LANGUAGE TESTING AND IMMIGRATION IN GERMANY: THREE IMMIGRANTS’ EXPERIENCES WITH GERMAN LANGUAGE TEST
Almanya'da Dil Testi Ve Göç: Alman Dil Testi Ile Üç Göçmenin Deneyimleri

Author : Nazli Aggun - Adnan DEMİR
Number of pages : 190-207

Abstract

Many studies (Blackledge, 2009; Stevenson & Schanze, 2009; Shohamy, 2009) have been done on the recent policies of developed countries to control their borders and ensure the intactness of the majority language and culture in the face of influx of immigrants with language and civic tests. Nevertheless, there are fewer qualitative studies done on what immigrants think of the language testing process and what they have experienced. The current research aims to contribute to the literature about language testing from immigrants’ point of view. For this purpose, three men who immigrated to Germany from southern Turkey were interviewed on Skype. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore their experiences during the process of studying for and taking the German language and civic test, and to investigate the ethicality of the test by drawing upon its impact on lives of test-takers and what its results mean for immigrants. Transcribed interview data were processed with in-depth content analysis and recurring themes were subsumed under similar categories. The study found that the immigrants were generally satisfied with the language test they took and considered the test to be an appropriate method of measuring the linguistic proficiency of immigrants. However, the three immigrants’ accounts revealed certain shortcomings of the test in terms of fairness. The study concludes by making several suggestions to increase the fairness of the language test particularly for illiterate and elder immigrants.

Keywords

German language test, immigration, test fairness, Turkish immigrants

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