Project summary
Since the turn of the millennium, a number of European countries have introduced language and knowledge of society requirements for citizenship. In 2017, Norway followed the lead of other countries, by introducing a requirement to pass an oral language test, as well as a knowledge of society test in Norwegian for those applying for Norwegian citizenship. The requirement of Norwegian proficiency was increased in 2021, from A2 to B1. The Norwegian government argued that augmenting the language requirement was done in order to strengthen migrants’ motivation for language learning and integration. Whether or not such positive effects exist, is not yet known, and this question forms the basis for IMPECT’s research scope.
We are particularly interested in investigating the consequences of such requirements for adult migrants with little prior schooling and low levels of literacy. This is a group of learners for whom both teachers, NGOs and researchers have expressed particular concern when the new requirements have been introduced, in Norway as well as in other countries. Do the requirements indeed increase the motivation for language learning, or do such requirements introduce an element of stress, which on rather impedes learning for this group of learners?
