Independent contributions of language and media exposure to language and literacy acquisition in Luxembourg: Findings from a large-scale study

Instruction language comprehension is crucial for students' literacy acquisition and further learning development. In the multilingual context of Luxembourg, many students struggle with reaching language and literacy skills in German, a non-native language for most students (Hornung et al., 2021).

A critical factor that shapes children's receptive language skills is the extent of language and literacy experiences at home and in childcare. For example, the amount of speech children hear from their parents predicts their language skills (Goodman et al., 2008). Furthermore, frequent literacy activities at home, such as being read to or listening to stories, foster children's early language skills. Some studies even suggest that the quantity and quality of these literacy experiences may be beneficial independently of the spoken language (Højen et al., 2021).

We used large-scale data of 6.340 first graders from ÉpStan 2023. Data includes standardized tests on listening comprehension in Luxembourgish and German, and parent questionnaires on family background and language exposure. We investigate
1) how home language groups differ in their language and media exposure, and the children's listening comprehension in the instruction languages,
2) whether factors of language and literacy environment at home are associated with listening comprehension,
3) whether the frequency of literacy activities is associated with listening comprehension, independently of language.

We expect different patterns of exposure to media, literacy, and language activities for different home language groups. Furthermore, we anticipate a positive association between the amount of instruction language and literacy exposure at home and listening comprehension in Luxembourgish and German. Findings will be discussed in light of implications for literacy and learning activities at home, in childcare, and in school.

References

Goodman, J. C., Dale, P. S., & Li, P. (2008). Does frequency count? Parental input and the acquisition of vocabulary. Journal of Child Language, 35(3), 515–531. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000907008641

Højen, A., Hoff, E., Bleses, D., & Dale, P. S. (2021). The relation of home literacy environments to language and preliteracy skills in single- and dual-language children in Danish childcare. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 55, 312–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.12.007

Hornung, C., Wollschläger, R., Keller, U., Esch, P., Muller, C., & Fischbach, A. (2021). Neue längsschnittliche Befunde aus dem nationalen Bildungsmonitoring ÉpStan in der 1. Und 3. Klasse: Negativer Trend in der Kompetenzentwicklung und kein Erfolg bei Klassenwiederholungen. In LUCET & SCRIPT (Eds.), Nationaler Bildungsbericht Luxemburg 2021 (pp. 44–55). LUCET & SCRIPT.