Presenter(s)

Alexandra M. VanLoon

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Description

Because the recession has struck the city with such vigor, the Dayton government has adopted the Welcome Dayton Plan to inspire immigrants remain in the indebted city in hopes their efforts would augment the economy. Among its many proposals to help assimilation, Welcome Dayton plans to endorse classes that teach English to the immigrants to promote linguistic commonality. My study explores to what extent knowledge of English is a significant factor in the socioeconomic success among Spanish-speaking immigrants in Dayton. Using a sociolinguistic methodology, based on surveys and interviews, I will analyze how the social status of my informants correlates with their levels of English. In the Berry Summer Thesis Institute, I familiarized with the most relevant bibliography for my study, learned about the Hispanic community in Dayton, contacted organizations committed to helping Latinos, and finally, created the survey and interview to be used in the next stages of my investigation. More recently, I have administered my survey and begun synthesizing my information into a formal analysis. My research will benefit the Dayton Hispanic community in that it will identify the dominant linguistic factors that contribute to the definition of their social status. This information will empower the Hispanics with the knowledge of what linguistically hinders them as well as offer the community tools to better integrate them, which is the overall goal of the newly adopted Welcome Dayton Plan.

Publication Date

4-17-2013

Project Designation

Honors Thesis

Primary Advisor

Laura Villa

Primary Advisor's Department

Languages

Keywords

Stander Symposium project

Linguistic Factors Affecting the Social Status of the Hispanic Immigrant Population in Dayton, OH

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