COVID-19 and Pandemic Teaching: Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning and English Learner Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to illuminate how English Learner (EL) teachers in the Great Lakes region responded to the sudden shift to emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) at the onset of COVID-19 school closures in March 2020. Using an online survey, we examined how EL teachers from Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin continued legal provisions of instruction and service through the end of the 2019-2020 school year. We look closely at the state of Indiana, a state with a more recent immigrant population and where requirements for EL licensure and preparation are not yet required. Although findings show that schools and districts violated legal requirements for ELs, this is polarized by the lack of required training and licensure in Indiana among those serving in the role of EL teacher.

Clashing Roles and Identities of EL Teachers during Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning

“…The bulk of this two‐part study is focused on our interview findings, but we discuss responses from a three‐state survey on the provision of instruction and service before and during ERTL to foreground the study (Benegas et al., 2021; Cushing‐Leubner et al., 2021; Morita‐Mullaney et al., 2021). Survey results from this study clearly demonstrated the distinctions between instruction and service pre‐pandemic and during ERTL.…”

“…For example, EL teachers facilitate home/school communications or transportation (Harvey & Teemant, 2012). Service may also include acquiring internet service or connecting youth and families to health and human services (Benegas, Morita‐Mullaney, Cushing‐Leubner, Stolpestad, & Greene, 2021; Cushing‐Leubner, 2021; Morita‐Mullaney, Greene, Cushing‐Leubner, Stolpestad, & Benegas, 2021). These roles of instruction and service took on new dimensions during ERTL and how EL teachers self‐positioned or were positioned by others contributes to how language teacher identity (LTI) forms.…”