An inventory of language skills at school start. Which factors explain differences in Swedish among mono- and multilingual children?

Today, as a consequence of mobility and migration, a great number of children are learning society’s majority language alongside with other languages. A vast body of research is pointing towards unequal preconditions for children in multilingual and lower SES areas. Yet, no Swedish study has investigated children´s language skills quantitatively.

Also, international as well as national research on factors affecting language development in multilingual settings is fragmental.

The proposed study aims at addressing these issues by recruiting 500 6-year-old children in classrooms with varying proportions of mono- and multilingual children.

Children are tested at the beginning and end of preschool class (“förskoleklass”) using a testing kit that provides quantitative measures of vocabulary, morphosyntax, and pragmatics.

The study investigates majority language skills in mono- and multilingual children at school entry and whether and to what extent the first school year compensates for potential differences.

Factors argued to affect majority language skills (e.g., socioeconomic background, preschool attendance, exposure to majority language, teachers´ language competence and education) are identified.

Results provide an inventory of mono- and multilingual children’s language skills, investigate whether the first compulsory school year increases L2 children’s Swedish skills, and improve our understanding of the most important factors for majority language learning.