Multilingual Development: A Longitudinal Perspective (MEZ)
The study investigated individual and contextual conditions for the development of multilingualism among students attending secondary schools in Germany. The study followed a cohort sequence design with two starting cohorts (students in 7th and 9th grade, respectively, in wave 1) and four survey waves within three years (2016 to 2018). The total sample consisted of more than 2,000 students at German high schools of different school types and included students with monolingual German, German-Russian, and German-Turkish language backgrounds. The language data referred to reading and writing skills (productive, receptive, general), which were assessed by test procedures using paper-and-pencil methods. All students were tested in German (majority language) and English (foreign language learned at school), German-Russian and German-Turkish students were additionally tested in their language of origin, and students who learned either French or Russian as a second foreign language at school were also tested in these languages. Background data included questionnaire information at the individual level (e. g., motivation, cognitive ability) and the context level (e. g., social and migration background, language use, peer networks). (IQB)
- Research Design: Oberservational Design
- Sample: Students in grade 7 and 9 (N=1,818 initial sample since T1 and N=219 refreshment sample since T2); Principals (N=78); Parents (N=1,155 initial sample since T1 and N=111 refreshment sample since T2)
- DOI: 10.5159/IQB_MEZ_SUF_Off-site_v2
- Restrictions: No
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Migration Background
- Year in which the parent immigrated to Germany
- Reason for the parent's entry into Germany
- Nationality of parent and child
- Child's grandparents born in Germany
- People in the neighborhood with a migration background
- Age of the child on entry into Germany
- Country Childcare
- Contact with people in the country of origin
- Acculturation in Germany
- Acculturation in country of origin
- Sense of belonging to Germany
- Sense of belonging to country of origin
- Intention to return to the country of origin
- Country of birth
- Age on arrival in Germany
- Country of birth of parents
- Reasons for entering Germany
- Country of birth of grandparents
- Age on entry into Germany
- Attending childcare abroad/in Germany
- Attending a primary school abroad/in Germany
- Language of parents
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Cultural Capital
- Number of books in the household
- Household possessions
- Affiliation people from Germany/country of origin
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Individual Characteristics
- Year of birth of parent
- Country of birth of parent
- Sex child
- Month of birth of the child
- Year of birth of the child
- Country of birth of the child
- Age Language acquisition Language of origin
- Age language acquisition German
- Grade level in the school year
- Student ID
- Class in school year
- Grades
- Participation in test day
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Family Background
- Number of persons in household
- Number of persons under 14 in household
- Languages learned in the parent's family during childhood
- Monthly net income of all household members
- Languages spoken by parents with child
- Ethnic composition of the neighborhood
- Language at home
- Language in everyday life
- Household composition
- Household size
- Employment status of parents
- Unemployment of mother and father
- Parents' main occupation
- Parents' occupation
- Authority to issue directives of parents
- Occupational position of parents
- Highest school qualification in Germany, parents
- Parents' education in Germany
- Parents' education abroad
- Parents' languages of origin
- Contact with people in country of origin
- Language at home/in everyday life
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Learning and Performance-related Attitudes
- Self-assessment of language comprehension in German
- Self-assessment of language comprehension in Russian/Turkish
- Self-assessment of reading comprehension in German
- Self-assessment of reading comprehension in Russian/Turkish
- Self-assessment of participation in German class discussions
- Self-assessment of conversation skills in Russian/Turkish
- Self-assessment of coherent speech in German
- Self-assessment of coherent speech in Russian/Turkish
- Self-assessment of writing skills in German
- Self-assessment of writing skills in Russian/Turkish
- Effort-willingness
- Willingness to learn
- Student Effort
- Absenteeism
- Performance-related self-concept in German
- Performance-related self-concept English
- Attitude to the subject German
- Attitude towards language learning
- Attitudes towards the subject English
- Idealistic educational aspiration
- Reason for idealistic educational aspiration
- Security aspirations
- Reasons for insecurity
- realistic educational aspirations
- concrete educational aspiration
- abstract aspiration of education
- Career Maturity
- Professional maturity
- Dream job
- Assessment of the importance of language skills for one's own professional future
- Instrumental motivation
- Performance-related self-concept in native language
- Performance-related self-concept in foreign languages
- Enjoyment in learning a foreign language
- Native language instruction
- Career Maturity Inventory
- Interest in French
- Interest in Russian
- Enjoyment of French
- Enjoyment of Russian
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School-related Attitudes and Behaviors
- Number of visits to school in the last 12 months
- Favorite subject
- Confidence about promotion
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Political and Social Attitudes
- Assessment of disadvantage in the labor market
- Assessment of the importance of language skills for professional success
- Experienced discrimination
- Integration
- Affiliation people from Germany/country of origin
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Professional Background
- Languages used at work for reading and writing
- Disadvantage labor market
-
Occupational Situation
- Employment status
- Arbeitslosigkeit Eltern
- Main occupation (ISCO)
- Mother's authority to give instructions
- Father's authority to give instructions
- Occupational position of mother
- Occupational position of the father
- Career plans
- Sources of information on career choices
- Form of education
- Knowledge about training
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Educational Biography
- Languages in which the parent has taken lessons
- School recommendation for the child after 4th grade
- Binding nature of school recommendations for children
- Repeating a year (child)
- Skipping a grade (child)
- Highest school qualification in Germany, mother
- Highest school qualification in Germany Father
- Training or studies in Germany mother
- Training or studies in Germany father
- Highest school qualification abroad, mother
- Highest school qualification abroad, father
- Training or studies abroad mother
- Training or studies abroad father
- Age of the child when acquiring German
- Age of the child when acquiring Russian/Turkish
- Russian/Turkish lessons for the child
- Language teaching by grade and language
- Repeated classes
- Skipped classes
- Content Language instruction in the native language
- Skipping grades
- Current school attended
- Current grade level
- Grades on last year's report card
- School attended in the 2016/2017 school year
- Grade attended in the 2016/2017 school year
- Attendance at school/school type
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Leisure Activities and Peer Group
- Professions in the personal environment
- Origin of persons with specific occupations in the personal environment
- Friends with a migrant background
- Friends' educational aspirations
- Questions about circle of friends/networks
- Peers
- Importance of friends
- Topics in the peer group
- Joint school attendance
- Joint class
- Help from friends with homework and/or studying for papers
- socio-demographic characteristics of peers and their families
- Language of peers at home
- Language within peers
- Assessment of the German language skills of the friends
- Assessment of the friends' Russian or Turkish language skills
- Friends assessment
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Tutoring
- Gründe für Nachhilfe
- Subject specification
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Parental Educational Aspirations
- Educational aspirations for the child
- Upward mobility for the child
- Idealistic educational aspirations for the child
- Realistic educational aspirations for the child
- Maintaining status Importance of mother/father's education
- Maintaining status Importance of mother/father's occupation
- Concrete/abstract educational aspirations
- Parents' attitudes toward education
- Parental educational aspirations
- Importance of the language of origin for professional future
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School Atmosphere
- Satisfaction with the school of the child
- Personal belief in a just world
- Fair school climate
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Institutional Characteristics
- Sponsorship
- Approach
- School structure
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School Location
- Settlement structure
- Catchment area
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Organization of School Operations
- School profile
- Bilingual teaching
- Occupational orientation
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Organization of Teaching Operations
- Sprachförderung für Schüler*innen mit nicht-deutscher Herkunftssprache
- Support offered by teachers in dealing with linguistic heterogeneity
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Organization of all-day Operation
- School structure
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Learning Opportunities
- Language support learning
- Training methods
- Additional offers for high-achieving students
- Additional services for low-performing students
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Composition of the Student Body
- Sex
- Social background of the student body
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Composition of the Faculty
- Job value
- Number of teachers
- Percentage of trainees
- Teachers with migration background
- Teachers German
- Teachers English
- Teachers French
- Teachers Russian
- Mother tongue English
- Mother tongue French
- Mother tongue Russian
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Quality Development and Evaluation
- Leaving school without a school leaving certificate
- Leaving school without prospects of an apprenticeship
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Parental Involvement
- Parental engagement: School
- Support association
- Participation in (school) committees
- Attending parents' evenings
- Attending school events
- Migration background (combined)
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Cooperation Outside the School
- Contact with other facilities
- Project participation
- Model program
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Personal Characteristics
- Use of language
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Self-Related Attitudes
- Self-related cognitions and control expectancy
- Importance of maintaining the parents' status
- Collective identity
- Switching languages when speaking
- Duration of daily reading
- Persistence in pursuing goals
- Importance of maintaining status
- Mastery of the German language
- Support for parents as adults
- Task (distribution) boy/girl in the family/life
- Performance-related self-concept in native language
- Performance-related self-concept in foreign languages
- Foreign language skills/knowledge
- Importance of the language of origin
- Skills/knowledge of French
- Skills/knowledge in Russian
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Professional Self Concept
- Usefulness of a profession
- Knowledge about training
- Probability of getting a apprentice position
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Pedagogical Content Knowledge
- Probability of getting a apprentice position with certain qualifications
- Assessment of the school-leaving qualifications of today's professionals
- Assessment of the professional qualifications of today's working population
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Professional Education
- Career selection criteria
- Disadvantage labor market
- Mobility training place/occupation
- Apprenticeship application
- Job application
- Number of applications
- Job interview invitation
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Reading and Writing Habits
- Reading habits
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Other
- Test motivation
- Participation in NEPS
- Students attendance list
- Student demographics list
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Leisure Time Behavior and Media Use
- Media use in leisure time
- Type of English use in leisure time
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Parental Knowledge and Beliefs
- Ability of parents to help with homework
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Personality
- Personal characteristics
- Personality type
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Cognitive Learning Outcomes
- Grade in the last annual report
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Domain-Specific Cognitive Competencies
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Linguistic Competence
- Language ability in native language Russian (writing task)
- Language ability in native language Turkish (writing task)
- Functional communicative competence: writing, command of linguistic resources and communicative strategy
- Productive language skills in German
- Productive language skills in English
- Productive language skills in French
- Productive language skills in Russian
- Productive language skills in Turkish
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Test Instrument Language
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C-Test
- Englisch
- Französisch
- Subject and subject interest in mathematics
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LGVT 5-12+ - Lesegeschwindigkeits- und -verständnistest
- Englisch
- Subject and subject interest in mathematics
- Türkisch
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German Language
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Reading
- Reading Skills
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Writing
- Writing task
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Foreign Language Achievement
- General language level
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English Language Achievement
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French Language Achievement
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Other Foreign Language Achievement
- Subject and subject interest in mathematics
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Cross-Domain Cognitive Skills
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Test Instrument Intelligence
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KFT - Kognitiver Fähigkeitstest
- 4-12+ (Subtest N2)
Data Set Published on
Oct. 23, 2023
Current Version Available Since
May 19, 2025
Survey Period
2016-2018
Sample
Students in grade 7 and 9 (N=1,818 initial sample since T1 and N=219 refreshment sample since T2);
Principals (N=78);
Parents (N=1,155 initial sample since T1 and N=111 refreshment sample since T2)
Survey Unit
- Parents
- Principals
- Students
Measured Competencies
Language Skills in German, English, French, Turkish, Russian; Cognitive Ability
Region
Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein
Principal Investigators
- Gogolin, Prof. Dr. Ingrid
Data Producers
- Gogolin, Prof. Dr. Ingrid
Funded by
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Suggested Citation
Gogolin, I., Dünkel, N., Klinger, T., Lagemann, M., Schnoor, B., & Usanova, I. (2023). Mehrsprachigkeitsentwicklung im Zeitverlauf (MEZ) [Multilingual Development: A Longitudinal Perspective (MEZ)] (Version 2) [Data set]. Berlin: IQB – Institut zur Qualitätsentwicklung im Bildungswesen. http://doi.org/10.5159/IQB_MEZ_SUF_Off-site_v2
Restriction Notice
The project is supplemented by further text data, which is available at the University of Hamburg.
Blank data sets
For a first overview of the data set and its variables, dummy data sets containing the variables used and the value labels relating to them are provided for download here.
Cross Section
Measurement Time 1
Measurement Time 2
Measurement Time 3
Measurement Time 4
Documentation
Here you can find further documentation:
Methods Report
Test Report
Variables
Further information
- https://www.mez.uni-hamburg.de/publikationen/5publikationen.html
- https://www.mez.uni-hamburg.de/
Network
Network linkage in Student Questionnaire 2 (variables: P1nr, P2nr, P3nr) is established via matching on the unique student identifier (student ID).
Data protection
The following variables were cleared for data protection reasons:
- Data set: MEZ_MZP1_Testheft_Herkunftssprache_Türkisch.sav: TABSum_sd1, TWS1_sd1, TWS2_sd1, TWS3_sd1, TWS4_sd1, TSVSum_sd1, TBESum_sd1, TTL_sd1, TAW1_sd1, TAW2_sd1, TAW3_sd1, TAW4_sd1, TAW5_sd1, TAW6_sd1, TZABSum_sd1, TZWS1_sd1, TZWS2_sd1, TZWS3_sd1, TZWS4_sd1, TZSVSum_sd1, TZBESum_sd1, TZTL_sd1, TZGes_sd1, TABSumpomp_sd1, TWS1pomp_sd1, TWS2pomp_sd1, TWS3pomp_sd1, TWS4pomp_sd1, TSVSumpomp_sd1, TBESumpomp_sd1, TTLpomp_sd1, TGespomp_sd1;
- Data set: MEZ_MZP2_Testheft_Herkunftssprache_Türkisch.sav: TABSum_sd2, TWS1_sd2, TWS2_sd2, TWS3_sd2, TWS4_sd2, TSVSum_sd2, TBESum_sd2, TTL_sd2, TAW1_sd2, TAW2_sd2, TAW3_sd2, TAW4_sd2, TAW5_sd2, TAW6_sd2, TNA1_sd2, TNA2_sd2, TNA3_sd2, TNA4_sd2, TNA5_sd2, TNA6_sd2, TZABSum_sd2, TZWS1_sd2, TZWS2_sd2, TZWS3_sd2, TZWS4_sd2, TZSVSum_sd2, TZBESum_sd2, TZTL_sd2, TZGes_sd2, TABSumpomp_sd2, TWS1pomp_sd2, TWS2pomp_sd2, TWS3pomp_sd2, TWS4pomp_sd2, TSVSumpomp_sd2, TBESumpomp_sd2, TTLpomp_sd2, TGespomp_sd2
Literature
Selected literature is listed here.
