Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Saturday 5 October 2024

Literacy of young immigrants

This week there has been a lot of talk about the literacy and learning outcomes of young people with immigrant backgrounds.

A new study says that young people’s reading skills have weakened, and that is one of the reasons for poor learning outcomes.

Now we will tell you more about it.

Young people’s literacy is declining

Young people’s reading skills have weakened. However, literacy is needed for all kinds of learning. Photo: Yle, screenshot from the program Kansa Koulussa

The poor reading skills and poor learning results of young people with immigrant backgrounds are a cause for concern.

At the beginning of the week, the University of Jyväskylä and the Ministry of Culture announced a study that examines the skills of 15-year-old youth with an immigrant background. The study looked at the skills of young people in, for example, reading and mathematics. A similar study was last conducted in 2012.

The research shows that the competence of immigrant youth is clearly weaker than that of Finnish youth.

Researchers are particularly concerned about the poor reading skills of immigrant youth. Young people’s reading skills have also weakened since the previous survey.

Literacy is the key to learning

Abdul Rahman Atout says that he learns things when he listens, concentrates and memorizes well. Photo: Thomas Hagström / Yle

Reading and reading comprehension is especially difficult for young people who are first-generation immigrants. About 60 percent of them have poor reading skills.

The situation of second-generation immigrant youth is a little better. However, about 40 percent of them also have poor reading skills.

This is a cause for concern, as good literacy is the key to all learning. Weak literacy also means that it is difficult for a person to participate in Finnish society, for example to get into postgraduate studies and working life.

Language problems make learning difficult

Hasti Assiabi was born in Finland and speaks Finnish already better than his mother tongue Farsi. Photo: Thomas Hagström / Yle

Students with an immigrant background also say that language problems make it difficult to learn at school.

Abdul Rahman Atout, of Lebanese background, is in the 9th grade of elementary school. He says that many friends find it difficult to understand Finnish text.

Hasti Assiabi, who is of Iranian background, says that you don’t learn Finnish well if you speak another language at home and with friends.

Repeat

The topic of the news week this time was the poor reading skills of young people with immigrant backgrounds.

Weak reading skills also weaken learning results in other subjects and make it difficult, for example, to get into postgraduate studies or working life.

This was Uutisviikko in plain Finnish. Goodbye!