Inclusive learning
We learn languages at school, for professional purposes or for fun, alone or with friends. Some of us try to speak another language right away. Others, however, prefer to listen and observe before using the language or to be accompanied and guided step by step. Some learn languages by writing and repeating aloud, for others pictures are more useful and meaningful.
There are many ways to learn a language and for those who have a specific learning disorder (SLD) or other types of difficulty, arrangements and strategies are needed to make learning processes and teaching materials more inclusive and accessible.
The Multilingual Centre offers a collection of printed and digital resources and materials useful for language learning for people with special educational needs (SEN). Using approaches that take into account the variety of physical, cultural and cognitive contexts from which learners start, such materials respond, to varying degrees, to the principles of Glottodidactic Accessibility - including systematicity, multimedia, multisensory, linguistic adaptation and differentiation - and to the principles of Universal Design for Learning.
These useful materials for effectively motivating and engaging in learning processes offer techniques and tools for:
- learning according to personal needs, strengths and learning styles
- developing oral and written comprehension and production skills
- acquiring strategies for building a personal and autonomous study method
Currently, materials for the inclusive learning of different languages are available for loan.
Who can benefit from inclusive and accessible learning materials?
Inclusive and accessible materials for language learning are the result of a series of arrangements and approaches aimed at facilitating learning for people with a special educational need "for physical, biological, physiological or even psychological and social reasons, for which [...] an adequate and personalised response is required" (Preamble of the BES - Special Educational Needs Directive 27.12.2012). That is, they are educational materials designed for people with:
- specific learning disorders (SLD), including dyslexia, dysorthography, dyscalculia and dysgraphia,
- attention deficit and hyperactivity,
- cognitive disabilities
- difficulties linked to socio-economic, linguistic, cultural factors, e.g. due to lack of knowledge of the Italian language and culture.
What are the main difficulties that a learner with SEN may have?
For a more in-depth look at difficulties in learning a foreign or second language for people with SEN click here
What online resources exist to deal with these difficulties?
Help for dealing with these difficulties may be offered by specific strategies and tips: a collection of online resources for inclusive learning by Martha C. Jiménez, an expert in language learning (CEdAL-ELICOM) can be found on the following page, while audiobooks, podcasts, radio and other online language learning resources, organised by language and type, are available on the dedicated Multilingual Centre page.
What are some of the concepts, theories and reflections behind inclusive and accessible language learning?
A collection of in-depth material on Specific Learning Disorders and Glottodidactics, useful for learning more about some of the main concepts, theories, reflections and experiences can be found here.
Finally, at this link you can listen to the podcast of the radio programme “Post-it” by Alessandra Tortosa, broadcast by “Rai Alto Adige” on 18th April 2022. The programme speaks of inclusive language learning for persons with special educational needs (SEN), with Martha C. Jiménez, a teacher and a certified expert in language learning, with Michele Daloiso, Associate Professor of Educational Linguistics at the University of Parma, and with Donatella Ricchetto, coordinator of the Multilingual Centre Bolzano.
