Supporting learners with special educational needs and disabilities in the foreign languages classroom

Due to misconceptions about the challenges of language learning, foreign languages classrooms have not always been accessible spaces for all learners. This article seeks to address the needs of students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in the foreign languages classroom and challenge the notion that this group of students cannot or should not learn languages. Current research tends to focus on specific learning difficulties in language learning, but little research considers the language learning experiences of children with SEND more broadly. Accordingly, this article delineates the advantages of language learning for learners with SEND, drawing on emerging research that shows that second language acquisition is not only possible but positive for many learners with additional needs. It then considers some of the specific challenges that SEND learners may face in the foreign languages classroom before outlining key strategies to facilitate inclusion among this diverse group of learners.

Key points

• Learners with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) should not routinely be removed from the foreign languages classroom, but instead should be provided with opportunities to thrive within it. This article discusses the unique importance of foreign language learning for learners with SEND.
• Research evidence suggests that learning new languages is, on the whole, possible—and perhaps hugely beneficial—for children with developmental differences and learning difficulties, but will depend on the circumstances and profile of the individual child.
• The article explores some specific challenges that students with different additional needs might encounter in their foreign languages education, based on the four areas of need outlined in the SEND Code of Practice: communication and interaction; cognition and learning; social, emotional and mental health difficulties; and sensory or physical needs.
• To conclude, the article presents a range of key strategies that foreign languages teachers might implement in the classroom to support learners with different special educational needs and disabilities.

     

Sales Teams or Salespersons: Performance Implications for Embracing Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultural Values in a Global Marketplace

Identifying antecedents of salesperson performance is a long‐standing objective in the sales management research field. The purpose of this article is to outline how the practical understanding of, and the willingness to embrace, sales employees' cultural value‐systems adds value while considering performance drivers, individualistic versus collectivistic values, and performance outcomes. The cultural dimensions under consideration, individualism and collectivism, cannot be approached as a dichotomy. As is the case for all cultural dimensions, they represent a continuum and not absolutes. In this study, the work preferences and predispositions of participants were compared using an international data set. Respondents were culturally classified based on research (i.e., Americans and Australians as individualists and Japanese and South Koreans as collectivists). Specifically, it was found that individualists were less attached to their current work situation; collectivists indicated less work/family conflict; and individualists valued independent work more while collectivists valued deciding work time. This is important because of the need to understand how to effectively connect with the values of people to encourage positive performance outcomes. The reality is that value holds differing degrees of emphasis; the performance formula is the theoretical framework to guide this research. The implications of the results for sales management professionals are discussed.