Last month, I mentioned that as part of my dissertation study I'll be asking Big Ten language instructors what their programs and institutions can do to better support them in their accessibility and inclusion efforts (see August 15, 2023 blog entry). This month, I'm writing to those language instructors directly, who may feel very alone …
Continue reading "Accessible teaching – don’t panic; start small"
It’s official! The Michigan State University Graduate School has recognized my completion of its Certification in College Teaching Program. (I also completed the College of Arts and Letters (CAL) Graduate Certification in College Teaching - see March 5, 2022 blog entry). I am particularly proud that some of the work I completed for the certificate …
While I believe each of us has some personal, ethical responsibility to do better and recognize ableism when we see it (including the unintentional kind, which is everywhere), my primary focus has never been on blaming individuals. Not all educators are willfully perpetuating ableism. It's also true that individual instructors are not always fully autonomous …
I recently used a pretty weird metaphor in a community organizing meeting when I was explaining to a staunch advocate of law enforcement that we shouldn't invite police officers to our community events since we want to be inclusive and welcoming to our immediate neighbors. I likened this concept to a dining scenario that we …
We can learn to talk about inaccessibility and ableism without fragility. When we are told that something in our course or program is inaccessible, it's not meant as a personal affront. We may feel embarrassment or shame about the room for improvement in our course design, but what’s most important is how we keep our …
The language we (language instructors, researchers, testers, etc.) use to describe language learners of marginalized identities matters a great deal. My colleague Robert Randez and I recently collaborated on a piece for a critically needed special issue of Language Testing to, in part, illustrate for applied linguists the importance of making purposeful and informed language …
Language instructors are often underprepared to address accessibility concerns for disabled language learners. In fact, my own underpreparedness for this type of inclusion in my English language teaching career is what ultimately pushed this longtime teacher to return to research and pursue a Ph.D. I passed my dissertation proposal, and my study is almost underway. …
Continue reading "Dissertating: Language Instructors’ Preparedness for Accessibility"
It's official! I am wrapping up the development of a course I have designed and will teach this summer for MSU's Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching program: Individual Differences and Accessibility in Foreign Language Teaching. Since I have long believed that disability nests naturally under an umbrella of Individual Differences discourse within second …
I know I talk (and write) a lot about ableism in academia, and in language learning specifically. It's important that I do, because it's really there and it's a real problem. One year ago, I wrote about how "best practices" in language teaching can erect barriers to accessible learning. I stand by what I wrote …
I have a real question. What’s the relationship between class attendance and success in the learning outcomes of a course? Why does attendance really matter that much? Do we really have to control it to the degree we think we need to? Instead of failing (or reducing a grade for) students on the basis of …
Continue reading "A real question: attendance in language learning"
Caitlin Cornell 