Reviews: (by author)

Tse, Lucy. "Why Don't They Learn English?" Separating Fact from Fallacy in
The U.S. Language Debate. NY: Teachers College Press, 2001. $18.95.
ISBN 0-8077-4096-9.

If only---all those involved in the debates over bi-lingualism and multi-lingualism would read Tse's book…. She clearly and concretely disproves many of the prejudices and fallacies that swirl around this hot topic. In my own state where bi-lingual education has been outlawed (though in practice most classroom teachers continue to deal with reality), the negative effects of banning "heritage languages" —those used by immigrants at home—include the loss of language and culture and the setting back of students whose English is not yet good enough for it to be the medium of instruction. How stupid! At the same time that we hear the government bemoaning its inability to find translators in many languages, instead of encouraging a future generation of translators, we send two messages. We need bi- and multi-lingual people, but we won't encourage multiple language learning at the ages when learning more than one language is easy.

The silly assertions that allowing for instruction in more than one language means the death of English, or that immigrants don't want to learn English, or that bi or multi-lingual nations have the most social problems are disproved by Tse in readable prose and in many graphs that present the facts.

A must read for teachers, administrators, legislators, and everyone asked to vote on the question of multi-lingualism.

Alida Allison, October 2003

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