Living in neighborhoods with high or low co-ethnic concentration: Turkish–Norwegian-speaking students' vocabulary skills and reading comprehension

Abstract

Immigrant students may use and develop language and literacy skills differently depending on the dominance of the first and second language (L1 and L2) in the neighborhoods where they live. In this study, neighborhood effects on students' reported language use at home and with peers, and on measured language and literacy proficiency, were investigated in a sample of 42 Turkish–Norwegian fifth-graders living in two cities in Norway. Differences were not found in the students' use of Turkish and Norwegian with family members, but the students living in the neighborhoods with co-ethnic concentration reported using more Turkish with peers across settings. Further, the students living in neighborhoods of more co-ethnics outperformed the students living in neighborhoods marked by fewer co-ethnics in Turkish proficiency, while students living in neighborhoods with fewer co-ethnics were more proficient in Norwegian vocabulary. An interesting finding was that in spite of differences in language use and vocabulary skills, there were no neighborhood effects on students' topic knowledge and L2 reading comprehension of content-area texts. Attending schools with many L1 peers may have offered access to L1-based information and topic knowledge (both through informal interactions and instruction in the L1) that supported the students' L2 content-area reading.

Keywords:

• language proficiency
• bilingual students
• language contact
• language use
• second language acquisition

Notes

1. It is important to note that parental occupation status may not reflect parental education level, as immigrants in Norway often face problems with utilizing their educational degree to attain employment in Norway.

2. The Norwegian version of Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was translated from English to Norwegian by Astri Heen Wold and Else Ryen.

3. Preliminary analyses revealed that including maternal and paternal occupation status as a covariate did not affect the pattern of results presented here.