Milli mála - 2023, Side 114

MILLI MÁLA
114 Milli mála 15/2/2023
on language proficiency (Asfar et al. 2019; Chiswick and Miller
2001). One explanation for these contradictory results is to be found
in the set-up of the studies. Studies explaining a better male profi-
ciency are mostly smaller-scale case studies focusing on specific
groups of migrants. For example, in the case of a study on refugees in
the United Kingdom (N=280), female respondents had both signific-
antly lower levels of language proficiency and significantly lower
levels of pre-migration education (Morrice et al. 2019, 11). These re-
sults suggest that there are gendered differences in opportunities for
language acquisition in specific groups of migrants. In contrast, sev-
eral larger-scale studies show that female immigrants report better
skills in the receiving country language (Kristen et al. 2015; Van der
Slik, Van Hout, and Schepens, 2015).
In addition to studying immigrants’ language acquisition, studies
on their opinions about the language course they attended can pro-
vide valuable insights on the factors impacting immigrants’ profi-
ciency in the local language. Research on satisfaction with language
courses in Sweden has shown that the majority of participants in
“Swedish for Foreigners” classes “report a high satisfaction with their
language learning at the training program” (Reichenberg and Berhanu
2018, 284) and the authors identity factors that can impact immi-
grants’ language learning process.
There are indications that students’ perception of the teacher im-
pacted their satisfaction with the language training and that “the
more engaged, humorous and nice the teachers were, the more satis-
fied the students were with their language learning” (Reichenberg
and Berhanu 2018, 287). A second correlation, which is independent
from the courses as such, is that participants who had more exposure
to the language outside of the classes were more satisfied with the
language training (Reichenberg and Berhanu 2018). The study
among immigrants in Sweden further showed that those with a
higher level of education reported to be less satisfied with the courses
than those with lower levels of education (Reichenberg and Berhanu
2018).
Several studies, for example, two quantitative surveys conducted
among Turkish and Moroccan immigrants in Western Europe, have
shown that attending language courses positively influences immi-
PREDICTORS OF SATISFACTION / DISSATISFACTION WITH ICELANDIC LANGUAGE
COURSE AND ICELANDIC PROFICIENCY AMONG ADULT IMMIGRANTS IN ICELAND
10.33112/millimala.15.2.5