[Edling] AAAL Executive Committee's Message on Executive Order Designating English as the Official Language of the US

Wed Mar 12 13:03:13 UTC 2025

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The AAAL Executive Committee Statement on the Executive Order Designating
English as the Official Language of the United States

As leaders of a professional organization, the AAAL Executive Committee
opposes the United States Presidential Executive Order
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issued
on March 1, 2025, “Designating English as the Official Language of the
United States.” In doing so, we reaffirm AAAL’s mission of building and
sustaining just and equitable conditions for individuals, communities, and
societies. A commitment to protecting linguistic rights, supporting
multilingualism and multiculturalism, and promoting ethical and informed
understandings of language-related processes and practices through
evidence-based research lies central in this mission.

In AAAL’s “Resolution Opposing the Labeling of English as National Language
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(June 2006), AAAL recognized that “language, nationality, and citizenship
are each distinct categories, neither mutually exclusive nor identical” and
that the “use of English or any other language within the boundaries of the
United States neither promotes nor inhibits patriotism, loyalty, or concern
for country, community, and neighbors.” Designating English as an official
language does not cultivate national values, shared American culture, or
national unity. If anything, it could precipitate the direct opposite
effect by creating a linguistic hierarchy among languages, which in turn
could potentially be divisive.

The new Executive Order revokes Executive Order 13166
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issued in 2000, “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited
English Proficiency,” which required federal agencies and other programs
that receive federal funds to take reasonable steps to provide meaningful
access to services for individuals who are not proficient in English.
Although the new Executive Order does not mandate the elimination of
existing multilingual services, rescinding Executive Order 13166 and
revoking those requirements leaves unfettered discretion in the hands of
local, state and federal government officials and private recipients of
federal funds regarding interpretation and translation. It opens the door
to linguistic discrimination.

Committed to advancing linguistic justice, the AAAL Executive Committee
will work with peer organizations to recognize the rich multilingual and
multicultural heritage of newcomers to the United States and all
linguistically and culturally minoritized individuals, and protect these
individuals’ rights to accessing, using, and learning multiple languages.

Acknowledgement:

The AAAL Executive Committee would like to thank Rosemary Salomone for her
initial input on this statement.

Note: AAAL stands in solidarity with the organizations listed below that
have issued statements at the following links:

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)

https://www.actfl.org/news/actfl-statement-on-designating-english-as-official-language
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Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL)

https://www.cal.org/news/center-for-applied-linguistics-statement-on-the-executive-order-designating-english-as-the-official-language-of-the-united-states/
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Linguistic Society of America (LSA)

https://www.lsadc.org/lsa-statement-against-designating-english-as-the-official-language
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National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE)

https://nabe.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/2025/03/NABE-PressRelease-English-Only-Executive-Order-6Mar2025-1.pdf
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Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

https://www.tesol.org/news/tesol-statement-on-the-exec-order-designating-english-as-the-official-language-of-the-us
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American Association for Applied Linguistics
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AAAL: American Association for Applied Linguistics | 2900 Delk Road Suite
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