Speaking the same language - The effect of foreign origin teachers on students’ language skills

Konferenzbeitrag

Population diversity arising from international migration does not only affect the labor market, but also its training ground - the classroom. While the economics literature studies the large and persistent achievement gap between native and foreign origin students, surprisingly little is known about the effect of having a foreign origin teacher on students' academic achievements. In this study, I investigate whether having a foreign origin teacher causally affects the language skills of students in German secondary school, holding constant both observed and unobserved factors related to academic outcomes. Exploring within-student variation in assignment to teachers, due to student mobility and teacher turnover, I am the first to show that foreign origin teachers significantly increase the reading comprehension of students. Most notable is the positive effect of foreign origin teachers who report a mother tongue other than German. They increase reading comprehension scores universally. Ruling out alternative explanations, I argue that bilingual teachers are particularly well-equipped in teaching languages to both native and foreign origin students.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2019: 30 Jahre Mauerfall - Demokratie und Marktwirtschaft - Session: Education Economics IV ; No. D17-V3

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination ; Education and Inequality
• Subject: Academic achievement ; language skills ; matching ; migration ; teacher bias

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Höckel, Lisa
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ZBW - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
• (where): Kiel, Hamburg
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/203638
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET