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Chapter 13
Instructor’s Manual
This chapter covers:
A discussion of immigration to America, the notion of the American melting pot, and
multilingualism
An overview of the number of immigrants and bi- and multilingual people in the United
States
A discussion of discrimination against certain L2 accents
Sample answers to the questions from the text and the website
From the textbook
None.
From the website
Audio
1. Listen to the samples of people speaking English with different L2 accents. Which of these
accents do you think would be most tolerated or embraced in your area? Which would be least
tolerated or embraced? Why?
Sample answer: I think the most accepted accents in my area would be those from Europe,
especially French and Dutch. I think the least accepted would be those from Middle Eastern
Videos
“Town Passes English Only Law”
Fox News, 7/28/10
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4295607/town-passes-english-only-law?r_src=ramp
“ACLU Targets Town’s English-Only Law”
Fox News, 4/30/2010
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4204792/aclu-targets-towns-english-only-law
1. How would you evaluate the arguments for the English-only policies described in these videos
in light of the content in Chapter 13?
Sample answer: The English-only arguments in these videos illustrate the obsession with the
“utopian” idea of a linguistically homogenous American society that speaks only English. In the
first video, the city councilman says that the decision to make English the official language in
Suggested activities and discussion questions
1. Ask your students to interview participants to ask them if they think English should be the
official language of the United States (or your city or state) and have them share the responses
they received with the class. What patterns emerge from the pooled data? What do the students
think about these responses in terms of the language ideologies behind them?
2. Ask your students to interview participants to find out what L2 accents they prefer and
disprefer and why they feel the way they do. Have them bring the responses into class to share.
What patterns emerge from this data? What were the most common justifications people had for
why they liked or disliked an accent? How would the students evaluate the responses in light of
the content in this chapter?
3. Ask your students to interview someone who speaks English fluently with an L2 accent in
4. If you can find elderly people to talk to, see if their favorable or negative reactions to
particular accents are similar to the younger generation. What accents might people who were
alive during WWII find objectionable? Why? What (if anything) does this say about language
ideology?
