Non-native speakers exposed to English before moving to America are more likely to use the language in their daily lives in the United States, according to a report led by Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Such early exposure – through newspapers, books, TV and classes as well as traveling – may help determine an immigrant’s socioeconomic mobility, as English proficiency is strongly tied to cultural and social assimilation. The report, featured in the journal Social Science Research, is one of the first to examine English proficiency among immigrants before moving to the United States.

“English-language ability is one of the most important determinants of socioeconomic mobility in the United States, with strong effects on employment, earnings and occupational status,” said lead author Douglas Massey, the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. “For immigrants relocating to the United States, English usage is paramount to their cultural and social assimilation.”

Massey and his collaborators – Ilana Redstone Akresh from…

Read more | sciencecodex.com

Photo credit | Airplane by Kuster & Wildhaber Photography on Flickr