PP 1646/2: The Role of Immigrants’ First and Second Language Proficiency for Social Integration, Particularly in Education: Analyses of NEPS Data (NEPS-PP II)

With the proposed continuation of our interdisciplinary project, 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 analyse 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 labour 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.