American Sign Language (ASL)
A natural language that has been developed and used by people who are deaf that is based a system of manual gestures.
Accent
How an individual pronounces words.
Additive bilingualism
The situation where two languages are of equal value and neither dominates the other.
African American English
Another term for Black English, Vernacular Black English, or Ebonics. A dialect used by many African Americans, primarily by those in working-class families.
Arizona Proposition 203
Voter initiative passed in 2000 and patterned after Californias Proposition 227. Designed to eliminate bilingual education and to require sheltered English immersion programs for English language learners (ELLs)
Argot
A somewhat secret vocabulary of a co-culture group.
Basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS)
Everyday conversational skills, which English language learners can develop in approximately two years.
Bicultural
Ability to function effectively in two distinct cultures
Bidialectical
Refers to an individual who has the ability to speak or utilize two or more dialects.
Bilingual education
The use of two languages as media of instruction. The system accepts and develops native language and culture in the instructional process to help students learn English and learn academic subject matter. Bilingual education may use the native language, a
Bilingualism
The ability to function in two languages. While some contend that bilingualism implies native-like fluency, others measure competency in two languages as adequate to be considered bilingual.
Black English
Another term for African American English, Vernacular Black English, or Ebonic. A dialect used by many African-Americans, primarily by those in working-class families.
Castilian Spanish
The variety of Spanish spoken in north and central Spain or as the Spanish language standard for radio and TV.
Co-cultures
Groups of people who exist and function apart from the dominant culture (e.g., street gangs, drug dealers, prostitutes).
Cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP)
The higher levels of proficiency required in highly structured academic situations.
Colloquialisms
The informal or conversational speech in a community. An example of a Texas colloquialism is I like to got hit by that car, meaning I was almost struck by that car.
Creolization
The result of European Americans, African Americans, and American Indians intermarrying and developing unique cultures, languages, and dialects.
Dual language immersion programs
Programs that include students with an English background and usually an equal number of students with one other language background.
Dialects
Variations of a language usually determined by region or social class (e.g.,Southern drawl).
English language learners (ELLs)
Students who have limited or no English skills and are in the process of learning English.
Ebonics
Another term for African American English, Vernacular Black English, or Black English. A dialect used by many African-Americans, primarily by those in working-class families.
English only
Used interchangeably with official English.
English as a Second Language (ESL)
Educational strategy that relies exclusively on English for teaching or learning the English language. ESL programs are used extensively in this country as a primary medium to assimilate English language learners (ELLs) into the linguistic mainstream as q
Formal standard
The acceptable written language that is typically found in grammar books.
Informal standard
The language considered proper in a community.
Language
Written or spoken human speech. It is a system that enables people to communicate with one another and to share their thoughts and ideas with one another.
Monolingualism
The ability to speak only one language.
Nonstandard dialect
A dialect of a given language (e.g., English) that is not considered standard (e.g., Black English).
Official English
A position supported by U.S. English, a citizens action group that is seeking to have English declared the official language of the United States by Congress. Individuals who support this movement believe that all public documents, records, legislation, a
Proposition 227
An initiative passed by California voters in 1998 requiring all language minority students to be educated in sheltered English immersion programs, not normally intended to exceed one year. Proposition 227 was designed to eliminate bilingual education from
Regression to the mean
A statistical phenomenon implying that scores at the extreme ends of the statistical distribution move toward the population average (mean), with low scores moving higher and high scores moving lower.
Subtractive bilingualism
The situation where a second language replaces the first.
Standard English
The English spoken by a particular group of individuals in a community. Typically this group is the professional educated middle class, the group with a high degree of influence and prestige in the community.
Spanglish
A hybrid language combining words and idioms from Spanish and English, notably Spanish speech that borrows many English words and expressions.
Signed English
A system that translates an English oral or written word into a sign.
Sheltered English immersion
A process of English language acquisition structured so that nearly all instructions is in English. This is the instructional method mandated by California Proposition 227 and is normally limited to one year.
Vernacular Black English
Another term for Black English, African American English, or Ebonics. A dialect used by the majority of African Americans, primarily by those in working-class families.
Yiddish
The language of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe and their descendants, resulting from a fusion of elements derived principally from a High German language written in Hebrew characters.