2022-02, Schotte, Kristin, Rjosk, Camilla, Edele, Aileen, Hachfeld, Axinja, Stanat, Petra

Based on two large-scale studies from Germany, we examined how different types of teachers’ cultural beliefs are related to immigrant students’ school adaptation. Specifically, we investigated the relationship of teachers' multicultural beliefs appreciating cultural diversity, their egalitarian beliefs focusing on all students' similarities and their assimilationist beliefs that immigrant students should conform to the mainstream context with immigrant students' academic achievement and psychological school adjustment as indicators of their school adaptation. We also explored all of these associations for non-immigrant students. Study 1 used data on the multicultural, egalitarian, and assimilationist beliefs of German language (N_Teachers = 220) and mathematics (N_Teachers = 245) teachers and on students’ achievement and feelings of helplessness in German language classes (N_Students = 2606) and mathematics classes (N_Students = 2851) as well as students’ school satisfaction. Study 2 analyzed data on teachers’ multicultural and egalitarian beliefs (N_Teachers = 456) and students’ achievement and self-concept in mathematics (N_Students = 4722). Overall, multilevel analyses revealed no relationship between teachers’ cultural beliefs and any of the indicators of immigrant and non-immigrant students’ school adaptation. These findings challenge the notion that overall, teachers’ cultural beliefs effectively translate into students’ school adaptation.

2018, Schotte, Kristin, Stanat, Petra, Edele, Aileen

Immigrant adaptation research views identification with the mainstream context as particularly beneficial for sociocultural adaptation, including academic achievement, and identification with the ethnic context as particularly beneficial for psychological adaptation. A strong identification with both contexts is considered most beneficial for both outcomes (integration hypothesis). However, it is unclear whether the integration hypothesis applies in assimilative contexts, across different outcomes, and across different immigrant groups. This study investigates the association of cultural identity with several indicators of academic achievement and psychological adaptation in immigrant adolescents (N = 3894, 51% female, M age= 16.24, SD age = 0.71) in Germany. Analyses support the integration hypothesis for aspects of psychological adaptation but not for academic achievement. Moreover, for some outcomes, findings vary across immigrant groups from Turkey (n = 809), the former Soviet Union (n = 712), and heterogeneous other countries (n = 2373). The results indicate that the adaptive potential of identity integration is limited in assimilative contexts, such as Germany, and that it may vary across different outcomes and groups. As each identification is positively associated with at least one outcome, however, both identification dimensions seem to be important for the adaptation of immigrant adolescents.

2016-11-29, Stanat, Petra, Edele, Aileen

The integration of immigrant students in the education system is an important concern in most countries around the world. Several lines of research on this issue focus on the role of language, often distinguishing between students' family language, typically referred to as first language (L1), and the school language, typically referred to as second language (L2). Past research has clearly shown that immigrant students' level of proficiency in L2 affects their school success, yet the role of L1 proficiency is less clear. In addition, the question whether bilingual or monolingual instruction is more effective in supporting immigrant students is largely unresolved. Current investigations aim at overcoming limitations of prior research by employing longitudinal designs, by controlling relevant third variables, and by conducting randomized field trials. Promising avenues for future research include developing more clear‐cut conceptual and operational definitions of core constructs, analyzing potentially important moderators of effects, determining the role quality of language input and instruction play for proficiency development and school success, and analyzing the associations between proficiency development in L1 and L2 with various aspects of integration.

2016, Edele, Aileen

2019-02-19, Kristen, Cornelia, Edele, Aileen, Kalter, Frank, Kogan, Irena, Schulz, Benjamin, Stanat, Petra, Will, Gisela

Pillar 4 of the German National Education Panel Study addresses migrants’ and their descendants’ acquisition of education across the life course. Apart from documenting the evolution of ethnic educational inequalities throughout the educational career by focusing on different origin groups and distinct indicators of educational success, we seek to uncover the origins of these disparities. Beyond the mechanisms associated with social inequalities, Pillar 4 aims to disentangle those processes that impact particularly on immigrants and their children and to assess their empirical relevance. We apply the prominent distinction between primary and secondary effects to students of immigrant origin and then link this distinction to a general resources framework that we further adapt for migrants. This leads to the crucial debate within integration research on whether the resources and opportunities available within the migrant group foster educational success. One stream within this debate refers to the contested question whether proficiency in the language of the country of origin influences competence development in the country of residence. Another important stream concerns the role of ethnic networks and social capital for educational success. We discuss the mechanisms predicting either beneficial, neutral, or harmful effects and present available empirical evidence. Based on this account, we highlight the analysis potential of the data gathered in Pillar 4.

2017-03-15, Schotte, Kristin, Edele, Aileen, Rjosk, Camilla, Hachfeld, Axinja, Stanat, Petra

2016-04-02, Edele, Aileen, Schotte, Kristin, Stanat, Petra

In large-scale studies, immigrant students’ first-language (L1) proficiency is typically measured with subjective instruments, such as self-reports, rather than with objective tests. The National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) addresses this methodological limitation by testing the L1 proficiency of the two largest immigrant groups in Germany, namely students whose families have immigrated to Germany from the area of the Former Soviet Union or Turkey. Listening comprehension tests in Russian and Turkish were developed for this purpose. The current paper describes the general framework and requirements for testing first-language proficiency within the NEPS and describes the construction of the L1 tests for 9th-Grade students. Subsequently, the paper reports on analyses of measurement equivalence indicating that the Russian and Turkish tests assess the same construct (configural equivalence). The ability scores and their correlations with other variables are, however, not directly comparable. Analyses of construct validity confirm the unidimensional structure expected for the test. In addition, the L1 test scores correlate with other indicators of L1 proficiency as well as with factors regarded as crucial for L1 acquisition, such as exposure to L1, in the expected way (convergent validity), and they are not substantially related to measures of general cognitive abilities (discriminant validity). We conclude that the listening comprehension tests developed in the NEPS are valid measures of L1 proficiency.

2018-12, Edele, Aileen, Kempert, Sebastian, Schotte, Kristin

This study examined the role of immigrant bilingualism in third language learning (L3 = English). It focused on the respective effects of students' competence in the minority language (L1 = Turkish or Russian) and language of instruction (L2 = German). We analyzed a sample of 8752 German 10th-grade students (N = 7964 monolinguals, N = 436 Turkish-German students, N = 352 Russian-German students) and drew on standardized tests in L1, L2, and L3. OLS-regression models showed L3 advantages for balanced bilinguals at a high level in both language groups compared to their average monolingual peers when third variables were controlled, while advantages in the L2 dominant bilinguals could only be observed in the Russian-German sample. Balanced bilinguals at a low level and L1 dominants attained lower L3 levels than monolinguals. However, comparisons with comparably high proficient monolinguals, as well as further analyses with the bilingual samples separately, revealed that only L2 competence – and not L1 competence – explained immigrant students' L3 proficiency. Our findings indicate that the advantages of immigrant bilinguals in L3 learning mainly depend on their competence in the language of instruction.

2017, Schotte, Kristin, Winkler, Oliver, Edele, Aileen

Die vorliegende Studie prüft, ob eine Diskrepanz zwischen Bildungswünschen (idealistischen Bildungsaspirationen) und erwartetem Bildungserfolg (realistischen Bildungsaspirationen) für Heranwachsende mit türkischem Zuwanderungshintergrund wahrscheinlicher ist als für Gleichaltrige ohne Zuwanderungshintergrund und ob dies mit einer geringeren Schulzufriedenheit türkeistämmiger Heranwachsender einhergeht. Die Analysen basieren auf Daten des Nationalen Bildungspanels (NEPS) von Neuntklässlerinnen und Neuntklässlern mit türkischem Zuwanderungshintergrund (N = 806) und ohne Zuwanderungshintergrund (N = 10 182). Logistische Regressionsanalysen zeigen, dass türkeistämmige Jugendliche erwartungsgemäß eher eine Diskrepanz zwischen den Bildungsaspirationen aufweisen als autochthone Jugendliche, was mit ihrem geringeren tatsächlichen Bildungserfolg zusammenhängt. OLS-Regressionen ergeben, dass Diskrepanzen zwischen Bildungsaspirationen auch unabhängig von Zuwanderungshintergrund und Bildungserfolg mit geringerer Schulzufriedenheit einhergehen. Unter Berücksichtigung ihrer globalen Zufriedenheit berichten türkeistämmige Heranwachsende im Vergleich zu Gleichaltrigen ohne Zuwanderungshintergrund eine etwas geringere Schulzufriedenheit. Eine Mediationsanalyse (KHB-Methode) zeigt, dass diese Unterschiede über Disparitäten im Bildungserfolg vermittelt werden, während die Diskrepanz zwischen den Bildungsaspirationen keinen zusätzlichen Erklärungsbeitrag leistet.

2016, Edele, Aileen, Stanat, Petra

Although the simple view of reading and other theories suggest that listening comprehension is an important determinant of reading comprehension, previous research on linguistic transfer has mainly focused on the role of first language (L1) decoding skills in second language (L2) reading. The present study tested the assumption that listening comprehension in L1 is a significant predictor of language minority students’ reading comprehension in L2. In addition, we explored whether the cross-linguistic relationship is particularly pronounced at higher levels of L1 proficiency. The sample included 502 9th grade students with Russian as L1 and 662 9th grade students with Turkish as L1 from a nationwide study conducted in Germany. The L1s of these students differ in their similarity to their L2, German: Russian is considerably more similar to German than is Turkish. In both language groups, L1 listening comprehension significantly predicted L2 reading comprehension in linear regression models; this was also true after important control variables were taken into account. Polynomial regression models indicated that the relationship between L1 proficiency and L2 proficiency was linear in the Russian sample, yet stronger at higher levels of L1 proficiency in the Turkish sample. Thus, the prediction that transfer should be more pronounced at higher levels of L1 proficiency was also partly supported. Our study extends the range of L1 skills previously known to transfer to L2 reading. We found the predicted relationship between L1 listening comprehension and L2 reading comprehension in 2 language groups with varying degrees of language similarity, suggesting that the effect is language-independent.