Session Information
31 SES 03 C, Is English Key to Mobility in a Multilingual World?
Paper Session
Contribution
Due to new forms and dynamics of migration, the number of international migrants worldwide has continued to grow rapidly over the past fifteen years: The effects of migration are visible especially in urban areas: Global cities like London, New York, Paris or Berlin are major draws for migrants (IOM 2015). In the City of Hamburg (Germany), every second child is born in a migrant family and many of them are growing up with more than one language at home (FHH 2014). Apparently, multilingualism has become an important precondition of educational processes which influence living and learning conditions (Gogolin et al. 2017). Even though the question whether migration-related multilingualism provides impetus or poses impediment to educational success is discussed controversially (cf. Gogolin and Neumann 2009), the development of multilingual skills has become a core objective of educational policies in Europe: In addition to the national language, all children are expected to learn (at least) two other languages (European Commission 2008).
As regards students’ labor market perspectives, the ability to communicate in more than one language is considered a key skill of the globally interconnected 21st century: With economies around the world becoming increasingly international, the demand for foreign languages has continued to grow: European- and German-wide surveys amongst companies and employees have shown that a significant amount of business is lost due to a lack of language skills (CILT 2006). In Germany, the command of languages other than German is not restricted to the tertiary sector anymore: 60 percent of all employees report to be in need of at least basic foreign language skills at work (Hall 2013). Even though English (as a lingua franca) is the most popular business language in Germany, minority languages such as Russian and Turkish are also found to be widely used for foreign trade purposes (Steinke-Institut 2011). Studies using large-scale data from the United States indicate that high-use bilinguals are are less frequently unemployed and have higher incomes than those who gave up or are less fluent in their heritage languages (Agirdag 2013). Consequently, multilingual skills (both heritage as well as foreign language skills) constitute a potential personal asset when it comes to students’ career opportunities, and, are possibly a motivator for students to invest in the development of these skills (Lagemann et al. 2017). So far, however, little research has been carried out on how students’ multilingual skills affect their transition chances, and whether (and to what extent) students perceive multilingual skills as an asset for their career opportunities at all.
Against this backdrop, our contribution aims at providing first insights into (1) students’ perceptions about the labor market value of multilingual skills and (2) into the role students’ language skills in fact play at the point of transition from general education into vocational education and training (VET). In Germany, after leaving the general educational system adolescents can enter either higher education (provided they have completed the required level of general education) or the VET system. The dual VET system is highly competitive: While careers in the dual VET system are not officially associated with any formal educational prerequisites, students’ actual transition probabilities and the level of prestige associated with the VET-positions that are realistically attainable are strongly related to their educational qualifications (BMBF 2018). Also, the continuing skilled labor shortage in Germany points to the potential role of multilingual skills in increasing students’ transition chances.
Method
Our analysis is based on data gathered as part of the longitudinal study “Multilingual Development: A Longitudinal Perspective (MEZ)”, which followed two parallel cohorts of secondary school students (grade 7 and grade 9) over three years. Data collection was carried out in four phases. The initial sample includes approximately 1,800 students with German-Turkish, German-Russian, and monolingual German language backgrounds. The study investigates the development of students’ heritage language skills as well as in the school-taught foreign languages English and, if applicable, French and Russian. The instruments employed in the study include tools for the assessment of students’ language skills and cognitive abilities, as well as questionnaires for parents, principals and students. The latter cover a wide range of topics including educational and future career aspirations. The students were further asked about their perceptions regarding the role of skills in different languages for labor market success in general as well as with respect to the realization of their specific career aspirations. Several of these questions were asked in multiple waves to allow for the investigation of how and why students’ perceptions change in the course of their educational careers, and how these changes relate to students’ language development. Computer assisted telephone interviews were carried out once with pupils who left the general education system during the study. Apart from general questions about the school leavers’ perceptions of the value of multilingual skills, the interviews were designed to examine the role language skills played in the job application process (for example, during job interviews) and – in the case of those students who had already started their VET careers when data collection took place – the use of different languages on the job. The sample of school leavers comprises 124 young adults. In our contribution, we provide cross-section and panel descriptives of students’ perceptions regarding the labor market value of skills in different languages at different stages of their educational careers: First, we use data from the full sample of students. Second, we contrast the perceptions of students who remained in the general education system (schools stayers) with those who left it in the course of the study (school leavers). We then compare the school leavers perceptions about the value of multilingual skills with information on the role their language skills actually played at the point of transition into VET.
Expected Outcomes
Our analyses show that students are aware of the fact that multilingual skills are nowadays highly demanded by employers. This does not only apply to the world language English but also to the students’ heritage languages. We found that school stayers consider multilingual skills significantly more important than school leavers. A comparison of students’ perceptions over time indicates that school stayers’ awareness of the labor market value of multilingual skills has risen significantly; No change was discovered in the answering patterns of school leavers. As far as the school leavers’perceptions are concerned, over two thirds of them agree, for instance, that being solely able to speak German would negatively influence career prospects. However, most of them think that English skills are sufficient for international communication purposes. Only one fourth shares the idea that everyone in Europe should be able to speak three languages. As regards the school leavers’ actual experiences, over a third reports that job ads they had applied to explicitly stated that multilingual skills were required (or beneficial) to obtain the position. English skills were required the most; Russian and Turkish skills comparatively seldom. Concerning their language use at work, all apprentices agreed that an excellent command of German was essential. More than half of them also consider good English skills useful for their position. Apart from German, English is being used the most in the workplace. About half of the multilingual apprentices also viewed good knowledge of their heritage languages as helpful to successfully fulfil their jobs and use them at work regularly. A major limitation of our study is the small sample of school leavers. Possibilities of a larger follow-up study as well as potential explanations for our findings will be discussed.
References
Agirdag, Orhan (2013): The long-term effects of bilingualism on children of immigration. Student bilingualism and future earnings. In International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 17 (4), pp. 449–464. DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2013.816264. BMBF – Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Ed.) (2018): Berufsbildungsbericht 2018. Available online at https://www.bmbf.de/pub/Berufsbildungsbericht_2018.pdf, checked on 1/31/2018. CILT - The National Centre for Languages (2006): ELAN: Effects on the European Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise. Available online at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/languages/policy/strategic-framework/documents/elan_en.pdf, checked on 4/21/2017. European Commission (2008): Multilingualism: an asset for Europe and a shared commitment. COM(2008) 566 final. Available online at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52008DC0566&from=EN, checked on 2/15/2017. FHH – Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg – Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung (Ed.) (2014): Bildungsbericht Hamburg 2014. Münster und New York: Waxmann (HANSE - Hamburger Schriften zur Qualität im Bildungswesen, 14). Gogolin, Ingrid; Neumann, Ursula (Eds.) (2009): Streitfall Zweisprachigkeit – The bilingualism controversy. Wiesbaden: VS. Hall, Anja (2013): Fremdsprachen in der Arbeitswelt – In welchen Berufen und auf welchem Sprachniveau? Ergebnisse der BIBB/BAUA - Erwerbstätigenbefragung 2012. Edited by Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB). Bonn. Available online at https://www.bibb.de/dokumente/pdf/a22_etb2012_Fremdsprachen.pdf, checked on 2/26/2017. IOM – International Organization for Migration (2015): World Migration Report 2015. Migrants and cities: New partnerships to manage mobility. Geneva: IOM International Organization for Migration (IOM World Migration Report Series, Volume 8). Available online at http://publications.iom.int/system/files/wmr2015_en.pdf. Lagemann, Marina; Brandt, Hanne; Gogolin, Ingrid (2017): Renditen von Investitionen in fremdsprachliche Fähigkeiten: Eine Untersuchung von Schülerwahrnehmungen und deren Zusammenhang mit ihren Englischkenntnissen. In Nele McElvany, Andreas Sander (Eds.): Bildung und Integration - Sprachliche Kompetenzen, soziale Beziehungen und schulbezogene Zufriedenheit 31 (4). Landau: Verlag Empirische Pädagogik, pp. 460–494. Steinke-Institut (2011): Steinke-Außenhandelssprachenindex. Available online at http://www.steinke-institut.de/sprachenundwirtschaft_aussenhandel.htm, checked on 5/5/2017.
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