There is increasing interest in the role of phonological awareness across languages. However, the role of phonological awareness in various languages may differ by features of the languages as well as by features of the speakers. The current meta-analysis catalogs these relations and examines factors that may have influenced how closely related these measures are between English and other languages. Studies were selected reporting cross-language correlations with English phonological measures involving children in preschool to upper elementary (ages 4-10 years). A random effects model of 101 correlations within 38 studies suggested that the cross-language correlation of phonological tasks is influenced heavily by the language used and to some extent by the linguistic grain size of the tasks used. Although no strong effect of age was found, variability across studies was significant, reflecting unexplained differences likely due to features unable to be modeled in the current sample. The present study suggests limitations in the current research base for drawing cross-language inferences.
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