THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON YOUNG STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH

Abstract

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a matter of serious concern for the world, it impacts all aspects of societies, one of them being the education sector. This can be seen from the closure of schools in various regions in Indonesia. Given the importance of education, the government has issued a policy to implement online learning so that education can continue even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The practice of online learning can certainly be a solution during the COVID-19 pandemic because there is no need to go to school, there is no crowd, or direct contact. But globally, more than 635 million students remain affected by this disruption to education. Up to 70% of 10-year-olds from low- to middle-income countries are unable to read or understand a simple text, up from 53% pre-pandemic according to an article written by UNICEF. English is an important subject to many Indonesians and Covid-19 made a large impact on young students who haven’t had much understanding of this language, unlike the more mature learners. Although wearisome, there are some benefits from online learning to learn English. This paper highlights the positive and negative impacts of Covid-19 on learning English as second language for young learners. Keywords: Covid-19 Pandemic, English as Second Language, Online Learning, Young Learners