Quality of English Language Learner Literacy Instruction Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Navigating Virtual Learning: Insight From Bilingual Teachers, Programs, and Parents

Abstract

This mixed-methods study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on ELL literacy instruction across four Indiana school districts, by comparing lesson videos and rubric scores collected in 2018 (n=7) and 2019 (n=9) with those during the pandemic in 2020 (n=19). Findings demonstrate schools made efforts to offer quality literacy instruction within socially distanced classroom instruction or synchronous virtual lessons. However, during the pandemic teachers spent less time on two key literacy components: vocabulary and comprehension, and less time in small group/pair activities with lower rubric scores on developing ELLs’ oral language. As vocabulary and comprehension facilitated through peer interaction are central to quality literacy instruction, the absence of these areas illuminates the pandemic’s impacts on ELLs’ literacy and language development.

Authors

• Haiyan Li, Purdue University

• Wayne E. Wright, Purdue University

• Trish Morita-Mullaney, Purdue University