Socioemotional Skills and Refugees' Language Acquisition

Yuliya Kosyakova and Marie-Christine Laible
Additional contact information
Marie-Christine Laible: Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany

No 202119, IAB-Discussion Paper from Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]

Abstract: "We analyze socioemotional skills’ role for destination-language proficiency among recent refugees in Germany. While socioemotional skills have been shown to predict educational outcomes, they have been overlooked for immigrants’ language acquisition. We extend a well-established model of destination-language proficiency and assume that socioemotional skills’ effects manifest through the channels of exposure, efficiency, and incentives. Using longitudinal data and growth curve models, we find that socioemotional skills significantly shape destination language learning. Openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, risk appetite and locus of control positively relate to language proficiency, while extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism are insignificant. We observe mediating effects, suggesting that socioemotional skills shape the channels of efficiency or exposure. Moreover, we observe multiplication effects reinforcing other advantageous characteristics’ effects on language proficiency. In sum, socioemotional skills affect refugees’ destination-language proficiency and thereby contribute to sustainable economic and societal integration processes. We conclude by discussing policy implications." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Keywords: Bundesrepublik Deutschland; Auswirkungen; berufliche Integration; Deutsch als Fremdsprache; emotionale Intelligenz; Geflüchtete; Persönlichkeitsmerkmale; Risikobereitschaft; Selbstverantwortung; soziale Integration; soziale Qualifikation; Spracherwerb; IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung von Geflüchteten; 2016-2020 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 I26 J15 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2021-12-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig, nep-neu and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doku.iab.de/discussionpapers/2021/dp1921.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202119

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IAB-Discussion Paper from Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany] Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by IAB, Geschäftsbereich Wissenschaftliche Fachinformation und Bibliothek ().