AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AMONG US IMMIGRANTS

We examine factors that influence the process by which foreign-born pe rsons whose mother tongue is not English acquire English-language prof iciency. We argue that the determinants of English-language proficienc y include cultural and other traits that U.S. immigrants acquire eithe r at birth or while growing up in their home countries, the human capi tal and other endowments they possess at the time they migrate to the United States, and the skills and other experiences they accumulate af ter their arrival in this conntry. Based on data from the November 198 9 Current Population Survey our results confirm that both pre- and pos t-immigration phases of the life cycle contain elements that are assoc iated with how well immigrants to the United Stares speak English.