German Language Acquisition of Refugee Children—The Role of Preschools and Language Instruction

Abstract

Mastering the language of the destination country is key to immigrant and refugee children's educational success. Refugee children typically face the challenge of starting or continuing their educational carrier in a completely new context and in a completely new language. In this study, we examine the role of preschool attendance and formal language instruction in supporting young refugee children to acquire destination language competencies. We pursue three research objectives: First, we aim at identifying relevant conditions associated with German language acquisition in general. Second, we examine the (relative) importance of institutional learning support in preschool and language instruction. Third, we investigate whether the benefits of attending preschool are more pronounced for refugee children who have only limited exposure to the destination language outside of the institutional context, as compared to children who have more exposure to the language outside of preschool. Using data from the ReGES study, we analyze the early processes of destination language acquisition among a large population of refugee children of preschool age in Germany. Our findings indicate that conditions associated with motivation, exposure and efficiency of learning that were found in prior research to determine destination language competencies of children from other immigrant groups apply to refugee children in a similar manner. Additional conditions associated with the specific circumstances that refugees often experience, including possible consequences of insecure residence status, risk of post-traumatic stress disorders, and living in collective accommodation, do not significantly contribute to this outcome in our analysis. Furthermore, we find that there is a positive relationship between children's German language competency levels and both preschool attendance and formal language instruction. The findings indicate that the benefits of attending preschool are largely related to additional language instruction that refugee children receive within this context. Moreover, these benefits are particularly pronounced among refugee children who have only limited exposure to German at home and in their everyday lives. Overall, our findings emphasize the importance of preschool attendance and formal language instruction for refugee children's destination language acquisition.

Recent refugees’ educational selectivity and its role for their children’s education and language competencies in Germany

“…Moving beyond the specific research interest in the intergenerational role of educational selectivity, the findings confirm the benefits of participation in structured exposure for firstgeneration migrants' destination-language acquisition (e.g., Seuring and Will, 2022;Koyakova et al, 2021;Kristen and Seuring, 2021). Among young migrants, preschools and schools play a vital role in conveying destination-language skills as these contexts are able to ensure both a sufficiently large amount and intensity of language exposure for newcomer migrants.…”

“…For young migrants, opportunities of structured exposure are essentially provided by the educational system. In regards to preschool-aged children, attending preschool is known to be beneficial for migrant children's German language skills (Klein and Becker, 2017;Seuring and Will, 2022). Although access to preschool facilities is partially limited by supply, the majority of refugee children attend such institutions soon after their arrival in Germany (Homuth et al, 2021).…”

“…Participating in language training represents another important and efficient option for investments in language acquisition (Hoehne and Michalowski, 2016). Among underage migrants, German language training is usually provided in the school or preschool context (Seuring and Will, 2022). Language training increases both the amount and intensity of structured exposure to the destination language.…”

Parental uncertainty in plans and education of ukrainian refugee children in European countries: a pilot study introduction

“…Being able to fully integrate into a new society is a goal of host countries. One of the most critical factors determining the successful integration of children in schools is mastering the host language [23]. Furthermore, it is the factor of certainty or predictability in plans that have a hindering or accelerating role in this process [24].…”

Understanding Syrian parents’ perspectives and experiences of their children’s primary schooling in Turkey

“…Most Syrian children have limited exposure to the Turkish language in their social environment. Studies demonstrate that preschool education plays a vital role in language acquisition for refugee children in the host country (Stevens et al, 2023;Seuring & Will, 2022).…”