NIE Researchers Publish in AERA Open

Dr Sun Baoqi, Research Scientist at the Centre for Research in Child Development (CRCD), Assoc Prof Loh Chin Ee, Deputy Head (Research) at NIE’s English Language and Literature Academic Group (ELL), Dr Beth O’Brien, CRCD Principal Research Scientist, and Assoc Prof Rita Silver, Assoc Dean (Research Design & Integrity) at the Office of Education Research, and ELL Assoc Prof, have published in AERA Open.

The paper, titled “The Effect of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Bilingual Singaporean Children’s Leisure Reading”, is based on findings from Dr Sun’s research project “Leisure Reading in Two Languages: Reading Habits and Preferences of Bilingual Children in Singapore”, on which Assoc Prof Loh and Dr O’Brien are co-Principal Investigators, and Assoc Prof Silver is a collaborator.

The mixed-methods project study examined changes in reading enjoyment, amount, and resources in three groups of bilingual children—English-Chinese, English-Malay, and English-Tamil speaking children—during the COVID-19 lockdown in Singapore. Results revealed a lockdown reading gap between the children’s stronger language (English) and weaker language (Chinese/Malay/Tamil), and that the child’s reading enjoyment before the lockdown, changes in reading enjoyment and print reading amount during the lockdown in English and Chinese/Malay were significantly correlated.