Recovering multilingual children’s literacy loss through multimodal literacy practices in a pull-out program

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted various aspects of human life, including hindering language and literacy skills development in multilingual students. This study aims to explore multimodal literacy practices among multilingual primary school students in an English pull-out program. Data sources encompassed students’ artifacts, photos, videos, field notes, and semi-structured interviews, collected from July to December 2021 following the Indonesian government’s reversal of its school closure policy. The research reveals that the pandemic has impeded language and literacy skills development, particularly in writing skills, as students heavily rely on screen typing with auto-correction assistance. Consequently, students' proficiency in constructing grammatically correct English phrases has diminished, impeding effective communication in English in the multilingual school community context. In response to this literacy issue, the joint cooperation school has implemented diverse multimodal literacy practices in its English pull-out program to mitigate language and literacy setbacks. Multimodal composition emerges as a potent tool for language learning, encompassing reading, writing, and speaking skills. Notably, multimodal composition facilitates multilingual children in connecting with their home language and cultures within the target language, aiding in the recovery of writing and pronunciation skills. This study contributes valuable insights for designing English pull-out programs tailored to multilingual students in joint-cooperation schools, addressing language and literacy delays induced by the pandemic.