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Predictors of immigrants’ second-language proficiency: a Dutch study of immigrants with a low level of societal participation and second-language proficiency

  • Coby van Niejenhuis EMAIL logo , Margaretha P. C. van der Werf and Sabine Otten
Published/Copyright: October 10, 2015
International Journal of the Sociology of Language
From the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language Volume 2015 Issue 236

Abstract

This article examines the predictors of second-language proficiency for a group that until now has hardly been investigated: immigrants who rarely participate in the host society and who have a low level of second-language proficiency (sample characteristics are for example: no paid job, low educational and literacy level, high mean age and number of years since migration). In contrast with earlier research, not only self-assessments were used as indicator for second-language proficiency, but also language test scores. Results from a sample of 624 immigrants partly replicate findings from earlier studies: self-assessed second-language proficiency is higher among immigrants who have followed a language course, do voluntary work, have a high educational level, high mother-tongue proficiency, a low migration age, and a large number of years since migration. No links, however, were found between having psychological problems, gender, and migration motive and self-assessed second-language proficiency. Furthermore, some new predictors of self-assessed second-language proficiency were identified, namely similarity in alphabet between mother tongue and second language, daily interactions with natives in the public domain, and speaking the second language at home. For a subsample (N=98) second-language proficiency was also assessed via (objective) lexicon tests. When using scores on this test as dependent variables, only years since migration turned out to be a significant predictor. Though certainly tentative, this finding indicates that different predictors of second-language proficiency may apply depending on how it has been measured.

Keywords: second language proficiency; destination language proficiency; skills; determinants; predictors; the Netherlands

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Dutch Oranje Fonds and the Institute for Integration and Social Efficacy (ISW) at the University of Groningen for funding and facilitating this research. The authors would also like to thank all local project leaders, volunteers and immigrants of Taalontmoetingen for their contributions to the research.

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Published Online: 2015-10-10
Published in Print: 2015-11-1

©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton

Articles in the same Issue

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  3. Language research and language community change: Italian Sign Language 1981–2013
  4. UK university students’ folk perceptions of spoken variation in English: the role of explicit and implicit attitudes
  5. Speaking or being Chinese: the case of South African-born Chinese
  6. Predictors of immigrants’ second-language proficiency: a Dutch study of immigrants with a low level of societal participation and second-language proficiency
  7. Second language development in a migrant context: Turkish community in the Netherlands
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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2015-0022
Keywords for this article
second language proficiency; destination language proficiency; skills; determinants; predictors; the Netherlands

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  3. Language research and language community change: Italian Sign Language 1981–2013
  4. UK university students’ folk perceptions of spoken variation in English: the role of explicit and implicit attitudes
  5. Speaking or being Chinese: the case of South African-born Chinese
  6. Predictors of immigrants’ second-language proficiency: a Dutch study of immigrants with a low level of societal participation and second-language proficiency
  7. Second language development in a migrant context: Turkish community in the Netherlands
  8. The linguistic and political orientation of young Belarusian adults between East and West or Russian and Belarusian
  9. Studying sustainable bilingualism: comparing the choices of languages in Hungary’s six bilingual national minorities
  10. The language of power: a content analysis of presidential addresses in North America and the Former Soviet Union, 1993–2012
  11. Variation in Macau Cantonese: the case of initial and final segments
  12. Perceptions about being Japanese and Christian in Canada
  13. Language attrition, language contact and the concept of relic variety: the case of Barossa German
  14. Language competition: an economic theory of language learning and production
  15. Book Review
  16. Nancy C. Dorian: Small-language fates and prospects. Lessons of persistence and change from endangered languages
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