Teaching English in mixed ability classes

Аннотация

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 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 Naturally, this is not an easy problem to solve successfully, thereby providing the correct level of and it would be wrong to suggest that there are any challenge for the higher level students and not simple solutions. A fundamental step, however, is to demotivating the weaker ones. A third area is that of talk to the class about the situation and to present it homework. If you set the whole class the same to them as a normal situation and one that the class homework task irrespective of level, then you will as a whole has to deal with. This is probably best have to expect very mixed results. To this end, done in the mother tongue of the students. As most giving weaker students less demanding tasks can of the solutions to the problem depend on help both to motivate them and to give them further cooperation between the members of the class, it is practice in areas of the language which they have not essential to stress the need for teamwork and for the yet mastered. Mixed ability as used in ELT usually class to use English whenever possible in classroom refers to the differences that exist in a group in terms communication. The use of pair and group work is of different levels of language proficiency. The essential if you are to involve all the members of the differences which cause problems in heterogeneous class. A fundamental technique here is the use of classes are in language learning ability, learning questionnaires and interviews. By pairing off weaker experience, mother tongue, cultural background, and stronger students and involving both in the preferred learning style, motivation and others. Even preparation and implementation of the questionnaire though students are grouped according to their you should ensure maximum participation of all the placement test scores, their progress rates are bound students. You can then get the weaker students to to be at different levels. Due to the mentioned interview the stronger ones and vice-versa. Of differences students react to the teaching material course, this may be frustrating for the stronger ones, and teaching methods individually. It is difficult to but if they are able to see their role as that of find activities that involve all the students without “helper” or even mentor, it may also have a positive some getting bored and others being confused, effect. A second area of activity that can be insecure or discouraged. Weaker students not being productive in mixed ability classes is project work. able to follow the pace, to understand information or Again, this can work successfully using mixed to express their ideas and stronger students not being groups where the stronger help the weaker, but tolerant to them may result in classroom another approach is to form groups that are at management problems. Thus, teachers need to have approximately the same level and assign different a range of strategies for managing mixed ability may take time but, once this style of interaction classes. There is a temptation for the educator to becomes habitual, it can be very productive in terms focus on the more advanced students. Actually, of class dynamics. It is essential for teachers to whole-class instructions and standards as well as a monitor students by observing/conducting single interpretation of ideas are common in a surveys/talking to them to reach their needs in a traditional classroom. On the contrary, in variety of ways and consequently to achieve differentiated teaching we need to offer multi-level effective teaching. Students’ involvement in the approach by adjusting the amount or type of input, process of the establishing whole-class and by altering timing and type of teacher’s help, by individual goals makes these goals more attractive. varying support materials and by adapting the It is important to give students the opportunity to expected outcomes. In a differentiated class, the express their ideas, feelings and experiences by teacher uses a variety of ways for students to explore personalizing the tasks. Though they may lack curriculum content, a variety of sense-making confidence or enough language knowledge, students activities or processes through which students can have an area of strong interest th