Refugee Displacement and Migration Impact Cross-Linguistic Transfer Between Arabic and English: Insights from Syrian Refugees

The role of migration experiences on first language (L1) and second language (L2) literacy and cross-linguistic transfer in refugee foreign language learners has recently received attention, but remains empirically underspecified. We investigated (1) migration-related ecological predictors of L1 reading; (2) within- and across-language predictors of reading; and (3) migration-related ecological moderators of cross-linguistic transfer from L1 phonological awareness (PA) to L2 reading. Our sample included 81 Syrian refugees between 10 and 17 years-old who resettled in Canada. Displacement in an Arabic-speaking country, shorter displacement durations, and older ages of L2 acquisition (L2 AoA) were associated with better L1 reading. Cross-linguistic transfer of phonological awareness (PA) to reading was overall greater in the L2-L1 direction, and migration experiences associated with better L1 reading were also associated with greater transfer in the L1-L2 direction. These findings highlight the need to understand refugees’ biliteracy in the context of their migration experiences.