Alternative Second Language Curricula for Learners With Disabilities: Two Case Studies

Abstract

According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities (2005), students with disabilities often must demonstrate failure in order to qualify for academic accommodations. For students with disabilities, this failure may be life‐altering. The present article argues that alternative curricula (modified teaching and assessment plans) should be considered for learners with disabilities to help make their foreign language (L2) learning experience not only possible but also successful. This argument is framed in Allwright's (2005) exploratory practice model and draws on data from the case studies of 2 learners with disabilities studying German: one student with dysgraphia (a language‐specific cognitive disability) and the other with progressive familial quadriplegia (a severe physical disability). Their case studies aim to further language teachers' and program administrators' understanding of how learners with disabilities experience L2 learning. This article also aims to continue the professional discourse on considering alternative curricula as successful—and feasible—alternatives to requiring serial failure from students with disabilities.