Classroom interaction in Non-Lang Specific
Teaching Neurodiverse Learners
PRACTICAL IDEAS AND RESOURCES
Resources in this section curated by: Kira Seretan and Chloe Tacata
Teaching Tips for Children and Adults with Autism | Article
This is a resource for teachers and covers interaction with both children and adults on the autism spectrum (though much of this can also be extended to other types of neurodivergence). This includes such topics as fixations, avoiding extensive series of instructions, and over-stimulation (which can have strong negative effects on communication). This also includes a wide variety of possibilities from high functioning individuals with fewer markers who might be better at passing, to non-verbal individuals, and neurodivergent (children especially) with different levels of communication skills.
Educating Different Kinds of Minds | YouTube Video
Temple Grandin also has a TEDTalk on educating different kinds of minds which deals with the education system and how to get information across to different types of individuals, as well as the recognition that responding to different kinds of thinking are important and have been for geniuses throughout history. She talks about being aware of different kinds of thinking (such as auditory thinkers, photo-realism thinkers, pattern thinkers, and verbal facts language translation). She also talks about practical experience and the importance of combining different kinds of thinkers and communication between them.
ACADEMIC RESOURCES ON HUMOR
Not Language-Specific
Resources in this section curated by: Carla Consolini, Tigre Lusardi, Lorelei Pfeffer
Bell, N. D. (2009). Learning about and through humor in the second language classroom. Language Teaching Research, 13(3), 241–258. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168809104697
The author of this article analyzes data taken from previous research investigating the use of humor in a second language (L2), both inside and outside of the classroom (Davies, 2003; Schmitz, 2002; Bell, 2002), to make the case for why using humor in L2 classrooms is appropriate and useful. First language (L1) speakers were shown to support L2 speakers in their (the L2 speakers’) construction of humor. The most commonly occurring type of humor in spontaneous recorded conversations between L1 and L2 speakers was the humorous narrative. This contrasts greatly with the types of humor usually included in classroom settings, which are wordplay and the construction of alternate or imagined scenarios/realities.
The author provides tentative suggestions for effective ways to employ humor in classroom settings. Teachers should be familiar with basic tenets coming out of sociolinguistic humor research such that they can lead explicit instruction and conversations about humor, its construction and its social/pragmatic use. For student activities, the author suggests focused awareness and analysis activities, such as having learners analyze naturally occurring speech found in media or films for presence and type of humor.
Bell, N. and A. Pomerantz (2019). Humor in L2 Pragmatics Research. In Taguchi, N. (Ed.). The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and pragmatics. Routledge.
In this overview of the current understanding of humor and its applications in L2 learning, the authors situate the study and use of humor in L2 and SLA (second language acquisition) research and classrooms by first presenting the central ideas of humor research and then reviewing empirical evidence about humor and L2 development in both previous foundational and more recently published studies.
The three concepts that underlie their arguments are that humor can function to aid L2 pragmatic development, that it can be used as a resource for/in L2 interactions, and that it is an aspect of an L2 that must be explicitly learned.
ACADEMIC RESOURCES ON TEACHING NEURODIVERSE LEARNERS
Resources in this section curated by: Kira Seretan and Chloe Tacata
Ashby, C. and Woodfield, C. (2019). Honouring, Constructing and Supporting Neurodivergent Communicators in Inclusive Classrooms. Promoting Social Inclusion (International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, Vol. 13), Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 151-167.
This article focuses on interaction in classrooms. This can also be transferred out of the classroom in many ways as it handles different neurotypical and neurodivergent points of view and community interaction and involvement. Much of the focus of this text is on non-verbal neurodivergent individuals, but these ways in which inclusion and communication with said individual can be implemented are still highly applicable to an understanding of accommodation in communication and an understanding of various focuses and perspectives. This study is geared towards teachers and other education professionals with the intent to help aid in better inclusivity and communication in Special Education and mixed classrooms.
Lockton, Elaine et al. (2016). Do children with social communication disorder have explicit knowledge of pragmatic rules they break? A comparison of conversational pragmatic ability and metapragmatic awareness. International journal of language & communication disorders vol. 51, 5: 508-17. doi:10.1111/1460-6984.12227
The researchers of this article looked at children with social communication disorders to test their metapragmatic awareness. The researchers analyzed the results from two different tasks: the Targeted Observation of Pragmatics in Children’s Conversation and the Assessment of Metapragmatics (AMP). The former task was aimed at conversational pragmatics and the latter at metapragmatic knowledge. The results of this study indicate that some children had metapragmatic awareness, but it did not significantly impact their pragmatic behavior. This indicates that children with SCD could benefit from instruction aimed at understanding and improving motivation for following pragmatic rules.
Martin, Nicola. (2020). Practical Scholarship: Optimising beneficial research collaborations between autistic scholars, professional services staff, and ‘typical academics’ in UK universities. Neurodiversity Studies: A New Critical Paradigm, edited by Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Nick Chown, Anna Stenning, Taylor & Francis.
In this essay, Martin discusses the value of collaboration between neurodiverse and neurotypical individuals in scholarship and research. This involves not only inclusivity in upper education, but also the ability to communicate between neuro-types. Martin lauds the research that such collaborations can create and makes a case of the increase of such collaborative research. Martin comes at this issue from a neurodiverse perspective. As such, she discusses not only the value of these collaborations but what is required in order to make them happen and to make them as successful as possible. She says this is particularly the case with research on neurodiversity for which, she states, “An insider perspective is key to this area of enquiry,” (Martin, 2020). To this end, this essay not only discusses communication around academic scholarship but also the metapragmatics of neurodiverse individuals participating in such scholarship.
Verschueren, Jef. (2000). Notes on the Role of Metapragmatic Awareness in Language Use. Pragmatics : Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 439–456.
This article summarizes and explains some of the fundamental concepts of metalanguage, metapragmatics, and metapragmatic awareness. Verschueren goes through some of the definitions of metapragmatics and metalanguage that are discussed in the field. When discussing the social implications of metapragmatic awareness, Verschueren argues that metapragmatic awareness enables judgments based on social norms and language ideology. For the individual, metapragmatic functioning can be used in the identity construction of the speaker. In the conclusion, Verschueren argues that metapragmatic awareness is crucial to pragmatic functioning and message interpretation. This article explores more of the theoretical side of metalanguage and metapragmatics, it provides researchers with an overview of metapragmatic awareness and some of the issues that come about when planning to study it.
For this project, this article is not a recommended read for the community, it is better suited for a reader in the academic field. Perhaps the most relevant takeaway is that pragmatics and metapragmatic awareness are important features in identity construction and interpreting meaning because of social norms and constructed language ideologies. This means that pragmatics and the ways that speakers use language carry meaning at a level that may not be salient. In order to deconstruct negative judgments about pragmatic features like directness, it is then important to understand and reevaluate the negative social meaning that it carries.
