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Do you speak my language? The effect of sharing a teacher's native language on student achievement

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  • Kelvin K. C. Seah

Abstract

Using a data set from the United States that allows each student to be matched with two of his/her subject teachers, this study exploits variation in whether the student shares the same native language as the teacher across two academic subjects, within‐student, to identify the effect of assignment to a teacher of the same native language. The effect is examined separately for students who are native Spanish speakers and for students who are native English speakers. I find that, unconditional on teacher ethnicity, assignment to a native Spanish‐speaking teacher is associated with worse achievement for native Spanish‐speaking students in certain subjects. However, once differences in teacher ethnicity are controlled for, these negative effects disappear. For native English‐speaking students, assignment to a language‐congruent teacher has no impact on achievement. There is evidence that native language affinity could be an important mechanism through which student‐teacher ethnic interactions work.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelvin K. C. Seah, 2021. "Do you speak my language? The effect of sharing a teacher's native language on student achievement," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(1), pages 245-273, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:88:y:2021:i:1:p:245-273
    DOI: 10.1002/soej.12510
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    Cited by:

    1. Höckel, Lisa, 2019. "Speaking the same language - The effect of foreign origin teachers on students’ language skills," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203638, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Seah, Kelvin, 2021. "Do Ethnically-Congruent Teachers Really Matter Little for Hispanic Students? A Re-Examination of the Data," IZA Discussion Papers 14516, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Lisa Sofie Höckel, 2024. "Language lesson learned—foreign-origin teachers and their effect on students’ language skills," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 1-32, June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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