Linguistic Distance and the Language Fluency of Immigrants PDF Download

Author: Ingo Eduard Isphording
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783867883191
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description

Author: Ingo E. Isphording
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
We use a newly available measure of linguistic distance developed by the German Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to explain heterogeneity in language skills of immigrants. This measure is based on an automatical algorithm comparing pronunciation and vocabulary of language pairs. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel covering the period from 1997 to 2003, the linguistic distance measure is applied within a human capital framework of language acquisition. It is shown that linguistic distance is the most important determinant for host country language acquisition and that it explains a large fraction of language skill heterogeneity between immigrants. By lowering the efficiency and imposing higher costs of language learning, the probability of reporting good language skills is decreasing by increasing linguistic distance.

Author: Barry R. Chiswick
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper analyzes the determinants of English language fluency among adult foreign-born men and women in the United States. It shows that fluency rates are higher among those for whom the benefits of English language fluency are greater and the costs are lower. The data are from the PUMS file of the 1990 Census of Population and a set of variables added to the Census file. The latter variables include a minority language concentration measure, an index of linguistic distance between English and the origin language, the geographic distance from the origin to the U.S., the return migration rate from the U.S., and a measure of the extent of foreign language media (i.e., the number of radio stations in Spanish). The language model is based on the integrating of migration theory and human capital theory. The conceptual variables (exposure, efficiency and economic variables) are converted into empirically measurable variables. It is shown that the model is very robust. In particular, fluency rates are higher for those with more schooling, who immigrated at a younger age, who lived in the U.S. a longer period of time, who live in areas with fewer origin language speakers, and, among women, who have fewer and younger children. Fluency rates are also higher for those with less access to origin language media, with a lower probability of returning to the origin, whose country of origin is geographically further from the U.S., and whose origin language is linguistically closer to English.

Author: Barry R. Chiswick
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113598204X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description
Written by two internationally renowned experts in the field, this book explores the determinants of dominant language proficiency among immigrants and other linguistic minorities and the consequences of this proficiency for the labour market. Using empirical material from a range of countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia and Bolivia, the authors develop a range of models of the determinants of dominant language proficiency and use econometric techniques to test them and estimate the magnitude of the effects. This volume is an excellent resource for researchers and a fine reader for specialists in labour economics, linguistics as well as a number of other disciplines.

Author: Ingo E. Isphording
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
This study quantifies the disadvantage in the formation of literacy skills of immigrants that arises from the linguistic distance between mother tongue and host country language. Combining unique cross-country data on literacy scores with information on the linguistic distance between languages, gaps in literacy test scores are estimated. Linguistically distant immigrants face significant initial disadvantages of linguistic origin that exceed existing differentials across wage distributions and between employed and unemployed subpopulations. The importance of the linguistic origin increases with the age at migration, confirming the linguistic Critical Period hypothesis. Assimilation in literacy scores is moderate and does not offset the initial disadvantage.

Author: Barry Chiswick
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0444537651
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 810

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Book Description
The economic literature on international migration interests policymakers as well as academics throughout the social sciences. These volumes, the first of a new subseries in the Handbooks in Economics, describe and analyze scholarship created since the inception of serious attention began in the late 1970s. This literature appears in the general economics journals, in various field journals in economics (especially, but not exclusively, those covering labor market and human resource issues), in interdisciplinary immigration journals, and in papers by economists published in journals associated with history, sociology, political science, demography, and linguistics, among others. Covers a range of topics from labor market outcomes and fiscal consequences to the effects of international migration on the level and distribution of income – and everything in between. Encompasses a wide range of topics related to migration and is multidisciplinary in some aspects, which is crucial on the topic of migration Appeals to a large community of scholars interested in this topic and for whom no overviews or summaries exist

Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264307354
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Migration has been at the centre of political debate across the OECD in recent years. Drawing on data from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), this report provides new evidence on differences in migrants’ characteristics and contexts and considers how these relate to the skills migrants ...

Author: Barry R. Chiswick
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135982058
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 622

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Book Description
Written by two internationally renowned experts in the field, this book explores the determinants of dominant language proficiency among immigrants and other linguistic minorities and the consequences of this proficiency for the labour market. Using empirical material from a range of countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia and Bolivia, the authors develop a range of models of the determinants of dominant language proficiency and use econometric techniques to test them and estimate the magnitude of the effects. This volume is an excellent resource for researchers and a fine reader for specialists in labour economics, linguistics as well as a number of other disciplines.

Author: Steven James Gold
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415779723
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 629

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Book Description
The current era is marked by an unparalleled level of human migration, the consequence of both recent and long-term political, economic, cultural, social, demographic and technological developments. Despite increased efforts to limit its size and consequences, migration has wide-ranging impacts upon social, environmental, economic, political, and cultural life in countries of origin and settlement. Such transformations impact not only those who are migrating, but those who are left behind, as well as those who live in the areas where migrants settle. The Handbook of Migration Studies offers a conceptual approach to the study of international migration, exploring clearly the many modes of exit, reception and incorporation which involve varied populations in disparate political, economic, social and cultural contexts. How do these movements also facilitate the transmission of ideologies and identities, political and cultural practices and economic resources? Uniquely among texts in the subject area, the Handbook also provides a section devoted to exploring methods for studying international migration. Featuring forty-seven essays written by leading international and multidisciplinary scholars, the Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies offers a contemporary, integrated and comprehensive resource for students and scholars of sociology, politics, human geography, law, history, urban planning, journalism, and health care.

Author: OECD
Publisher: Org. for Economic Cooperation & Development
ISBN: 9789264307346
Category : Educational surveys
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Migration has been at the centre of political debate across the OECD in recent years. Drawing on data from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), this report provides new evidence on differences in migrants' characteristics and contexts and considers how these relate to the skills migrants possess. It also examines the relationship between migrants' skills and their labour and non-labour market outcomes in host countries. Finally, it sheds new light on how migrants' skills are developed, used and valued in host country labour markets and societies. Results and lessons gleaned from analysis highlight the way forward for future research on this topic. The report represents an invaluable resource for policy makers across different sectors as they design and implement strategies aimed at promoting the long-term integration of foreign-born populations in the economic and social life of their countries. The analyses presented allow us to identify the skill composition of foreign-born populations, the labour market and broader social outcomes associated with such skills, and the factors that can promote skill acquisition and skill use.