Phonological awareness and reading proficiency in multilingual students aged 4-12 years: A systematic review.

The association between phonological awareness and reading proficiency in children has been elaborately researched. Children showing deficits in phonological awareness often experience delays in literacy acquisition (Moats, 1996; Protopapas et al., 2012). This research has mainly been conducted in monolingual settings, whereas in many countries, (student) populations become increasingly bilingual (Byers-Heinlein et al., 2019). Hence, many children learn to read in a language other than their home language (Kuo et al., 2016) and thus might not be familiar with the phonology of the language of instruction which in turn may affect their reading proficiency. This is especially true in Luxembourg, where over 60% of students do not speak the language of instruction at home. Although results concerning the relationship between bi/multilingualism and phonological awareness are mixed (Bar & Schaul, 2021; Bruck & Genesee, 1995; Grant et al., 2011, Kovelman et al., 2008), most research indicates a bilingual disadvantage in second language literacy skills (e.g.: Bar & Schaul, 2021; Hoffmann et al., 2018). However, the relationship between phonological awareness and reading has not been elaborately researched in bi/multilingual populations and its nature is unclear (Chiappe et al., 2002).
The current study aims to provide an overview of existing empirical research on the relationship between phonological awareness skills and reading in mono- vs. multilingual children. More specifically, the study aims to establish whether the relationship between phonological awareness and reading skills is affected by a multilingual language background of children. We conducted a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines (Page et al., 2021). The initial search resulted in 708 papers, of which 52 were retained after removing duplicates and abstract screening. We are currently in the process of screening the full texts before coding and summarising the results, which we hope to present at LuxERA.