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Due to globalisation and migration, multilingualism has become both a reality and an aim of education systems across Europe, affecting how language education is shaped. To improve the ways in which schools cater for language education in diverse settings, research is required on the potentials of multilingualism in order to design curricula that foster skills in different languages. This paper aims at identifying and explaining research priorities in the field of multilingualism and language education in a cross-national perspective. It draws on data from a survey with 298 expert participants in five European countries (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain) who ranked preidentified research topics in relation to their perceived urgency. Results show that experts identified 'effectiveness of multilingual support in regular lessons', 'features of multilingual didactics' and 'effectiveness of literacy support in home languages on the development of academic language skills in the majority language' as having the highest research priority overall. However, these results vary across national settings investigated. While the German, Dutch and Portuguese respondents attributed urgency to research on academic language skills, other issues were rated higher in the Spanish and Italian research contexts. The advantages and limitations of conducting cross-national research are also addressed.

ResumenEsta investigación analiza y describe los hábitos lectoescritores de los estudiantes universitarios dentro y fuera de las aulas. Para ello, nos hemos apoyado en la información proporcionada por los estudiantes que ha sido recogida a través de dos cuestionarios: uno de naturaleza descriptiva aplicado a una muestra de trescientos estudiantes de dos programas de Grado de la Universidad de Sevilla; el otro, de carácter específico (con tres versiones diferentes) completado por tres submuestras elegidas en función de las respuestas de los estudiantes al primer cuestionario. El análisis de dichas respuestas nos ha permitido determinar la existencia de tres perfiles representativos que describen los hábitos lectoescritores de los estudiantes: escritores/lectores segmentados, lectores privados y escritores/lectores instrumentales. Estos perfiles indican que los estudiantes tienen dificultades para acceder a un pensamiento propio capaz de generar conocimiento. Los resultados obtenidos no sólo muestran importantes carencias en el proceso de alfabetización académica sino que plantean interrogantes sobre el modo en que se está llevando a cabo dicho proceso en el ámbito de la educación universitaria. Palabras claveEducación superior; multiliteracidad; hábitos lectores; habilidades de escritura.

Phonics is well established in the English-speaking world, but to date it has beenimplemented to only a limited extent in contexts where English is a foreign language.This study aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of phonics for developing literacy skills of Spanishlearners of English. An experimental pre-test – post-test design was used to determine the method’sadded value. The sample consisted of two equivalent groups in a Spanish bilingual state primaryschool, a control and a treatment group, where a phonic method was implemented by the researcher.Data were collected through tests measuring emergent Spanish and English literacy skills. Non-parametric tests and correlations were used for data analysis.The treatment group presented a significant improvement in phonological awareness, naming andletter and pseudo-word reading in the Spanish and English post-test. These 7-year-old childrenattained a level in English literacy skills equivalent to English children aged 5.8. The findings alsosuggested a positive transference of skills between English word reading and Spanish pseudo-wordreading.The present study can serve as a possible proposal to help improve our Spanish bilingual programmesthrough the use of phonics in the early years in order to increase learners’ English reading level.