Breaking Barriers: Building Inclusive Classrooms for Neurodiverse English Language Learners

A typical English as an international language (EIL) classroom has a broad spectrum of diversity as students have different gender identities, sexual orientations, motivational levels, and come from various ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. There is also a wide range of cognitive variations as well as preferences for different styles of socialization and learning. It is estimated that 15-20% of the global population is neurodivergent (Doyle, 2020), which means that teachers should expect to have several English language learners (ELLs) with specific learning difficulties in their classes. Conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), and dyslexia fall under the umbrella of neurodiversity. Neurodiverse students have unique strengths and learning needs that are often overlooked by educators. This presentation will highlight how teachers can make their lessons and instructional materials more accessible to neurodiverse ELLs. The presenters will describe the adaptive pedagogical practices and teaching strategies they utilize with neurodivergent Japanese university ELLs. They will also discuss how YouTube content (e.g., viral marketing videos), technology-enhanced learning projects (e.g., multimodal videos), modified PechaKucha presentations, and the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework can be used to foster neurodiverse and neurotypical students’ twenty-first century skills. This presentation should be of interest to EIL educators who wish to establish a more active learning environment and expand their teaching repertoire. The lesson ideas and pedagogical pointers that will be examined in this presentation can be used with both neurodivergent and neurotypical students and applied to a wide range of instructional contexts.