In the last decade, a growing number of schools have begun implementing dual language education (DLE), and studies have shown evidence of the benefits of DLE for elementary education students. However, existing research syntheses do not focus on DLE in the early years (pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten), considering young bilingual children’s development and learning characteristics. In this paper, a novel conceptual framework is used to explore the extant literature on DLE in the early years moving beyond Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to consider additional characteristics relating to bilingual children’s development and learning. A systematic literature review was conducted following a rigorous procedure, resulting in nine studies that met the inclusion criteria. Information about each study was coded and analyzed. The results describe the studies’ sample characteristics, research design, and findings organized by students’ academic skills (i.e., language, literacy, and mathematics), dual language classroom practices, and parents’ perceptions of DLE. This paper highlights current knowledge of DLE programs in the early years, identifies gaps, and offers recommendations for future research, policy, and practice.

The presence of culturally and linguistically diverse children increases in early education classrooms worldwide. In monolingual education settings, multilingual children are at a disadvantage regarding their learning opportunities compared to monolingual children. Knowledge about how monolingual educators support children in a multilingual classroom has not been systematized yet. The present scoping review aims to synthesize the existing empirical evidence on (a) characteristics of the learning environment of monolingual teachers with multilingual children and (b) how teacher characteristics relate to the learning environment characteristics in early education institutions worldwide. The inclusion criteria used in this review included articles that report empirical evidence from 1990 to 2024, with multilingual children aged 0–6 of minoritized languages and monolingual teacher practices within a naturalist environment. Subsequently, through the PRISMA-ScR method on the articles found in the WOS and SCIELO databases, 40 articles were included with qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods designs. The results showed that in the Latin American context, culturally responsive practices are scarce for bilingual children with immigrant backgrounds. In the USA and European contexts, educators are more likely to implement activities that include children’s L1, even if they have limited knowledge of that language. The international perspective of this review allows us to identify contributions and challenges in different geographic regions.