The role of immigrants' first and second language proficiency for social integration, particularly in education: Analyses of NEPS data

随着我们跨学科项目的继续，我们的目标是利用即将到来的新一波NEPS数据的先进分析潜力，进一步阐明移民的第一和第二语言熟练程度和语言使用在他们的社会融合中的作用。从一般资源的角度来看，语言能力被视为社会融合的关键资源，特别是结构性融入教育系统。对于居住国（第二语言）的语言，这一观点被普遍接受，而原籍国（第一语言）语言的作用则存在争议。在我们的研究中，我们解决了这个有争议的问题，并调查了L1和L2与教育成功的关系。在第一个资助期，我们基于当时可用的横断面NEPS科学使用文件，探索了语言能力、语言使用和教育能力不同方面之间的关系。在第二个资助期内，NEPS将提供机会分析不同起始队列中至少三到七波的数据。因此，我们将能够更彻底地对工作过程进行纵向分析。第一个目标将是进一步研究语言在结构整合中的作用，包括母语和第二语言熟练程度之间的语言迁移方向，以及母语熟练程度和母语使用对能力发展、教育决策和劳动力市场回报的不同方面的影响。第二个目标是通过纳入社会融合的其他方面来扩展我们的观点，即文化认同及其与语言使用和熟练程度的相互作用。我们计划研究它们对移民学生教育成就的共同影响和单独影响。第三组研究问题与语言发展的模式和决定因素有关，重点关注儿童和青少年的关键阶段。在这些分析中，我们将比较移民群体、世代和群体之间的模式。基于我们之前的分析，显示自我评估语言能力的有效性有限，最后，我们开始制定统计策略来纠正这些有偏见的自我报告。

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 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.