The ADHD learner, time perception, and the listening skill in EAP: decoding the temporal rules of auditory processing of phonological information to rethink practices for an inclusive classroom

This article aims to explore the complexity behind the potential challenges that some students have in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classrooms and contexts regarding listening skills. The developing argument comes from a perspective that not all listeners will process auditory information identically due to neurological differences (neurodiversity) and therefore that we should adjust our practices with divergent listeners as learners in mind. Part of this premise will be defended by advocating for the importance of scholarship of teaching and learning that draws from disciplines beyond what we might usually be comfortable with, providing insights that can help us view language problems from novel angles. Examining the neuroscience literature, unique properties of the ADHD-influenced brain will be identified and while doing so, the features that impact upon students’ listening, in the EAP and HE context, will be discussed. It will be suggested that time perception differences may account for the problems ADHD listeners might have in processing phonological information and thus auditory information as speech. In arguing for the existence of a temporal dimension to the rule-based nature of speech and the differences diverse learners may have with that temporal processing, we can think about the effectiveness of our practices and consider ways to adapt or transform them according to those temporal principles. Although EAP is used as an example practice context, it is hoped the insights from this discussion can be useful to other language learning and teaching fields.