Impact of COVID‐19 on Early Literacy Instruction for Emergent Bilinguals

Abstract

We investigated teachers’ perspectives on how literacy instruction for bilingual children changed due to the shift to remote instruction during COVID‐19. Fifty K‐2 public school teachers from 10 states submitted smartphone‐based diary entries about their day‐to‐day literacy instructional practices before versus during COVID‐19. Teachers reported implementing less literacy instruction in general. The smallest declines were seen in code‐focused, foundational skills, while the largest declines were in language‐focused practices such as extended writing, vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension strategies. We analyzed teachers’ responses to identify factors that influenced their adaptations. Implications for areas of literacy development in need of immediate, intensive attention in the aftermath of COVID‐19 are addressed. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Reading Research Quarterly is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)