ELTWeekly Vol. 5 Issue#37 | October 21, 2013 | ISSN 0975-3036
University of Hyderabad’s Centre for English Language Studies’
Seminar cum workshop
Inclusive Education: Techniques of Teaching English to Differently-abled Students
23 & 24 January, 2014
The term Inclusive Education has gained more importance all over the globe and more so in India in the last decade. After the UNESCO Salamanca (1994) deliberations and as a signatory to the Salamanca Statement, India has committed itself to the development of an inclusive education system and has strived to achieve it thereon. The University of Hyderabad supports and subscribes to the idea and strives towards making Inclusive Education a reality. The Centre for English Language Studies teaches English language courses in the university and the differently-abled students are a part of these courses. The language teachers teaching in an inclusive setup need more skills to understand and contribute effectively for building solidarity between differently-abled students and their peers.
Language learning in general implies learning the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. It also involves meaningful, intelligible participation, contribution in different contexts. But these discussions are slightly different for the differently-abled students. For example:
- Reading and writing for a visually impaired student are not the same as for a normal student. They might mean listening at times or reading in Braille in other contexts. The kind of sense that reading makes and the sub skills involved are different. What sub skills of reading do these students need to be trained in and what techniques do we use? How do these students write and what techniques do we need to teach them? What are the sources of information input and how do we address these needs in an inclusive classroom?
- In the case of hearing-impaired students the above context does not work and the major source of input is sight and tactility. What kind of syllabus suits them and how do we balance the four skills of language in an inclusive classroom? How do we make materials accessible to them? What specific techniques do we use in the classroom?
- Many of the teachers that teach in an inclusive classroom are not equipped to handle the challenges that are faced on an everyday basis. What kind of training, expertise, empathy and willingness are necessary in the context of inclusive education?
This seminar cum workshop aims at answering some of the questions above, sensitizing, training, and improving the skill-sets and specific techniques required in this context of the English language teachers. Invited lectures, demonstrations, presentations, student panel discussions, training session in Braille etc would be done at the seminar.
Scholarly and original papers invited for presentation
The main theme of the conference will be Inclusive Education: Techniques of Teaching English to Differently-abled Students and will be structured around the following four sub themes –
- Inclusive Education: Policies and practices; resources (can include surveys, reports, analyses etc)
- Classroom based research: Techniques of teaching English to visually-impaired students, hearing-impaired students and students with other special needs.
- Syllabuses: Building an inclusive syllabus — issues and solutions.
- Technology: Building, using and interacting with technology to augment inclusiveness.
General Instructions:
- Full papers and their abstract submissions are appreciated. In case full papers are not ready abstracts are considered for short-listing the speakers by the specified dates (Nov 15, 2013 for abstracts and Nov 30, 2013 for full papers).
- The abstracts and full papers should be clearly and coherently written so that the contents are internally consistent and accessible.
- Papers that deal with a particular teaching or learning context should have clear implications for people working in a wide variety of situations and must demonstrate an awareness of other recent work carried out in the area they report, discuss or analyze.
- Authors are requested not to make multiple submissions.
- Prepare your manuscript, using a word processing program and save it as three separate .doc files. One file (the main document for screening and short-listing) should contain the title, abstract, and text of the paper (if ready) with no identifying author information. The second file should contain the title of the article, the names and affiliations of all authors, and the address of the corresponding author and the text of the abstract. The third file must contain a brief bio-note of the authors. These need to be sent as attachments to the email mentioned below. All citation styles to follow the APA style format.
Please send abstracts of your papers by 15 November 2013 for short-listing. Full papers with abstracts are preferable. In any case your full papers need to be sent by 30 November, 2013.
There is no registration fee for attending the conference but a nominal fee may be collected for usage of Braille writing equipments.
No TA, DA will be paid.
Poster presentations are also welcome with prior intimation and approval. A short write-up about the poster must be included in your email along with attachments that carry complete information about the presenters.
Limited, modest accommodation can be made available on nominal payment, on a sharing basis with prior request (by 30 Nov, 2013).
Prior registration is mandatory. Please write to Shree Deepa at the email address celsseminar2014@gmail.com for more information and registration.
Important references that might be of some help:
http://www.britishcouncil.in/sites/britishcouncil.in2/files/ncfte-2010.pdf
http://www.ncert.nic.in/rightside/links/pdf/framework/english/nf2005.pdf
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/18/
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001365/136583e.pdf (UNESCO TEACHER’s Note)
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001347/134785e.pdf (overcoming exclusion)