Teachers' Opinions on Second Grade Language Skills of Students Who Learned Initial Literacy Through Distance Education

Abstract

This study examines teachers' opinions on how the language skills in the second grade (listening, speaking, reading, writing) of students who learned initial literacy in the first grade of elementary school (2020-2021) through distance education due to the pandemic were affected. This study was conducted using a descriptive qualitative research model. The study group comprised 18 teachers who conducted first-grade initial literacy teaching via distance education in 2020-2021 academic year and worked in the second grade during 2021-2022 academic year. Each teacher had instructed first grade at least three times in their career. A semi-structured interview form served as the data collection tool, and thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. The data yielded four themes: listening skills, speaking skills, reading skills, and writing skills, with corresponding sub-themes identified and interpreted. Participants reported that the pandemic led to temporary school closures and a shift from face-to-face to distance learning for first-grade literacy. Consequently, students missed the opportunity to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills through direct interaction in the classroom. They stated the limitations and conditions of distance education were cited as reasons for this shortfall. As a result, they stated that there are inadequacies in students' listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, and that these inadequacies have a negative impact on their listening skills in the second grade. This resulted in inadequacies in students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, negatively impacting their second-grade. It was reported that there were lack of gains in the achievements of this group compared to the students of previous years, and that these were due to the fact that the initial literacy teaching was carried out through distance education.