Imagine being five years old and suddenly your school is now online only. Parents are having to take up the role of at-home teacher in order to achieve distance learning objectives. This presents its own unique host of challenges in general but now add into the equation that your parent is not a fluent English speaker -- what then? How do they help their young children do the schoolwork they themselves have trouble reading and understanding? Which is where my title for this blog post comes into play -- as if online learning isn't hard enough, let's contend with language barriers.
We have been learning a lot these past few weeks in class about dialects across the United States but for my last post I wanted to travel back to some of our discussions from earlier in the semester (a simpler time when I got to see you all in person instead of through my laptop screen). We had spent time talking about the different languages spoken across the United States and the differing experiences of those whose native language is not English.
In this new, online based world, life for these non-native speakers is becoming even more challenging. An article published by a Floridian news outlet titled "Language Barrier Makes Distance Learning Hard for Some ParentsLanguage Barrier Makes Distance Learning Hard for Some Parents" explains the specific problems they are facing.
The article focuses on an Hispanic mother named Martin del Campo who has four children who are now learning online at home. She explained that she had been having difficulty understanding the assignments she is trying to teach her youngest children since they are in English and as such has had to have her older kids become her unofficial teaching assistants -- something that detracts from their own studies.
Paired with the already difficult work of trying to navigate unknown online programs -- which del Campo admitted "I struggle a lot because I also don’t know how to use a computer...I couldn’t understand when it says go to this link, log in to this website, so it gets really complicated.” these language barrier issues are making the transition to distance learning extra hard for families.
The problem of language barriers in the world of distance learning is something that I had not even considered when we all switched to an online based education in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic but it is truly a serious concern. What do you all think of the problems presented by language barriers in regards to online learning? What do you think are the best ways to try and help these families who are struggling?
This definitely adds to the list of tough situations (made by the coronavirus). Yes, it is difficult for those who don't know how to run technology, but what about those who do not even have that? I know a lot of students who cannot even afford laptops and/or wifi. This adds yet another layer to this conversation, and one that is just as unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteI agree Nate! The fact that online school requires computers and consistent internet access certainly disadvantages those who don't have and/or can't afford it. It is really unfortunate -- I wish there were more resources to provide for those students who don't have access to the internet. I know a few student teachers this semester who are required to make physical copies of lessons to send to families without internet -- which is at least a start.
DeleteI did not think about language barriers making home-cyber-school difficult before you brought it up. Watching my mom struggle with helping my younger siblings' education has appeared painful even without a language barrier - I can't imagine how much more difficult and painstakingly slow school would be with a language barrier. As far as a solution, my first thought was to provide bilingual materials for as many activities as possible. This would require a great deal of translating, but it would be useful for the parent to be able to at least understand what is going on in his or her native language, and then communicate that to the child, who could then attempt to do the assignment in English. Even that would be hard, but at least the parent would know more about what is required of the student. However, looking back at the article, it says that some Hispanic parents are not able to read and write well in Spanish either, which would make bilingual materials not very helpful.
ReplyDeleteFor reasons like these, I wonder if translators are working harder during this time...
Parents are definitely having to take up the role of at home teacher in addition to their regular caretaker roles -- not to mention their own jobs! I can't imagine the kind of stress they are under right now, even if English is their native language. I do think that bilingual materials would be of assistance to families who are struggling but I think there is always going to be a disconnect between parents who are not trained teachers trying to interpret lessons to provide their children. It is a difficult time!
DeleteAlso, not quite linguistics related but still interesting, I read an article recently about how the role of at home teacher has fallen disproportionately on mothers as opposed to fathers, even with both being at home due to the stay at home orders. It was an eye-opening look at current gender relations -- and focused on women who were required to pick up even more work at home and let anything else they had to do fall to the wayside in order to allow their husbands to do their own work. I wish I still had the link to the article! It really hit on some of the challenges facing women in particular during this pandemic.
The language barrier is something I did not even consider when it comes to the draw backs of distance education. It is not as prevalent of an issue in this area as it is in other parts of the country. It is easy to forget that everywhere is having these issues as we are all in our respective bubbles. With virtually nowhere open to the public it would be hard to get technical support for a parent struggling with technology when there is a language barrier. An older child may be able to navigate a computer themselves, but the very young will not no much more than their parents. At this stage in the game I am not sure what the solution could be. There are preventative measures that could have been taken, but hindsight is 2020.
ReplyDeleteLiving where we do, surrounded by a majority of native English speakers, this was certainly not an issue immediately on our radar. In terms of technology concerns, it is made even more difficult by the lack of public places to go and receive support for sure. Even places like public libraries which serve as a reliable place to access the internet if one is unable to at home are not open at the moment.
DeleteThe article did talk about older kids being able to help with the language and technology barriers -- but at what detriment to their own education? That was the mother's concern in the article, feeling guilty for taking her older kids away from their own studies in order to teach their siblings.
I honestly didn't even think about ELLs trying to get through online learning. However, I can definitely see how online classes would be even harder for them, given that traditional learning can even be challenging. Something I thought of while reading your post was specialized or technical language. You brought up how the mother struggled with computer terminology. I think it's easy to forget the many layers of language. There are conversational levels, academic levels, and, apparently, technological levels. In my Ed 350 class, we learned about how much easier it is for ELLs to pick up conversational language than academic. Conversational language, first of all, occurs on a much more frequent basis, so there is more practice with it. Even more, conversation relies on a simpler vocabulary and simpler syntactic structures. Academic language uses a highly specialized vocabulary that is not as commonly used. This, I think, can be applied to using a computer. There are terms and phrases we use when going on a computer that we do not use elsewhere. Since ELLs struggle with specialized academic language, it makes sense for them to struggle with specialized technological language also.
ReplyDeleteTerrific and oh-so-relevant post, Kaylar! Those of us coming from the so-called middle classes take access and familiarity with technology for granted, but 'tain't so for so many on the underside of America.
ReplyDeleteThank you! A lot of the articles I have been reading during quarantine have focused on such issues. I can only hope that the tragedy of this pandemic will open people's eyes to some of the very real disparities in U.S. society so that we can all start to change things for the better. I am sure I am being too optimistic but it doesn't hurt to dream I suppose.
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