Destination-language acquisition of recently arrived immigrants: Do refugees differ from other immigrants?

Abstract

This article describes new immigrants’ levels of destination-language proficiency shortly after taking up residence in Germany. The focus lies on a comparison of refugees from Syria with new arrivals from Italy, Poland, and Turkey, who came as economic immigrants, for family reasons, or as students. The theoretical account builds upon a well-established model of language acquisition, according to which language fluency is a function of exposure, efficiency, and incentives. The empirical study is based on data from the first wave of the ENTRA project (“Recent Immigration Processes and Early Integration Trajectories in Germany”) that covers about 4,600 young adults. The analyses reveal that most individuals improve their proficiency over time. Syrians’ experience a faster learning curve than those of other immigrant groups. The conditions identified as relevant to language fluency largely reflect the findings of previous studies. They indicate that language learning is a general process that, for the most part, does not differ across the four groups. Exposure is the major force driving language acquisition. There are also indications that certain kinds of exposure, such as attending language classes, are especially beneficial for individuals with lower resource endowments. In addition, Syrian refugees profit more than other new arrivals from increased levels of language exposure, such as from taking language courses, pursuing education or being active on the labor market.

The dynamics of recent refugees’ language acquisition: how do their pathways compare to those of other new immigrants?

“…Poor mental health can in turn hamper the efficiency of language learning (Chiswick and Miller 2001;van Tubergen and Kalmijn 2005). However, studies addressing refugees' language acquisition thus far have not found evidence supporting this line of reasoning (Kristen and Seuring 2021;van Tubergen 2010;Hunkler and Khourshed 2020).…”

“…Considering that schools also train individuals in how to acquire new skills, refugees who have received very little formal education may be less prepared to acquire the destination language. While individuals who cannot read and write are virtually nonexistent in other recent immigrant populations, the least educated segments among recent refugees include considerable numbers of illiterate individuals (Kristen and Seuring 2021;UNESCO 2020;Brücker, Rother, and Schupp 2017, 47). 4 For this reason, learning patterns may also differ between refugees and other new immigrants.…”

“…Recent refugees can also be expected to differ from other new immigrants in their exposure to the destination language prior to migration. Because they are forced out of their home countries, refugees usually do not prepare for their departure and arrive with very low levels of linguistic skills (Kristen and Seuring 2021;Brücker, Kosyakova, and Vallizadeh 2020;Hunkler and Khourshed 2020). In contrast, other new immigrants to Germany, especially those from neighbouring states such as Poland, have sometimes been exposed to the language of the destination country before migration, whether in school, during prior visits or in the form of investments in language learning aimed at preparing for their stay (Kristen, Mühlau, and Schacht 2016;Kristen and Seuring 2021).…”

“…A second institutional feature that is likely to increase the linguistic exposure of refugees relative to other new immigrants concerns the German government's substantive efforts to provide language training to recent refugee populations (Brücker et al 2019;Kosyakova and Brenzel 2020). Structured exposure in formal settings is known to raise proficiency (Hayfron 2001;Hoehne and Michalowski 2016;van Tubergen 2010;Ortmanns 2020), and many refugees in Germany have made use of these opportunities (Brücker et al 2019;Kristen and Seuring 2021;Brücker, Kosyakova, and Vallizadeh 2020). Higher rates of participation in language courses among refugees should reflect greater linguistic gains compared to the gains achieved by other new immigrants.…”

“…We expect that refugees and other immigrants respond to most conditions in similar ways. Differential patterns may nevertheless emerge because refugees differ from other immigrants in a range of conditions (Kristen and Seuring 2021). For example, given that refugee migration is often abrupt and therefore diverges from that of other immigrants who can plan and prepare for the experience, refugees are more likely to arrive with lower destination-language skills (Chiswick and Miller 2001;van Tubergen and Kalmijn 2005).…”