Home Practice and Early Academics of Young Immigrant DLLs: Before and During the Pandemic

• In Event: Equitably Supporting the Academic Achievement of Multilingual Learners in the United States

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this longitudinal study is to determine the changes in oral proficiency, home practices, and executive function (EF) of young Chinese-American (CA) and Mexican-American (MA) dual language learners (DLLs) from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we examined their name writing, letter naming, and math ability after being out of school since March 2020.

Theoretical Framework
CA and MA are the fastest-growing immigrant populations in California (Pew Research Center, 2014), yet there is a dearth of research about these groups and how DLLs develop early academic skills. In addition to causing school closures, the pandemic exacerbated unemployment, xenophobia, and lack of access to healthcare which all significantly impacted the educational trajectories of low-income immigrant communities (OECD, 2020). The integrative risk and resilience model (Suárez-Orozco et al., 2018) provides a framework to understand the risks and resilience of DLLs as they adapt to their host communities and the pandemic.

Methods
In 2019, 49 DLLs (18 MA; 28 CA) from low-income immigrant families were recruited from Head Start programs in Northern California when they were ages three to four. Follow-up data was collected 1.5 years later during COVID-19 pandemic from fall 2020 to spring of 2021. Due to the pandemic, participating children had been out of school since March 2020. At Time 2, 30 (12 MA) were in kindergarten and 16 (6 MA) were in first grade.

Data Sources
At both timepoints, English and heritage language (HL) oral proficiency using the Picture Vocabulary and Oral Comprehension subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson, 4th Edition, Tests of Oral Language (Schrank et al., 2014a), EF using the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (Cameron et al., 2008), and home literacy practices using parental questionnaires were collected. At Time 2, name writing, letter-naming, and math with the Applied Problems subtest from the Woodcock-Johnson 4th Edition, Tests of Achievement (Schrank et al., 2014b) were collected.

Results
Results show that English picture vocabulary did not significantly change from Time 1 to 2, but English oral comprehension, HL picture vocabulary, HL oral comprehension and EF increased significantly. Half of the MA and CA DLLs wrote their names with total accuracy. The majority of the children knew their uppercase letters and some of their lowercase letters, but CA DLLs scored higher. Both MA and CA DLLs scored within one standard deviation from published age-matched mean for math skills. Repeated measures ANOVA showed that both groups decreased in home English reading but increased in home English learning activities during the pandemic. HL book reading and media exposure was higher for MA DLLs while English media exposure was higher for CA DLLs during the pandemic.

Significance
The findings suggest that, despite being out of school, DLLs improved their EF and HL proficiency. Moreover, although English vocabulary remained unchanged, English oral comprehension increased and many DLLs knew their letters and acquired age-equivalent math skills. This study reveals the similarities in the two immigrant groups and suggests the importance of remote learning, teacher outreach, and parent engagement. Implications for classrooms and home will be discussed.

Authors

• Emily Mak, University of California - Davis

• Sabina Simon, University of California - Davis

• Jade Lee, University of California - Davis

• Qing Zhou, University of California - Berkeley

• Yuuko Uchikoshi, University of California - Davis