A great deal of research has been invested in literacy acquisition and the reasons why literacy acquisition is
a complex process for some. Spelling research and successful interventions have mainly focused on English
speaking children, although a significant number of studies have addressed writing systems other than
English in recent years (O’Brien et al., 2020). Understanding literacy acquisition and language performance
not only in monolingual children (Pan, Rickard and Bjork, 2021) but also in bilingual children is important, as
bilingualism and biliteracy are becoming the norm rather than the exception (Kormos, 2017). Transfer effects
between languages can affect the way we learn to spell (Niolaki and Masterson, 2012). Transfer effects
are meant to be the bi- or unidirectional influence of language and cognitive skills between the languages
a learner is literate in (Figueredo, 2006; Koda, 2008). In addition, usually, interventions target phonological
ability, but these are not always effective for older learners or individuals who do not have a phonological
difficulty (Niolaki, Masterson and Terzopoulos, 2014). We present the successful interventions we conducted
with bilingual and monolingual learners targeting spelling and using visual imagery and flashcard techniques.
We also discuss the importance of a detailed background assessment of the languages the individual is
literate in, in order to tailor effective intervention. We hope that specialist dyslexia assessors and tutors will
find these techniques helpful, and these will serve as an alternative way to strengthen spelling in multilingual
and monolingual learners