Richard Rodriguez, Norman Podhoretz, and Arnold Schwarzenegger: Learning English by “Immersion.” Really?

A close look at the English acquisition processes of Richard Rodriguez, Norman Podhoretz, and Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals that, far from their contentions that they learned English by immersion, which led them to dismiss bilingual education, they benefitted from numerous sources of help largely unavailable to English Language Learners nationwide.

A study of the differences among African -American, Hispanic, and Anglo women on the perceived barriers and strategies to career advancement in public school administration

Women have been traditionally excluded from the ranks of principals and district administrators in public school systems throughout the country. Traditionally, Anglo women have been more successful than African American and Hispanic women in breaking down the barriers that impede their ascension to the top. The purpose of this study was to ascertain how African American, Hispanic, and Anglo higher-level female administrators perceive the barriers that hinder their progress, the effects of the barriers, and the strategies to overcome the barriers. ^ Two hundred, sixty female administrators employed with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and serving in the role of principal or higher were mailed a questionnaire consisting of 49 questions centering on personal and professional characteristics, perceptions of barriers, perceived effects of barriers, and strategies to overcome the barriers. One hundred, seventy-five questionnaires were returned. To analyze the respondents' personal and professional characteristics, cross tabulations were conducted on the demographic information and on the strategies. ANOVA was conducted on the barriers and the effects of the barriers by ethnic groups. Tukey's test for post-hoc comparisons was utilized to identify groups with means significantly divergent from those of other ethnicities. ^ The data revealed that Hispanic female higher-level administrators who returned the questionnaire were more likely to be married and have children as compared to Anglo and African American female administrators. When addressing the barriers to career success, African American females had a higher mean score on 14 of the 17 barriers to career success as compared to the other ethnic groups. Hispanic female administrators proved to be more successful in utilizing the strategies to overcome career barriers. The strategy, forming a “New Girl Network,” was the least utilized with 79 of the respondents reporting that they had never used it. ^ It is concluded that there is strong need for female administrators to network, mentor, and support one another. Also, it is imperative that the success of particular groups in certain areas is shared with others. ^

Perceiving Spanish in Miami: The Interaction of Dialect and National Labeling

The current study implements a speech perception experiment that interrogates local perceptions of Spanish varieties in Miami. Participants (N=292) listened to recordings of three Spanish varieties (Peninsular, Highland Colombian, and Post-Castro Cuban) and were given background information about the speakers, including the parents’ country of origin. In certain cases, the parents’ national-origin label matched the country of origin of the speaker, but otherwise the background information and voices were mismatched. The manipulation distinguishes perceptions determined by bottom-up cues (dialect) from top-down ones (social information). Participants then rated each voice for a range of personal characteristics and answered hypothetical questions about the speakers’ employment, family, and income. Results show clear top-down effects of the social information that often drive perceptions up or down depending on the traits themselves. Additionally, the data suggest differences in perceptions between Hispanic/non-Hispanic and Cuban/non-Cuban participants, although the Cuban participants do not drive the Hispanic participants’ perceptions.