Immigrants’ first and second language proficiency and social integration (2nd funding period)

With the continuation of our interdisciplinary project (see 1st funding period), we aim at further clarifying the role of immigrants’ first and second language proficiency and language use for their social integration, making use of the advanced analytical potential of the forthcoming new waves of NEPS data. Emanating from a general resource perspective, language proficiency is seen as a crucial resource for social integration, especially structural integration into the educational system. This view is generally accepted with respect to the language of the country of residence (L2), whereas the role of the language of the country of origin (L1) is disputed. In our research, we address this controversial issue and investigate how L1 and L2 relate to educational success. In the first funding period, we explored the relationship between language proficiency, language use and different aspects of educational competencies based on the then available cross-sectional NEPS Scientific Use Files. During the second funding period, the NEPS will provide the opportunity to analyze at least three and up to seven waves of data in the different starting cohorts. Thus, we will be able to carry out longitudinal analyses addressing the processes at work more thoroughly. A first goal will be to further examine the role of language for structural integration, including the direction of linguistic transfer between proficiency in L1 and L2 as well as effects of L1 proficiency and L1 use on different aspects of competence development, educational decisions and labor market returns. A second objective is to expand our view by including other aspects of social integration, namely cultural identity and its interplay with language use and proficiency. We plan to study their joint and separate effects on immigrant students’ educational achievement. The third set of research questions pertains to patterns and determinants of language development over time, focusing on crucial stages during childhood and adolescence. In these analyses, we will compare patterns across immigrant groups, generations and cohorts. Building on our previous analyses showing restricted validity of self-assessed language proficiency, finally, we set out to develop statistical strategies to correct for these biased self-reports.

Funding Agency

DFG (DFG Priority Programme 1646 “Education as a Lifelong Process”), 2nd funding period

Publications

Schotte, K., Rjosk, C., Edele, A., Hachfeld, A. and Stanat, P. (2022). Do teachers’ cultural beliefs really matter for students’ school adaptation? A multilevel analysis of students’ academic achievement and psychological school adjustment. Social Psychology of Education 25: 75-112,https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-021-09669-.

Seuring, J., Rjosk, C. and Stanat, P. (2020). Ethnic classroom composition and minority language use among classmates : Do peers matter for students’ language achievement? European Sociological Review,https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcaa022.

Miyamoto, A. Seuring, J. and Kristen, C. (2020): Immigrant students’ achievements in light of their educational aspirations and academic motivation. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 46(7): 1348-1370, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1538772.

Kristen, C., Seuring, J. and Stanat, P. (2019): Muster und Bedingungen des Erwerbs und Erhalts herkunftssprachlicher Kompetenzen. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 22: 143-167, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-019-00883-3.

Edele, A., Kempert, S. and Schotte, K. (2018): Does competent bilingualism entail advantages for the third language learning of immigrant students? Learning and Instruction 58: 232-244, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.07.002

Schotte, K., Stanat, P. and Edele, A. (2018): Is integration always most adaptive? The role of cultural identity in academic achievement and in psychological adaptation of immigrant students in Germany. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 47(1): 16-37, https://doi:10.1007/s10964-017-0737.

Edele, A., Schotte, K. and Stanat, P. (2016): Assessment of immigrant students’ listening comprehension in their first languages (L1) Russian and Turkish in grade 9: Test construction and validation. In H.P. Blossfeld, J. von Maurice, M. Bayer and J. Skopek (Eds.), Methodological issues of longitudinal surveys. The example of the National Educational Panel Study. Frankfurt am Main/New York: Springer, pp. 441-463.

Edele, A. and Stanat, P. (2016): The role of first-language listening comprehension in second-language reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology 108(2): 84-110, https://doi:10.1037/edu0000060.

Kempert, S., Edele, A., Rauch, D., Wolf, K.M., Paetsch, J., Darsow, A., Maluch, J., and Stanat, P. (2016): Die Rolle der Sprache für zuwanderungsbezogene Ungleichheiten im Bildungserfolg. In C. Diehl, C. Hunkler and C. Kristen (Eds.), Ethnische Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf: Mechanismen, Befunde, Debatten. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 157-241, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-04322-3_5.

Olczyk, M., Seuring, J., Will, G. and Zinn, S. (2016): Migranten und ihre Nachkommen im deutschen Bildungssystem: ein aktueller Überblick. In C. Diehl, C. Hunkler and C. Kristen (Eds.), Ethnische Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf: Mechanismen, Befunde, Debatten. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, pp. 33-70, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-04322-3_2.

Stanat, P. and Edele, A. (2016): Language proficiency and the integration of immigrant students in the education system. In M. Buchmann, R. A. Scott and S. M. Kosslyn (Eds.), Emerging trends in the social and behavioral sciences: An interdisciplinary, searchable, and linkable resource. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0407.

Strobel, B. (2016): Does family language matter? The role of foreign language use and family social capital in the educational achievement of immigrant students in Germany. Ethnic and Racial Studies 39(14): 2641-2663, https://doi:10.1080/01419870.2016.1145712.

Strobel, B. and Seuring, J. (2016): Spracherhalt oder Sprachverlagerung?. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 68(2): 309-339. https://doi:10.1007/s11577-016-0360-y

Edele, A., Seuring, J., Kristen, C. and Stanat, P. (2015): Why bother with testing? The validity of immigrants’ self-assessed language proficiency. Social Science Research 52:99-123. https://doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.12.017.

Strobel, B. and Kristen, C. (2015): Erhalt der Herkunftssprache? – Muster des Sprachgebrauchs in Migrantenfamilien. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 18(1): 125-142. https://doi:10.1007/s11618-014-0607-1.

Edele, A., Schotte, K., Hecht, M. and Stanat, P. (2012): Listening comprehension tests of immigrant students’ first languages (L1) Russian and Turkish in grade 9: Scaling procedure and results (NEPS Working Paper No. 13), https://www.neps-data.de/Portals/0/Working%20Papers/WP_XIII.pdf.