News and events
IMPECT Project Final Conference on June 10, 2025
Consequences of Language and Civics Requirements for Adult Immigrants with Limited Schooling (IMPECT)
In Norway, as in most other European countries, immigrants who wish to obtain permanent residence and citizenship must document both language skills and civic knowledge. A key goal of the IMPECT project has been to determine how adult immigrants with limited previous schooling and literacy (LESLLA learners) are affected by these requirements. Using various data types such as test results, surveys among teachers in 20 countries, and interviews with both teachers and learners in nine countries, we have examined whether such requirements contribute to learning motivation and thus positively affect integration, or if the requirements have other, less positive consequences.
At the final conference on June 10, we will present the most important findings from the IMPECT project. Project members will present different aspects of the project, followed by a panel discussion on the use of language requirements in integration policy. Presentations language will be Norwegian and English.
The conference is relevant for teachers, researchers, test developers, bureaucrats, and professionals involved in education, assessment, or policy-making related to language and knowledge requirements for residence and citizenship.
Below you will find a preliminary program. This will be updated on the IMPECT project’s website in the coming months here.
The conference is funded by the Research Council of Norway and the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.
Time: June 10, 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM
Location: Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Campus Bergen, Kronstad, K2 (the white building), room M003.
Preliminary program.
Updated version will be posted.
9:00 - 9:30 Edit Bugge: Introduksjon – IMPECT-prosjektet
9:30 - 10:00 Ricky van Oers: Language requirements for residence and citizenship
10:00 - 10:30 Hvem klarer, og hvem klarer ikke, språk og samfunnskunnskapskravene?
10:30 - 10:45 Kaffepause
10:45 - 11:15 Marte Nordanger: LESLLA-innlæreres opplevelser av språk- og samfunnskunnskapskrav
11:15 - 12:00 PhD-stipendiater Terje Hellesen, Live Grinden & Sara Karim: Samtale om viktigste funn fra de tre IMPECT-stipendiatenes prosjekter
12:45 - 13:15 Cecilie Hamnes Carlsen og Lorenzo Rocca: Gir strengere språkkrav bedre integrering? Resultater fra undersøkelser i 20 land.
12:00 - 12:45 Lunsj (i kantinen på K1, høyblokken over plassen)
13:45 - 14:15 Vulnerable test takers and social justice
14:15 - 14:30 Pause
14:30 - 15:15 Paneldiskusjon
15:15 - 15:30 Oppsummering og avslutning
Language Policy Index for Migrants (LAPIM) - digital event October 18th
Joint EALTA and ALTE event on Migration
On October 18th, the EALTA and ALTE Special Interest Groups on Migration and Integration co-organised an online event taking place on the Language Policy Index for Migrants (LAPIM).
The Language Policy Index for Migrants (LAPIM) measures the linguistic requirements in integration and citizenship policy as well as learning opportunities for migrants across Europe. It is the first index of its kind to be designed specifically for this purpose. It was designed within the IMPECT Research Project at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences with the purpose of ranking countries according to their relative strictness in language policy. LAPIM has been piloted in 6 European countries and data have been collected from 20 countries to date. The index describes both explicit language requirements for migrants (such as language tests) as well as implicit language requirements (e.g., knowledge of society tests) and existing language learning opportunities in each country.
Cecilie Hamnes Carlsen and Lorenzo Rocca (chairs of the ALTE LAMI SIG) shared the development of this index and discuss current and future use.
Download the LAPIM index here:
Reference Guide Literacy And Second Language for the Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants (LASLLIAM) took place Thursday 30 June 2022, at the premises of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg, France, in hybrid format, in English and in French with simultaneous interpretation.
Presentation of IMPECT at Società Dante Alighieri
Cecilie Hamnes Carlsen and Edit Bugge visiting Lorenzo Rocca at Dante in Rome, presenting the project to our Italian colleagues.
Kick-off seminar at Solstrand
IMPECT had a productive kick-off seminar at Solstrand hotel in September 2021 (and with some pjoject members on video conference), to plan the work ahead.
Saturday seminar: Migration tests and low-literate adult learners (September 4th) in Bergen
A public seminar on migration tests and low-literate adult learners was held in Bergen in early September 2021, with a lecture by Ricky van Oers on "Deserving citizenship – reasons for introduction and consequences of citizenship tests", Elana Shohamy on "Critical language testing & test ethics", Bart Deygers on "The impact of human rights on language testing practices", Jeanne Kurvers on "Low-literate learners and L2-learning", and Lorenzo Rocca on "LASLLIAM – a new tool for teachers of low-literate learners"
The seminar was sponsored by Bergen municipality, Analyzing and assessing linguistic multicompetence (HVL), Mangfold og inkludering (HVL), forskergruppa for Språktesting og språkvurdering (UiB).