I’m very proud to share that I, along with four co-authors who were all at one time or another students I mentored, have published a project near and dear to our hearts. We collected articles and resources at the intersection of K-12 language learning for emergent bilinguals with disabilities for the purpose of easing the …
Continue reading "Annotated Bibliography: K-12 multilinguals with disabilities"
I teamed up with my colleagues from Michigan State University's Romance and Classical Studies department to organize a professional development series on accessibility and inclusion for language teaching and learning. Our inaugural series takes place this spring semester 2025 and will feature 4 different events on various topics related to accessible and inclusive language instruction. …
Continue reading "Series on Accessibility and Inclusion for Language Learning and Teaching"
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 …
Continue reading "What would you do? Adapting listening assessment for hard of hearing students"
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 …
Continue reading "Accessibility tips for presentations and presentation materials"
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 …
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 …
Continue reading "SPILL it: developing a K-12 PD module on disability and language learning"
Attention university language educators! I am asking second / foreign / additional language instructors at universities to participate in a study about accessibility and inclusion in language education. Participants who complete a background questionnaire and are selected for and complete a 1-hour interview will be compensated for their time with a $50 Amazon.com gift card. …
Continue reading "Study Alert! Accessibility and inclusion in language education"
I am pleased to share that I and my collaborator Robert Randez will be guest editing the 2025 special issue of Studies in Second Language Acquisition which will be focused on disability and second language learning. Please share our call for proposals widely, and let me know what questions you have: SSLAdisability@gmail.com.
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 …
Continue reading "Inclusion in LCTL instruction takes some extra thought"
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, …
