The determinants of Spanish language proficiency among immigrants in Spain

• Autor(a) principal: Budría, Santiago
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Swedberg, Pablo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/4865
• topic: Education; Immigration; Language

This article uses micro-data from the Spanish National Immigrant Survey (Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes-ENI in Spanish) carried out in 2007 among immigrants in Spain. In recent years, Spain has received unprecedented immigration flows. A substantial number of immigrants cannot communicate adequately in the language of the country to which they immigrate. Among the multiple reasons for the lack of host language proficiency one can distinguish factors such as a low level of educational attainment, not having been provided with adequate opportunities to learn the host language, living in ethnic enclaves or having arrived at an older age. Language skills (including oral and written ability) play a crucial role in the determination of the immigrants’ social and economic integration in the host country. As a consequence, analyzing the source of foreign language acquisition is crucial for understanding the immigrants’ economic, social and political involvement. The results show that an increase in educational attainment is associated with a higher level of Spanish spoken proficiency. Language ability is also associated with the country or region of origin. The results show that immigrant men and women from the Maghreb and Asia, as well as men from Eastern Europe and Sub Saharan Africa show a significantly weaker command over spoken Spanish than Western Europeans.