Cover Letter

The intended audience for this piece is Americans, American immigrants, as well as American minorities. I aimed to argue as well as educate my audience about how America isn’t this perfect utopian nation that guarantees the ideal life just for living there. My active, yet monotone voice assisted in invoking both a feeling of anger for the injustice, as well as sympathy for the victims of the injustice.

A meaningful insight I learned from this phase was the usage of I, me, and my, in my thesis, which seemed very taboo to me. I also learned more about correct citation, as well as other methods of implementing sources into my paragraphs. What really stuck with me was the reason for citing sources. Often in English I am just taught to do specific things just because it is good practice to do so, however with the reason provided for citing sources, I fully understand why things like copyright laws, and plagiarism tests are a necessity in the vastly readily accessible information that is on the internet.

The concept of blending quotes and revisiting thesis most impacted this essay because without it, my essay would be a jumbled mess with many many tangents which can shift the focus of my essay as well as make it super confusing to the reader. With such a vague area of focus and immense freedom of the writing assignment, I struggled to keep my sources and analysis of quotes to come back to ONE central thesis. Reminding myself to do so facilitated this process and overall added to the cohesion of my essay.

This assignment helped me achieve many of the Course Learning Outcomes (CLO). Once again, I played with many different approaches in starting my essay, all with the intention of which audience I would tailor it to, in order to convey the concept of language discrimination in America contributing to a much broader discrimination against immigrants, achieving CLO one.

Unfortunately I do feel like this was not as fully completed as I would’ve liked. With the looming deadlines of many other classes as well as multiple exams and urgent family matters, I was in a time constraint. If I was given the opportunity to redo this assignment, I would have looked for more specific sources that focus on my thesis, or developed my thesis better to express my goals in writing this piece.

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Research Essay

The “Land of Opportunity”. The United States of America has been a safe haven for many people fleeing from hardships or looking to better the future for themselves and their progeny. However, is that really the case? Will immigrants be provided with ample opportunities and equal treatment in America? Many social issues contribute to why America can’t be the ideal utopian society that anyone can move to and succeed. One such issue is the language discrimination that exists within the confines of America. Fluency and mastery of the English language is imperative to success in America. Despite being the “Land of Opportunity,” America does not offer its opportunities to many because of their non-fluency in English.

According to Kit Kittelstad’s online article blog, “Examples of Prejudice”, prejudice is a “biased treatment of someone” based on either their race, socioeconomic background, religion, gender or anything other characteristic. As immigrants either fleeing from danger or seeking opportunities, their race, religion, and socioeconomic background are very frequently called into question. A very relevant example is the ongoing fear of terrorism and distrust of  Muslim-Americans, just because of their faith. This is just the tip of the iceberg to the mistreatment of minorities in America.

The hypocrisy of America can be seen through many different articles, journals and other forms of media, all pointing towards the idea that America will always turn a blind eye to the injustices that immigrants face on a daily basis in favor of the rich and established. These sources all focus on how America fits all of Kittelstad’s criteria of prejudice and discrimination , by providing specific anecdotal evidence to how America achieves each point. Emphasizing more towards the economical and social implications of being an immigrant, the idea that opportunities are up for grabs when moving to America is just a false promise.

As immigrants reach America, it is a whole different world than what they’re used to. The diverse ethnicities, the grand buildings, and the anxiety of starting from square zero. This restarting life can pose many issues, without any prior knowledge of English or the American culture, immigrants are often lost and can easily be taken advantage of. In the journal article, “Learning English and Learning America: Immigrants in the Center of a Storm., author Laurie Olsen, the Director of the Sobrato Early Academic Language, claims that immigrants coming to America are caught in the middle of a storm trying to assimilate to the American culture and speaking English to their standards. Olsen conveys this idea by providing sources that highlight this issue through real life examples. In interviewing Mandy, an immigrant from Taiwan, Olsen asks if there are ways that Mandy “feels American” after immigrating here, however quickly claims that “If you do not speak the English right, you cannot be American.” (Olsen 196). This brings attention to how immigrants to this country really feel about living here. They aren’t seen as a vital member and potential citizen; they are seen as outsiders. All due to them not being fluent or “speaking the English right”. Olsen includes her one question interview with her interviewee to achieve two main points, systematically, as well as in reality, immigrants ARE being shackled by their limitations in English, and FEEL that they are shackled by their limitations in English. In writing the journal article, Olsen attempts to promote a rectification to help immigrants assimilate and feel a part of American society regardless of their English level.

An associate professor whose principle field of study being immigration, Sherrie A. Kossoudji, in her research journal,  “English Language Ability and the Labor Market Opportunities of Hispanic and East Asian Immigrant Men.”, published in 1988, addresses the topic of unfair economic opportunities and argues that immigrants, primarily Hispanic and East Asian, are not given ample job opportunities as a result of their English ability. She attempts to support this assertion by providing research information on a study she conducted detailing the wage differentials between immigrants who can be considered fluent vs those who are not working the same/a similar job. In that research it is shown that there are slight differences in wages earned between the two, as well as give insight to job opportunities allotted between the two, those who are fluent having way more job opportunities than those who don’t. Kossoudji aims to highlight this unfairness to hopefully resolve this issue. The overlapping idea is the inability to speak English greatly affects the wages of immigrants, despite doing similar work as those with proficiency.

Many can argue that the opportunities come in the first generation of American immigrants, however this is not consistently true. In the journal, “English Language Ability and the Labor Market Opportunities of Hispanic and East Asian Immigrant Men.”, author Geoffrey Carliner, a finance professor who teaches international finance, international trade, economic development, and labor economics at Boston University, asserts that children of immigrants are at a disadvantage their entire lives when moving to America. He backs this claim up with statistics and anecdotal evidence of immigrant families being more likely to “be in poverty” and have children who “do poorly in school”. Carliner appears to write in hopes of shedding light on this important social issue for a resolution to come with reader awareness and action. Because of Carliner’s passive and empathetic voice, the readers’ sense of sympathy and injustice is heightened as they read about the awful fates that are bestowed upon immigrants seeking a better life, fleeing from danger. The same issue arises that immigrants, along with their progeny are not given the best footing for success or path to success when moving to America. Already they have to fight the language barrier, but in addition, economic struggles. Being gated by their socioeconomic background, yet again the prejudice of America is displayed.

As seen through the plethora of academic, nonacademic, and other forms of media, the United States, doesn’t seem to be very united. The minority, which currently make up over forty percent of the population (according to the 2019 American July census) are not given equal representation and ample compensation for being the driving force of labor in America. As time passes, America will see more of a rise in minority population, and without proper adjustments to the system and societal views of the minority, the majority will struggle to co-exist with their non-native counterparts.

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Works Cited

Kittelstad, Kit. “Examples of Prejudice.” Example Articles & Resources, 2014,

examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-prejudice.html.

Carliner, Geoffrey. “The Language Ability of U.S. Immigrants: Assimilation and Cohort Effects.”

International Migration Review, vol. 34, no. 1, 2000, pp. 158–182., doi:10.2307/2676016.

Hassler, Chelsea Adelaine. “You Don’t Have to Speak English to Be a US Citizen – No Matter What

the White House Claims.” POPSUGAR News, 13 May 2018, www.popsugar.com/news/Do-You-

Have-Speak-English-Become-American-Citizen-43828824.

King, Jim, and Seiko Harumi. “1. East Asian Perspectives on Silence in English Language Education:

An Introduction.” East Asian Perspectives on Silence in English Language Education, 2020, pp. 1–16., doi:10.21832/9781788926775-006.

Akresh, Ilana Redstone, and Reanne Frank. “At the Intersection of Self and Other: English Language

Ability and Immigrant Labor Market Outcomes.” Social Science Research, vol. 40, no. 5, 2011, pp.1362–1370., doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2010.05.007.

Kossoudji, Sherrie A. “English Language Ability and the Labor Market Opportunities of Hispanic

and East Asian Immigrant Men.” Journal of Labor Economics, vol. 6, no. 2, 1988, pp. 205–228.,

doi:10.1086/298181.

Olsen, Laurie. “Learning English and Learning America: Immigrants in the Center of a Storm.”

Theory Into Practice, vol. 39, no. 4, 2000, pp. 196–202., doi:10.1207/s15430421tip3904_2