How Implementing Universal Design for Learning Principles can Help English Language Learners
March 9, 2020
As Katie Novak writes for Language Magazine, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles can help English language learners have a richer, more transformative experience in the classroom. ESSA “urges states to adopt UDL in a number of areas,” including using UDL principles to design assessments as well as “to support the learning needs of all students, including English learners.” The three principles of UDL—providing “multiple means” of representation; action and expression; and engagement—enable English language learners to “build background knowledge, interact with information visually and auditorily, access rich scaffolds and supports to help highlight the patterns of language, and have numerous opportunities to express what they know.”