by Hannah Merseal, Deyanira Moya, and Amy Lebkuecher
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many educators and students to rapidly transition from in-person classrooms to a virtual learning environment. This rapid shift was stressful for both educators and students1, but it has proved especially challenging for multilingual K-12 students learning English in school (officially known as “English Language Learners” or “ELLs”). For these students, language barriers and reduced access to reliable technology have exacerbated difficulties with learning English2,3,4. But while the shift to online learning was accompanied by a unique set of new obstacles to language learning, it also ushered in a wave of innovation attempting to improve the quality of online learning (see https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/distance-learning-ells-introduction for some resources and examples). For instance, in redesigning their courses to fit the online medium, many educators integrated insights from research on both online and in-person ELL pedagogy, a move which could have a lasting positive impact not only for ELL instruction, but also online language learning environments such as Penn State World campus courses. In this research summary, we discuss some of the challenges faced by ELL students and their instructors in an online learning format, and we share some of the innovations and insights that have emerged as a result.
Transitioning from face-to-face instruction to online course design can be challenging. Barber, Williams and Adams5 suggest some important factors to consider. First, they suggest varying instructional strategies and breaking learning tasks into smaller and more manageable parts6, with clear purposes and a consistent structure from task to task. They further suggest finding ways of developing connections among students and instructors. For example, holding discussions and synchronous meetings and adding more interactive course elements may contribute to the connection students feel with their instructor and peers. To allow more time for discussion and interaction during class time, they suggest sharing content such as articles, videos, and textbook chapters in advance, for students to peruse independently as preparation for the class5. When reflecting on these suggestions, it is easy to see how such modifications could continue to be useful well beyond the pandemic, and in both online and in-person settings.
Some innovations have arisen due to instructors tailoring their curricula to make remote learning more interactive through the use of apps and “gamification”. Findings from a number of studies evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of language learning apps suggest they provide a number of benefits, including their ability to offer multimodal ways to study (e.g., taking notes, taking pictures, and audio-visual aids). Language learning apps also have the benefit of being portable, and in some cases they may be easier to tailor to the individual needs of the learner than more traditional methods (See our piece on language learning apps in this issue of the newsletter for more information.) However, there are also some potential disadvantages. One concern is that the quality of learning resulting from language app use is still uncertain. In addition, the learner may be more susceptible to distraction when working with an app, and the app cannot respond as flexibly as a human language instructor7. One study assessed “gamification” of language learning, in which students worked in teams to modify party games that could be played virtually, in a way that maximized their practice of French. This participatory learning led to increased engagement and social collaboration between students and, importantly, fostered connections among students and instructors8.
Despite positive outcomes from apps and gamification, students cannot benefit from these innovations without reliable access to the necessary technology, which is another challenge faced by multilingual “ELL” students and their instructors. Trust and Maloy9 discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed a disparity between teachers and students who had access and skills that enabled them to pivot quickly to technology for learning, and those who did not. While individuals with access were able to continue education at a distance, those who did not either struggled to keep up or dropped out. According to these authors, closing the digital divide has not yet been a priority in education. The pandemic exposed in greater detail stark inequalities such as lack of computers, internet access, and even food, which cannot be helped by new teaching methods with innovative technologies2.
Indeed, lack of access to technology and the prioritization of “core” curricula during lockdown have in many cases interrupted ELL instruction. While there is some evidence to suggest language fundamentals like vocabulary and grammar are resilient to a temporary suspension in instruction10, it is unclear whether this is the case for more complex language skills. Language researchers like Dr. Amy Crosson from Penn State’s College of Education are currently working to address this gap in our knowledge. Dr. Crosson is investigating the effects of a virtual learning environment on ELL classroom outcomes, with a specific focus on literacy and comprehension–areas that generally pose more of a challenge to multilingual learners than foundational skills such as vocabulary learning. In an on-going study, Crosson and her colleagues asked 50 “ELL” teachers of kindergarten, first, and second grade from 10 different states, 32% of whom identified as Hispanic or Latinx, to answer daily questions about their teaching experience. Teachers used an app to upload samples of activities incorporated into their lesson plans and self-reflection videos about the success of each lesson. For example, one classroom made puppets for discussion-based activities, encouraging greater participation from students.
Although data analysis from this project is in the initial stages, some preliminary findings suggest that teachers are partnering with parents to incorporate lessons from the virtual classroom into the home environment. Dr. Crosson points out that schooling in the home environment creates continuity in language use between school and home life. While this has some benefits, increased parental involvement also has a downside: If parents are actively involved in helping students complete assessments of literacy and language, it may be difficult for teachers to gain an accurate idea of students’ abilities and progress. To avoid this problem, Dr. Crosson and colleagues suggest that teachers explain to parents the importance of children completing assessments independently while still encouraging them to stay involved in other aspects of their child’s language education. Thus, even with appropriate technology and parental participation, it appears that virtual ELL cannot substitute for in-person learning. The initial results from Dr. Crosson’s study further suggest that while learners may develop adequate foundational skills like vocabulary, more complex abilities such as literacy and comprehension may be stifled in the virtual classroom, which could have significant negative consequences for language development.
As we try to understand the consequences of the pandemic for our multilingual learners and their teachers, the results of ongoing research like Dr. Crosson’s will be an important source of information. Thinking ahead to a time when remote learning is no longer a necessity for so many, we hope that this research summary has shown that there are many reasons to be hopeful. Going forward, we can expect that new insights gained from research evaluating virtual classrooms will enable educators to more readily modify their curricula to lessen the qualitative gap between virtual and in-person language learning. There is also hope that the new innovations and lessons learned from consulting research to address challenges will emerge as transformative in improving all types of classroom learning in the future, both online and face-to-face.
References
- Russell, V. (2020). Language anxiety and the online learner. Foreign Language Annals, 53(2), 338-352. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12461
- Ferdig, R. E., & Pytash, K. E. (Eds.) (2021). What Teacher Educators Should Have Learned from 2020. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 17, 2021 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/219088/
- Lakhani, R. (2020, November 4). Learning from a distance: How remote learning can set low-income students back further. RTI International. https://www.rti.org/insights/how-remote-learning-impacts-low-income-students-covid-19
- Minhas, R. S. & Freeman, S. J. (2021). Supporting marginalised children with school problems in the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 5(1): e000956. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2020-000956
- Barber, A., Douglas, W., & Adams, M. (2021). Using Knowledge of Effective Pedagogy to Design Online Learning Experiences: Restructuring Teacher Education Coursework to Reflect Virtual Learning Shifts. In R. E. Ferdig & K. E. Pytash (Eds.), What Teacher Educators Should Have Learned from 2020 (pp. 183-196). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 17, 2021 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/219088/
- Van Merrienboer, J. J. G. & Ayres, P. (2005). Research on cognitive load theory and its design implications for e-learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(3), 5-13.
- Elaish, M. M., Shuib, L., Ghani, N. A., Yadegaridehkordi, E., & Alaa, M. (2017). Mobile learning for English language acquisition: Taxonomy, challenges, and recommendations. IEEE Access, 5, 19033-19047. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2749541
- Dubreil, S. (2020). Using games for language learning in the age of social distancing. Foreign Language Annals, 53(2), 250-259. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12465
- Trust, T. & Maloy, R. (2020). Designing High-Quality Choice Boards for Student-Centered Explorations of Content. In E. Langran (Ed.), Proceedings of SITE Interactive 2020 Online Conference (pp. 311-314). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/218162
- Hopp, H. & Thoma, D. (2020). Foreign language development during temporary school closures in the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Education, 5:601017. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.601017