JUNG Jonghee | APU RESEARCH SEEDS - Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to language education to maximize the potential of learners with diverse attributes

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework for providing an effective learning environment for all learners. It is structured according to three main principles: why we learn (motivation), what we learn (understanding), and how we learn (action and expression), with the goal of "leaving no learner behind.” To date, practical research on UDL has been conducted mainly in the fields of special needs education and primary and secondary education, but there are very few cases of it being practiced in higher education, especially in the field of language education.
However, language education in today's higher education institutions is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of learners’ attributes such as native languages, cultural backgrounds, and levels of learning achievement, making it difficult to fully meet the needs of individual learners and maximize learning effectiveness with conventional teaching methods. This trend is expected to further accelerate going forward due to factors such as the increase in the number of international students and the diversification of entrance examinations.
In this research, I am attempting to apply UDL to Korean language education at a university to develop and conduct practical research on teaching methods that respond to the attributes of a diverse array of learners. By putting this into practice on a multilingual and multicultural campus like APU, an environment rarely seen at other Japanese universities, my goal is to realize foreign language education that maximizes the potential of each and every learner.
I also envision using the results of this research to improve the learning environment and curriculum for many learners, not only at APU, but extending to the field of Korean language education, and in the future, to the field of foreign language education at large.

Details and related links

By exploring issues based on the three main principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), better foreign language learning can be achieved.

Pioneering practical research into the application of UDL to language education in a higher educational institution

The biggest feature of this research is the application of UDL, which has been used mainly in elementary and secondary education to date, to language education in higher education, and in particular, to foreign language education. Moreover, the first step is to implement UDL in a Korean language classroom, an educational setting where UDL has never been introduced before.
In recent years, there is a growing awareness in junior high and high school foreign language education that, rather than using a conventional one-size-fits-all curriculum and mode of instruction, education needs to be tailored to the attributes of the learners, which has led to UDL-based education being put into practice. However, the need for UDL-based education in universities and other institutions of higher education has not yet been fully recognized. Underlying this is a common misconception that UDL only applies to learners with learning disabilities (LD) as well as the fact that, in institutions of higher education, curricula and the management of learning outcomes are often left to the discretion of individual faculty members.
However, the attributes of learners in institutions of higher education are diversifying, ranging from native language and cultural background to language proficiency at the time of enrollment. For example, in the Korean language class at APU, which is taught by the principal investigator of this study, the international students who make up more than half of the 25-student capacity have 17 different native languages and share no common meta-language. In this kind of environment, the principal investigator began introducing and implementing UDL, the topic of this research, through a process of trial and error in order to increase the effectiveness of students' foreign language learning.
Based on the philosophy of UDL that the problem with insufficient academic achievement is not the learner but the curriculum, this research seeks to fundamentally rethink language education in a conventional higher education setting to provide fair and equal opportunities for all learners.
At first glance, APU's Korean language classes appear to be special. However, it can also be said that this is the future of Japanese higher education and, by extension, of Japanese society, which will become increasingly more globalized and diversified. This research, conducted in this kind of environment, should serve as an important model case for language education going forward.

K-Start! Dekiru & Tsunagaru: Introductory Korean for Communication (Hakusuisha). A book written by principal investigator JUNG Jonghee in 2025. This is the first Korean language textbook whose structure is based on UDL. The principal investigator plans to teach classes using this textbook and continue conducting practical research.

Aiming to collaborate with many fields in order to improve language education in the higher education setting

I envision engaging in a wide range of collaborations to disseminate the results of this research to society at large and to realize UDL-based language education in more classrooms.
First, the most important collaboration will be with language educators. Attempts to introduce UDL into language teaching in institutions of higher education have only just begun. Going forward, I envision collaborating with a wide range of faculty members and researchers involved in language education in designing UDL-based Korean language education, formulating curricula, and preparing teaching materials, as well as conducting joint research on the learning effectiveness of these activities. By engaging in these kinds of activities, I aim to establish a new style of foreign language teaching in institutions of higher education, and on top of that, to support the practical deployment of this teaching style in actual classrooms through training programs for faculty members.
In terms of collaboration with companies, I plan to jointly develop teaching materials and tools that meet the diverse needs of learners. Currently, support materials for elementary and junior high schools are well developed, but those geared to university students cannot be considered adequate. Going forward, there will be a definite need to develop digital teaching materials and learning support systems for higher education based on the UDL approach. I believe that combining the experience of publishers of teaching materials and tools with the findings of this research will enable the development of more effective learning support tools.
As for collaboration with government agencies, in particular, I would like to build cooperative relationships with education centers in each prefecture and collaborate with local support centers for foreigners to expand the circle of language education support based on the UDL philosophy.
Looking at university education, there will be a need to establish learning support systems at more universities, including private universities, while also leveraging the knowledge of learning support currently provided at some national universities. I believe the findings of this research can be utilized for this as well.

Details and related links

By collaborating widely with industry, academia, and government, I aim to provide foreign language education where no one is left behind.