Language Tests for migration and integration

In response to increased migration flows and socio-political developments, governments in Europe have implemented new or stricter regulations as a precondition for migrants entry, residency or naturalization. Amongst these, governments use language tests to determine whether applicants have reached a predefined language proficiency level. This collaborative WEAVE project between Ghent University (Belgium) and the University of Innsbruck (Austria) seeks to bridge significant gaps in the understanding of such Migration or Integration Language Tests (MILTs) by scrutinizing their rationale, construction, operationalization, and impact within the contexts of migration and integration policies. Considering the impact of MILTs on decision-making and policies, this project aims to probe the rationales for administering MILTs, find out if there are commonalities in the way they are constructed across countries, and explore the impact of MILTs on migrants lived experiences. Language tests can be tools of power to implement integration policies, and the trend towards increased use of MILTs and increasing language level requirements needs to be investigated, questioned and justified through empirical evidence says Dr Bart Deygers, Co-PI of the project from Ghent University, pointing out that there is a lack of understanding and agreement on what should be assessed in such tests and what language proficiency level is actually necessary for migrants. The comparative policy and test analyses between Belgium and Austria planned in this project help to investigate assumptions, beliefs and practices concerning migration policies and MILTs. The mixed- methods research design will include interviews and questionnaires with different stakeholder groups such as policy makers, academic experts and MILT candidates, as well as close content analyses of various MILTs and ethnographic observations of preparatory language classes. Dr Benjamin Kremmel, Co-PI from the University of Innsbruck, states: With this project, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of why, how, and what these tests are assessing, and what their real-world impact is on educational practices and the individual lives of migrants. Findings are hoped to further improve on both assessment and policy practices but also fundamental theoretical models of validity in language testing. The projects aim is to address questions of policy rationales, construct validity, value implications and real-world consequences to ultimately inform migration policies and assessment practices so that they become more equitable and transparent.