Research File
Away Topics
English Language Learners with Disabilities Issue
Table of Contents
Student Perspectives on English Language Learning
Editor’s Corner
Featured Person – Taufiq Effendi
Types of English Language Learning
U.S. Department of State Promotes Inclusion
Universal Design in the Language Classroom
Four Fast Facts for ESL Administrators
From the Field
Publisher’s Notes
Student Perspectives on English Language Learning
What motivates people with disabilities to learn English? The reasons vary, but are the same for people without disabilities. Young people, watching relatives return from study abroad, see English as their ticket to the same overseas dreams or an international career. Others, like Angela Marin Rivera, who is blind, know the value of learning English for employability. “I liked English, so I registered at the Peruvian North American Institute where I learned a lot. Then I entered university to study translation, and I successfully finished and started my career.”
What helps with learning English? Accommodations in English language classrooms can vary. Rosa Romia Pastor, a wheelchair user in Spain, enrolled in an English academy and requested and received a ramped entrance to the building. In Peru, however, classroom materials were not available in an accessible format for Rivera. “For the exams I talked to the director and teachers so most of the time I had a reader and I gave my answers to them; I also asked them to explain to me when they used the blackboard. I tried to interact with my classmates as much as possible and sometimes I worked in groups with them.”
Josephine Kalunda Kakoma from Kenya, who took courses at the American English Institute at the University of Oregon, recalls, “In the classroom we were two Deaf ladies from different countries with different sign languages, and our interpreters used American Sign Language (ASL). For us to understand each other for the first few days was not very easy.”
Improving
English Language Learners with Disabilities Issue
Table of Contents
Student Perspectives on English Language Learning
Editor’s Corner
Featured Person – Taufiq Effendi
Types of English Language Learning
U.S. Department of State Promotes Inclusion
Universal Design in the Language Classroom
Four Fast Facts for ESL Administrators
From the Field
Publisher’s Notes
Student Perspectives on English Language Learning
What motivates people with disabilities to learn English? The reasons vary, but are the same for people without disabilities. Young people, watching relatives return from study abroad, see English as their ticket to the same overseas dreams or an international career. Others, like Angela Marin Rivera, who is blind, know the value of learning English for employability. “I liked English, so I registered at the Peruvian North American Institute where I learned a lot. Then I entered university to study translation, and I successfully finished and started my career.”
What helps with learning English? Accommodations in English language classrooms can vary. Rosa Romia Pastor, a wheelchair user in Spain, enrolled in an English academy and requested and received a ramped entrance to the building. In Peru, however, classroom materials were not available in an accessible format for Rivera. “For the exams I talked to the director and teachers so most of the time I had a reader and I gave my answers to them; I also asked them to explain to me when they used the blackboard. I tried to interact with my classmates as much as possible and sometimes I worked in groups with them.”
Josephine Kalunda Kakoma from Kenya, who took courses at the American English Institute at the University of Oregon, recalls, “In the classroom we were two Deaf ladies from different countries with different sign languages, and our interpreters used American Sign Language (ASL). For us to understand each other for the first few days was not very easy.”
Improving