The Researched Exploratory Essay  

“America! That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”- James Adams. “The American dream” refers to the possibility of achieving remarkable things for oneself and one’s offspring via dedication, work, education, and other means. It is declared that every American has an equal chance to succeed and become wealthy through perseverance, ingenuity, and arduous work. This is regardless of their last name or level of wealth. The American Dream is just that: a dream, and reality is completely contradictory to it. Contrarily, a lot of immigrants still hold onto this hope and claim that their motivation for coming to America was to provide a better life for their family. The United States has the most immigrants of any country on the planet. According to data published by the Center for Immigration Studies, more than 46.6 million persons residing in the United States as of January 2022 were immigrants. Asian and Hispanic immigrants make up most of the immigrant population of America in terms of race and ethnicity. An essential component of immigrant assimilation in the US is English language proficiency. Immigrants encounter numerous problems. One of the biggest obstacles is the language barrier, and it makes it difficult to adapt to changing environments rapidly. Educational institutions, such as K-12 have set up an efficient support group to assist immigrants in adjusting to their newly formed environment and the English language.    

The inability to communicate in fluent English is mistakenly labeled as incapacitation. ESL, also known as English as a Second Language, is a course of study designed to assist students studying English as a second language. These students are not native English speakers. English language learners (ELLs), or students pursuing fluency in the language, comprise more than five million students in American public schools. There are roughly 7,100 languages currently spoken worldwide, and every language differs in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Language, as a concept, is a form of communication. However, it also shapes how we think, measures our intelligence, and is a form of identification. People find it difficult to assimilate to other people’s cultures, and in doing so, they forget their own. In the novel, ESL, EFL, and Bilingual Education: Exploring Historical, Sociocultural, Lynn W. Zimmerman emphasizes, “knowledge of English can be abused to try to break a person’s connection to their own language and culture, and the school system is frequently the arena where these struggles are fought. Some students experience loneliness since English is not their first language.” Since 1795, English has been the dominant language in the United States. With English being widely used in the United States, immigrants and their children were encouraged to learn the language to better conform to society.  

Your ability to speak successfully in English will impact your social standing, employment opportunities, and future. The English language has been and is still used to create barriers that prohibit non-English speakers from fully participating in American life. Zimmerman explains on page two of his book that “a lack of proficiency in English can lead to situations where a person’s civil and human rights are restricted.” When a person is unable to improve their English language skills on top of being a minority or immigrant, they are also subjected to racial and ethnic inequality, cultural deficits, structural barriers, a lack of opportunities, and discriminatory practices in their daily lives. The ability to speak English can open doors. This simply shows the lack of tranquility and how non-English speakers cannot coexist peacefully in the land of the free.   

When we look back at Amy Tan’s creative essay “Mother Tongue,” she examines the general sense of language and the societal limits that “broken English” might engender. She investigates her own English usage, the speech of her Asian immigrant mother, and how society reacts to varied English uses to further build this thesis. Tan realizes that immigrants who are unable to communicate well in English are vulnerable to a number of issues, including racism and prejudice. Tan recounts her mother’s experience as a Chinese immigrant living in America, and how her limited English just made things more difficult for her. Tan remembers impersonating her mother on the phone when she was younger. “I was forced to ask for information or even to complain and yell at people who had been rude to her.” Tan had to assist her mother in a number of circumstances when she was not taken seriously because of her mother’s weak knowledge of the English language. Tan used this example to show how language is viewed and how it serves a purpose. Tan understood that prosperity and ease of life depended on blending into society. Assimilation enhances security and expands opportunities for immigrants, but it also gradually strips away people’s sense of self and cultural traditions.   

Language development in children is influenced by both environment and culture. Tan continued to blame her mother’s poor English for limiting her possibilities for a fulfilling life. She regularly blamed her mother’s incomprehensible English, which she had picked up at home, for her own weaknesses in IQ testing, English lessons, and the SAT English section. She observed that many Asian American students frequently spoke “broken English” in class and that “teachers had directed them toward math and science courses rather than English and writing classes because of this. Teachers simply chose the simple solution without making any effort to assist these kids in learning English.” Asian students were never encouraged to pursue writing and English careers due to their parents’ immigration status and their parents’ weak English proficiency. In the United States, Spanish is the most common native language (77 percent), followed by Arabic, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Unlike the teachers of Tan’s generation, that simply pushed aside Chinese immigrants that struggle with English, students are encouraged to enroll in ESL classes. Currently, all states are required to offer ESL programs that adhere to federal education regulations, such as the No Child Left Behind Act. English language instruction is essential to the development of English and literacy for many immigrants to the United States. Giving minorities and immigrants access to ESL enables them to understand linguistic and cultural norms and improve their fluency. It will improve student academic achievement, employment prospects in the future, and abilities like multitasking, working memory, and creativity.  

There is an increasing demand for educators with experience teaching ESL and pupils who struggle with the English language because the U.S is an immigrant country. People from around the world continuously travel to the land of the free to fulfil their dreams of a better life. As the population of immigrants continues to drastically increase; how can we help these students with English if people in the government choose to neglect immigrants and deny them of that better life they are looking for? We must set aside our differences of race or socioeconomic class, and work together to emphasize the value of ESL in our society. It is our duty help immigrant children become more fluent in the English language and equip them with a future full of opportunities.