How To Teach Heterogeneous Classes

Table of contents

Table of contents………………………………………………………………….1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………......2 Heterogeneous, mixed-ability or multilevel classes…………………………..3 Main differences in heterogeneous classes……………………………………4 -Language level…………………………………………………………………...6 -Learning experience……………………………………………………………..7 -Personality………………………………………………………………………...7 -Learning style……………………………………………………………………..8 -Interest……………………………………………………………………………..8 -Attitude……………………………………………………………………………..9 -Motivation………………………………………………………………………….9 -Speed for learning……………………………………………………………….10 -Maturation and age……………………………………………………………...11 -Intelligence……………………………………………………………………….11 -Family and socioeconomic background………………………………………14 -Confidence……………………………………………………………………….14 -Self-discipline…………………………………………………………………….14 The teacher’s role………………………………………………………………...14 Strategies to cope with heterogeneous classes………………………………15 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...23 Works cited………………………………………………………………………..24

Introduction:

Having a new group of students every academic year is a unique experience which teachers have to face and undergo when they enter the classroom for the first time. We hope to find a homogeneous class, but reality shows that, students, as any group of human beings, are also unique and differ from each other. They have different strengths and weaknesses, different language proficiency levels, preferences and even develop at different rates. Their motivation, interests, attitude and readiness towards the language may also differ. They also come from different family and socioeconomic backgrounds. Variability is not only the result of individual differences, but also of contextual factors. These factors, which are potentially infinite and difficult to classify in a reliable manner, may affect their learning process.

Teachers who experience this kind of classes sometimes do not know how to manage the group effectively and fail to do their job.

It is the purpose of this paper to analyze how to cope with heterogeneous classes. First, a clear definition of heterogeneous classes will be provided. After that, the differences and problems that may arise in the English classroom will be described and finally, different strategies and techniques to help students achieve their best results in their learning process will be mentioned.

Heterogeneous, mixed-ability or multilevel classes?

Many teachers have a strong desire to find a “homogeneous” class when they meet a new group of students. As Scrivener (2005) points out even though students in a class may have some things in common, some may belong to the same neighbourhood, others may have been going to the same school for years and share the same class, there will always be a difference among them. No two learners are really alike. They may even differ in the way they respond to different teaching methods and classroom situations. They may also have different approaches to learning. The one thing that they do have in common is that all of them are in the classroom to learn a new language. It is said that due to all these reasons they are set in a “heterogeneous” class or “mixed-ability” class.

“Every class we teach is mixed ability” (Richards,1986:17)

There are two main terms which describe classes with students’ differences. The first one is “mixed ability”, which is defined as “involving students of different levels of ability” (Cambridge Dictionary online) The second one is “heterogeneous”, which is “consisting of parts or things that are very different from each other” (Cambridge Dictionary online)

Both terms are used when speaking of classes with different language abilities. However, different authors prefer different terms. While Prodromou (1992) defines these classes as mixed-ability ones, Ur (1991) prefers the term heterogeneous. She suggests that the term “mixed-ability” is confusing, as it discovers all aspects of heterogeneity in a class of language learners, but connects rather only with language ability. In contrast, she claims that the term heterogeneous includes also other factors influencing language learning, such as gender, interests, cognitive ability, learning style, motivation, personality, age and background.

A more recent term is also used to describe mixed- ability classes. Hess (2001)

refers to mixed-ability classes as “multilevel classes”

It is not easy to provide an exact definition of what constitutes a large multilevel class

. Since all learners are different in language aptitude, in language proficiency, and in

general attitude toward language, as well as in learning styles, we can probably say

that most language classes are multileveled. Language classes also tend to be highly

heterogeneous. That is, students in many of our classes are different genders,

maturity, occupations, ethnicities, cultural and economic backgrounds, as well as

personalities. Multilevelness then, as much as class size, is a matter of perception.

(Hess, 2001:1)

The way we refer to them is not as important as to consider that significant differences in a classroom are completely natural. The question is not to take

mixed-ability or heterogeneous groups as a problem but to know how to respond to them appropriately. As Rinvolucri points out “we do not teach a group but thirty separate people. Because of this, the problem of mixed abilities in the same room seems absolutely

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