Accessibility, Accommodation, and Inclusion

In most ESL/EFL classrooms, there is a range of cultures and identities in the classrooms that students represent and educators must take into consideration how these features encompass diversity and inclusion in learning. A teacher’s role and curriculum can influence children’s beliefs and their abilities by the attention and instruction that teachers provide to their students.

Universal Design for Learning Framework

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that creates equal learning opportunities and strategies to meet all learners. This framework promotes experiential and authentic learning environments by engaging learners with hands-on or practical skills (Goldsmith, 2007). If teachers incorporate this framework in their learning context, it can allow flexibility in learning for example, students with prior learning needs can be approved to access materials, discussion questions, and assignments earlier with technology. Furthermore, to reduce learner anxiety, learning materials can be posted ahead of time prior to in-class sessions for student's to access. UDL promotes flexibility in the learning environment by addressing the unique needs of learners of all ages and abilities by focusing on 4 principles: multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement (Goldsmith, 2007). By implementing this framework, students can choose the different modes in completing their assignment using learning applications to showcase and express learning. The goal of UDL is to provide learners with as much flexibility by offering them as many choices as possible. Educators cannot restrict students to the forms of text that they are more comfortable or familiar with but to allow students to engage in various texts authentically and connect with the materials that relate to the world surrounding them.

As you learn more about UDL, this means that as the instructor, you are considering the design of your syllabus, the types of activities students undertake, whether you convey information in multiple modalities (e.g., seeing, reading, listening, diagramming), and whether students are provided choices and participation in their educational journey.

Please visit http://udlguidelines.cast.org/ for more detailed information on the UDL framework.

Visit University of Toronto Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation for more resources on how to implement inclusive learning environments!

Visit eCampusOntario for more resources and innovations on learning with technology and making learning accessible for everyone

BCCampus offers a Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit to help educators make their materials more accessible for all learners

Gendered Education and Learning

As a language instructor who lived and taught in two homogenous and confucius countries, I understand that when gender is considered in the ESL/EFL classrooms, educators have to also consider a students’ age, country of origin, culture, and student’s first language as well. Gender bias is revealed in areas of teaching materials and also published in textbooks. Teachers and schools can also subconsciously reinforce traditional gender values and roles in which they aren’t aware themselves (Finnessy, 2015). Some examples are girl and boy lines, seating charts, and school-uniform or strict dress codes. Educators and administrators can play a part in either reinforcing the status quo or precipitate change. Studies have found that how teachers teach can manifest gender differences in the classroom. Some of these effects are due to the stereotypes that the teachers, themselves, hold either consciously or unconsciously (Vavrus, 2009; Finnessy, 2015). It is important to consider gender in the ESL/EFL classroom context because gendered education is a multifaceted issue that is usually not addressed or considered but has a variety of negative educational repercussions for our students.

The findings from Andrews (2013) study provide some evidence that ESL/ELL instructors are culturally aware and enforce teaching strategies that promote students' culture in their classroom but they fail to find gender bias in their teaching. The idea of gender being invisible in the classroom is present in the curriculum and course materials. A study in Glasgow & Paller (2014) found that in Japanese EFL materials, females were more often described by their appearance meanwhile men were described by their intellectual character traits. Similar disparities were observed in textbooks that teach about work occupations, when women do have jobs, they are generally of lower status than the ones males have or held stereotypical female job roles such as nurses or interior designers. ELL students may find it challenging to understand the texts that they read due to their limited language ability. An example to overcome this challenge is for teachers to use picture books, a form of visual literacy that represent a variety of cultures and jobs as students would like to see their lives reflected in books that they read. At lower levels of English instruction, visual literacy can help students recognize how images can relate to text and many teachers recognize the potential in using picture books in class. This is important for children who are looking to see their own lives reflected in literature to feel validated and confident in their identity (Finnessy, 2015; Adichie, 2009; Toronto District School Board, 2011).

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References:

Adichie, C. (2009). Danger of a Single Story. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/up-next

Andrews, L. (2013). Language Exploration and Awareness: A Resource Book for Teachers. Third Edition. Routledge.

Finnessy, P. (2015). Examining the Heteropatriarchy: Canadian and American Male Teachers’ Perspectives of Sexual Minority Curriculum. Teaching Education.

Finnessy, P. (2018). Intersecting Identities and the Comprehensive Curriculum: Incorporating Aporias into our Instruction. Salzburg Global Seminar, Salzburg, Seminar.

Glasgow, G. P., & Paller, D. L. (2014). MEXT-approved EFL textbooks and the new Course of Study. In N. Sonda & A. Krause (Eds.), JALT2013 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT.

Goldsmith, S. (2007). Universal Design. Routledge.

Toronto District School Board. (2011). Challenging homophobia and heterosexism: A K-12 curriculum resource guide. Toronto: TDSB Equitable and Inclusive Schools.

Vavrus, M. (2009). Sexuality, schooling, and teacher identity formation: A critical pedagogy for teacher education

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