Part I: Exploration
1. Identify the issue or problem that you plan to focus on in your research project.
Should English be declared the official language of the United States?
2. What is your personal connection to and interest in this topic?
Obviously everyone in the country that speaks will find this topic important because their language is at stake
3. What opinions do you already hold about this topic?
We were founded by English rebels; the common language in the government in English….Yes, the U.S.’s official language should be English.
4. What knowledge do you already have about this topic. What are your main questions about this topic? What are you most curious about?
I know how prevalent English is in the U.S., but not to what extent. I also would like to know any negative effects if English is declared the official language.
6. Within what scholarly discipline (such as history, biology, psychology) do you expect to do most of your research? How does this discipline approach or study this topic?
I’ll take a stab at it and guess English and Sociology. This will show correlation of region and language.
7. How could you research this topic outside the library (for example, through interviews and/or observations)?
Talk to people who struggle with Engligh.
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4 comments:
yeah. English should be the offical language. Their is no reason for it to be anything else, or for it NOT to be english. English is spoken round the world, it is the languge of buissness. It would also make other immigration laws mostly obsolete. If immigrates had to learn english proficantly and could not hole up in their groups of spanish speaking only buddies then they would be forced to assimlate more. If they assimlate they are no longer really immigrates, but american citizens, ahaha problem solved.
one thing that O'Rourke mentioned to me was, try to stray away from questions that are "yes/no" answers. For research, you need something that doesn't necessarily have a yes/no answer, but something that can be debated and discussed. You can keep your topic, but try to arrange the question and approach it differently. Maybe along the lines of "what effects (positive and negative) would be imposed on the U.S. if english was the primary language?"
jsut a suggestion...
I like Jameela's comment. Posing the question/problem you research in that way would allow for multiple arguments too ... something I know you like to do.
Thanks, Jameela and Susan! Either/or questions seem to often lead to narrow ways of looking at topics (right/wrong, for/against, pro/con).
Bruce Horner, in his article "Students 'Right," English Only, and Re-imagining the Politics of Language" suggests some ways to "re-imagine" the question in ways that open the topic to discovery and new ways of thinking.
Read it--I look forward to hearing what you have to say in response!
http://www.ncte.org/pubs/journals/ce/articles/109754.htm
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