Beyond the Stereotype: Immigrants and English Proficiency
- Mygration Christian Conference
- Mar 31
- 4 min read
by Dra. Itzel Meduri Soto, Professor of Spanish, Biola University
About 59% of Americans believe immigrants do not learn English in a reasonable amount of time. Another pervasive stereotype is that many immigrants simply do not want to learn English. The truth is that 54% of immigrants are proficient in English, though this percentage includes many immigrants from English-speaking countries like Canada, Australia, Nigeria, and England. If we focus on Mexicans, the largest immigrant group in the United States, we see that proficiency levels drop to 36%, though nearly all Latin Americans agree that learning English is important. The lower levels of proficiency amongst certain immigrant groups cannot be attributed to outright refusal or laziness, as some may suggest, but rather to a lack of opportunity.
As an adult language teacher and student, I know that the best way to learn a language is through full immersion paired with formal instruction. Learning a new language, especially as an adult, is a challenging endeavor that requires countless hours of study, resources, and a posture of humility to accept the many mistakes you are inevitably going to make in the process. The critical period for language acquisition hypothesis [1] suggests that children have a distinct advantage in learning a new language. In fact, we know that immigrants who come to the U.S. as children attain high levels of English proficiency. While it is certainly possible for adults to learn a new language, it tends to be much harder. The average age of newly arrived immigrants in the United States is 31 years old, well beyond the critical age period.
My mom moved to the States in her early twenties as a low-class migrant, seeking economic opportunities, filled with hope and fear, but without any knowledge of English. She established herself in Los Angeles County, where close to 40% of the population speaks Spanish, worked at a factory where all her coworkers spoke Spanish, lived with fellow Spanish-speakers, and shopped at local Hispanic businesses. Although navigating doctor’s visits and parent-teacher conferences was challenging, she was able to function in society with limited English proficiency. Her days consisted of working 10–12-hour shifts in a factory and tending to her home. For a time, she even took ESL classes, but working long hours while having home responsibilities made this effort unsustainable. It took her many years to attain an intermediate level of fluency in English.
My husband moved from Italy to Los Angeles at the age of 28 as a middle-class migrant with decent conversational English skills. He gained ample conversational practice with me while we sustained a long-distance relationship before getting married. Thanks to our stable financial situation, he was able to attend college and take additional English classes. With only 0.2% of the Los Angeles population speaking Italian, he would have found it nearly impossible to survive in this context solely with his native language.
What differences do we observe between these two cases? One clear distinction is that my mom, unlike my husband, was able to function in society using only her native tongue. For most people, learning a new language requires an extraordinary amount of time and effort. Some individuals, particularly those who speak only one language, mistakenly believe that simply moving to a new country will guarantee rapid language acquisition. For example, consider the 1.18 million U.S. immigrants that live in Mexico, the top destination for U.S. immigrants. Many of them live in enclaves, in places like Lake Chapala and San Miguel de Allende, where only 35% of U.S. immigrants report having good or very good Spanish fluency levels, despite the fact that U.S. immigrants are generally wealthier and likely have the resources to access language instruction.
The other difference between my mom and my husband is opportunity. My mom arrived in the U.S. as an economically disadvantaged immigrant needing to work long hours just to make ends meet. In contrast, my husband had the financial stability and time to dedicate to learning English. In the U.S., immigrants who cannot afford to pay for English classes are mostly restricted to the adult-education system run by local non-profits, community colleges, and school districts. However, according to the Migration Policy Institute, this system serves less than 4% of the need. In contrast, countries like France, Sweden, and Canada offer fully subsidized language classes to newcomers.
Learning a new language as an adult is like learning how to talk again, but now as a self-conscious, self-critical adult who is more aware of how others might judge them. Unfortunately, many immigrants have faced ridicule for the way they speak English, which discourages them from practicing and improving their skills.
Immigrants are not refusing to learn English; rather, there are significant barriers that prevent them from reaching higher levels of fluency. Before assuming that immigrants are not motivated to learn English, we should more closely examine the challenges they encounter and respond with empathy. We can also help by advocating for policies that expand access to language education, establishing language courses at our churches, or even volunteering to be someone’s conversation partner. Most importantly, English proficiency should never be used to assess human worth.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dra. Itzel Meduri Soto, a Los Angeles native of Mexican heritage, engages in scholarly work that honors and gives visibility to her community. Driven by her faith and a passion for justice, she explores how language ideologies can perpetuate injustice. Her work emphasizes linguistic diversity and the importance of bicultural and bilingual identities. As a Spanish professor at Biola University, she teaches second and heritage language learners.
Footnotes:
[1] Penfield, Wilder, and Lamar Roberts. Speech and Brain Mechanisms. Princeton University Press, 1959.
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