Language Value
December 2019, Volume 11, Number 1 pp. 103-107
Copyright © 2019, ISSN 1989-7103
BOOK REVIEW
Disability and World Language Learning: Inclusive Teaching for Diverse Learners
Sally S. Scott and Wade A. Edwards
Rowman & Littlefield, London, 2019. 121 pages.
ISBN: 978-1-4758-3704-9
Reviewed by Dámaso Izquierdo Alegría
dizquierdo@unav.es
GRADUN-ICS, Universidad de Navarra, Spain
Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, Spain
This volume deals with a much-needed topic that, unfortunately, has not attracted
enough attention in the domain of language learning research: the adoption of inclusive
instructional practices to address diverse students’ needs. The authors’ backgrounds and
professional experiences perfectly embody an essential aspect in this field: it must be
undertaken from an interdisciplinary approach. Sally Scott is a senior researcher of the
Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) with extensive experience
with diverse students, including campus disability resource offices; Wade Edwards is a
professor of French at Longwood University. They co-directed the Project LINC:
Learning in Inclusive Classrooms, focused on the development and implementation of
instructional techniques aimed at creating more inclusive foreign language learning
environments in higher education. This project has already proved to be very fruitful
(Scott and Edwards 2012, Edwards and Scott 2012, Scott, Hildebrandt and Edwards
2013), with influential results about a variety of domains, ranging from the attitudes of
students with special needs towards foreign language learning, to the needs of
temporary faculty members that may not be fully aware of the protocols and resources
offered by their campuses to address the learning process of students with disabilities.
One of its major outcomes is a website full of original and already published documents
and resources that serve as an invaluable guide to build an inclusive environment in
foreign language instruction. Much of their experience in this project and subsequent
spin-off research is effectively integrated in this book.
Copyright © 2019 Language Value, ISSN 1989-7103
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Articles are copyrighted by their respective authors
Book Review
The volume is structured in six chapters. The first one, “Disability, Student Diversity,
and Inclusive Teaching”, describes the general principles of inclusive instruction. To
begin with, the authors provide statistical data that show that student diversity is not an
exception in today’s universities, but rather the most common scenario. Accordingly,
the authors emphasize the importance of transforming our conception of disability.
They introduce the notion of Universal design for instruction (UDI): inclusive teaching
practices should not simply involve creating new materials tailor-made for specific
students with special needs when they demand it; on the contrary, teachers should
ideally create the same standard materials for all students, trying to make them
maximally usable. The nine principles of UDI are then explained and illustrated with
frequent situations in foreign language classrooms. It is noteworthy that one of the
authors, Sally S. Scott, is a precursor of this approach (McGuire and Scott 2002, Scott,
McGuire and Shaw 2003), originally inspired by the concept of universal design in
Architecture and Design.
The second chapter, “Setting the Stage for an Inclusive Language Learning Classroom”,
examines different aspects of the design and planning of inclusive environments before
the beginning of the semester. One of them is classroom layout: the effects of features
like the arrangement of desks, lighting or acoustics are sometimes neglected, even if
they may pose powerful barriers not only to students with physical disabilities, but also
to any of their fellows. The authors are realistic about the capacity of instructors to build
canonically inclusive spaces, since they are aware that they might be assigned
classrooms with many physical shortcomings that they will not be able to overcome.
Anyway, they also show with a case study that a thorough reflection can easily avoid
creating challenging classroom setups.
Another aspect is creating and using accessible instructional materials: tips such as
providing students with materials in electronic format well in advance can have a very
positive effect on the learning experience of many diverse students. The authors also
highlight the need for designing an inclusive syllabus by not simply including a
disability statement, but also considering a clear, not distracting format that directs
attention towards the core information of the course.
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Disability and World Language Learning: Inclusive Teaching for Diverse Learners
Finally, they devote a section to the instructor disposition, “perhaps the most important
feature of an inclusive classroom”
(2019:
36). They pay special attention to the
students’ perspective when teachers are not approachable enough or have wrong
expectations about their performance, particularly when their special needs are not
visible and might raise unfair suspicion.
The third chapter, “In the Classroom”, analyses how to implement different inclusive
instructional strategies during the term. It begins with an overview of the results of a
previous project focused on students’ attitudes towards a variety of instructional
strategies revealing which ones are widely endorsed by learners. The authors choose
three areas likely to create barriers in foreign language classrooms: the extensive use of
the target language, group work and group formation and the amount and characteristics
of daily assignments.
The fourth chapter,
“Assessment of Student Learning”, delves into the topic of
evaluation. The first section revisits the general principles of an inclusive framework for
assessment. Interestingly, the authors include the distinction between target skills (those
that teachers wish to evaluate explicitly) and access skills
(“other non-construct
information which act as a barrier to students”, 2019: 70). They also insist on the
importance of preventing ‘hidden’ skills from being implicitly assessed. Three main
domains are explored: the
“complex and multifaceted”
(2019:
75) topic of error
correction, tips for designing inclusive rubrics, and mechanisms to enhance students’
self-assessment and metacognition.
The structure of the fifth chapter, “Getting Started”, is different: instead of presenting
the main facets of inclusivity regarding different aspects of foreign language instruction,
it is organised as a guideline that enables each reader to connect the contents and
reflections analyzed in the book to the educational setting of his/her own campus. It
contains practical tips and lists the steps to be followed. Particularly helpful are a self-
check and a textbox proposed by the authors to evaluate one’s implementation of
inclusive practices.
Finally, the sixth chapter summarises the main contents of the book. It includes a
section of
“Frequently Asked Questions” that manages to dispel the doubts and
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Book Review
concerns that some readers may still have when reconsidering their own instructional
strategies.
One of the most satisfying characteristics of this volume is that the authors establish a
dialogue with readers through direct questions and suggestions that turn the book into a
stimulating guideline to be read along with a notebook to respond to the multiple
reflections proposed about one’s instructional practices and assumptions. This is already
anticipated in the preface, where several thought-provoking situations are described
involving diverse students’ barriers commonly faced by foreign language teachers. The
authors succeed in prompting readers to go beyond theoretical generalisations and to
fully reconsider their instructional routine, so that they put into practice many of the
ideas advanced. In addition, the book contains many insightful case studies and real
student comments from previous projects and experiences that create a very vivid
atmosphere. Consequently, theory and practice are harmoniously integrated. Moreover,
Scott and Edwards are very realistic in their approach to inclusivity: they are fully aware
that it is impossible to formulate general tips that will be useful and effective in any
context. This is why they accurately show that flexibility and adaptability are two basic
skills when teachers try to incorporate inclusive techniques into their courses.
A minor critique would be that the book does not include some specific guidance about
how to proceed when some students claim to have special needs that do not seem
plausible. In that sense, the authors sometimes adopt a very optimistic tone regarding
the proper functioning of the system and it seems that they assume that students will
never attempt to be granted some unlawful advantages by claiming that they have
special needs. It would have been helpful to include some tips about how to check
suspicious cases without generating anxiety in students that are actually diverse.
In conclusion, this book will be interesting and compelling not only for researchers
specialized in the field of disability and foreign language learning, but also for many
teachers that wish to adopt new inclusive strategies in their courses to foster equitable
learning opportunities. Although the book focuses on university settings, many teachers
from other instructional contexts will also find many useful ideas.
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REFERENCES
Edwards, W.A. and Scott, S.S. 2012. “Teaching students with disabilities: Addressing
the needs of adjunct and temporary faculty”. NECTFL Review, 70, 17-30.
McGuire, J. and Scott, S.S. 2002. “Universal Design for Instruction: A promising new
paradigm for higher education”. Perspectives, 28 (2), 27-29.
Scott, S.S. and Edwards, W.A. 2012. “Project LINC: Supporting lecturers and adjunct
instructors in foreign language classrooms”. Journal of Postsecondary Education
and Disability, 25 (3), 253-258.
Scott, S.S., Hildebrandt, S.A. and Edwards, W.A. 2013. “Second language learning
as perceived by students with disabilities”. In Sanz, C. and B. Lado (Eds.),
AAUSC 2013 Volume - Issues in Language Program Direction (Individual
Differences, L2 Development, and Language Program Administration: From
Theory to Application). Stamford: Cengage Learning, 171-191.
Scott, S.S., McGuire, J. M. and Shaw, S. F. 2003. “Universal design for instruction: A
new paradigm for adult instruction in postsecondary education”. Remedial and
Special Education, 24 (6), 369-379.
Received: 11 November 2019
Accepted: 02 December 2019
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