Between- and within-school tracking and literacy skills of multilingual young adults: A cross-national comparative study

Abstract

This study investigates how school tracking is related to the literacy skills of multilingual immigrant young adults in 17 countries participating in the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Our results revealed that between-school tracking was negatively related; within-school tracking—ability grouping for some subjects but not for all—was positively related to multilingual immigrant learners. Multilingual immigrant learners tended to perform better in educational systems with less external differentiation and some degree of ability grouping for certain subjects. It suggests that differentiated instruction was only beneficial when implemented in a limited and less segregated manner. We underline the importance of inclusive and flexible learning environments and pathways to mitigate the inevitable initial disadvantages faced by this group of multilingual learners.