You Are What You Speak? Language Discrimination and Regard of Asian International Students

Despite the increasing number of Asian international students in the United States, American society remains discriminatory against the population. Asian international students are exposed to ethnic-racial discrimination against Asians, as well as language discrimination against non-native English speakers. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the two types of discrimination relate to Asian international students’ regard, which refers to their positive or negative evaluations about Asians in American society. It was hypothesized that language discrimination, a particularly relevant form of discrimination for non-native English-speaking immigrants, will be associated with public and private regard, after controlling for ethnic-racial discrimination and English proficiency. The present study tested two hypotheses by conducting hierarchical multiple regression with a sample of 195 self-identified Asian international students. The results supported the first hypothesis, which predicted higher levels of language discrimination would explain a significant amount of additional variance in negative public regard after controlling for ethnic-racial discrimination and English proficiency. The second hypothesis was not supported—language discrimination was not significantly associated with positive private regard after controlling for ethnic-racial discrimination and English proficiency. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.