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Responsibilities
Responsibilities:  When relationships among the stakeholders in the ELT process, it becomes easier to identify where support is best given.

By being aware of responsibilities we can understand how each stakeholder can have their share.  When any extra work involved in providing support is shared, many benefit from the experience.   Stakeholders in the ELT process are not only the student and their teacher, but management, section coordinators, other teachers, testers,  other students, library staff, etc.  Here we consider responsibilities of key players.

The following division of responsibilities come from work in Turkey, where there are disability laws but no effective implementation; there is good will but no reliable funding for equipment or services, and people are keen to help each other.

The school (or department) is responsible for providing a range of learning opportunities, so that the students can be responsible for making their choices.  Does the school have a policy statement on disability and equal opportunities?  Many countries have laws requiring reasonable provisions to be made.  This is open to interpretation and negotiation, but is often easily resolved.  What may be very reasonable in Canada might not be in Chad...

How and when can students disclose a different need?  Can they do this during registration, or at any time during their course? Some many not feel ready to talk on the first day; it may take time to develop confidence.  The school can carry out an access audit to identify barriers (physical and procedural) and create more accessible options.  Often these are developed through experience as people with different needs attend classes.  How accessible are the buildings and information online?  Are websites suitable for screen reader programs?   Flexibility in provision often provide better choices for all learners.

Equal opportunities mean no one should have an unfair advantage: to earn a diploma each student must show they have abilities, skills and knowledge of the required standard.  A student unable to demonstrate a particular skill (a deaf student cannot be expected to do a listening task) can be expected to demonstrate something equivalent; otherwise the diploma is devalued.                                                                                 

The teacher should talk with the student and hear what they say: about ways they feel they can learn, previous experiences, targets they set, and aspects they do not confident about.  While some can accurately describe their situation, others - with limited perception of their needs - may not state them clearly.  By consulting a range of sources, and trying different options, the teacher can decide what might work best.  And what didn't work at the beginning might be useful at a later stage after the student has acquired prerequisite skills.  Always consult the student: this will increase trust and confidence on both sides.

A personal learning plan can be prepared between the teacher and the student: 1. what can the student do without problems/or need for adaptations, 2. what can they do with adaptations (different format, extra time, etc), and 3.what is probably not possible.  Targets can be set (skills to be aquired, by when). 

The teacher should encourage other students in the class to be involved in including the disabled student.  Each can take turns to sit with the student. If the student agrees, the teacher (or another person) can talk with the whole class about different ways of learning.  In Turkey, blind students usually can touch type while sighted peers can't, etc. 

While being sensitive, a teacher should be aware of emotional responses.  Feeling sorry for the student will not help in the long term.  Exemptions should be the last resort, being replaced with a different task testing similar/equivalent ability/understanding.   Recognise the variety of ways your learners use, value the progress that each can make.  Expect all to progress, using different routes to reach their best level, according to personal targets.  When a teacher is used to catering to individual needs of different students??                        

The learner is responsible for their own learning.  By being active and participating in class activities, doing homework and proving their level in exams, they will earn the respect of others who perhaps did not expect them to achieve.  The student should be able to help the teacher develop alternative ways.  Each disabled student has not only different needs but also preferences: so each will choose a personal way to master a foreign language.  A disabled student might need a little more guidance, but should be expected to work as hard as any other student, and earn their grades                                 

Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 August 2008 )
 
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