Information Needs: Asian-Americans

7/28/2019 Information Needs: Asian-Americans

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Information Needs: Asian-Americans 1

Information Needs: Asian-Americans

Rebecca Kaplan

Kent State University


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User Group Description

Asian-Americans are one of the most rapidly growing racial groups in the United States of

America. Rather than having a homogenous population, Asian-Americans are very diverse; the

challenges facing their community are extremely varied and can be complex. From the stereotypical

overachieving Asian student to the poorer refugees from areas like Cambodia and Vietnam, there are a

variety of cultural groups within the larger Asian-American community that all have specific needs that

have to be targeted and dealt with in appropriate ways.

The first topic that needs to be tackled regarding Asian-Americans is what exactly is an Asian-

American. Asia is one of the most diverse continents both geographically, economically, politically,

ethnically and culturally. From Israel to Japan, from Russia to Malaysia, Asia contains a very diverse

group of people. However, typically, in everyday speech, in America especially, when one refers to

Asian, he or she is referring to people from or of East Asian descent, which includes groups like

Japanese, Korean and Chinese. For the sake of this user group, Asian-Americans will be best defined

in the manner used by the United States Census Bureau, which is a person having any origins in any

of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for

example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand,

and Vietnam (About race, 2012). This means that populations from the Middle East, Central Asia,

and the former Soviet Union are not included in this user group, while people from South Asia are

included in this group. The term Asian covers a very broad group that can be both united and diverse

in its struggles.

Asian-Americans represent 5.5% of the general American population with 17.3 million people

self-reporting as Asian or multi-racial, while including an Asian heritage (Asian/pacific american

heritage, 2012). The Asian-American population has also seen the largest growth from the 2000 to the


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2010 Census of any group, reporting a growth by forty-six percent (Asian/pacific american heritage,

2012). This figure is significant, since it shows that the Asian community is rapidly growing and is

need of being addressed.

The Asian community is also rather focused in several states, rather than being equally

distributed throughout the country, meaning that there are large pockets of Asian-American populations

in certain states, while other states may have negligible populations. According to a 1997 1998 report

from the United States Census Bureau, sixty-six percent of all Asian-Americans lived in just five states

(Le, 2012). In California alone, in 2010, there were 5.6 million Asian-Americans living there; this

population composes thirty-two percent of all Asians living in the United States (Asian/pacific

american heritage, 2012). New York had the second largest population with 1.6 million, composing a

further nine percent of the Asian population in the United States (Asian/pacific american heritage,

2012). These pockets can mean that Asian-Americans are not necessarily as visible as other ethnic and

cultural groups and might have a smaller presence in the larger American society. This means that

some libraries will naturally have significantly larger populations to deal with, while others may have

no patrons from this community. In areas with smaller Asian populations, it might be possible to unite

the issues that Asian-Americans face with issues that other ethnic groups face, in order to serve both

specific and broader communities.

The issues facing the Asian-American community are very broad and also reflect the situations

that face the entire country, regardless of race. Fifty percent of single race Asian-Americans have at

least a Bachelor's Degree, which is the largest percentage of any race to have that level of education

(Asian/pacific american heritage, 2012). Eighty percent of Asian-Americans in this country in a

household that has the Internet available, which is the highest of any group (Asian/pacific american

heritage, 2012). Asian-Americans are often held up as the model minority, which means that Asian-


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Americans are expected to succeed in positive ways, such as having high education rates and high

socioeconomic statuses. This model minority idea contributes to the belief that Asian-Americans are

overrepresented in certain ways, such as with college acceptance rates and in certain occupational

fields. Filipino-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Vietnamese-

Americans, and Pacific Islanders all have higher median family incomes than the typical white family,

for example (Asian/pacific american heritage, 2012). However, this is not completely representative

of the entire Asian-American community and it is difficult to paint the entire community with such a

broad brush.

While certain ethnicities, like Filipino-Americans, Chinese-Americans, and Japanese-

Americans, all have high rates of college attendance, comparatively high English proficiency, and high

median family incomes, other groups fall by the wayside (Le, 2012). Cambodian-Americans, Laotian-

Americans, and Hmong-Americans have the lowest college attendance rates in the Asian-American

community, with only 9.2 percent people with those ethnicities having a college degree (Le 2012).

This has to be compared to the percentage for all Americans, 25 and older, which states that twenty-

eight percent of the general population has a college degree, far outpacing the aforementioned ethnic

group (Asian/ pacific heritage month, 2012).

A major issue that unites the grander Asian community is a distinct lack in English proficiency.

This is not typically thought of an issue that affects the Asian community, but is rather more associated

with the growing Hispanic community in this country. However, it is relatively common for Asian-

Americans to lack English proficiency. Cambodian-Americans, Hmong-Americans, and Laotian-

Americans have the highest non-proficiency in English with 44.3% being unable to speak in fluent

English, while Vietnamese have the second highest rate with 40.4% (Le, 2012). Both Chinese and

Korean-Americans have rates at around thirty percent (Le, 2012). Indian, Filipino, and Japanese-


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Americans all have English non-proficiency rates at or below ten percent, but this is still significantly

higher than the non-proficiency rates for non-Hispanic white and black people, which are both below

one percent (Le, 2012). The only other group in the country that is not Asian with non-proficiency

rates at such a high percentage is Hispanic-Americans, with 30.3%, still lower than several Asian-

American groups (Le, 2012).

Due to high rates of immigration in this community in particular, approximately twenty percent

of Asian-American households are linguistically isolated, which means that members of the

household who older than fourteen years old are not proficient in English (Community of contrasts,

2011). In fact, sixty percent of Asian-Americans are foreign-born, which significantly more than the

rest of the population (Community of contrasts, 2011). Currently, there are 9.2 million foreign-born

Asian-Americans in this country (Community of contrasts, 2011). In areas with large populations of

Asian-Americans, especially in large metropolitan areas, like New York City or San Francisco, it is not

uncommon to see adults having their younger, American-born or Americanized children act as

translators in public spaces, like malls and government offices, due to this enormous language barrier.

In an analysis of Asian-Americans' responses to the California Health Interview Survey in 2007, certain

Asian-American ethnicities had distinct barriers to mental health help, depending on proficiency in

English (Sorkin, Nguyen, & Ngo-Metzger, 2011). This is understandable, in that low English

proficient (LEP) adults might not be aware of the facilities available if they are unable to understand

the dominant language of the country, thus restricting access.

One of the issues causing this disparity in English proficiency is the refugee status of a few of

these groups, Hmong-Americans in particular. For example, in 2003, there was a resettlement of

Hmong refugees from a refugee camp in Thailand to the United States; these refugees had been

unsettled from their original homes due to the Vietnam War, almost thirty years prior to the resettlement


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process undertaken by the United States government (Grigoleit, 2006). Groups, like Hmong-

Americans, Laotian-Americans, Cambodian-Americans, and Vietnamese-Americans, have a greater

likelihood of being refugees than other Asian-Americans, due to the relatively recent government

instabilities in this part of the World. Hmong-Americans are greatly affected by poverty, with twenty-

six percent of all Hmong-Americans living below the poverty line (Community of contrasts, 2011).

In the period between 2007 and 2009, thirteen percent of Hmong households received cash public

assistance, significantly more than every Asian ethnic group, as well as non-Asian groups, like African-

Americans and Hispanic-Americans; Laotian-Americans, Cambodian-Americans, and Vietnamese-

Americans have population percentages that receive public assistance that exceeds the national average

(Community of contrasts, 2011). This can be also be compared to Asian populations with little

history of having refugee status, such as Indian-Americans and Japanese-Americans, who have only

have one percent of their populations receiving cash public assistance (Community of contrasts,

2011). Unemployment rates also affect Hmong-Americans disproportionately more than the general

population, with eleven percent of Hmong adults being unemployed, compared to eight percent for the

total population (Community of contrasts, 2011). This history of refugee status makes it much more

difficult to overcome poverty, unemployment and low English proficiency.

Another issue that is not as widely discussed regarding Asian-Americans as with other ethnic

groups in this country is undocumented immigrants in the the United States from South Asian and East

Asian countries (Community of contrasts, 2011). Filipinos compose nearly a third of the group.

While Indians, Koreans, and Chinese people all have significant populations of undocumented

immigrants in the United States (Community of contrasts, 2012). This issue is not nearly as widely

discussed as illegal immigration from Latin American countries, but still needs to be seriously

addressed.


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In this community, it also not uncommon for foreign-born Asian-Americans to become

naturalized citizens. In the period between 2000 and 2009, fifty-seven percent of the foreign-born

Asian population has naturalized, while only forty-three of the total population of foreign-born people

have naturalized (Community of contrasts, 2011). This high percentage seems to suggest that Asian-

Americans seek to gain acceptance within the larger American community, seeking to gain a larger role

within American society, earning rights to vote and hold office. One of the more striking things about

the foreign-born Asian populations that have naturalized is that the groups most affected by LEP, like

Hmong-Americans, Cambodian-Americans, and Laotian-Americans, all have naturalization rates above

percent, while more prosperous group, Japanese-Americans for example, has a naturalization percent of

thirty-three percent, lower than the national average across all foreign-born peoples (Community of

contrasts, 2011).

Programs for Asian-Americans

With eighty percent of the Asian-American population having easy access to computers and the

Internet, it seems that one of the best ways to appeal to this community might be through Internet

resources. However, these resources cannot be accessed if people do not know that they are there.

Having information about these resources at the library or on the library's webpage might be a good

way to start make this information easily and readily accessible.

In areas with large Asian populations, a public library might be compelled to address the issues

facing this community: low English proficiency and immigration. These two issues are not unique to

the Asian community, but are still integral to the community's existence in the United States currently.

In regards to low English proficiency, there are a variety of methods that a library could use in

order to provide services to people who seek to improve their English. Outside of large metropolitan

areas, where adult education is relatively common, there may a lack of opportunities for non-fluent


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speakers to improve their English in a judgement-free and comfortable environment. American college

campuses with large non-native English speaking populations have programs like conversation partners

and conversation circles.

Both programs are very similar, but vary on the amount of people involved in these

conversations. The conversation partners is a program used by Binghamton University, where two

people are partnered for a year: one is a non-native speaker of English, while the other is a native

English speaker (ESL English conversation pairs program, 2012). This program is aimed to make

non-native speakers comfortable with speaking the language, in a one-on-one setting. According to the

Binghamton University website, the program has been quite successful, with both non-native speakers

and native English speakers reporting an improvement in the non-native speakers' understanding and

confidence with their English (ESL English conversation pairs program, 2012). The University of

Michigan describes their conversation circle program as a way for non-native speakers to become more

comfortable with speaking English in a group setting (Conversation circles, 2012). These programs

are typically informal, with the intention of having the non-native speaker becoming more comfortable

with speaking English, rather than getting all of the mechanics of the language correct. This is already

used in the Chelmsford Public Library in Massachusetts (English conversation circles, 2006), so this

program is already feasible within the public library setting. These programs are relatively common as

a method of addressing populations with low English proficiency.

These circles can be run by volunteers, with the only requirements being that the volunteers

maintain a judgement-free setting, as well as being tolerant of different cultural norms. These

conversational circles are appealing for libraries serving large multicultural areas because of the

cultural exchange that occurs: the native speakers will learn about different areas, while non-native

speakers will gain confidence with their own language skills, as well as gaining an understanding of


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American culture. This cultural exchange is especially important, since both parties are privy to a

mutual understanding. These conversation circles encourage the fostering of friendships, as well as

making non-native speakers more comfortable in English.

This program can be used to help many non-native English speakers beyond Asian-Americans.

Since the volunteers do not have to necessarily speak the languages of the non-native English speakers,

merely the capacity to provide a judgement-free space, the people served by this program do not have

to be solely Asian-Americans.

Another possible program could be working with an English as a Second Language (ESL)

program through a local institution, such as an adult learning center or a testing prep center. With

trained instructors, people who might not have the capabilities to speak in conversation circles or

conversation pairs can get instruction. In order to better understand the needs of the people in this

program could administer a diagnostic test in the beginning of the program, so that people at the same

skill level can be grouped together, making instruction much more specifically aimed at helping like-

skilled people gain a better understanding of the language. This is common in most language

instruction.

The program can have the aim of intention of preparing non-native English speakers, Asian-

Americans in particular, for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). This test is mainly to

prove proficiency to study in English-speaking countries, but it is also used by governmental bodies,

businesses and scholarship programs trying to determine whether a person can understand English to

the degree required. TOEFL is used by immigration departments to determine who can get work visas,

meaning that this program would be especially important for immigrants attempting to naturalize,

which as stated before is common within the Asian-American community (Who accepts TOEFL,

2012). It also enables immigrants to get medical licensing as well as other professional certifications,


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which helps immigrants obtain and maintain jobs, thus raising their possibility of success in their new

country (Who accepts TOEFL, 2012). Adding this goal to the instruction can help people put their

language instruction in a context that can encourage them to develop their skills. Without an endgame,

learning another language might seem futile or purposeless, since they don't know when their language

instruction will end. Their success regarding the TOEFL will enable non-native speakers to track their

progress, allowing them understand better their own skills. As well as having some concrete uses, the

TOEFL can act as an important symbol of truly understanding the skill level that a non-native speaker

of English has.

Another important service that can be made available is a list of resources that provide

information on naturalization and citizenship. For foreign-born Asian-Americans, many seem to desire

to become United States citizens, so it would seem important to be able to provide these resources,

whether it is on the library's website or in the physical library. Libraries with large Asian-American

populations should try to have sections on citizenship and naturalization processes, in both English and

other languages, ensuring that people understand the process that is going to be undertaken. Making

these resources available in people's first language can make it easier for them to understand the

challenges that they will face in their quest to become citizens of the United States.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has a variety of useful information

regarding what is exactly required of people who are seeking naturalization, making it a useful resource

for libraries seeking to provide Asian-Americans with access to this type of information. The USCIS

provides study materials for the Civics Test in English, Spanish and Chinese, even the test is

administered in English (Study materials for, 2012). The resources can be very useful to a library

that has a large foreign-born population that may be seeking naturalization. If these materials are not in

the physical library, the library should make people aware of the existence of these resources on their


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website. A library that utilizes these resources would be better serving their community, allowing

people access to information that they might not know about otherwise.

Works Cited

A community of contrasts: asian americans in the united states in 2011. (2011). Asian American Centerfor Advancing Justice, Retrieved from

http://www.advancingjustice.org/pdf/Community_of_Contrast.pdf

Conversation circles. (2012). Retrieved from http://sitemaker.umich.edu/conversation/home

Esl english conversation pairs program. (2012). Retrieved from http://www2.binghamton.edu/esl/esl-conversation-pairs.html

Grigoleit, G. (2006). Coming home?: The integration of hmong refugees from wat tham krabok,thailand, into american society.Hmong Studies Journal, 7, Retrieved from

http://hmongstudies.org/Grigoleit.pdf

Le, C. N. (2012, October 14). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.asian-nation.org/population.shtml

Le, C. N. (2012, October 17). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.asian-nation.org/demographics.shtml

US Department of Commerce, US Census Bureau. (2012).About race. Retrieved from website:

http://www.census.gov/population/race/about/

Sorkin, D. H., Nguyen, H., & Ngo-Metzger, Q. (2011). Assessing the Mental Health Needs and

Barriers to Care Among a Diverse Sample of Asian American Older Adults. JGIM: Journal

Of General Internal Medicine, 26(6), 595-602. doi:10.1007/s11606-010-1612-6

Study materials for the civics test. (2012). Retrieved from

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.749cabd81f5ffc8fba713d10526e0aa0/?vgnextoid=982a309186e89210VgnVCM10000025e6a00aRCRD&vgnextchannel=c242df6bd

d42a210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD
http://www.asian-nation.org/population.shtmlhttp://www.asian-nation.org/population.shtmlhttp://www.census.gov/population/race/about/http://www.census.gov/population/race/about/http://www.asian-nation.org/population.shtmlhttp://www.asian-nation.org/population.shtml


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US Department of Commerce, Census Bureau. (2012).Asian/pacific americanheritage month: May 2012. Retrieved from website:http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12

-ff09.html

Who accepts toefl scores?. (2012). Retrieved from

http://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/about/who_accepts_scores
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12-ff09.htmlhttp://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12-ff09.htmlhttp://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12-ff09.htmlhttp://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12-ff09.html

Documents

Information Needs: Asian-Americans