Should English Be the official Language of the United States

English 3 honors period 2

24, April 2009

Should English be the official language of the United States?

I. There has been an ongoing debate on whether or not English should be recognized as the official language of the United States?

A. Many admission officers are not influenced by the new writing section in their decision for accepting students.

B. The new writing sections consist of a timed essay and multiple-choice. questions. ( Steven 99)

C. Writing on standardized testing can be a good predictor of future performances.

II. Not all Admission officers are looking at writing scores on standardized test.

A. Researchers at Maquire Associates conducted a survey in all fifty states on the influence of the writing portion on standardized tests on admission officers. (Ramirez par. 2)

1. Four hundred and sixty one officials from private and public schools replied to the research. (Ramirez par. 2)

2. Thirty two percent of the college admissions officials who were surveyed said the writing scores had no influence on them at all. (Ramirez par. 2)

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B. The writing portion to some colleges have been "relatively meaningless" until recently. (Ramirez par. 2)

1. Writing sections in standardized tests are new and many admission officers haven't looked at them at all before.

2. Admission officers are looking into using writing in their decisions for admissions in the future.

3. Some college's admission officers have not learned how to use writing in their admission decisions and therefore they choose not to look at it. (Ramirez par. 2)

III. The writing sections on standardized tests consisted of two portions.

A. The first part of the writing is the timed essay.

1. Standardized tests usually give students 25 minutes to complete it. (Black 25)

2. The essay "Gives you an opportunity to show how effectively you can express your ideas" (Black 25)

B. Multiple-choice questions will also be on the test.

1. The multiple-choice questions will consist of; recognizing sentence errors, choosing the best version of a piece of writing and improve paragraphs within a writing context. (Steven 99)

2. The multiple-choice section also includes 49 questions on grammar and usage. (Steven 99)

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