ARCHIVED – An Examination of the Canadian Language Benchmark Data from the Citizenship Language Survey

Tracey M. Derwing, University of Alberta
Murray J. Munro, Simon Fraser University
Marlene Mulder & Marilyn Abbott, University of Alberta

In the summer of 2006, Citizenship and Immigration Canada requested a comprehensive analysis of an existing data set. Data for the pilot test were collected in six cities from immigrants who were waiting to take their citizenship test. Assessors administered the combined listening and speaking component of the Canadian Language Benchmark Assessment tool (CLBA). In addition, the participants provided demographic information on a wide array of variables. The chief purpose of this research was to examine the relationships between these variables and the language proficiency of the immigrants, as determined by the CLBA scores.

This document expresses the views and opinions of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official policy or opinion of Citizenship and Immigration Canada or the Government of Canada.

An Examination of the Canadian Language Benchmark Data from the Citizenship Language Survey
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Table of contents

• Executive summary
• Introduction
  • Definition of ‘Eligible case’
  • Characteristics of the cases
    • Countries
    • Languages
    • Language training
    • Formal education in Canada
    • Occupation
    • Language at work
    • Citizenship test information
• Canadian Language Benchmark analyses
  • Country of origin
  • First language
  • Language training in Canada
  • Formal education in Canada
  • Occupation in Canada
  • Language at work
  • Citizenship test scores and CLBA scores
  • Differences across cities
• Additional correlational and regression analyses
  • Simple correlational analyses
  • Multiple regression analysis
• Problems with the data set
  • Data cleaning
    • Non-response or missing data
    • Inconsistent coding
    • Lack of probing
    • Selection of participants
  • Shortcomings of the survey instrument
    • Insufficiently focused or ambiguous questions
    • Inadequate participant background information
    • Changes to survey midstream
• Summary statement and recommendations
  • Summary statement
  • Recommendations
• References
• Appendix A: Number of cases by country
• Appendix B: Coding of countries in which English is an official language
• Appendix C: Coding of countries by geographic region
• Appendix D: Coding of languages as originally reported
• Appendix E: Classification of occupations into three levels of job skills

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