Language proficiency and emotional wellbeing in multilingual adolescents: comparing majority, heritage and foreign language

Drawing on various perspectives on functions and roles of language proficiency in emotional wellbeing, the present study investigates whether language proficiencies in the majority, heritage and foreign languages relate differently to multilingual adolescents’ emotional wellbeing. Both formal proficiency assessed through an academic writing task, as well as subjective self-perceived proficiency are considered as indicators of language proficiency. The study is situated in Germany and investigates 239 multilingual speakers with a second-generation migration background, who were selected to be able to produce a formal writing task in majority, heritage and foreign languages. Controlling for sociodemographic factors, multiple regression analyses reveal that self-perceived heritage language proficiency contributes to increased Positive Affect. Correlational results also indicate associations between Life Satisfaction and self-perceived heritage language proficiency, self-perceived majority language proficiency, and writing in the majority language; and between Negative Affect Shame and Guilt and self-perceived majority language proficiency. The results are in line with pedagogies advocating for inclusive approaches and unsilencing linguistic diversity. We encourage future research to continue acknowledging and understanding the emotional wellbeing of multilingual adolescents and to keep investigating the role of language proficiencies and linguistic biographies in this regard.