Growing up bilingual through a pandemic

What is it about?

There were many questions about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's development of communicative and social skills due to the pauses of out-of-home interactions during lockdowns. We asked whether the pandemic impacted bilingual children's development of both languages and associated social outcomes. Our study tracked the outcomes of primary-school pupils in London before in 2019 (pre-pandemic, when they were 4-9 years old) and in 2021, post-pandemic, after the lockdowns (6 to 12 years), in a sample of 88 mostly British-born English-dominant children. These included a subset of 19 children who attended heritage language (HL) complementary schooling (CS), which were set up by their community to support HL learning. Children were individually tested both times using measures for perceived language proficiency and exposure, ethnic heritage and British/national identities, and social competences. At time2, we also asked questions about their learning engagement during the pandemic. Children reported lower social competences post-lockdowns compared with pre-pandemic. At both time-points, CS-attendees reported higher HL proficiency compared with non-attendees, who also showed a larger decline in HL exposure over the pandemic. HL learning hours during the pandemic were positively associated with change in cognitive competence (a measure about confidence in dealing with schoolwork). Pre/post-pandemic change in HL proficiency predicted change in heritage identity, and change in English proficiency predicted a change in British identity and change in all aspects of social competences.

Featured Image

Photo by Leonardo Toshiro Okubo on Unsplash

Photo by Leonardo Toshiro Okubo on Unsplash

Why is it important?

There has been little systematic research on how the pandemic impacted children's heritage language development, with most studies focusing on English skills. This research indicates the trajectories of bilingual children’s development of both languages and wider social outcomes over a period of unprecedented education and homelife disruptions.

Perspectives