Field Research: Language Study in the United States

This document outlines a structured field research project designed for students to investigate the complex debate surrounding the potential designation of English as the official language of the United States. The assignment prompts students to engage with the tension between national unity and the risk of marginalizing non-English speaking populations. By combining secondary research with primary data collection, students are tasked with developing a nuanced understanding of how these abstract policy questions manifest in public opinion.

The research process is divided into two primary components. First, students must identify and analyze two scholarly articles that offer opposing perspectives on the official language debate. This ensures that the student is grounded in existing academic discourse before conducting their own inquiries. Second, students are required to conduct ten personal interviews with a diverse group of participants, including peers, family members, and community members. The assignment provides a standardized table for data collection, requiring participants to provide demographic information—such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity—alongside their qualitative responses to the core research question. This approach encourages students to look for patterns in the data and identify how demographic factors might correlate with specific viewpoints.

The final phase of the project requires students to synthesize their findings into a formal research paper formatted according to MLA standards. Students must compare the themes identified in their interviews with the arguments presented in the scholarly literature. The goal is to move beyond simple reporting and instead offer an interpretation of the data, identifying similarities, differences, and broader societal patterns. By requiring both scholarly citations and verbatim interview transcripts, the assignment emphasizes the importance of evidence-based argumentation and the rigorous documentation of qualitative data.