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Refugees' language acquisition and social contacts are advancing , , Fourth wave of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Refugee Survey
BAMF Brief Analysis 4|2021 examines how refugees' social contacts and German language skills developed between 2016 and 2019.
Using data from the first four waves of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Refugee Survey, the study examines how refugees' language acquisition, attendance of language courses, frequency of use of German as well as social contacts – especially with Germans – developed between 2016 and 2019. Additional data from a supplementary survey conducted in the summer of 2020, which focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was used to analyse how language acquisition and social contacts have changed in the wake of the pandemic.
German language skills and language course attendance among refugees continued to increase in 2019
The share of refugees who reported that they have good to very good German language skills increased steadily from 2016 to 2019 among those who had arrived in Germany between 2013 and 2016. In 2019, five out of ten refugees assessed their German language skills as good or very good; less than 5 percent reported no skills at all, and less than 15 percent reported rather poor skills. There has also been further progress in language courses attendance, as well as some saturation effects. 90 percent of men and 79 percent of women attended at least one language course between 2016 and 2019.
Not all sub-groups are managing to improve their German language skills at the same rate
Older refugees, refugees with a lower level of education and, in particular, female refugees with (small) children have also consistently invested time in learning German since 2016. However, due to lower starting levels, these groups of people were mostly able to acquire intermediate language skills by 2019, and less frequently reported good or very good German language skills in 2019 – in some cases even despite having attended a language course. Younger, better educated and male refugees find it easier to acquire the language, so that there were a particularly large number of people with good to very good German skills among them in 2019.
Refugees have more contact with Germans
Between 2016 and 2019, refugees increasingly spent time with Germans. In particular, refugees often spent time with Germans at their place of work or training. By contrast, this tends to be rather less frequently the case in their neighbourhoods. Furthermore, the number of Germans in refugees' close networks of friends has increased slightly over the years. For instance, the number of Germans with whom refugees can share personal feelings and thoughts increased slightly between 2016 and 2019.
Frequency of contact with Germans varies between sub-groups
Older refugees, refugees with poorer language skills, and female refugees with small children, are slower to establish contact with Germans than are younger, male refugees or refugees with a better command of German. Since the frequency of contact with Germans is even declining in some instances among older, female refugees and refugees with lower German skills, these groups run the risk of falling behind in terms of social integration.
The COVID-19 pandemic can slow down the positive developments
Initial results on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic indicate that contact with Germans decreased during the pandemic, and that German language skills stagnated or even deteriorated. Furthermore, the analyses suggest that especially those sub-groups which started at a low level might be particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of the pandemic.
The Brief Analysis was written by: Wenke Niehues Dr. Nina Rother and Manuel Siegert