1. Inclusivity – a win-win situation
Stephanie Aldred
Manchester Metropolitan University

2. The trouble with TEFL Different languages
Different cultures (and cultures of education)
Different (positive and negative) education experiences – and resilience
Different ages
Different motivation (intrinsic/instrumental/none)
Different learning styles, preferences, personality types
Different social class, including income group, family background
Differing propensities of affect (anxiety, excitability)
Different physical abilities
Different levels of English, including variation in skills, and aptitude, self-regulation

5. The disadvantages of uniformity?
Discuss!

6. An inclusive approach
… will make good use of the rich ‘life material’ brought to the classroom
by our students.

7. Social background Age, gender, class, ethnicity
Can offer the class a range of perspectives, beliefs and experiences
Can be important in both cognitive and interpersonal competence
Fairly fixed – but social openness can be modelled, encouraged and trained

8. Intelligence General set of cognitive abilities
Can offer rational and intellectual input to the class
Fairly fixed, but can be developed via teacher and learner strategies
Can help cognitive, declarative learning in class, including that of peers

9. Learning modalities
The characteristic cognitive, affective and physiological behaviours that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with and respond to the learning environment …
(Keefe, 1979)

10. .. and other propensities and abilities
Willingness to communicate/ take risks
Motivation to succeed / help others
Musical/graphic/sporting competence
Affect (such as anxiety, calmness, excitability)
Learning strategies
‘Busy’ group/’quiet’ solo working
Field dependence or independence
The mood I’m in today
(Less fixed, more trainable)

12. Speaking Ss use a favourite photo to support autobiographical speaking
Ss record on a voice recorder for info-gap tasks
Ss make voiceovers for movie clips, adverts, or own short films
Speaking tasks include ‘out and about’ visits to interview people
Group presentations are made following visits, performances or tactile activities
Students make a model of their experience using Lego, before talking about them
Your idea

13. Listening
Students are offered extension task of listening-with-reading
Use films subtitled with English (teacher can do this with students)
Students choose a favourite song, you compose an exercise on this song
Students choose music from their culture, they compose a creative exercise on this song using any skills
Students Google ‘news in + place x’ in English. Compare short video reports with the top news stories about place x in L1
Your idea

14. Reading
Students read and translate recipes for typical food. Swap, and try out the new recipes at home – bring the results in to share
Students Google ‘news in + place x’ in English. Compare reports with top news stories about place x in L1: make a bulletin board of key headlines
Make and play a round of ‘Find someone who –’ craftily designed to capture specific experiences of the group
Students go online to find translations of famous books from their L1. Read the blurb in English and tell others anything they know about the original
Your idea

15. Writing Set up running dictations in pairs, to allow for non-runners.
Have writing and handwriting exhibitions, with prizes
Students do creative writing, stimulated by a song, painting or movie clip
Introduce writing of graphic novels, cartoon strips, annotated slide shows
Introduce short pieces about a biographical or autobiographical event, illustrated by a photo
Encourage interaction with fanfiction online
Help students engage with fanfiction online, or contribute in English to a feed they are interested in, to share with others
Your idea

16. Integrating all skills: a task-based approach
Make a grid for students to complete individually, with info to find out about, eg:
- famous sights in capital city traditional dishes - traditional clothing - most popular music - weather today
Ss research online to get info about cultures they aren’t familiar with. Then they tell a person from that cultural background what they have found, to check it’s right, and gain additional info, personal experience etc. They listen to their informants and write in correct info on their grid.
Your TBL idea?

17. Enjoy time spent with and for your students
Thanks for listening!