The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of certain individual and sociodemographic variables on the communicative competence in Spanish of a group of immigrant adults living in Madrid. To this end, their scores in the Diploma LETRA were analyzed applying a mixed methods research design (correlational and between-subjects design). The main results were as follows: (a) younger participants tended to obtain higher scores in the reading comprehension section, whereas the older ones achieved higher scores in the writing section; (b) length of stay in Spain correlated in a positive and statistically significant manner with reading comprehension, speaking, writing, as well as the overall performance of the participants in the Diploma LETRA; (c) literacy level in the first language had a significant impact on almost every skill assessed by the Diploma LETRA, except for oral skills; (d) in general, native speakers of Romanian, Balto-slavic and Afroasiatic languages obtained higher scores in most of the sections of the Diploma LETRA; in addition, in the writing section, native speakers of Romanian languages performed significantly higher compared to the other two groups. © 2018 Universidad Complutense de Madrid. All rights reserved.

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