Abstract
This report assesses effects of temporary school closures during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic in Germany on early foreign language development among primary-school learners of English. We analyze English vocabulary and grammar skills before and after fifteen weeks of school closures and the subsequent suspension of foreign-language (FL) instruction. In addition, we compare data from 141 students who experienced interruptions in schooling in 2020 to a matched group of 128 students who had received continuous instruction in the previous school year. The study did not find any negative effects of instructional suspension on FL vocabulary or grammar. Moreover, variance between students did not increase, and the effect structure of cognitive predictors of FL skills remained the same. Overall, temporary suspensions of FL instruction of the nature and length experienced during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic did not appear to have detrimental effects on general foreign language learning among young students.
Highlights
In the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, policy decisions to close schools have been under debate
This study assessed the effects of the suspension of teaching due to school closures as part of the Covid-19 pandemic in the school year 2019/2020 among primary school students learning English as a foreign language
Compared to matched groups of students who had been taught by the same teachers using the same methods and materials the year before, students in fourth grade during the spring 2020 school shutdowns did not show any differences in FL development, and they retained and even marginally improved their English as a foreign language (EFL) skills when no or very little EFL instruction was available for 15 weeks
Summary
In the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, policy decisions to close schools have been under debate. This study assesses the impact of school closures on foreign-language (FL) development in the context of early English instruction in German primary schools. Studying the impact of instructional disruptions on early FL learning is suitable, since English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction was not systematically compensated for during school closures, and primary school students have little exposure to English outside school in German society. As in many European countries, primary schools in Germany had been closed for 7 weeks in the spring of 2020, and in subsequent weeks, there were no regular FL classes as instruction in smaller classes was required to focus on core subjects, such as German and mathematics. The present study assesses the effects of the suspension of regular EFL instruction for 15 weeks among 4th-grade primary school students compared to students at the same schools a year earlier
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