Universal Design for Learning in Second Language Teaching

Abstract

This research was born in a foreign language teaching center in Barranquilla, Colombia, by taking the reality of this institution where teachers find themselves in front of diverse and neurodiversity students. They require orientation towards an inclusive education. The purpose of the study was to strengthen the teaching-learning process of a foreign language within the framework of inclusive education. The methodology is framed in mixed research, with interpretive paradigm and descriptive design in which a survey for teachers and a semi-structured interview for students were used. The results show that although teachers have many qualities, neurodidactic orientation is needed to attend and guarantee the accessibility, participation, permanence, communication and learning of the whole population regardless of their condition. From this need emerged the proposal "UDL in the teaching of foreign languages" which is materialized through the website "NeuroELE'', an online site that shares theoretical content to enrich the teaching knowledge with neuropedagogical bases, and neurodidactic strategies to strengthen the pedagogical work based on the Universal Design for Learning. The web page was evaluated by expert judges who highlighted its content and correspondence with the objective proposed with its design and it was subjected to changes generating a 2.0 version.