Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners in Indiana Elementary Schools before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This mixed-methods study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on elementary school literacy instruction for multilingual learners officially classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) across 35 teachers in four Indiana school districts. Classroom lesson videos and observation rubrics for 19 teachers were collected from the beginning of 2020-2021 school year (during the pandemic) and compared with those collected pre-pandemic from 16 teachers at the beginning of school years of 2018-2019 (n=7) and 2019-2020 (n=9). Findings demonstrate schools made efforts during the pandemic to offer quality literacy instruction within socially distanced classrooms, online synchronous instruction, and hybrid learning environments. However, teachers spent less time on two key literacy components—vocabulary and comprehension—and less time in small group/pair activities, resulting in lower rubric scores related to vocabulary and oral language development. As vocabulary and comprehension facilitated through peer interaction are central to quality literacy instruction, less attention to these areas illuminates the pandemic’s impact on literacy and language development for ELL-classified students.