Pixel International Conferences

The dropout rate of students with various learning disabilities is increasing across European higher-education institutions, and the reasons vary among individual or institutional characteristics, or interactions within colleges [1] [2]. In this context, the European project V:InD:O:W (Virtual - Inclusive - Diversity focused - Open educational - Work Modules) (KA203-34ECD999) has been granted by the European Commission on the basis that the design of digital resources can assist teachers in the integration and academic progress of students with different abilities. Thus, V:InD:O:W aims at creating digital learning modules for tertiary foreign language teacher education, which demonstrate how the principles of inclusion –in their broad, diversity-oriented interpretation– can be applied in the field of foreign language education. Specifically, the project has developed virtual digital courses that include theoretical, empirical and evidence-based knowledge, insights from language teaching practice and educational policy guidelines about different topics, among which multilingual/multicultural challenges in the foreign language classrooms is included (together with autism, dyslexia, or neurodiversity, among others). V:InD:O:W modules offer an interdisciplinary foundation of the topic. In addition, these digital and virtual modules also address the question to what extent and in what ways digitalization of learning materials can prove an asset in inclusive learning environments. The primary target group of V:InD:O:W are foreign language teacher educators, who would use these modules in the teaching of pre- and in-service foreign language teachers (secondary target group). V:InD:O:W has already designed and piloted the first set of modules during the academic year 2021-2022. This research will analyze the data from the implementation of the multilingual/multicultural module with one group of participants: A group of Master language teacher students from the University of Parma (n=17), which was delivered online during the month of February 2022. A validated questionnaire through the Delphi method has been used as the instrument for the analysis of data, which are both quantitative and qualitative. A mixed-methods research will be conducted to scrutinize such data, whose results indicate that teachers highly value as positive both the contents and the competences obtained through this module, and they mostly find it innovative and revealing. Discussion will be focused on the fact that teacher educators should be equipped with innovative tools in order to promote an inclusive and holistic approach to foreign language learning, which can demonstrate that the principles of inclusion –in their broad, diversity-oriented interpretation– can be applied in the field of foreign language education.