C1 cram

• English Only Movement is a political movement in the US that advocates for making English as the only language for instruction. It operates within the context of the growing population of non-native English speakers in the US.
• The origins of the English Only Movement can be traced back to the late nineteenth century when, despite the disparagement of languages spoken by marginalized groups like African and Native American communities, multilingualism was still accepted.
• But at this point, immigrants from southern Europe began to arrive in the US in substantial numbers. These new immigrants were considered to be racially inferior by the northern Europeans who had initially colonized the territory. By the early 1920s, nearly three-quarters of the US states were insisting on English as the only language of instruction, a policy that was often executed inhumanely.
• Bilingual Education Act is a federal law acknowledging the needs of students with limited English proficiency. The act emphasized bilingual education, where students learned content and developed English skills using their native language as a foundation. Nevertheless, starting in the late 1960s, with the influx of individuals immigrating to America from developing nations in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia, the resulting xenophobia directly spurred the formation of the English Only movement. 
• In California, there was a significant drive to end bilingual education. In 1998, the state passed the English Language Education for Children in Public Schools Initiative, requiring that non-native English speaking children participate in immersion programs for one year before transitioning to mainstream education.
• Connected to the English Only movement is the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002, which prioritizes the requirements of underprivileged students, particularly those from language minority backgrounds. Importantly, the Act ties school funding to the English language proficiency of these students. Some analysts argue that the NCLB's strategy prioritizes immigrant children's acquisition of English over their native languages, with one researcher casually suggesting it could be better labeled as 'No Child Left Bilingual'.