Profiles of multilingual spelling skills in secondary school students in Germany

This study examines the understudied domain of multilingual spelling development during adolescence. We utilise data from the German MEZ panel study to examine spelling proficiency in multiple languages (German, Russian, Turkish, English, and French) among secondary school students. Our research addresses two primary questions: (1) Which multilingual spelling profiles can be identified in secondary school students? (2) How do these profiles evolve? We analyse data from a longitudinal sample (n = 171) of monolingual German, German-Russian, and German-Turkish secondary students. The study reveals significant variability in spelling error rates and types across languages, with the highest error rates in the heritage languages (Russian, Turkish) and the lowest in the majority language (German). Additionally, we identify two distinct multilingual spelling profiles, suggesting that better spelling skills in one language relate to better skills across the multilingual repertoire. Our findings corroborate previous research indicating that multilingual spelling competence comprises both language-specific and overarching components. This study contributes to the understanding of multilingual writing as a multidimensional construct and highlights the need for future research to investigate language-overarching skills as a resource that promotes multiliteracy.