Systematic review on pre-service and in-service primary school teachers’ beliefs on multilingualism: A qualitative thematic review and a quantitative meta-analysis
Polat S, Lange SD (2025)
Publication Type: Journal article, Review article
Publication year: 2025
Journal
Book Volume: 13
Article Number: e70046
Journal Issue: 1
DOI: 10.1002/rev3.70046
Abstract
The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to closely examine the research on the beliefs of pre-service and in-service primary school teachers on multilingualism. A comprehensive review of published international literature was conducted based on an online search using Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ, APA PsycINFO and ERIC using specific inclusion and exclusion criteria; 2100 articles were found, with 48 of these articles being included in the final corpus. A thematic analysis shows that the beliefs of the (pre-service and in-service) primary school teachers can be classified into three categories: beliefs regarding the family languages, the language of instruction and the advantages of multilingualism for children. Teachers who see multilingualism as a resource for their teaching used translanguaging, digital tools and family language support strategies. The concerns relate to material acquisition, academic regression and delayed language of instruction acquisition. The meta-analysis shows significant influence of external factors (such as participation in seminars, school atmosphere and teachers’ experiences with multilingual students) on the teachers’ beliefs on multilingualism. Context and implications Rationale for this study: With this review the growing body of research on teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism is examined, trends and gaps in the field are identified, and an overview of the methodologies used are provided. Why the new findings matter: The review presents findings on the factors influencing the pre-service and in-service primary school teachers’ beliefs on multilingualism and their beliefs about multilingualism in the classroom. It highlights several avenues for further research related to primary school teachers’ beliefs on multilingualism, especially at the pre-service level. Implications for researchers and educational institutions: Increasing students’ awareness of multilingualism depends largely on teachers’ beliefs on multilingualism and school cultures. Therefore, it is recommended that schools and teachers adopt multilingual rather than monolingual education approaches. It is also implicated that researchers should conduct empirical studies on this issue so that it will be possible to measure how different educational programmes affect teachers’ beliefs and practices about multilingualism-related beliefs and practices.
Involved external institutions
Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Polat, S., & Lange, S.D. (2025). Systematic review on pre-service and in-service primary school teachers’ beliefs on multilingualism: A qualitative thematic review and a quantitative meta-analysis. Review of Education, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.70046
MLA:
Polat, Seyat, and Sarah Désirée Lange. "Systematic review on pre-service and in-service primary school teachers’ beliefs on multilingualism: A qualitative thematic review and a quantitative meta-analysis." Review of Education 13.1 (2025).
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