Supporting Learners with Exceptionalities in the Language Classroom

Success for All: About the Course

Audience and Purpose

This course is designed for teachers, administrators, and other professionals working in education. It aims to provide information and strategies that promote the success of learners with exceptionalities in the additional language (L+) classroom. It was developed to address the needs identified by research participants through interviews, questionnaires, and focus group meetings conducted as part of CASLT’s Success for All project.

Course Structure

This course is divided into four lessons:

• Lesson 1: Provides an overview of exceptionalities in L+ education and frameworks that can help teachers address the learning needs of students, including Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and differentiated instruction (DI).
• Lesson 2: Outlines a variety of strategies that can support students with exceptionalities in L+ education.
• Lesson 3: Highlights the importance of collaboration between staff, families, and students, and outlines strategies to facilitate maintaining open lines of communication.
• Lesson 4: Shares assessment and evaluation practices that support the success of students with exceptionalities in the L+ classroom.

Each lesson has discussion thread prompts, reflection activities, and a quiz reviewing the content. Participants are invited to respond to the prompts, sharing challenges encountered and strategies implemented in the classroom, as well as any remaining questions about the topics.

Course Introduction

Research shows that all students, including students with exceptionalities, can benefit in multiple ways from additional language education (O’Brien et al., 2017). In response, Ministries of Education and school boards across Canada have adopted inclusive frameworks that affirm every student’s right to access L+ learning. To effectively support the success of students with exceptionalities in the L+ classroom, teachers, administrators, and other education professionals need access to ongoing professional learning, pedagogical tools, and in-class support.

This course will address the following topics:

• Different types of exceptionalities encountered in the L+ classroom
• Pedagogical approaches to supporting students with exceptionalities
• Classroom strategies that can support student success
• Strategies to support open lines of communication
• Strategies to assist in making assessment and evaluation more equitable for students with exceptionalities

Meeting the needs of students with exceptionalities can be complex work. This course outlines frameworks, components, and concrete strategies that can assist teachers in supporting student success in the L+ classroom.

Reference

O’Brien, M., Bajt, A., Lee, J. E., Lisanik, M., Pletnyova, A., & Reyes, S. (2017, March). Literature review on the impact of second-language learning. Second Languages Intercultural Council (SLIC) and Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT).