Chapter 14
Instructor’s Manual
This chapter covers:
The diversity within the ―Hispanic‖ population in the U.S.
A discussion of bilingualism, code switching, and Spanish accents
The connection between race, ethnicity, and language in regards to the Latino/a
population in the U.S.
The performance of race
The use of language to indicate social solidarity
A variety of discriminatory practices against Latino/as based on language
A description of the discrimination against Cirila Baltazar Cruz, a Chatino woman living
in the United States
Racism against Latino/as in the workplace
Discrimination against Latino/a children in the educational system
The connection between linguistic discrimination and immigration in the Southwest
A discussion of HR 2083, an Arizona bill that prohibits schools from offering courses
that advocate ethnic solidarity, promote overthrow of the U.S. government, or cater to
specific ethnic groups
Educational policies that discriminate against teachers who speak English with an accent
The French-Only language policy in Quebec
Sample answers to the questions from the text and the website
From the textbook
1. Listen to Andre Codrescu’s essay “Arizona Education Loses the Accent of America” (May 10,
2010) on National Public Radio. Does his perspective change your thoughts about anything in
this chapter? How is it relevant to the chapter – and book – in a broader sense? Radio link at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126480169
2. Davila (Davila et al. 1993) undertook a preliminary, explorative statistical analysis of
earnings by three groups of workers in the U.S.: Mexican-Americans, German Americans and
Italian Americans who speak their heritage language at home (and thus, Davila et al postulated,
spoke with an accent). In fact, the analysis indicated that those of Mexican ancestry earned
significantly less than the other two groups. They suggest that Mexicans who have a closer
affinity to their heritage culture pay a penalty for that preference, but they also list a number of
other possible reasons for the discrepancy in earnings. Discuss what you think those reasons
may be. Think in terms of immigration history and trends, geographic distribution, and legal
considerations in addition to ethnicity and language.
3. Consider the history of discriminatory practices taken against Native Americans as described
briefly in Chapter 7, and compare that information (and any other research you might do on this
topic) to Padgett’s TIME Magazine article about the Cruz case in Mississippi. What similarities
do you see? How relevant are they to language focused discrimination?
4. Make a list of terms for people of Latino origin. (If you are yourself Latino/a, you can still
undertake this exercise – but you should concentrate on non-Spanish speakers when collecting
data. If you are not comfortable with this, you could take a different approach, and make a
similar list of Spanish language terms for non Spanish speakers in the U.S.) Ask acquaintances,
friends, family for help. In class, find a way to divide all the terms collected into groups. Are
some terms purely derogatory and racist? Are there neutral terms which seem to be fairly safe;
that is, they won’t offend the majority of Latinos? How many of the terms do you use yourself,
and which ones do you avoid? Can you reconstruct what goes through your mind if/when you
use a term like wetback? This is not meant to be an exercise in blame; the purpose is to pinpoint
the way you have learned to think about a particular ethnic group.
5. Consider the Arizona School Board’s intention to send out inspectors to decide whether a
teacher speaks English fluently enough to work with Spanish-speaking children who are learning
English. Can you imagine putting together a program (training the investigators, etc) that would
reach judicious, consistent evaluations? What would that look like?
6. How is the language situation in Quebec relevant to the conflicts in the U.S. Southwest? Do
you feel the Francophone laws in Quebec were well founded? Reasonable? Understandable?
What do you think might happen if/when the Spanish speaking population of Arizona reaches a
strong majority?
7. Explore the Pew Hispanic Center website by following the link to “Survey Reports.” Identify
an issue that is (a) language related and (b) could be addressed, at least in part, by “making the
invisible visible” to Anglos.
8. Consider the Census maps from the 2007 American Community Survey in this chapter. Note
that those areas of the country which are most heavily bilingual Spanish/English are not
necessarily the areas where English language facility is lowest. Why might that be, for example,
in New Mexico?
9. “Discomfort is not oppression. It is a sign of privilege when white students believe they should
be able to understand everything going on around them or never have their racial embodiment
questioned publicly.” Discuss.
10. Pursue the issue of the Mexican-American Ethnic Studies Program in the Tucson school
district. A few places to start:
A22. http://xrl.in/72ks
Tucson United School District Mexican American Studies Department
Presentation to the TUSD Governing Board January 12, 2010 Director: Sean
Arce, M.Ed. http://xrl.in/72ar
The full text of an e-mail exchange between Dr. Rodolfo Acuña and KGUN9 News
director Forrest Carr. For ease of reading, Carr’s questions are highlighted in
yellow. The non–highlighted portions are Dr. Acuña’s responses.
http://xrl.in/72au
KGUN9 ABC Tucson articles
June 3, 2010. “Author slams Arizona education boss over ethnic studies ban.”
http://xrl.in/72ao
October 19, 2010 “Does TUSD’s ethnic studies program violate Arizona’s new
law?” http://xrl.in/72ap
May 24, 2010 “What ethnic studies students are learning: an inside look.”
http://xrl.in/72av
Sample answer: Answers will vary.
From the website
Audio
1. Listen to the samples of all the accents mentioned in this chapter and consider the following
quote from chapter 14 (p. 261):
Just as Disney never thought to give the character of a carpenter (or a fire fighter, or a
street sweeper) a French accent, filmmakers find it difficult to imagine Latinos/as as
accountants, copy shop owners, engineers or veterinarians.
In which kinds of roles do you think these accents are most often used? Why? What does this
reveal about standard language ideology?
2. Listen to the samples from speakers with Chicano, Puerto Rican, and Cuban backgrounds.
What variation do you hear between these speakers?
3. Listen to the samples of the language variety spoken on Martha’s Vineyard and revisit the
information about Labov’s famous study of the connection between language and identity (p.
266; also explained on the website where the sound files can be found). Are there any linguistic
variables that are linked to a local identity in your area?
1. Evaluate the various facets of Bill Santiago’s language ideology (based on what he says in
this routine).
Sample answer: Bill Santiago’s language ideology appears to be very interesting based on what
he says in his routine. First of all, his comments about an audience member who was thankful
Suggested activities and discussion questions
1. Ask your students what their initial reactions are to code switching. Have they ever thought
code switching indicated a lack of proficiency in either (or both) language(s)? Has their opinions
of code switching changed after reading this chapter? Do any of the students participate in code
switching between any two (or more) languages? If so, what do they think about code switching?
2. Have your students research the grammatical and social rules that govern code switching and
ask them to write a research paper that describes what they found.
3. If you live in an area where Spanish (or another language) is frequently used, ask the students
to listen and watch for code switching in conversation, on television or radio, and in printed
4. Have your students research the differences between Chicano English, Puerto Rican English,
5. Discuss how language varieties such as Chicano English are not ―broken‖ English and do not
contain English learner ―errors‖ but are rule-governed dialects of English and can be spoken by
monolingual speakers of English. Ask the students if they think they can tell whether or not a
speaker of Chicano English is bilingual in English and Spanish or monolingual in English. If so,
what features indicate monolingualism or bilingualism? After this discussion, take the Chicano
English quiz found on the Do You Speak American? website