ELLeN Project

On July 1st, Assistant Prof. Dr. Carolyn Blume from TU Dortmund received the “IDEAward” teaching award for her ELLeN-based seminar “Exploring Digitally-Mediated English Usage Among Neurodivergent Learners“. In this seminar, teacher education students interviewed neurodivergent individuals, practicing their research skills while also learning more about the language-learning related needs and experiences of autistic individuals and people with dyslexia and AD(H)D.

The seminar, which was co-taught with Dr. Judith Bündgens-Kosten from Goethe University Frankfurt, drew on input by all ELLeN participants, and featured guest lectures by Aleksander Knauerhase, as well as by Prof. Dr. Michelle Proyer and Prof. Dr. Geert Van Hove. In her acceptance remarks, Carolyn Blume explicitly thanked the many neurodivergent individuals who served as interviewees and who have made this seminar possible.

On May 28th and 29th, the project team met at the University of Vienna, to discuss work progress and next steps. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, this was the first face-to-face meeting for the consortium.

One key element of the ELLeN project is the development material that can be used to address the topic of “Neurodiversity in the EFL classroom” in teacher education, drawing on Inquiry Based Learning methods. This winter term, material and concepts will be trialled at University of Vienna, University Dortmund and Goethe University Frankfurt. Several dozen students will work with the material, providing valuable feedback that will be used for future revisions.