The Development of English Writing in Bilingual Children Attending Weekend School in Japan During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Bilingual children schooled in the dominant societal language can acquire home language literacy with home and community support. This paper reports on the development of English writing in 17 Japanese-English bilingual children (ages 9 to 13) who attended English weekend school in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed their English writing using a US standardized test before and during the pandemic for two years when their weekend school switched to an online format. Many children's age-adjusted writing scores were within the Average range or above before the start of the pandemic, and these scores were largely maintained during the pandemic. Online lessons did not negatively impact children's English writing as technological tools facilitated learning. However, the lack of social interaction diminished the children's enthusiasm for weekend school. The pandemic freed more time for home literacy practices such as reading in English for pleasure and preparing for English examinations, which likely improved the children's English literacy. These findings suggest that bilingual children's home language writing can develop even in challenging learning conditions.