Review of “Linguistic Minorities Go to College”

My essay reviewing Yasuko Kanno and Linda Harklau’s 2012 book, Linguistic Minority Students Go to College has just been published in the open-access online journal, Education Review. The essay is called “Language Is Not the Only Barrier (Unless It Is),” and in it, I praise the book for breaking new ground in studying immigrant students’ access to and experiences in higher education, while politely (I hope!) critiquing some of the chapters for undervaluing the role of language in the success of non-mainstream students. I also discuss policies implemented by academic English programs such as the one described at the pseudonymous “Northern Green University” (and yes I did figure out the real identity, yes it only took a few minutes on Google, and no I’m going to tell!) and disagee that NGU’s program is typical of other university ESL programs. Nonetheless, the book is well worth reading, and I hope I’ve done justice to it.

Caplan, Nigel A. (2013, January 9). Language Is Not the Only Barrier (Unless It Is): An Essay Review ofLinguistic Minority Students Go to College by Kanno, Yasuko & Harklau, Linda (Eds.) Education Review, Vol. 16 No. 1

Author: Nigel Caplan

Nigel Caplan, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the University of Delaware English Language Institution, as well as a textbook author, consultant, and speaker. Nigel holds a PhD from the University of Delaware, a master's in TESOL from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor's degree from Cambridge University. He is currently director of Project DELITE, a federal grant providing ESL certification to Delaware teachers. He also brews beer. View all posts by Nigel Caplan