English Skills and Language
Summary of findings for LSIA 3
Primary Applicants were asked to assess their level of English ability according to the following scale:
- English best or only language
- Speaks English very well
- Speaks English well
- Does not speak English well
- Does not Speak English
Using this scale, the overall spoken English Proficiency of Primary Applicants is higher in LSIA 3 than previous LSIAs. The most marked improvement is for Primary Applicants from the Family stream – with 83 per cent saying they could speak English well or better, compared with only 67 per cent for similar migrants in LSIA 1 and LSIA 2.
| Category | LSIA 1 | LSIA 2 | LSIA 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Skills/ENS/RSMS | 83% | 79% | 90% |
| Concessional Family/SAL | 82% | 96% | 94% |
| Family | 67% | 67% | 83% |
| Offshore Independent | 96% | 100% | 96% |
| Former Overseas Student | 98% |
Source: Third Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia
There were only very minor changes in self assessed English proficiency between wave one and wave two of LSIA 3. This is slightly surprising, English ability would be expected to improve significantly with an additional twelve months in Australia. Additional experiences of Australian life may have made some migrants more critical of their English ability at wave two.
At wave two of LSIA 3:
- Migrants rated their reading proficiency as being slightly better than their written and spoken proficiency
- Approximately one in six Family stream PAs still had poor English reading, writing and speaking skill
- Just over 40 per cent of migrants said that English was their best or only language. This figure was little changed from the wave one figure of 39 per cent.
There was quite extensive use of Adult Migrant English Programs by Family stream migrants in LSIA 3. With more than a quarter using these services in wave one and 18 per cent in wave two.
For those whose main language was not English:
- Chinese was the most commonly spoken language (spoken by 26 per cent of people whose main language was not English), followed by South East Asian languages (22 per cent) and European languages (21 per cent)
- People who mainly spoke Indo-Aryan languages and Dravidian languages had the best English proficiency with 93 per cent and 92 per cent respectively claiming to speak English well or very well. In comparison, 85 per cent of those who mainly spoke European languages spoke English well or better
- Just over 20 per cent of those surveyed came from a mostly English speaking country – ie UK, Canada, South Africa, Ireland or USA. People from these countries were most evident in the Onshore and Offshore Business/ENS/RSMS categories (51 per cent and 42 per cent respectively). In contrast only two per cent of former overseas students were from these countries.
Tables and charts for LSIA 3
There are five tables and charts available in PDF format:
See: Using PDF Files
- Spoken English Proficiency at wave one and wave two (13KB PDF file)
- English reading and writing proficiency, wave two (13KB PDF file)
- Languages spoken at wave one, by people whose main language is not English (13KB PDF file)
- Use of AMEP and TIS (10KB PDF file)
- Proportion who speak, read or write English well or better (14KB PDF file)