ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the most pressing language policy issues confronting educators in Puerto Rico today, the strategies devised to tackle them, and the persistent problems of implementation and assessment. Puerto Rico is a Spanish-speaking territory that exists within a complicated political status with the United States known as Estado Libre Asociado. Language status decisions are generally guided by sociopolitical ideologies such as nationalism, assimilationism, pluralism, or internationalism. There have been many attempts to improve the quality of English instruction in Puerto Rico. Preferential pay scales for English teachers were set early in twentieth century to attract English-proficient Puerto Rican instructors, and American teachers have been enlisted at different points to teach English on the island. Most businesses in Puerto Rico have their own informal rules for language use. The tourist industry and US-based corporations usually hire employees with strong English skills, while local companies often include "bilingual" in their classified ads but do little to evaluate or utilize these skills.
