Newly arrived students constitute a heterogeneous group, acquiring different languages at varying points in time and in various contexts. Additionally, the schooling models they pass through upon arrival in Germany are not uniform (cf. Massumi et al. 2015).

To explore the factors influencing students’ language skills, the goal of the survey was to collect demographic, language- and school-related information. The team developed a web-based self-report questionnaire. A newly developed tool was necessary because at the time of conception of the study there was no adequate instrument tailored for use with this specific target group and customizable to the study’s interests.

Using this novel instrument, students are surveyed about their language use, self-assessed language skills, and English language education. Additionally, newly arrived students are queried about their migration to Germany, their acquisition and use of the German language, and schooling before arriving in Germany. The gathered data will be used in analyses of both German and English skills, including metalinguistic abilities.

Furthermore, we will investigate patterns of inconsistent, invalid, implausible and missing responses in our questionnaire data. The goal is to reflect on practical, methodical and methodological aspects of using self-report questionnaires in research with this target population. The project findings will contribute valuable insights and conclusions for future data collections with newly arrived students.