Foreign Languages Acquisition: Self-Learning and Language Schools

Jean Gabszewicz, Victor Ginsburgh, Didier Laussel () and Weber Shlomo
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Weber Shlomo: Southern Methodist University and New Economic School

Review of Network Economics, 2011, vol. 10, issue 1, 22

Abstract: We examine patterns of acquiring non-native languages in a model with two linguistic communities with heterogeneous learning skills, where every individual faces the choice of self-learning the foreign language or acquiring it at a profit-maximizing linguistic school. We consider a one-school model with divisions in both communities and various two-school settings with a school in each community. We compare the number of learners and welfare implications under self-learning with those obtained under various schooling contexts. In particular, we show that for communities with similar size, introducing language schools always increases the number of learners with respect to the exclusive self-learning option.

Keywords: communicative benefits; linguistic communities; equilibrium; learning costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Working Paper: Foreign languages acquisition: self-learning and language schools (2011)
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DOI: 10.2202/1446-9022.1185

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