Cross-linguistic Sharing of Morphological Awareness in Biliteracy Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Correlation Coefficients

Abstract

This study examined the cross-linguistic sharing of morphological awareness (MA) in biliteracy development. The analysis included 34 correlational studies with 40 independent samples (N = 4,056). Correlational coefficients were meta-analyzed, yielding four main findings: (1) the correlation between first language (L1) and second language (L2) MA was small (r = 0.30). (2) The interlingual correlations between L1 MA and L2 word decoding and between L1 MA and L2 reading comprehension were both small (respective r = 0.35, 0.39). (3) The intralingual correlations between L2 MA and L2 word decoding and between L2 MA and L2 reading comprehension were both moderate (r = 0.45, 0.52). (4) MA measurement type and age were significant moderators. Our review suggested that there is a need for future research to align the definition and measurement of MA as a multifaceted construct, and pay equal attention to its contributions to both word decoding and reading comprehension.