Ethnic Language Proficiency Research Articles

Ethnic Language Proficiency of Indigenous Peoples under Social Changes: The Impact of Marriage and Migration Patterns

Ethnic Language Proficiency of Indigenous Peoples under Social Changes: The Impact of Marriage and Migration Patterns

Perceived discrimination, language proficiencies, and adaptation: Comparisons between refugee and non-refugee immigrant youth in Australia

This study was designed to examine the adaptation differences between refugee and non-refugee immigrant youth in Australia. The study also investigated the roles that perceived discrimination and language proficiency play in the adaptation of the two groups. Participants in this study were 106 refugee youth (Mage=16.82, SD=1.91) and 223 non-refugee immigrant youth (Mage=15.38, SD=1.63) who completed self-report questionnaires. The study revealed that refugee youth experienced more maladjustment compared to non-refugee immigrant youth, as evinced by significantly lower psychological adaptation and poorer socio-cultural adaptation. Study results demonstrated that both refugee and non-refugee immigrant youth with higher levels of perceived discrimination tended to experience more maladaptation. Further, ethnic language proficiency seems to serve both refugee and non-refugee immigrants’ socio-cultural adaptation. Proficiency in English, on the other hand, seems to benefit refugees’ psychological and socio-cultural adaptation, but serves non-refugee immigrants’ psychological adaptation only. The study thus concludes that the adaptation of refugee and non-refugee immigrant youth differs, despite some similarities. Research concerned with immigration and adaptation should not theorise the two groups to be uniform, and any intervention program aiming to ease the adaptation of immigrant youth should take into consideration the migrant group status (refugee vs. non-refugee).

Negotiating Languages in Immigrant Families

This study is about the multifaceted nature of language use in immigrant families. Following earlier explorations of language in the segmented assimilation framework and using adolescent and parental data from the 1995 wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, this article examines how adolescents’ use of English with their parents relates to their proficiency in English and ethnic languages, and their personal language preferences, as well as their parents’ language proficiency and use. The findings suggested that adolescent language choice in child–parent interactions reflected the family's ways to negotiate the distinct linguistic repertoires of immigrant parents and their children. The adolescent use of English was not necessarily associated with social and emotional estrangement between generations. Even when adolescents generally preferred English, they were less likely to use English in child–parent interactions if their parents, particularly their mothers, were less proficient in English. On the other hand, adolescents were more likely to speak English to their parents if their mothers were proficient in English, regardless of what language parents used with the children. Parents who spoke to their children in English likely responded to their children's doubts about their ethnic language proficiency and were linguistically and emotionally ready to make that transition.

The Role of Language, Parents, and Peers in Ethnic Identity Among Adolescents in Immigrant Families

To construct a model of the influences on ethnic identity among adolescents in immigrant families, we surveyed adolescents and their parents from 81 Armenian families, 47 Vietnamese families, and 88 Mexican families. Adolescents completed measures of ethnic language proficiency, in-group peer social interaction, and ethnic identity. Parents completed a measure of support for cultural maintenance. Across all groups, ethnic language proficiency and in-group peer interaction predicted ethnic identity, and parental cultural maintenance predicted adolescent ethnic language proficiency. However, because of differences among the groups, a separate model was required for each ethnic group. The results suggest both common processes and group differences in the factors that influence ethnic identity.

PREDICTORS OF LONELINESS AMONG ADOLESCENTS FROM PORTUGUESE IMMIGRANT FAMILIES IN SWITZERLAND

The aims of this study were to find out the degree of loneliness among Portuguese adolescents from immigrant backgrounds in Switzerland, and the factors that may predict the level of loneliness among them. Portuguese immigration to Switzerland is a recent phenomenon with relatively high rates of immigrants. Three hypotheses were tested: loneliness scores of Portuguese adolescents living in Switzerland are not different from those of Portuguese adolescents living in Portugal; variables within each one of the three sets taken into account – socio-demographic, intercultural contact and psychosocial adjustment – will be predictors of loneliness; and the variables of intercultural contact and psychosocial adjustment will be more predictive of loneliness than socio-demographic variables will be. The study sample consisted of 95 subjects (mean age = 16.1 years; SD = 1.84). The mean duration of sojourn in Switzerland for the sample was 7.2 years ( SD = 4.1). They were asked to fill in a questionnaire with several measures, including socio-demographic information, ethnic language proficiency, majority language proficiency, ethnic identity, majority identity, perceived discrimination, stressful experience, adaptation, mastery, self-esteem, symptoms outcome and loneliness. A control group involving 363 Portuguese youth was included in the study. The hypotheses were supported. There were no significant differences between Portuguese adolescents living in Portugal and in Switzerland in terms of level of loneliness. Socio-demographic, intercultural contact and psychosocial adjustment variables accounted for 35% of the variance explained. Majority language proficiency was the most important predictor of loneliness. Implications of the study for counsellors are suggested.