Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected teachers’ practices at all education levels worldwide. Alternative educational practices are, in a smaller or larger extent, implemented online in response to the global pandemic, including early childhood and primary education. Access to recent research outcomes on effective approaches to quality online teaching is fundamental in preschool and in the first critical years of primary school. In this chapter, we provide a review of the key challenges that online classes pose for young children and teachers. In parallel we discuss, based on professional and research-informed insights, best practice principles for online teaching to support preschool and primary school teachers to transform online approaches into effective teaching practices for meeting children’s needs. Both the challenges and the effective online approaches are grouped under two main headings with each heading being related to several outcomes. A major challenge occurring during online classes, falling under the first heading, is the limited face-to-face interaction between learners and teachers. The second challenge is concerned with difficulties in oral and written language. This chapter concludes with a reflection on the implications for the use of best practice principles for online teaching in the early childhood and primary school setting.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alfonso, S. (2016). Implementing the project approach in an inclusive classroom: A teacher’s first attempt with Project-Based Learning. Voices of Practitioners, 11(1), 52–60.
Annisette, L. E., & Lafreniere, K. D. (2017). Social media, texting, and personality: A test of the shallowing hypothesis. Personality and Individual Differences, 115, 154–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.02.043
Arfé, B., Mason, L., & Fajardo, I. (2018). Simplifying informational text structure for struggling readers. Reading and Writing, 31(9), 2191–2210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9785-6
Atiles, J., Almodóvar, M., Vargas, A., Dias, M., & León, I. (2021). International responses to COVID-19: challenges faced by early childhood professionals. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 29(1), 66–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2021.1872674
Biemiller, A., & Slonim, N. (2001). Estimating root word vocabulary growth in normative and advantaged populations: Evidence for a common sequence of vocabulary acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(3), 498–520. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.93.3.498
Cain, K. (2010). Reading development and difficulties: An introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.
Caselli, C., Casadio, P., & Bates, E. (1999). A comparison of the transition from first words to grammar in English and Italian. Journal of Child Language, 26(1), 69–111. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000998003687
Cohrssen, C., Quadros-Wander, B., Page, J., & Klarin, S. (2017). Between the big trees: A project-based approach to investigating shape and spatial thinking in a kindergarten program. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 42(1), 94–104. https://doi.org/10.23965/AJEC.42.1.01
Crossley, S. A., Louwerse, M. M., McCarthy, P. M., & McNamara, D. S. (2007). A linguistic analysis of simplified and authentic texts. The Modern Language Journal, 91(1), 15–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2007.00507.x
Dawson, N., Hsiao, Y., Banerji, N., Tan, A. W. M., & Nation, K. A. (2021). Features of lexical richness in children’s books: Comparisons with child-directed speech. Language Development Research. https://doi.org/10.34842/5we1-yk94
Delgado, P., Vargas, C., Ackerman, R., & Salmerón, L. (2018). Don't throw away your printed books: A meta-analysis on the effects of reading media on reading comprehension. Educational Research Review, 25, 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.09.003
Dong, C., Cao, S., & Li, H. (2020). Young children's online learning during COVID-19 pandemic: Chinese parents' beliefs and attitudes. Children and youth services review, 118, 105440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105440
Duchon, A., Perea, M., Sebastián-Gallés, N., Martí, A., & Carreiras, M. (2013). EsPal: One-stop Shopping for Spanish Word Properties. Behavior Research Methods, 45, 1246–1258.
Fajardo, I., Tavares, G., Ávila, V., & Ferrer, A. (2013). Towards text simplification for poor readers with intellectual disability: When do connectives enhance text cohesion? Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(4), 1267–1279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2013.01.006
Guitar, B., & Marchinkoski, L. (2001). Influence of mothers’ slower speech on their children’s speech rate. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44(4), 853–861. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2001/067)
Harris, M., Terlektsi, E., & Kyle, F. E. (2017). Concurrent and longitudinal predictors of reading for deaf and hearing children in primary school. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 22(2), 233–242. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enw101
Hirst, R. J., Stacey, J. E., Cragg, L., Stacey, P. C., & Allen, H. A. (2018). The threshold for the McGurk effect in audio-visual noise decreases with development. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 12372. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30798-8
Hsin, C.-T., Li, M.-C., & Tsai, C.-C. (2014). The influence of young children’s use of technology on their learning: A review. Educational Technology & Society, 17(4), 85–99.
Johnson, L., McHugh, S., Eagle, J., & Spires, H. (2019). Project-Based Inquiry (PBI) global in kindergarten classroom: Inquiring about the world. Early Childhood Education Journal, 47, 607–613. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-019-00946-4
Joseph, G., & Strain, P. (2010). Teaching Young Children Solving Skills. Young Exceptional Children, 13(3), 28–40.
Joseph, H., & Nation, K. (2018). Examining incidental word learning during reading in children: The role of context. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 166, 190–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.08.010
Kervin, L., & Mantei, J. (2017). Children creating multimodal stories about a familiar environment. The Reading Teacher, 70(6), 721–728. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1556
Kim, J. (2020). Learning and teaching online during Covid-19: Experiences of student teachers in an early childhood education practicum. International Journal of Early Childhood, 52, 145–158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-020-00272-6
Kruszewska, A., Nazaruk, S., & Szewczyk, K. (2020). Polish teachers of early education in the face of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic – the difficulties experienced and suggestions for the future. Education, 3-13, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2020.1849346
Kumpulainen, K., Sairanen, H., & Nordstr, A. (2020). Young children’s digital literacy practices in the sociocultural contexts of their homes. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 20(3), 472–499. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798420925116
Kyle, F. E., Campbell, R., & MacSweeney, M. (2016). The relative contributions of speechreading and vocabulary to deaf and hearing children's reading ability. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 48, 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.10.004
Lau, E., & Lee, K. (2020). Parents’ views on young children’s distance learning and screen time during COVID-19 class suspension in Hong Kong. Early Education and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2020.1843925
Lauterman, T., & Ackerman, R. (2014). Overcoming screen inferiority in learning and calibration. Computers in Human Behavior, 35, 455–463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.046
Lepola, J., Lynch, J., Laakkonen, E., Silvén, M., & Niemi, P. (2012). The role of inference making and other language skills in the development of narrative listening comprehension in 4–6-year-old children. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(3), 259–282. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.020
Lev, S., Clark, A., & Starkey, E. (2020). Implementing project based learning in early childhood overcoming misconceptions and reaching success. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429243332
Li, Y. (2012). The negotiated project-based learning: Understanding the views and practice of kindergarten teachers about the implementation of project learning in Hong Kong. Education 3–13, 40(5), 473–486. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2010.544662
Livingstone, S., Mascheroni, G., Dreier, M., Chaudron, S., & Lagae, K. (2015). How parents of young children manage digital devices at home: The role of income, education and parental style. EU Kids Online. https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/63378/1/__lse.ac.uk_storage_LIBRARY_Secondary_libfile_shared_repository_Content_EU%20Kids%20Online_EU_Kids_Online_How%20parents%20manage%20digital%20devices_2016.pdf
Mak, M. H. C., Hsiao, Y., & Nation, K. (2021). Anchoring and contextual variation in the early stages of incidental word learning during reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 118, 104203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2020.104203
Manfredi, C., & Dejonckere, P. H. (2016). Voice dosimetry and monitoring, with emphasis on professional voice diseases: Critical review and framework for future research. Null, 41(2), 49–65. https://doi.org/10.3109/14015439.2014.970228
Massaro, D. W. (2012). Multimodal Learning. In N. M. Seely (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of the sciences of learning. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_273
McGurk, H., & Macdonald, J. (1976). Hearing lips and seeing voices. Nature, 264(5588), 746–748. https://doi.org/10.1038/264746a0
McNamara, D. S., Graesser, A. C., McCarthy, P. M., & Cai, Z. (2014). Automated evaluation of text and discourse with Coh-Metrix. Cambridge University Press.
McNamara, D. S., Kintsch, E., Songer, N. B., & Kintsch, W. (1996). Are good texts always better? Interactions of text coherence, background knowledge, and levels of understanding in learning from text. Cognition and Instruction, 14(1), 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci1401_1
Neumann, M. (2014). An examination of touch screen tablets and emergent literacy in Australian pre-school children. Australian Journal of Education, 58(2), 109–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944114523368
Nguyen, N. (2000). Review perceiving talking faces: From speech perception to a behavioral principle by Massaro, D.W., MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1998. Journal of Phonetics, 28, 103–109. https://doi.org/10.006/jpho.2000.0108.
Nielsen, M., Simcock, G., & Jenkins, L. (2008). The effect of social engagement on 24-month-olds' imitation from live and televised models. Developmental Science, 11(5), 722–731. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00722.x
Nomura M., Nielsen G. S. & Tronbacke B. I. & International Federation of Library Associations, and Institutions. (2010). Guidelines for Easy-to-read materials/rev. IFLA Headquarters.
Oakhill, J., Cain, K., & Elbro, C. (2019). Reading comprehension and reading comprehension difficulties. In D. Kilpatrick, J. Malatesha, & R. Wagner (Eds.), Reading development and difficulties (pp. 83–115). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26550-2_5
Pesco, D., & Devlin, C. (2015). The effects of explicit instruction on French-speaking kindergarteners’ understanding of stories. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 31(2), 195–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265659014548518
Pittas, E. (2018). Longitudinal contributions of phonological awareness to reading Greek beyond estimation of verbal ability and morphological awareness. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 34(3), 218–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2017.1390807
Pittas, E., & Nunes, T. (2014). The relation between morphological awareness and reading and spelling in Greek: A longitudinal study. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 27(8), 1507–1527. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-014-9503-6
Pittas, E., & Nunes, T. (2017). Does children’s dialect awareness support later reading and spelling in the standard language form? Learning and Instruction, 53, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.07.002
Remacle, A., Bouchard, S., Etienne, A., Rivard, M., & Morsomme, D. (2021). A virtual classroom can elicit teachers’ speech characteristics: evidence from acoustic measurements during in vivo and in virtuo lessons, compared to a free speech control situation. Virtual Reality. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-020-00491-1
Rumenapp, J., Morales, P., & Lykouretzos, A. (2018). Building a cohesive multimodal environment for diverse learners. Young Children, 73(5), 72–78. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26783686
Saint-Georges, C., Chetouani, M., Cassel, R., Apicella, F., Mahdhaoui, A., Muratori, F., Laznik, M., & Cohen, D. (2013). Motherese in interaction: at the cross-road of emotion and cognition? (A systematic review). PloS One, 8(10), e78103. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078103
Salmerón, L., Delgado, P., Vargas, C., & Gil, L. (2021). Tablets for all? Testing the screen inferiority effect with upper primary school students. Learning and Individual Differences, 86, 101975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2021.101975
Shepherd, K., Colby, K., & Morris, D. (2017). The art of collaboration. Sense Publisher.
Shukla-Mehta, S., Miller, T., & Callahan, K. (2010). Evaluating the effectiveness of video instruction on social and communication skills training for children with autism Spectrum. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 25(1), 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088357609352901
Smith, S., Burdette, P., Cheatham, G., & Harvey, S. (2016). Parental role and support for online learning of students with disabilities: A paradigm shift. Journal of Special Education Leadership, 29(2), 101–112.
Sonnenschein, S., Stites, M., & Dowling, R. (2020). Learning at home: What preschool children’s parents do and what they want to learn from their children’s teachers. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 19(3), 309–322. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X20971321
Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs. (2021). Order CSM/115/2021. https://www.boe.es/eli/es/o/2021/02/11/csm115
Spencer, E., Goldstein, H., & Kaminski, R. (2012). Teaching vocabulary in storybooks: Embedding explicit vocabulary instruction for young children. Young Exceptional Children., 15(1), 18–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096250611435367
Støle, H., Mangen, A., & Schwippert, K. (2020). Assessing children's reading comprehension on paper and screen: A mode-effect study. Computers & Education, 151, 103861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103861
Taylor, S., & Leung, C. (2020). Multimodal literacy and social interaction: Young children’s literacy learning. Early Childhood Education Journal, 48, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-019-00974-0
Terras, M., & Ramsay, J. (2016). Family digital literacy practices and children’s mobile phone use. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(1957), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01957
Tye-Murray, N., Spehar, B., Myerson, J., Hale, S., & Sommers, M. (2016). Lipreading and audiovisual speech recognition across the adult lifespan: Implications for audiovisual integration. Psychology and Aging, 31(4), 380–389. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000094
Ubben, G. (2019). How to structure Project-Based Learning to meet STEAM objectives. In A. Stewart, M. Mueller, & D. Tippins (Eds.), Converting STEM into STEAM programs. Environmental Discourses in Science Education (Vol. 5). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25101-7_7
Visser-Bochane, M. I., Reijneveld, S. A., Krijnen, W. P., van der Schans, C. P., & Luinge, M. R. (2020). Identifying milestones in language development for young children ages 1 to 6 years. Academic Pediatrics, 20(3), 421–429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2019.07.003
Weng, P., Savage, M., & Bouck, E. (2014). iDIY: Video-based instruction using iPads. Teaching Exceptional Children, 47(1), 11–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040059914542764
Wessel-Powell, C., Kargin, T., & Wohlwend, K. (2016). Enriching and assessing young children's multimodal storytelling. The Reading Teacher, 70(2), 167–178. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1491
Wood, E., Petkovski, M., De Pasquale, D., Gottardo, A., Evans, M., & Savage, R. (2016). Parent scaffolding of young children when engaged with mobile technology. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(690), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00690
Yelland, N. (2018). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Young children and multimodal learning with tablets. British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(5), 847–858. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12635
Zhou, N., & Yadav, A. (2017). Effects of multimedia story reading and questioning on preschoolers’ vocabulary learning, story comprehension and reading engagement. Educational Technology Research and Development, 65(6), 1523–1545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-017-9533-2
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pittas, E., Bravo, I.F., Gómez-Merino, N. (2022). Young Children’s Online Learning and Teaching: Challenges and Effective Approaches. In: Pattnaik, J., Renck Jalongo, M. (eds) The Impact of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Education and Care. Educating the Young Child, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96977-6_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96977-6_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-96976-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-96977-6
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)