Summary
This case illustrates how a language professor at Dartmouth College drew from his work in the UDLi to design scaffolded comprehension activities in an intermediate Italian language course. Seeking to expose his learners to authentic and contextualized Italian language, the instructor selected media, such as videos and audio clips, from real-world sources to develop language comprehension activities. Understanding his learners' varying Italian language abilities, the instructor anticipated the authentic media would present varying levels of difficulty for his learners due to its elevated speed of speech, use of new vocabulary, and the presence of idioms, slang and dialects. In response, he developed transcripts and captions as optional text-based resources to complement the comprehension activities, acknowledging that the learners' proficiency could manifest as both aural and reading comprehension.
By making these written resources available yet optional, the instructor empowered his learners to independently implement the resources that made the comprehension activities optimally challenging and motivating. As a way of emphasizing the learners' process and promoting mindfulness around their use of the resources, the instructor integrated reflection questions into the activities, asking learners whether they used the provided resources, how they used them, and the reasoning behind their decisions, stressing that their response would not influence their grade. These opportunities for reflection prompted students to assess the impact of the written resources on their learning experience, developing their sensitivity to the timing and context in which these best support their learning.
In their feedback, learners with a stronger fluency in the target language expressed that they enjoyed the challenge of understanding the complex and realistic use of language in the comprehension activities, commenting that they often limited their use of the written resources to check the accuracy of their comprehension. On the other hand, learners with an emerging proficiency in the language appreciated the resources as they lowered their levels of distress caused by the complexity of the language in the activities, adding that they also used the resources to check the accuracy of their comprehension. Using the resources as a tool for self-assessment enabled learners to recognize their comprehension development as they work towards greater independence with the gradual removal of these scaffolds, sustaining their motivation and persistence in their language learning journey.
UDL Strategies
- Provide optional resources for learners to differentiate the degree of difficulty as they engage in comprehension activities.
- Emphasize self-efficacy and effort of learners as they implement diverse resources by promoting self-reflection focused on their learning process.
Note: This faculty member chose to remain anonymous.