About CAL

Resolutions passed by the CAL Board of Trustees

Opposition to Proposition 187
November 11, 1994

The Board of Trustees of the Center for Applied Linguistics wishes to make known its opposition to Proposition 187, recently passed in the state of California, which denies educational, social, and health services to undocumented immigrants.

Such a policy is in direct contradiction to the Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe that prohibits the consideration of immigration status in deciding eligibility for public education.

We believe that Proposition 187 will harm all residents of California whose native language is not English and will send a message of intolerance to the rest of the nation. In particular, young English language learners will suffer discrimination and marginalization during their critical formative years, whether they are citizens born in this country, legal immigrants, or immigrants without documentation who are targeted by this proposition.

CAL Resolution on Language Rights
March 27, 1987

The Board of Trustees of the Center for Applied Linguistics wishes to make known its opposition to "English-Only" measures on the grounds that they are based on misconceptions about the role of a common language in establishing political unity, and that they are inconsistent with basic American ideals of linguistic tolerance.

We believe that it is important for all Americans to be proficient in English. At the same time, we believe it is to the economic and cultural advantage of our nation as a whole that its citizens be proficient in languages other than English, and to this end we wish to encourage both foreign language study for native English speakers, and programs that enable speakers from other linguistic backgrounds to maintain proficiency in those languages along with English.

Policy Statement on Bilingual Education
June 29, 1981

On the basis of contemporary educational theory as well as research and evaluative information, the Center for Applied Linguistic concludes that bilingualism should be maintained and extended as a national resource and that bilingual/multicultural education is an optimal approach for the education of children of limited English proficiency.

The Center encourages and supports a continuing effort toward the further development of bilingual education programs in this country for all children.