National Seminar cum workshop

Inclusive Education: English Language Classroom and Disabilities

Centre for English Language Studies, University of Hyderabad organising a National Seminar cum workshop on 23 & 24 January 2014.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan aims at ensuring that every child with special needs, irrespective of the kind, category and degree of disability, is provided meaningful and quality education. Hence, SSA has adopted a zero rejection policy. The term Inclusive Education has gained more importance all over the globe and more so in India in the last decade. After the UNESCO Salamanca (1994) deliberations and as a signatory to the Salamanca Statement, India has committed itself to the development of an inclusive

education system and has strived to achieve it thereon. The Supreme Court of India recently directed the Centre and state governments to provide three per cent job reservation to disabled persons in their departments, companies and PSUs observing that it is an "alarming reality" that they are unemployed

due to social and practical barriers. They believe that the three per cent reservation will be to the extent of one per cent each for the blind, hearing and speech impaired and persons suffering from locomotor disability or cerebral palsy, the court said while clarifying that the principle of not exceeding more than 50 per cent reservation would not be applicable while granting quota for disabled persons. According to them, employment is a key factor in the empowerment and inclusion of people with disabilities. It is

an alarming reality that the disabled people are out of job not because their disability comes in the way of their functioning rather it is social and practical barriers that prevent them from joining the workforce. The University of Hyderabad supports and subscribes to the idea and strives towards making Inclusive Education a reality. The Centre for English Language Studies teaches English language courses in the university and the persons with disabilities are a part of these courses. The language teachers teaching in an inclusive setup need more skills to understand and contribute effectively for building solidarity between persons with disabilities, students and their peers.

Language learning in general implies learning the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. It also involves meaningful, intelligible participation, contribution in different contexts. But these discussions are slightly different for the persons with disabilities. For example:

1. How do we ensure that there is inclusive education practiced in the English language classroom so that persons with different disabilities are included?

2. To include persons with disabilities in a dialogue that leads to empowerment in learning-teaching processes? How to use participatory approaches within the education set-up?

3. How can different assistive devices be used in the classroom to create an accessible environment both in terms of physical space and social attitudes?

How do we make English language learning accessible to persons with different disabilities?

Many of the teachers that teach in an inclusive classroom are not equipped to handle the challenges that are faced on an everyday basis. What kind of training and pedagogical practices will equip teachers to take into consideration needs of disabled participants in the classroom? How do we remove attitudinal barriers that stand in the way of disabled persons participation in the learning process? This seminar cum workshop aims at answering some of the questions above, training, and improving the skill-sets and specific techniques required in this context of the English language teachers. Invited lectures, demonstrations, presentations, student panel discussions, training session in assistive technology would be done at the seminar.

Scholarly and original papers invited for presentation

The main theme of the conference will be structured around the following four sub themes –

• Inclusive Education: Policies and practices; resources (can include

surveys, reports, analyses etc)

• Classroom based research: Techniques of teaching English and

visually-impaired persons, hearing-impaired persons and persons with other

special needs.

• Syllabuses: Building an inclusive syllabus -- issues and solutions.

• Technology: Building, using and interacting with technology to augment

inclusiveness

General Instructions:

1. Full papers and their abstract submissions are appreciated. In case full papers are not ready abstracts are considered for short-listing the speakers by the specified dates (Nov 15, 2013 for abstracts and Nov 30, 2013 for full papers).

2. The abstracts and full papers should be clearly and coherently written so that the contents are internally consistent and accessible.

3. Papers that deal with a particular teaching or learning context should have clear implications for people working in a wide variety of situations and must demonstrate an awareness of other recent work carried out in the area they report, discuss or analyze.

4. Authors are requested not to make multiple submissions.

5. Prepare your manuscript, using a word processing program and save it as three separate .doc files. One file (the main document for screening and short-listing) should contain the title, abstract, and text of the paper (if ready) with no identifying author information. The second file should contain the title of the article, the names and affiliations of all authors, and the address of the corresponding author and the text of the abstract. The third file must contain a brief bio-note of the authors. These need to be sent as attachments to the email mentioned below. All citation styles to follow the APA style format.

Please send abstracts of your papers by 15 November 2013 for short-listing. Full papers with abstracts are preferable. In any case your full papers need to be sent by 30 November, 2013.

There is no registration fee for attending the conference but a nominal fee may be collected for usage of Braille writing equipments.

No TA, DA will be paid.

Poster presentations are also welcome with prior intimation and approval. A short write-up about the poster must be included in your email along with attachments that carry complete information about the presenters.

Limited, modest accommodation can be made available on nominal payment, on a sharing basis with prior request (by 30 Nov, 2013).

Prior registration is mandatory. Please write to the coordinator, Dr Shree Deepa at the email address celsseminar2014@gmail.com for more information and registration

Event Starts:

Thursday, January 23, 2014 - 09:00

Event Ends:

Thursday, January 24, 2013 - 05:00

Organisers:

Centre for English Language Studies, University of Hyderabad

Event Location:

Hyderabad

City:

Hyderabad

Country:

India