Indicator 32: Home and School Language

The percentage of 9- and 14-year-old students who report speaking a language at home other than the one used at their school reflects the availability of home resources for practicing the official school language. Language diversity within an education system presents additional challenges to schools if students who speak a different language at home are just learning the school language. The data presented here are based on the opinions of students and on their perception of their linguistic situation. The high percentage of Italian and Swiss primary and secondary school students who speak a language other than the official school language at home is likely due to several factors. In Italy, students who speak a particular dialect at home may perceive it as a different language than the Italian used at school. As a result of internal migration, some students in Switzerland attend schools that provide instruction in a language other than the one spoken at home (Switzerland has four regionally based national languages).

Sidebar: Home and school language differences

• Compared with the other G_7 countries for which data were available, a relatively small percentage of 9- and 14-year-olds in the United States spoke a different language at home than at school in 1991, 3 and 4 percent, respectively. Of these countries, Italy had the highest percentage of both 9-year-olds (27 percent) and 14-year-olds (26 percent) who spoke a different language at home than at school.

• The percentage of students who reported they usually speak a language other than the official school language at home ranged from less than 5 percent for both age groups (in the United States, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal) to more than 10 percent for both age groups (in Italy, Spain, and Switzerland).

Table 32: Percentage of all 9- and 14-year-olds who say that they usually /1 speak a language other than the official school language at home, by country: 1991 /2

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Country				9-year-olds		14-year-olds
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G-73
France                           9 (1.4)                 4 (0.5)
West Germany (former)           10 (0.9)                 8 (0.9)
Italy				27 (1.5)		26 (1.1)
United States                    3 (0.5)                 4 (0.8)
Other
Belgium (French community)      11 (1.2)                 9 (1.1)
Denmark                          5 (0.6)                 2 (0.5)
Finland                          1 (0.3)                 1 (0.2)
Greece                           6 (1.0)                 3 (0.9)
Iceland                          3 (0.2)                 0 (0.0)
Ireland                          3 (0.7)                 1 (0.0)
Netherlands                     12 (2.1)                 9 (1.3)
New Zealand                      8 (1.0)                 6 (0.7)
Norway                           4 (0.7)                 2 (0.4)
Portugal                         3 (0.6)                 2 (0.3)
	
Spain				13 (1.4)		11 (1.2)
Sweden                           9 (1.2)                 5 (0.6)
Switzerland			21 (1.2)		15 (0.9)
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1/ The figures reported here represent the percentage of all 9- and 14-year-olds who sometimes, hardly ever, or never spoke the school language at home.
2/ Standard errors are in parentheses.
3/No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 32 for information on desired target populations for the IEA Reading Literacy Study.

SOURCE: The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, IEA Reading Literacy Study, 1992.

Figure 32: Percentage of 9- and 14-year-olds who say that they usually speak a language other than the official school language at home, by G-7 country:1,2 1991

1/ No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

2/ Countries are sorted in descending order by the percentage of 9-year-olds who say that they usually speak a language other than the official school language at home.

SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, IEA Reading Literacy Study, 1992.

Notes on Figures and Tables

All countries

Ages of participating students varied. The desired target populations were all pupils attending school on a full-time basis at the grade levels in which most students were 9 and 14.

[Indicator 31]

[Indicator 33]