New BSL student-led club among inclusive T&L projects

A brand new club allowing students taking British Sign Language (BSL) modules is now up and running, as part of efforts to enhance inclusivity at Reading.

The club is one of a number of initiatives being led by Ugo Marsili , a BSL user and the BSL lead at the Institution-Wide Languages Programme (IWLP), to support inclusive teaching.

These include a research project aiming to improve BSL marking criteria, popular sign language film screenings, and training for teaching colleagues on helping students with invisible disabilities.

The IWLP offers language and cultural learning opportunities to students and staff. Students in any year can choose to learn a language as part of their degree for free as credit, or as a paid extra as non-credit students.

BSL has been the strongest language for IWLP in terms of recruitment over the last two years, with BSL students making up a quarter of its intake this year.

The BSL team has also grown – from one teacher and 40 students in 2017 to a team of 5 working with 130 students across all stages of university today.

BSL Student-Led Club

The new IWLP BSL Student-Led Club provides a space for students taking optional BSL modules at Reading to practise signing outside of class and build their confidence and understanding of the language.

The idea originated from the analysis of students’ feedback and their need to explore additional resources for their independent learning

The first monthly club meeting took place on 1 October, led by Ugo and with 11 students taking active part. There are five more sessions scheduled for Semester 1, with the next one scheduled for 1 November 2024.

Student coordinators will now take on responsibility for running the sessions, some through Campus Jobs positions, helping enhance their learning through peer work and collaborative study.

The club is also a space to discuss Deaf awareness, cultural barriers, supporting our inclusive values as a University.

The club is currently open exclusively to Stage 2 and 3 students, with Stage 1 students able to join from Semester 2 in February, once they have mastered the basics of BSL grammar and vocabulary.

Research project

A research project investigating improved methods of BSL is just getting under way, led by Ugo in the Department of Languages and Cultures and Svetlana Mazhurnaya in the International Study and  Language Institute.

Over the next 12 months, it will gather views on inclusive teaching practices from BSL students, through a survey and a series of focus group discussions, in order to explore students’ language learning strategies when learning a visual language. It will also aim at developing more inclusive and authentic assessments, with the teachers’ contribution, and align them to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Students, working as partners, will develop a learning guide to make assessment criteria more accessible to neurodiverse students and to all students.

This will help prepare the University for potential growth in the subject after BSL is introduced as a GSCE subject from September 2025 and pave the way to expand the BSL language provision at the IWLP up to advanced level.

The project is supported with funding from our Endowment Fund after it was pitched at a recent Vice-Chancellor Surgery.

Opportunities for staff

Ugo also runs training sessions for staff to learn more about supporting students with disabilities in their subject areas, including Deaf Awareness and Blind Awareness workshops.

Getting more staff to attend the courses is a key objective of the IWLP, as it seeks to build an inclusive and more aware community at the University.

Get in touch with Ugo to find out more.

Events team colleagues at a BSL workshop they arranged with Ugo