Pedagogical and Curricular Practices for Computer Science Education with English Language Learners

In many post-secondary institutions, English is the language of instruction in computer science, but our students may not be fluent in English. I am interested in exploring the pedagogical and curricular practices that computer science faculty members use when teaching students who are English Language Learners (ELL) and do not have a common native language. Identifying effective strategies for ELL students is one piece of creating an inclusive classroom. Inclusive teaching provides an accessible learning environment for all students. Universal Design for Learning is a framework that provides principles and guidelines which enable educators to create inclusive and accessible courses. Evidence suggests that strategies that remove barriers for a group of students also improve learning for all. I hypothesize that strategies that are effective for ELL students will also make computer science more accessible and inclusive for the entire student body. As the first step in this research, I intend to survey Canadian teaching-focused faculty members to investigate which teaching strategies they use, whether they think these strategies are effective for ELL students, and whether they think those strategies are inclusive.