Home language and the relationship between phonological awareness and reading

A challenge for beginning readers is learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (Clemens et al., 2023; Frith, 1986), which requires recognizing letters and linking them to sounds, supported by phonological awareness. Research indicates that reading and phonological awareness (Goswami, 1997; Wagner & Torgesen, 1987), are associated in children speaking the language of literacy instruction at home (Anthony & Francis, 2005; Bus & van IJzendoorn, 1999). However, it is unclear if this applies when children learn to read in a language other than their home language (Chiappe et al., 2002).
This is particularly relevant in Luxembourg, where children typically learn to read in German, but only 34% of children speak German or the closely related Luxembourgish at home (MENJE, 2024). Limited exposure to German or Luxembourgish may hinder phoneme discrimination affecting phonological awareness and in turn reading ability (Brice & Brice, 2009).
This study examined whether the relationship between phonological awareness and reading varied by home language. We expected a stronger relationship for children exposed to Luxembourgish or German at home than for others. The sample included 664 children across all 15 Luxembourgish school districts who received 2 years of German literacy instruction (grade 3.1) and completed measures of phoneme deletion and German (non)word reading accuracy. 288 children spoke Luxembourgish or German at home. Results of linear regression analyses revealed that although phonological awareness and home language explained 23% of variance in word reading and 19% in nonword reading, the interaction effect was not significant.
Contrary to expectations, the strength of the association between phonological awareness and reading was similar in both language groups. It could be that if children have been enrolled in the Luxembourgish school system since kindergarten, they all establish a similar relation between phonological awareness and reading in German. Another explanation may be that in the multilingual context of Luxembourg, all children are to some extent exposed to other languages than the language of literacy instruction, which results in comparable relationships between phonological awareness and reading across all children.
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