DFG Walter Benjamin Postdoctoral Researcher, Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research (BIM), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Hi! I’m an educational scientist working on the inclusion of immigrant children into national education systems. Conceptually, I am particularly interested in curriculum development and instructional strategies in heterogeneous classrooms. Empirically, I use both qualitative and quantitative methods, with a focus on interview-, observation-, and text-based analysis, as well as pursue a growing interest in the analysis of large-scale educational monitoring data.
I received my doctorate from the Department of Educational Sciences at Middle East Technical University (METU) and was an affiliated PhD student with the Diversity in Education Research (DivER) group at University of Hamburg. In my dissertation, I conducted a cross-cultural mixed methods study on destination language education for newly arrived migrant children in Istanbul and Hamburg. Drawing on the ecological systems theory, the study examined the organization and delivery of destination language instruction in two constrasting contexts: a centralized education with limited resources and relatively recent experience with immigrant integration (Istanbul), and a decentralized, high-resource education system with a longer history of immigrant integration (Hamburg case). The study received the Best Dissertation Award from the Graduate School of Social Sciences at METU.
Currently, I lead a DFG-funded independent research project on the educational spillover effects of newly arrived migrant students in Germany. Previous studies examining the role of classroom composition and diversity in the German context have not distinguished between children with a migration background — many of whom were born in Germany and have completed all or a substantial part of their schooling there — and newly arrived migrant children, who have lived in Germany for only a few years. However, the influence of these two groups on classroom processes and on their classmates’ learning outcomes may differ significantly. This project therefore aims to investigate how the inclusion of newly arrived migrant children in mainstream classes is associated with the academic outcomes of existing students in Germany. The analyses are based on data from large-scale educational monitoring studies conducted in Germany.
- Newly arrived migrant children
- Curriculum and instruction of preparatory classes
- Inclusion in mainstream classes
- Destination language education
- Classroom (ethnic) composition
Received the DFG Walter Benjamin Postdoctoral Research Grant to lead my independent research project at the Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research (BIM), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
My doctoral dissertation on destination language education for newly arrived migrant students received the Best Doctoral Dissertation Award from Middle East Technical University, Ankara.