Neuro-inclusive and student-centred assessment in language teaching

Federici, Theresa 2024. Neuro-inclusive and student-centred assessment in language teaching. Presented at: Cercles European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education, Durham University: Multilingualism and the Anglosphere, Durham, UK, 12-14 September 2024.

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Abstract

This presentation showcases an approach to Enquiry-Based Learning that integrates assessment into class teaching to further support the social construction of contextual, pragmatic, and mediatic skills within a collaborative process-driven approach to teaching. Grounded in research on language pedagogy, educational psychology, learner identity and motivation, this approach maps language curriculum and assessment design to Universal Design for Learning to foster awareness of diversity and to support inclusivity and accessibility for all learners. My approach is called PRIME: Purposeful, Relevant, Integrated, Motivating, Empowering. This approach removes competition and facilitates knowledge exchange between learners, thus supporting learner motivation and identity. Learning and assessment become personalized and constructive, while remaining grounded in core knowledge, allowing for a plurality of submission types essential to an inclusive learning environment. By asking curriculum and assessment designers to articulate the purpose (why), the intended audience (who for), and the scenario (real world/professional), assessment can become an active part of the creation of an Ideal L2 Future Self. This perspective enables teachers to think more flexibly about in-class activities and the modalities of assessment. Variety favours inclusivity: a single modality of teaching or assessing, with adjustments or accommodations for those with disabilities, is not inclusive practice and can create anxiety and stress in neurodiverse learners whose ability to demonstrate understanding may be compromised by the modality of an activity or assessment. This presentation will map inclusive practice in language assessment to research in educational psychology. It will show that small adjustments in assessment design have significant impact in facilitating inclusivity in language assessment.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Modern Languages
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PB Modern European Languages
Last Modified:	01 Aug 2025 11:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180148

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