and heritage clubs and organizations are a typical component of heritage language education. These organizations facilitate the entry of artists, actors, storytellers, authors and others into the school, and the participation of students in such functions outside the school.

Arizona Language Competency Scholarship Fund

A scholarship program could be aimed at promoting the study of Spanish, Spanish-American history and culture and international affairs at the postsecondary level. Corporations and businesses with an interest in Mexico and Latin America could be asked to create a fund to support Arizona high school graduates who pursue these areas of study. Mexico would be emphasized and Mexican corporations with markets in the United States would be given the opportunity to participate in the fund. An especially strong component of this program would be to design study programs that are binational in nature, enabling students and teachers (at all levels P-1 6) to develop the two languages in both countries.

Riding the Coronado Trail ... Again

Spanish was the first European language to be spoken in what is now Arizona. In full armor Coronado's men clanged along the trail to the state's northern limits. Events of the last four centuries have reinforced the connections among the borderlands. Today, with renewed immigration, binational marketing and a global economy, there is a need to revisit Arizona's other language and learn to relate to customers, neighbors and friends who increasingly will use that language. Some strategies have been introduced here, but others could make a difference also. One thing is clear: a prosperous multilingual society demands and deserves new ideas. Press 2 to continue in Spanish....

Notes

Discussions of languages are incomplete without a reference to Native American languages. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, hundreds of Indian languages and dialects disappeared from the American landscape as schools prohibited the learning and use of indigenous languages or the human and financial resources needed to teach them disappeared. Today only the largest Native American groups retain any grasp of language resources and, even then, their continued existence is in question since teachers and mentors are becoming scarcer. Despite the barriers to mounting new initiatives for Native American languages, education policy makers in Arizona would serve the state well to find ways to strengthen the study of Native American language and cultures in the state's universities. A census of the remaining language resources among Native American communities in Arizona is necessary to determine how best to protect and promote these cultural resources.

1. U.S. Census Bureau. Supplementary Survey and Profile of Selected Social Characteristics, 2000.

2. Nation by Nation, www.nationbynation.com.

3. U.S. Census Bureau, Profile of Selected Social Characteristics for Arizona, 1990 and 2000.

4. "Hispanic TV-radio firms merge in $3 billion deal," The Arizona Republic, 13 June 2002.

5. "Interpreter program holds 1st graduation," The Arizona Republic, June 10, 2002.

6. James Crawford, Language Loyalties: A Source Book on the Official English Controversy (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992).

7. James Crawford, Hold Your Tongue (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992).

8. President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1979).

9. Of course, after the events of September 11, 2001, government agencies once again took notice of the lack of language skills. In recent months, news reports noted that radio traffic among potential terrorists had been monitored by intelligence agencies. While the eavesdropping technology was adequate to the job, too few personnel could understand the languages used by terrorist organizations in planning their attacks.

10. Center for Applied Linguistics, 2002.

This brief was originally published in: Eighty-First Arizona Town Hall Meeting (2002). Arizona Hispanics: The Evolution of Influence. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University. Reprinted with permission.

Appendix A

Different Methods of Language Teaching

Debate about language teaching has been going on for decades, but the various types of programs are often misunderstood. The following brief definitions are intended to shed light on a complex topic.

English immersion: Instruction is entirely in English. Teachers strive to deliver lessons in simplified English so that students learn English and academic subjects.

English as a second language: This may be the same as immersion but also may include some support to individuals in their native language. Classes may include speakers of a variety of languages who may attend for only a short time per day to work only on English or for a full day to study academic subjects as well as English.

Transitional bilingual education: Instruction for some subjects is in students' native language but a part of each day is spent on developing English skills. Students in these classes share the same native language. Some critics of this approach see it as subtractive in nature because it eliminates language resources with marketplace value that appear naturally as the population changes. Other critics say that learners often fail to master either language.

Two-way bilingual or dual language education: Often also called dual-immersion, instruction is given in two languages to students who may be dominant in one language or another with the goal of students becoming proficient in both languages. Often two teachers work together with each one teaching in one of the languages. Dual language differs from transitional bilingual education by teaching in both home and new languages and urging students to maintain native language skills. For example, English-speaking students learn Spanish and Spanish-speaking students learn English. Proponents offer dual language education as a way of meeting the needs of Arizona's residents and maintaining the state's competitiveness in the world economy. Called an additive approach, it is especially prominent in binational regions. Dual language sees language skills as resources rather than obstacles and offers effective, efficient strategies for teaching both the home and the new languages. Dual language provides a way to promote policies and programs that enhance valuable communication resources and create opportunities to link a place to growing markets and partners around the world.

Heritage language education: This approach features school-based language programs that are closely linked to community language resources. Sometimes called "community language" such programs connect schools to communities in creative ways and may feature partnerships with ethnic and heritage clubs and organizations to facilitate the entry of authors, actors, storytellers and others into the school, and the participation of students in such functions outside the school.

Source: Education Week on the Web and Southwest Center for Education Equity and Language Diversity

Appendix B

Arizona Already Has Some Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Programs

The Center for Applied Linguistics, a national nonprofit organization that has worked in language education for more than 25 years, reports that 9 Arizona school districts and 14 schools have two-way bilingual immersion programs. These are defined as having:

• Integration of language-minority and language- majority students for at least half of the instructional time at all grade levels

• Instruction in both languages for all students

• Balance of language-minority and language, majority students

Source: Center for Applied Linguistics

2003
Language Policy Research Unit
Education Policy Studies Laboratory
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
www.language-policy.org

Contact Information:
Education Policy Studies Laboratory College of Education Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Box 872411 Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287-2411	Voice: (480) 965-1886 Fax: (480) 965-0303 Email: epsl@asu.edu
Language Policy Research Unit - Mary Lou Fulton College of Education - Arizona State University © Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR)