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Given the controversies surrounding the critical period hypothesis on second-language (L2) learning outcomes, this study focuses on the phonological aspect of language acquisition--the strength of the foreign accent in L2. Drawing on data from a large-scale representative data set on immigrant adolescents in Germany--CILS4EU-DE--we first demonstrate that there is a critical period (CP) up to the age of around 10, after which obtaining oral language skills without a foreign accent becomes less likely. Second, we provide evidence that native-like language skills can be achieved after the CP if certain preconditions related to learning efficiency and language exposure are met. Our analyses indicate that higher cognitive abilities and exposure to a language environment with intensive and manifold contacts with native speakers can compensate for disadvantages caused by a late start in L2 acquisition. The results are discussed in the context of the linguistic and sociological scholarship of language acquisition and immigrant assimilation.

Keywords: aspirations; educational systems; ethnic choice effects; Europe; expected discrimination Abstract The motivation for this article was the main finding of an earlier study, which concludes that choice-driven education systems-in the study represented by England and Sweden-are particularly beneficial for immigrants in that they provide them with many opportunities to pursue their generally high educational ambitions. We extend this analysis by including two countries with performance-driven education systems: Germany and the Netherlands. Our study specifically aims to explore whether it is true that choice-driven systems are more beneficial for immigrants or whether immigrants can also succeed in more stratified and selective education systems. Using longitudinal data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), we show that there are no differences in (gross) transition rates between immigrants and natives in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, but immigrants' optimistic choices are more pronounced in England. However, these differences diminish once we account for achievement and students' socioeconomic background in the analyses. Regarding the underlying mechanisms, we find that educational aspirations have an (equally) strong, universal impact, while anticipated discrimination plays a minor role. Article Note: Funding information Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG (KO 3601/8-1-3 and KA 1602/8-1-3); Forskningsrådet om Hälsa, Arbetsliv och Välfärd (2019-01432); NORFACE ERA NET Plus Migration in Europe-program. CAPTION(S): Supplementary Material Byline: Jörg Dollmann

The present study addresses the question to what extent language skills among students are influenced by the composition of the overall classroom context and the composition of friendship networks within school classes. Furthermore, we ask whether the effects differ between stratified school systems, with a more homogenous student body in school classes, and comprehensive school systems, with a more heterogeneous student body. Focusing only on classroom characteristics, we find positive effects of the socioeconomic and cognitive overall composition of the school class in Germany's selective school system, but not in Sweden's comprehensive system. In contrast, the ethnic composition does not matter significantly in any of the systems, while direct peer interactions, captured with social networks measures targeting friends in a school class, matter slightly more in Sweden's comprehensive school system.

In light of ongoing debates about racially motivated police violence, this paper examines two separate but interrelated phenomena: instances of police discrimination and mistrust in police and the judicial system among ethnic minorities in Germany. Analyses are carried out based on waves 1, 3, and 5 of the CILS4EU-DE data collected among 14 to 20 year-old respondents in Germany. The focus of the paper lies on young men from the Middle East, as well as Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, who--as our study demonstrates--tend to disproportionally more often report discrimination experiences and particularly low levels of trust in police and courts compared to other ethnic minorities and the majority populations in Germany, and partially also in comparison to their female counterparts. We also show that more frequent experiences of police discrimination are associated with greater distrust of the police and partially also with courts among young men from the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Female adolescents from similar backgrounds are also more distrustful of the police, but this is not explained by their own experiences of police discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]