Project: Multilingual Literacy Development
Lead Institution: Global Phonics & Literacy Research Centre (GPLRC)

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Executive Summary

The Phonics for Multilingual Classrooms project addresses the growing need for effective literacy instruction models that accommodate the complexities of multilingual learners. As classrooms around the world become increasingly linguistically diverse, traditional phonics approaches designed for monolingual settings often fall short in meeting students’ varied language backgrounds. This initiative develops adaptable phonics teaching frameworks and innovative digital resources that explicitly support language transfer and cross-linguistic connections, empowering learners to build literacy skills across multiple languages simultaneously.

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1. Background & Rationale

Multilingual learners face unique challenges and opportunities in literacy acquisition. While they bring rich linguistic repertoires, they often navigate different phonological systems, writing scripts, and orthographic rules. These factors influence how they decode and comprehend texts in each language. Yet, current phonics instruction models frequently do not leverage multilingualism as an asset but treat additional languages as barriers to be overcome.

Research shows that when phonics instruction explicitly connects to learners’ first language(s), it can facilitate transfer of phonological awareness, decoding skills, and vocabulary acquisition—accelerating literacy development across languages. The Phonics for Multilingual Classrooms project builds on this evidence by designing teaching strategies and digital tools that embrace learners’ multilingualism as a strength rather than a challenge.

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2. Project Objectives

1. Design Multilingual Phonics Frameworks: Develop adaptable instructional models that incorporate cross-linguistic transfer principles for diverse language pairs and classroom contexts.
2. Create Digital Resources: Build interactive tools such as multilingual decodable readers, comparative phoneme charts, and adaptive exercises to scaffold learners’ literacy skills.
3. Conduct Classroom Trials: Pilot frameworks and digital tools in multilingual schools across partner countries to evaluate effectiveness and inform iterative improvements.
4. Train Educators: Provide professional development programmes to help teachers understand multilingual phonics principles and effectively implement resources.
5. Support Policy Development: Generate evidence-based recommendations for curriculum designers and policymakers to integrate multilingual phonics approaches in formal education systems.

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3. Understanding Multilingual Literacy

Multilingual literacy development involves simultaneous or sequential acquisition of reading and writing skills in two or more languages. Key considerations include:

• Phonological Awareness Across Languages: Recognizing that phoneme sets may overlap or differ, and that metalinguistic awareness can support transfer.
• Orthographic Variation: Differences in alphabetic, syllabic, or logographic writing systems influence decoding strategies.
• Cognitive Flexibility: Multilingual learners often develop enhanced executive function skills that can aid in literacy tasks.
• Sociocultural Factors: Identity, motivation, and language attitudes affect engagement and persistence in literacy learning.

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4. Research Design & Methodology

4.1 Participating Contexts

The project includes schools with multilingual populations in:

• China: Cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, and Shenyang
• Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur
• Thailand: Bangkok
• United Kingdom: Cambridge, London, Oxford, Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Southampton
• Australia: City of Wollongong
• Spain: Madrid

4.2 Research Methods

• Classroom Observations: Document phonics instruction practices in multilingual settings.
• Interviews & Focus Groups: Gather insights from teachers, students, and parents about literacy experiences and challenges.
• Student Assessments: Measure decoding, fluency, and comprehension in multiple languages.
• Resource Co-Design Workshops: Collaborate with educators to tailor frameworks and tools to local linguistic profiles.

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5. Digital Resource Development

Key digital innovations include:

• Multilingual Decodable Readers: Texts designed with controlled phoneme sets applicable to learners’ home and target languages.
• Phoneme Comparison Charts: Interactive tools visualizing phonological similarities and differences across languages.
• Adaptive Phonics Exercises: AI-driven activities that adjust to learner progress and language background.
• Teacher Dashboards: Real-time monitoring tools to support instructional decisions in multilingual classrooms.

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6. Teacher Training & Capacity Building

Educator support is central to successful implementation. Training focuses on:

• Understanding linguistic features of learners’ languages.
• Strategies to promote cross-linguistic transfer and metalinguistic awareness.
• Effective use of digital resources.
• Differentiation techniques for mixed-proficiency multilingual groups.

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7. Expected Outcomes & Impact

• Enhanced literacy outcomes in multiple languages for multilingual learners.
• Increased teacher confidence and competence in multilingual phonics instruction.
• Development of scalable teaching frameworks and resources adaptable to diverse multilingual contexts.
• Policy guidance supporting inclusive and equitable literacy education worldwide.

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8. Sustainability & Future Directions

Post-research, the project will:

• Integrate multilingual phonics models into teacher training curricula at Smart Rudder and partner institutions.
• Publish open-access resources and best practice guides.
• Expand digital tools with multilingual language pairs and additional language families.
• Foster ongoing international collaboration to refine and disseminate innovations.

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9. Call for Collaboration

We invite educational institutions, researchers, policymakers, and technology partners to collaborate on Phonics for Multilingual Classrooms to create inclusive, effective literacy solutions that harness the power of multilingualism.

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