Administrative Supplement for 2020-2021 "Impact of COVID-19 on Language and Literacy Development of Young School-Age Dual Language Learners"

University Of Texas San Antonio, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY AND NARRATIVE The sudden closure of schools globally has affected over 91% of students around the world (Holmes, 2020). In the United States, the pandemic has had a stronger negative impact on school-aged children from certain groups, in particular dual language learner (DLL) children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds (Tulsa SEED Study Team, 2020; UTSA Urban Education Institute, 2000a, 2000b; Yip, 2000). This supplement project thus aims to examine the impact of changes in the environment associated with COVID-19 on the language and literacy development of this vulnerable population ? young school-age DLL children from low- income families. The proposed research will leverage an existing dataset of DLL children from the first year of data collection of my ongoing SCORE project. Specifically, I will retest the 112 DLL children who participated in the SCORE project pre-pandemic in Fall 2019. I had collected data about these children?s language and literacy environment from teacher report, parent interviews, and children?s self-report. I had also measured their English and Spanish proficiency as well as their English reading development. I propose to collect the same set of data from this sample this winter to document changes in their language and literacy environment and outcomes prior to and subsequent to the COVID-19. The proposed one-year study will pursue three aims: Aim 1: Document the changes in DLL children?s language and literacy environment; Aim 2: Examine the impact of the changes in the environment on DLL children?s language and literacy development; Aim 3: Investigate the impact of the changes in the environment on the language and reading relationship patterns. The proposed study is well-positioned to afford us a better understanding of the mechanisms of COVID-19?s impact on language and literacy development. The results also have practical implications for creating support for the education and development of a vulnerable child population during the pandemic.