When we speak about literacy development in multilingual families, we often picture clear, parallel progress across all languages: a child learns to read in one language, then transfers those skills into the next. However, real multilingual development unfolds in waves, sometimes accelerating in one language while temporarily pausing in another.

The pattern of literacy development in which a learner’s reading and writing skills emerge and strengthen at different rates across their languages, is called asynchronous literacy. Understanding this phenomenon can be profoundly relieving for parents and educators who worry when a child appears late or uneven in one of their languages. As many researchers in multilingual development emphasize, asynchronous progression is not only typical, it can be an advantage.

Sabine Little brings this point to life. She highlights that children don’t grow their multilingual repertoire in identical blocks. Rather, their skills expand in response to the contexts, relationships, and opportunities each language offers. It is important to stress that literacy, far from being a fixed milestone, develops in ways that reflect a child’s lived multilingual experience. This insight helps us shift from comparing languages against each other to understanding how each language contributes to the child’s overall communicative world.

Let’s explore what asynchronous literacy can look like and why it is worth embracing.

What Asynchronous Literacy Looks Like

1. A child reads fluently in the school language but hesitates in the home language 

This situation is common in families where the school language dominates the child’s daily literacy environment. A child may read chapter books smoothly and confidently in the school language, yet pause, sound out, or guess more frequently when reading the home language. This discrepancy does not signal a weaker multilingual trajectory; it simply mirrors the child’s exposure.

The school language usually benefits from a rich literacy ecosystem: reading in class, guided reading, homework, library visits, reading buddies and daily print all around. In contrast, the home language may be dominant in conversations, songs and routines, but not consistently present in age-appropriate books or structured literacy activities. The child’s decoding and reading fluency therefore develop at different speeds in the two languages – not because one language is “harder”, but because the opportunities to practice differ.

Script transparency adds another layer. If the home language has an opaque orthography, where phoneme/sound-grapheme/symbol relationships are less predictable, decoding naturally takes more time. If it is a transparent language, the child may still need explicit opportunities to transfer decoding strategies from the school language. Either way, hesitation is a normal part of adjusting to a new set of literacy rules.

What looks like uneven reading ability is actually a reflection of context, exposure and orthographic characteristics. Once the child receives regular, meaningful literacy input in the home language – through shared reading, leveled texts, or translanguaging-friendly practices that connect both languages – their fluency grows steadily. Recognizing the child’s full linguistic repertoire allows us to support heir reading journey in both languages with confidence.

©Ute’s International Lounge & Academy 2025 (Asynchronous Literacy)

2. A child writes beautifully in the home language but avoids writing in the school language

This situation is the one of the most researched: children who have received formal literacy instruction in their heritage language before moving to another country and needing to develop proficiency in a new school language. When a child’s has a strong literacy identity in the home language but is still building proficiency in the school language, hesitation and insecurity can easily arise.

Because the school context requires the “other” language, the child’s actual abilities in comprehension and expression may be underestimated. This is not due to a lack of skill, but simply to the limited linguistic resources available in the new language.

Once the child feels understood – for example, by being allowed to connect both languages through translanguaging practices at school and at home – the transfer between the languages becomes a powerful support for learning. Bridging the two languages enables the child to draw on their full linguistic repertoire and progress with greater confidence.

3. A child reads in one alphabet but is still decoding in another

When a child learns a heritage language that uses a different script from the school language, their literacy journey naturally unfolds along two parallel timelines. Each script – whether alphabetic, abjadic, abugida, syllabary or logographic – taps into slightly different cognitive pathways. The pace of learning, the strategies the child uses, and even the confidence they feel can vary considerably from one script to the other. – You can find an explanation of the different scripts here.

This difference is often misinterpreted. Adults may assume that the child is behind in the school language because decoding is still effortful, or that reading in two scripts should progress at the same rate. But this interpretation overlooks the central point: mastering two writing systems is not a delay. It is a sophisticated task that requires the child to activate and coordinate multiple processing skills.

What sometimes appears as uneven progress is, in fact, a sign of remarkable cognitive flexibility. The child is not struggling: they are building two distinct literacy systems that will ultimately strengthen each other. Once educators and families recognize this and acknowledge the child’s full literacy repertoires, they can support transfer between scripts. Allowing the child to draw connections across their languages, for example, through translanguaging or script comparison activities, helps them consolidate decoding skills and reinforce metalinguistic awareness.

When we validate the child’s abilities in both scripts, we give them the space and confidence to grow into a truly multi-literate reader and writer.

Why Asynchronous Literacy Matters

The biggest risk for multilingual families is misinterpreting normal variation as a problem.

Sabine Little’s work reminds us that multilingual development is relational. Children develop each language for a purpose and within a meaningful context. When we view literacy through this lens, asynchronous patterns suddenly make sense:

• The language used for schoolwork becomes the quickest to develop academically.
• The language used for intimate family communication may develop more slowly in literacy but more richly in emotional expression.
• The language used with grandparents may flourish in oral tradition but appear “behind” in writing due to lack of instruction.

Instead of asking, “Why is my child not reading equally in all languages?” a more helpful question is:

“How does my child use each language, and how can I support literacy in ways that fit its purpose?”

Practical Ways to Support Asynchronous Literacy

1. Build literacy environments tailored to each language

You don’t need identical materials in each language. Instead, ask yourself what feels natural:

• Picture books or comics in the home language
• Audiobooks and subtitles in the school language
• Handwritten notes in the language used with extended family

This strengthens literacy in a purpose-driven way.

2. Accept that literacy transfer takes time

Skills learned in one language transfer – but not instantly! A child who easily reads English blends may need months before similar blends make sense in Dutch or German. This lag is normal and temporary.

– About the transfer of academic skills between languages, I invite you to read also this post. 

3. Make literacy relational, not just instructional

Sabine Little’s research emphasizes relationships in multilingual development. Turn literacy into shared experiences:

• Read together
• Talk about stories
• Exchange mini-letters within the family
• Create bilingual scrapbooks

When literacy connects with relationships, motivation grows naturally.

I invite you watch the videos with activities and games to foster reading and writing on our youtube channel Activities for Multilingual Families.

4. Celebrate progress in each language separately

Each language has its own timeline. Avoid comparing “levels” between them. Instead, track progress within each language. This maintains a positive, future-oriented mindset.

A Final Thought for Multilingual Families

Asynchronous literacy is not a problem to fix: it is a pattern to understand.

It reflects how your child engages with each language in real life, and it often signals healthy, dynamic growth. And please let us not forget neurodivergent children: they might struggle more with some scripts than others, which is perfectly understandable when we know what alternative solution to offer them in order to develop to their full potential! Never forget that audiobooks are books too, and represent a very valid alternative to the written texts. 

When we embrace the unique literacy profile of each multilingual child, we create space for confidence, curiosity, and long-term success. And in the end, that is what truly matters.

References:
Cambridge Handbook of Childhood Multilingualism (2025). Literacy development in the multilingual child: From speaking to writing (Chapter 16). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108669771.021

Engel de Abreu, P. M. J., Fricke, S., & Wealer, C. (2020). Effects of an early literacy intervention for linguistically diverse children: A quasi-experimental study. Frontiers in Psychology.

Lewis, B. P. (2024). Writing strategies for elementary multilingual writers: A systematic review. Education Sciences, 14(7), 759. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14070759

Little, S. (n.d.). Rivers of multilingual reading: How multilingual children negotiate reading across their languages. UK Literacy Association / Rivers of Multilingual Reading Project.

Little, S. (2017). Whose heritage? What inheritance?: Conceptualising family language identities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2017.1348463

Little, S. (2018). “Is there an app for that?” Exploring games and apps among heritage language families. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2018.1502776

Little, S., Günther-van der Meij, M., Kirsch, C., Usanova, I., & Duarte, J. (2021). Developing multilingual literacies – Views from four countries [Conference paper]. European Educational Research Association (EERA) Conference, Geneva.

Little, S. (2024). Rivers of multilingual reading: exploring biliteracy experiences among 8-13-year old heritage language readers. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(2), 323–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2021.1882472