Early Predictors of Oral Language and Literacy in Second Language Learners

In this project, 132 linguistically diverse children in Luxembourg were followed, tracking their progress from preschool through to grade 2 of elementary school. The study aimed to uncover whether early foundational skills, such as phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, and vocabulary, can predict literacy success across languages in a multilingual educational setting. Additionally, the project explored cross-language transfer among children attending multilingual public schools in Luxembourg, where Luxembourgish is the primary language of instruction in preschool, and German is the main instructional language in elementary school. Each year, the children were assessed in different languages, with measures including phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, working memory, rapid automatized naming, and vocabulary. Literacy skills were evaluated in German, the primary language of reading instruction in elementary school in Luxembourg. Using advanced statistical methods, including linear mixed models and path modeling, the project examined how foundational skills influenced literacy outcomes in both monolingual and dual language learners. The results revealed that phonological awareness in Luxembourgish was the strongest predictor of literacy skills in German. Additionally, vocabulary proficiency in Luxembourgish during preschool was a significant predictor of later German language proficiency for all children, regardless of whether they were monolingual or dual language learners. Dual language learners with weak Luxembourgish vocabulary in kindergarten were found to also exhibit lower German language proficiency in elementary school. Project findings suggest that literacy development in a second language relies on similar foundational skills as in a first language, especially when the languages are typologically closely related. The project also provides strong evidence for cross-language transfer between Luxembourgish and German, highlighting the importance of language transfer and facilitation effects in shaping effective multilingual education practices in Luxembourg’s schools.