Despite some improvement in the educational situation of migrants, ethnic disparities remain a challenge in many western countries (Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung 2014). As a significant predictor of students’ performance in different school domains, students’ (academic) majority language skills have received increasing attention in the explanation of these differentials. Also, more recent studies focus on the identification and closer investigation of the conditions that in turn explain the development of (academic) majority language skills, such as students’ (academic) home language skills and the literacy activities that are carried out in the family (Leseman et al. 2007; Ilić 2015).
Studies from different western countries point to a causal relation between literacy activities and (the development) of the (academic) language skills of both mono- and multilingual children on the one hand, and between (academic) home language skills and (the development) of the (academic) majority language skills of multilinguals on the other hand (Scheele 2010). Also, empirical results indicate that literacy activities that are assumed to positively influence children’s language development are carried out less often in migrant families (Tarelli and Stubbe 2010). As such, the closer investigation of language-related aspects provides a promising starting point for the explanation of ethnic disparities in education, and in particular for the explanation of differences in the (academic) language skills of mono- and multilinguals.
Yet, there is little empirical evidence only on the types of literacy activities that are carried out in mono- and multilingual families and on the frequency with which these activities are carried out. Further, despite the acknowledgement that home language use in migrant families is a strong predictor for educational achievement, there is hardly any longitudinal evidence on the interrelation of first and second language development and its impact on students’ educational success. Also, the fact that the (academic) language requirements students face become increasingly complex in the course of the educational career further suggests the occurrence of changes in students’ (academic) language skills also in older age groups. Yet, empirical evidence for older age groups is scarce (Gogolin 2014).
This symposium contributes to filling this research gap by taking on a longitudinal and international perspective with participants from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The symposium specifically aims at providing insight into changes over time in the patterns of literacy activities carried out in mono- and multilingual families, into the development of the academic language skills of different age groups, and into the interrelation between first and second academic language development as well as its effects on educational performance. A further objective of the symposium is to provide insight into the difficulties that are related to the longitudinal measurement of home literacy patterns and (academic) language skills.
The first two contributions present findings from the two-wave LiMA Panel Study, which was carried out in Hamburg to provide insight into the process of developing academic language skills of 6-, 11-, and 15-year old monolingual Germans and children/adolescents with Turkish, Russian and Vietnamese language backgrounds. The first paper provides insight into the literacy activities that are carried out in different age and language groups and into how these patterns change over time. The second paper presents the overall and individual patterns of change in the participants’ academic language skills in the majority language German. The third paper specifically focuses on the effects of academic language skills on the ethnic achievement gap in education by presenting results form a study carried out in the Netherlands on the effects of first and second academic language skills on reading and math development in primary school of Dutch, Marrocan-Dutch and Turkish-Dutch children.
