Home Literacy Practices and Oral Language Development of Young Immigrant Dual Language Learners: Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Emily Mak, Jade Lee, Qing Zhou and 1 others
PMID 40810505WHAT IT FOUND
Dual language learners scored below monolingual peers in both English and their home language before and during the pandemic.
Despite school closures, proficiency improved in both languages for Mexican American and Chinese American children.
Key findings
01Children's oral language scores in both English and their home language were significantly below age-matched monolingual norms at both time points.
02Oral proficiency in both English and the home language increased significantly from pre-pandemic to during-pandemic for both cultural groups.
03Home literacy practices like shared reading were not significantly associated with English oral proficiency, though Spanish output predicted Spanish proficiency and Chinese home literacy predicted Chinese proficiency.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used remote Zoom assessments for the follow-up, which may have affected children's performance compared to in-person testing. Standardized tests were normed on monolingual speakers, which may not accurately reflect the abilities of dual language learners. Attrition was high (38% Mexican American, 27% Chinese American), though dropouts did not differ significantly in income or maternal education. The design is observational, so it cannot prove that home literacy practices caused language changes. English home literacy measures showed no association with English proficiency, suggesting key variables or the quality of interactions were not captured.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the improvement in scores as evidence that the pandemic was beneficial for language development. The children remained significantly below age-matched monolingual norms in both languages, and the study did not compare these children to a control group who attended school in person, so natural development cannot be separated from pandemic effects.