Teaching English in mixed ability classes
Yoqubov Iskandar Qobilovich
University of Tashkent for Applied sciences, Gavhar Str. 1, Tashkent 100149, Uzbekistan
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10458806
Keywords
:
classes, mixed abilities, challenge, implementation, progress, fundamental, motivation, solutions,
communication, problem, technique, productive, task, demand, encourage.
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to find out how upper secondary English teachers should work in order to
reach the weaker students. I am interested in what has been written about mixed-ability classes, the
challenges they present and most of all how teachers of English need to work in such classes to reach all
students, especially the weaker ones. What is a mixed-ability class? Mixed ability classes mean classes
where students differ greatly in ability, motivation for learning English, needs, interests, educational
background, styles of learning, anxiety, experiences and so on.
1 INTRODUCTION
Naturally, this is not an easy problem to solve
and it would be wrong to suggest that there are any
simple solutions. A fundamental step, however, is to
talk to the class about the situation and to present it
to them as a normal situation and one that the class
as a whole has to deal with. This is probably best
done in the mother tongue of the students. As most
of the solutions to the problem depend on
cooperation between the members of the class, it is
essential to stress the need for teamwork and for the
class to use English whenever possible in classroom
communication. The use of pair and group work is
essential if you are to involve all the members of the
class. A fundamental technique here is the use of
questionnaires and interviews. By pairing off weaker
and stronger students and involving both in the
preparation and implementation of the questionnaire
you should ensure maximum participation of all the
students. You can then get the weaker students to
interview the stronger ones and vice-versa. Of
course, this may be frustrating for the stronger ones,
but if they are able to see their role as that of
“helper” or even mentor, it may also have a positive
effect. A second area of activity that can be
productive in mixed ability classes is project work.
Again, this can work successfully using mixed
groups where the stronger help the weaker, but
another approach is to form groups that are at
approximately the same level and assign different
tasks that are appropriate to the level of each group.
By adjusting the complexity of the task, you can
ensure that each group has a task that it can carry out
successfully, thereby providing the correct level of
challenge for the higher level students and not
demotivating the weaker ones. A third area is that of
homework. If you set the whole class the same
homework task irrespective of level, then you will
have to expect very mixed results. To this end,
giving weaker students less demanding tasks can
help both to motivate them and to give them further
practice in areas of the language which they have not
yet mastered. Mixed ability as used in ELT usually
refers to the differences that exist in a group in terms
of different levels of language proficiency. The
differences which cause problems in heterogeneous
classes are in language learning ability, learning
experience, mother tongue, cultural background,
preferred learning style, motivation and others. Even
though students are grouped according to their
placement test scores, their progress rates are bound
to be at different levels. Due to the mentioned
differences students react to the teaching material
and teaching methods individually. It is difficult to
find activities that involve all the students without
some getting bored and others being confused,
insecure or discouraged. Weaker students not being
able to follow the pace, to understand information or
to express their ideas and stronger students not being
tolerant to them may result in classroom
management problems. Thus, teachers need to have
a range of strategies for managing mixed ability
classes. There is a temptation for the educator to
focus on the more advanced students. Actually,
whole-class instructions and standards as well as a
single interpretation of ideas are common in a
traditional
classroom.
On
the
contrary,
in
differentiated teaching we need to offer multi-level
approach by adjusting the amount or type of input,
by altering timing and type of teacher’s help, by
varying support materials and by adapting the
expected outcomes. In a differentiated class, the
teacher uses a variety of ways for students to explore
curriculum content, a variety of sense-making
activities or processes through which students can
come to understand and “own” information and
ideas, and a variety of options through which
students can demonstrate what they have learned.
Teaching the students separately is not a way out as
far as we intend to build the sense of community in
the classroom. Putting learners of different linguistic
levels together for some activities, and apart for
others is a possible strategy as it is assumed that
heterogeneous grouping provides pupils access to
more learning opportunities. Both weaker and
stronger students benefit from cooperation in
pair/group activities. When a strong student works
with weaker students, the student can be a source of
language knowledge in the group as well as peer-
correction. So, learners of higher linguistic ability
benefit from providing explanations enhancing their
fluency while lower ability students are guided to
reach higher levels of performance. Dealing with the
same challenges, high and low ability students are
supposed to work at the highest possible level. The
participants are sharing and producing richer work
than they might have done on their own such as:
brainstorming (making sure that everydiv’s
contributed ideas are valued), prediction, completing
sentences. Assigning more challenging tasks to the
stronger students in the group should ensure that
they remain motivated and continue to make
progress. It is more work for the teacher but,
ultimately, it should produce results. Choral drilling
can be an effective way of involving weaker or shy
students. If applied judiciously (in other words not
all the time), it can give excellent practice in rhythm
and intonation, as well as reinforcing word order and
grammatical structure. Finally, be diplomatic in your
questioning techniques. Try to avoid putting weaker
students “on the spot” by nominating them to be the
first to answer a question in open class. Instead, try
to encourage a culture of attentive listening in the
classroom so that you ask a stronger student first and
then ask a weaker student to repeat the answer. It
may take time but, once this style of interaction
becomes habitual, it can be very productive in terms
of class dynamics. It is essential for teachers to
monitor
students
by
observing/conducting
surveys/talking to them to reach their needs in a
variety of ways and consequently to achieve
effective teaching. Students’ involvement in the
process of the establishing whole-class and
individual goals makes these goals more attractive.
It is important to give students the opportunity to
express their ideas, feelings and experiences by
personalizing the tasks. Though they may lack
confidence or enough language knowledge, students
have an area of strong interest that can be made the
focus of their program. Making interest-based
learning choice obviously promotes the comfort and
confidence of the students and enables a learner to
explore some area in depth and in ways that
uniquely interest him/her. Actually, such a
comprehensive discovery oriented project can be a
useful option when any student wants to learn a
great deal more about a topic. Knowing students’
personalities helps the teacher to prepare and adapt
materials based on a meaningful context for all
learners in order to make them relevant to students
as individuals, which adds variety to the classroom
environment and establishes a positive atmosphere.
A mixed ability class should offer all the students an
appropriate challenge to help them to progress in
their own terms. It is usually necessary for the
educator to evaluate and adapt the materials
providing activities to respond to the diverse student
needs. The intent in doing so during some parts of a
lesson is to make a task more achievable. Activities
applying to different levels can be assigned at the
beginning of a lesson, during group activities, or
during individual assessment. Adapting activities to
two or three different levels of linguistic difficulty
enables the student to choose a more or less
challenging version at which he/she can function so
that they perform to their maximum potential.
To conclude, all classes are mixed ability to one
extent or another. Extreme cases, when you have
near native level speakers with beginners, can be
very challenging for the teacher. In these cases it’s
important to remember that all students will get
something out of the class, but not necessarily the
same things, and not necessarily what you aim to
teach them! For example, the beginners may begin
to get a grasp of your classroom language whilst the
stronger students may begin to be able to put a new
tense into use.
REFERENCES
1. Bowler, B.Parminter, S. Mixed-level teaching: tiered
tasks and bias tasks. In: Richards, J.C.Renandya, W.A.
(Ed.). Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of
current practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2002. p. 59-63.
2. Guignon, A. (1998) Multiple Intelligences: A Theory
for Everyone. Retrieved March 8, 2009.
3. Kelly, A.V. (1978) Mixed Ability Grouping. London:
Harper & Row Publishers. Kluth, P. (2005)
4. Differentiating Instruction: 5 Easy Strategies for
Inclusive Classrooms. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
5.
Montgomery
County
Public
Schools.
(2005)
Instructional and Management Strategies. Retrieved
March 16, 2009. –
6. Prodromou L. (1989) The mixed-ability class and the
bad language learner. English Teaching Forum, 27/4, 2-8.
Tomlinson, C. (1995)
7. Differentiating Instruction For Advanced Learners In
the Mixed-Ability Middle School Classroom. Retrieved
March 19, 2009.
