Heterogeneity at school entry in socially disadvantaged contexts: Early literacy and multilingualism in focus

In a two-year longitudinal study, 117 children in their first year of school were assessed at 13 measurement points on precursor skills, vocabulary and literacy competencies. The analyses show a close relationship between early literacy-related competencies (early literacy) and later reading and spelling performance.
The sample is linguistically heterogeneous: over 60% of the children (N =70) are growing up multilingual, 38 of them with German as a second language (acquisition after the age of 3). Differences are evident in vocabulary, particularly between children with German as a second language and those growing up monolingually or as simultaneous bilinguals; however, no significant group differences were found in early literacy skills related to written language.