In many ways, the Second Language Learning & Disabilities conference raised me to be the scholar I am today. I’m so pleased to be welcomed into this space again, this time as their keynote speaker. Please join us for Disability Inclusion: Finding Community at the Eye of the Storm in Language Education.
SSLA special issue: Disability and L2 learning
I'm thrilled to announce that Disability and Second Language Learning, the 2025* special issue of Studies in Second Language Acquisition, is complete and remaining articles will be released soon! *We delayed several of the articles to align publishing with the journal’s decision to go fully Open Access beginning January 2026 - congrats, SSLA! My deepest …
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My opening pitch for the 2026 IALLT webinar series
The International Association of Language Learning Technology chose disability and language teaching as their theme for their 2026 webinar series. Their webinar team asked for my help, not only to invite speakers from my network of scholars and teachers who work at the intersection of disability and language education, but also to open the series …
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What is my procedure for devising and planning a workshop?
Beginning in 2024 and continuing into 2025, I conducted an informal needs analysis to craft a workshop for Refugee Development Center (RDC) English Language instructors on the topic of disability inclusion for additional language learning and teaching. Wanting to make my workshop as useful as possible to RDC teachers, I engaged in an almost year-long …
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What would you do? Adapting listening assessment for hard of hearing students
Here’s another what-would-you-do scenario. I got this question from an in-service K-12 language teacher recently. She explained: I have a student who has a hearing aid and lip reads to make sure he's understanding his teachers. His 504 says to use captions/subtitles with videos during instruction, but nothing about during assessments. My group might also …
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Accessibility tips for presentations and presentation materials
I’ve gotten a fair amount of individual questions recently about accessibility tips for presentations and presentation materials. I thought I should share my responses with a wider audience, especially since it’s conference season for world language educators in the U.S. (and conference season for applied linguists will be here before we know it). I’ve put …
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The Exemption Default
Exemption from language study shouldn't be the default for disabled students. It is certainly an option, and I argue we should take the lead from students who are the ultimate authorities on their disabilities and best understand the point at which challenge becomes prohibitive and demotivating. If a disabled student wants an exemption and they …
SPILL it: developing a K-12 PD module on disability and language learning
I was contracted by the World Languages & International Education department of Washington State's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and deliver a module on accessibility and disability inclusion for K-12 world language teachers as part of their professional development program: Statewide Proficiency Initiative for Languages and Leadership (SPILL). Informed by the program's …
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Inclusion in LCTL instruction takes some extra thought
I recently facilitated a session on accessibility and disability inclusion in LCTL assessment for the National LCTL (less commonly taught languages) Resource Center's Professional learning community. I was discussing the importance and helpfulness of embracing multimodality in teaching strategies including assessments, when one participant asked a question specific to her language teaching context that I …
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Disability metaphors
I got this question recently from an editor: What do you think about the term "blind" to describe the process of anonymizing a manuscript for review? Here's a little window into my thought process behind my answer to this question. The first thing to consider is what blind and visually impaired people feel about this, …
Caitlin Cornell 