Access to knowledge: Implications of universal design for CALL environments

Abstract

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore Universal Design, a model from the field of architecture and design that is finding recent applications in education. Called Universal Instructional Design (UID) when applied in education, UID environment conditions are similar in many ways to conditions that effective language teachers design into their instructional environments. This paper addresses how the UID model might profitably be applied in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) classrooms to help all of our students gain access to classroom instruction