In multilingual sub-Saharan African countries, many children attend school and learn to read in a language that they do not speak at home. This mismatch between home and school language may contribute to poor learning outcomes, including low literacy rates. Bilingual education that includes a local language of instruction has become more prevalent in an effort to improve primary school children's learning. Indeed, high-quality bilingual programs are associated with favorable language, literacy, and learning outcomes (Berens et al., 2013;Bühmann & Trudell, 2007;Takam & Fassé, 2020). Yet, little is known about how home and school language environments support skilled reading in multilingual communities with low literacy rates. In this study, we assessed primary school children's (N = 830) French and local language (Abidji, Attié, Baoulé, Bété) phonological awareness, vocabulary, and oral language comprehension skills and French reading skills. Further, we explored differences in quality between monolingual French and bilingual local language-French schools that may contribute to differences in children's language and literacy performance. We found that bilingual local language-French homes were associated with better language outcomes than local language-only homes, reflecting advantages associated with early bilingual exposure. On the other hand, monolingual French schools were associated with better language and literacy outcomes than bilingual local language-French schools. We found that monolingual French schools were of higher quality than bilingual schools, likely contributing to the discrepancies in language and literacy results. Our results emphasize the importance of monitoring program quality to allow children to reap the benefits associated with bilingual education. Educational Impact and Implications StatementThe present study suggests that bilingual home environments (French-Ivorian language) are advantageous for children's spoken Ivorian language skills and for their French literacy skills. However, children from monolingual French schools had better spoken language and literacy skills overall than children from bilingual schools. Monolingual schools had access to better resources and greater support, indicating that high quality education is important for children's literacy outcomes.

Phonological awareness (PA) is an important predictor and outcome of reading. Yet, little is known about the reciprocal relation between PA and reading across development without consistent reading experience (e.g., due to limited access to quality education and late enrolment in school). We tested the hypothesis that variable reading experience in childhood influences neural activation in regions involved in language and reading processing—left frontal and temporoparietal cortex. Sixty-nine primary-school children (Mage=10.4) from rural low-literacy communities in Côte d’Ivoire completed a PA task while undergoing fNIRS neuroimaging and a reading battery. We observed differences in left inferior frontal and bilateral temporoparietal activation for younger versus older children with similar reading skills, suggesting neural activation for phonological processing depends on the age when children have reading experience. Without consistent access to quality education, children may miss out on reciprocal interactions between phonological processing and reading shaping language processing in the brain.

We examined neural activation patterns underlying phonemic discrimination in a spoken language in deaf CI users (N=18, age=18-24 years) who were exposed to a signed language at different ages and in hearing individuals (N=18, age=18-21 years). In deaf CI users, early-life language exposure, irrespective of modality, was associated with greater neural activation of language areas that are critically involved in phonological processing. For deaf CI users with later age of implantation, early age of exposure to a signed language was associated with increased activation in the left hemisphere’s classic language regions for native language (English) versus non-native language (Hindi) phonemic contrasts. For deaf CI users with earlier age of implantation, no significant change related to the age of exposure to a signed language was observed. These findings lend support to the hypothesis that early sign exposure does not negatively impact language processing in a spoken language in deaf CI users but may potentially offset the negative effects of language deprivation that children without any sign language exposure experience prior to implantation.

We examined neural activation patterns underlying phonemic discrimination in a spoken language in deaf CI users (N=18, age=18-24 years) who were exposed to a signed language at different ages and in hearing individuals (N=18, age=18-21 years). In deaf CI users, early-life language exposure, irrespective of modality, was associated with greater neural activation of language areas that are critically involved in phonological processing. For deaf CI users with later age of implantation, early age of exposure to a signed language was associated with increased activation in the left hemisphere’s classic language regions for native language (English) versus non-native language (Hindi) phonemic contrasts. For deaf CI users with earlier age of implantation, no significant change related to the age of exposure to a signed language was observed. These findings lend support to the hypothesis that early sign exposure does not negatively impact language processing in a spoken language in deaf CI users but may potentially offset the negative effects of language deprivation that children without any sign language exposure experience prior to implantation.