Distance Learning Effects on the Early Elementary Student\u27s Socio-Emotional Development and English Acquisition

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted all schools throughout the world. Because of this experience, student’s learning may have been affected. This study sought to find if there could have been an effect in student achievement and development after a year of distance learning. Specifically, does an ELL student’s english acquisition, self-regulation and social skills scores lower after a year of distance learning? If there is a negative impact, do these lower scores get bridged to meet expectations after a year of in-person instruction and intervention? In this study, 16 teachers from PK to 2nd grade at ASFM in Monterrey, Mexico were surveyed regarding their observations of students\u27 achievement. There were 12 questions total in a Likert scale format; 6 questions regarding students right after distance learning in September, and 6 questions about the students in May. The questions were about their observations on the student’s: reading comprehension, writing expression, listening comprehension and oral expression in English, as well as their self-regulation and social skills. After conducting t-tests to analyze our data and test for significance, we found significantly lower scores than expected in all areas for September, and nonsignificant differences than the expected scores for May. Our results support our hypothesis that a year of distance learning did have a negative effect in the 4 areas studied, and that with a year of instruction and intervention in-person, students were able to bridge that gap and achieve expectations of their grade level in May