Lessons learned from remote, early-literacy instruction

The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly shifted primary-grade literacy instruction which had rarely been implemented online before the pandemic. Remote early literacy instruction is thus an emerging field of research, and research is needed to understand the affordances and limitations of this crisis-driven instruction and how it may inform early literacy instruction moving forward, both in remote and traditional settings. This mixed methods case study examined how 106 novice primary-grade teachers in the United States implemented literacy instruction in the remote platform during the COVID-19 pandemic with a desire to understand both successful and challenging literacy practices. The main data sources entailed 106 teacher interviews conducted using a semi-structured interview protocol and teacher self-ratings of their implementation of evidence-based literacy practices. Qualitative analyses of teachers’ perspectives yielded findings that remote early literacy instruction increased the involvement of families, required teachers to navigate multiple boundaries to implement literacy instruction, remote instruction was most conducive to teacher-led literacy instruction, and resulted in teachers’ difficulty knowing and addressing children’s literacy needs. Quantitative data analysis of Likert-scale questions about teachers’ early literacy instructional practices revealed teachers reported their highest quality literacy instructional practices as read alouds, collaboration with children’s families, and building an effective learning community for remote literacy instruction. Teachers rated their remote implementation of writing instruction, literacy assessment processes, and differentiation of literacy instruction as lower quality. The findings add to the literature by providing an in-depth understanding of remote early literacy instruction, successes and challenges reported by teachers providing literacy instruction to primary-aged children, and implications for post-pandemic instruction.