Teachers’ perspectives on inclusive language teaching in higher education

Authors

  • Sabrina Piccinin University of Verona
  • Serena Dal Maso University of Verona

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/isla.26033

Keywords:

inclusion, higher education, language teaching, language learning

Abstract

Principles of inclusive education have recently started to enter the agenda of universities, which have been dedicating a growing attention to the students’ needs and to the creation of inclusive learning environments. This study provides an outline of the current state of inclusion in university language courses in Italy, as viewed from the perspectives of language teachers. To this aim, we developed and administered an online questionnaire investigating teachers’ perceptions on the most common language learning difficulties displayed by students with SEN and on what might work best to support their learning process. Moreover, we explored the effects of socio-demographic and background-related variables (age, gender, previous teaching experience and preparation to teach students with SEN) in determining teachers’ practices, self-efficacy beliefs and disposition towards inclusive education. Results show that gender and specific training on inclusive education influence teaching choices. Self efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion are found to be positively related to each other but are not affected by socio-demographic and background-related variables.

Author Biographies

  • Sabrina Piccinin, University of Verona

    Sabrina Piccinin holds a PhD in linguistics and is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Verona. Her research interests include morphology, literacy development, second language acquisition and second language teaching. In particular, she has been focusing on the morphological skills of non-native speakers of Italian and on the designing of specific teaching interventions for both adult and child learners of Italian. Recently, her research interests have expanded to the area of accessibility and inclusiveness in language teaching.

  • Serena Dal Maso, University of Verona

    Serena Dal Maso is a researcher in second language acquisition and foreign language teaching at the Department of Cultures and Civilisation at the University of Verona. Her main research interests concern the acquisition and learning of L2 Italian. Specifically, she has explored the domain of lexical morphology and its development in the interlanguage of non-native speakers of Italian, adopting a usage-based perspective. She also conducted a series of studies on the processing of morphologically complex words by L1 and L2 speakers, making use of psycholinguistic experimental paradigms, in order to verify the efficiency of morphological parameters for mental lexicon organisation and word representation. Recent developments of her work have considered the role of morphological competence and awareness on reading skills and on text comprehension in non-Italian pupils attending middle school in Italy. A new project deals with the possibility of implementing lexical morphology in a pedagogical programme aimed at improving literacy skills of adult learners of L2 Italian.

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Published

2023-11-15

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2023): Special Issue: Accessible and inclusive practices in instructed second language acquisition

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Piccinin, S., & Dal Maso, S. (2023). Teachers’ perspectives on inclusive language teaching in higher education. Instructed Second Language Acquisition, 7(2), 222-256. https://doi.org/10.1558/isla.26033