Two-Way Immersion Classrooms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Parent and Teacher Perceptions of Student Learning
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is a very interesting topic that you have studied and it was a very interesting read. The style of writing used throughout is clear and accessible for the reader.
Referencing needs to follow the referencing guidelines throughout – please amend.
The sequencing of sections/themes needs to be considered throughout. I have made some recommendations below.
Line 39: DLE instruction - please give the full term at first and then the abbreviation in brackets. Also at the beginning of this paragraph it would be good to give readers an overview of what DLE is, time teaching through each language etc. I suggest that you move lines 41-43 to after the description of what DLE is, to facilitate this.
Line 66/67: Do you have a reference for this? Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, 7 out of 10 66 schools in the United States closed their doors to in-person learning.
Line 95: Research Questions – it would be good to present the research questions separate to your hypotheses. It might be good to give these hypotheses in a separate paragraph and discuss the methodology you used/the rationale you have for this form of research and back up with references on using hypotheses in research.
Methods section – it would be good to present the method used before the information on participants in terms of sequencing of information.
You need to provide the age groups for the classes for the international reader, e,g, (kindergarden, ages X-X).
From line 127 – 140 a lot of statistics are presented in figures one after the other for the reader, would you consider constructing a graph to display some of the data?
Line 143: Can you give more details about the family demographic survey, what is it? Is there a reference for this for the reader? What is the purpose? Who developed it? How many questions? What types of questions? If you developed it can you please provide information on how you developed it/what literature influenced the question development etc.
Line 155: Teachers’ survey needs some of the information listed above also.
Procedures section:
How were participants recruited for the study? Add details. Details on participant recruitment would come before details on the participants’ profiles.
How were the surveys administered? How did the parents/teachers get or access them and how did they respond?
What about ethics? Did the study get ethical approval? From where? What ethical considerations were there?
Results section:
This section is very short. Can you please elaborate further on the findings of the study.
There are no references to the literature in this section.
Discussion:
- Why are the findings of the study significant?
- What do they mean for future policy/practice in DLE programmes?
- What did you learn that is important going forward for the sector?
- How might some of the findings be of benefit for everyday teaching and learning in the school?
Some of my points above are covered in the section implications for practice. The section on implications for practice should be moved up above the limitations so that it comes straight after the discussion. The section on implications for practice needs references to the literature throughout to reinforce the points you make.
Author Response
1. This is a very interesting topic that you have studied and it was a very interesting read. The style of writing used throughout is clear and accessible for the reader.
Thank you for the kind feedback.
2. Referencing needs to follow the referencing guidelines throughout – please amend.
We have made the requested corrections.
3. Line 39: DLE instruction - please give the full term at first and then the abbreviation in brackets. Also at the beginning of this paragraph it would be good to give readers an overview of what DLE is, time teaching through each language etc. I suggest that you move lines 41-43 to after the description of what DLE is, to facilitate this.
Thanks for your feedback. We moved lines 41-43 to the end of the paragraph and revised the section as suggested.
4. Line 66/67: Do you have a reference for this? Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, 7 out of 10 66 schools in the United States closed their doors to in-person learning.
The reference for Line 66/67 has been added. Thanks.
5. Line 95: Research Questions – it would be good to present the research questions separate to your hypotheses. It might be good to give these hypotheses in a separate paragraph and discuss the methodology you used/the rationale you have for this form of research and back up with references on using hypotheses in research.
Thanks for the suggestion. In our field, it is very common, if not standard, to list the hypotheses linked to each research question right after the research question is listed. Therefore, we decided not to change the location of the hypotheses. Given how common it is to have hypothesis-driven research in education and social/behavioral sciences, we did not feel the need to list references for using hypotheses in research.
6. Methods section – it would be good to present the method used before the information on participants in terms of sequencing of information.
Thanks for the recommendation. However, given that the journal, Education Sciences, did not provide specific guidelines on this, we followed standard practice in educational and behavioral research which is the Publication Manual (7th Edition) of the American Psychological Association, which clearly requires the participants to be the first section and the procedures and other method detail to follow.
7. You need to provide the age groups for the classes for the international reader, e,g, (kindergarden, ages X-X).
Thanks. We have added the age groups in line 126-127
8. From line 127 – 140 a lot of statistics are presented in figures one after the other for the reader, would you consider constructing a graph to display some of the data?
Thanks for the feedback. We have included a table to summarize the demographic characteristics.
9. Line 143: Can you give more details about the family demographic survey, what is it? Is there a reference for this for the reader? What is the purpose? Who developed it? How many questions? What types of questions? If you developed it can you please provide information on how you developed it/what literature influenced the question development etc.
We have added the Family and Teacher Demographic description (see lines 153-161). The survey questionnaires were developed by the researchers including questions on key demographic characteristics used to describe the sample in this study.
10. Line 155: Teachers’ survey needs some of the information listed above also.
We added information about this in the Parent and Teacher Survey sections (see lines 153-161.
Procedures section:
11. How were participants recruited for the study? Add details. Details on participant recruitment would come before details on the participants’ profiles.
Thanks for this feedback. Information about the recruitment has been added in Lines 192-199.
12. How were the surveys administered? How did the parents/teachers get or access them and how did they respond?
This information is included in lines 192-199.
13. What about ethics? Did the study get ethical approval? From where? What ethical considerations were there?
Information about ethical approval (i.e., Institutional Review Board is now included in lines 207-209. Thanks.
Results section:
14. This section is very short. Can you please elaborate further on the findings of the study.
Thank you for this comment. Unfortunately, there really isn’t really more we can add. It is a small-scale study with the listed research questions that we answered with our analyses.
15. There are no references to the literature in this section.
References to the literature regarding our results are included in the discussion and the implication section, which is standard practice in the education sciences.
Discussion:
16. Why are the findings of the study significant?
We have added text on line 348 to emphasize why the study is meaningful.
17. What do they mean for future policy/practice in DLE programmes?
We have moved the implication for practice above the limitations. For example, lines 365-367 state that “our data clearly indicate the need for more intentional planning and delivery of strategies to support both English and Spanish languages so that DLE programs remain aligned with the expectations of high-quality programming”
18. What did you learn that is important going forward for the sector?
In the implications for practice, we argue that lessons learned from the pandemic still hold relevant implications for DLE instruction and students’ learning experiences. Namely, the pandemic significantly increased schools’ infrastructure and capacity for utilizing remote instruction. And while in-person instruction remains the preferred setting for optimizing student learning, schools are now better positioned to leverage remote learning options in time-limited circumstances (e.g., weather closures). This information is in lines 355-361
19. How might some of the findings be of benefit for everyday teaching and learning in the school?
Thanks for the feedback, While in-person instruction remains the preferred setting for optimizing student learning, schools are now better positioned to leverage remote learning options in time-limited circumstances (e.g., weather closures). This information is in lines 359-361
20. Some of my points above are covered in the section implications for practice. The section on implications for practice should be moved up above the limitations so that it comes straight after the discussion. The section on implications for practice needs references to the literature throughout to reinforce the points you make.
Thanks for this feedback. We have moved the implications for practice (line 348) above the limitations section. We have also added a conclusion paragraph (line 413).
Reviewer 2 Report
This article studies the perceptions of teachers and parents in student learning in two-dual immersion programs during the pandemic. The results showed that their English improved more than their Spanish. Implications are offered to support students during remote instruction. It is clearly written and research questions were responded in a very organized way. However, I would suggest including a section of conclusions.
Author Response
This article studies the perceptions of teachers and parents in student learning in two-dual immersion programs during the pandemic. The results showed that their English improved more than their Spanish. Implications are offered to support students during remote instruction. It is clearly written and research questions were responded in a very organized way. However, I would suggest including a section of conclusions.
Thanks for this feedback. We have added a conclusion paragraph (line 413).
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Well done on undertaking the requested revisions. You have done great work. The article is a very good read and I wish you all the best with its publication.
