The relationship between spoken English proficiency and participation in higher education, employment and income from two Australian censuses

Abstract

These findings provide insight into the socioeconomic and educational profiles of multilingual speakers, which will inform the understanding of people such as speech-language pathologists who provide them with support. The results indicate spoken English proficiency may impact participation in Australian society. These findings challenge the "monolingual mindset" by demonstrating that outcomes for multilingual speakers in education, employment and income are higher than for monolingual speakers.

The impact of oral English proficiency on humanitarian migrants’ experiences of settling in Australia

“…While 23.2% of Australians reported speaking another language at home in the 2011 census, 13.1% also claimed to speak English well or very well. Multilingual speakers who also spoke English very well were more likely to have full-time employment, high income, and post-graduate qualifications, than monolingual English speaking Australians (Blake et al 2016).…”

“…Migrants' proficiency in the language of their country of residence has implications for settlement in their new country. Language proficiency affects migrants' ability to participate in education and remunerative employment (Chiswick, Lee, and Miller 2006;Hwang, Xi, and Cao 2010;Blake et al 2016), to access health services (Chin et al 2006;Shi, Lebrun, and Tsai 2009;Zhou 2015) and appears to be a key factor affecting the ability of migrants to participate in a wide range of community activities (Department of Immigration and Border Protection, DIBP 2014; Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS, 2015a). Migrants report fewer social connections and need help building a support network in their new country (IOM 2013).…”

Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all

“…In Australia, 22.2% speaks a language other than English at home with the most commonly spoken languages after English being: Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Italian and Vietnamese (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017b). Competence in the dominant language of the country/community is a strong predictor of self-sufficiency for humanitarian migrants (Blake, Bennetts Kneebone, & McLeod, 2017) and multilingual competence in both the home language and the dominant language is associated with higher employment, education and income (Blake, McLeod, Fuller & Verdon, 2016). Multilingualism has many individual, social, economic, political and cognitive benefits (Pietiläinen, 2011).…”

Occupational Health Disparities among Racial and Ethnic Minorities: Lessons from Diverse Research Frameworks

“…Considerable research has shown the benefits of diversification including wellknown benefits of linguistic diversity on full-time employment (Blake et al 2018); 'concerted cultivation,' a parenting practice that exposes children to multidimensional experiences and is implicated in gains in cognitive and social skills (Lareau 2003); diversifying the diet by consuming a combination of foods, each known to help reduce cholesterol on their own, lowers cholesterol levels (Jenkins et al 2003); benefits of diversity in organizations especially on how diverse groups make wiser decisions than homogenous groups (Page 2007). According to the Baltes Model of wisdom, other factors that develop wisdom include chronological age, experiencing various human conditions and situations, tutoring or mentoring, and motivational temperament (Baltes and Staudinger 2000;Baltes and Smith 2008).…”