13
Ethnography in Second Language Acquisition
The current movement for bilingual education is largely the
result of the struggles of linguistic minorities for equal educational
opportunity (Guthrie & Hall, 1981). The underpinnings of the movement
came with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Elementary
and Secondary Act of 1965 established federal policy. The Bilingual
Education Acts of 1968 and 1974, the 1970 Memorandum, and the 1974
Lau v. Nichols Supreme Court decision all expanded on those first two
enactments (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Clearinghouse, 1975).
Until recently, educators, as well as most of the population,
viewed cultural and linguistic differences as limitations within the
students and as the underlying cause of minority failure in school.
While this view is slowly changing, it is still accepted by some
educators today.
For purposes of this research, culture is defined as ". . what
ever one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner
acceptable to its members . ." (Goodenough, 1964, p. 36). Culture
provides group members with a common social heritage. Although for
some anthropologists, language is not considered relevant to the under
standing of culture, for purposes of this research.it is considered an
integral element. In the words of Sapir, "... they talk like us,
they are like us" (1958, p. 16). The language and culture which recent
Cuban immigrants share with immigrants who entered the U.S. during
previous waves, unite, and at the same time, separate the two groups.