LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 10 : 1 January 2010
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.

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Coping with the Problems of Mixed Ability Students

Archana Shrivastava, Ph.D.

Abstract

A group of students sitting in the class, napping as they are, not getting anything out of teacher's delivery, and a group listening with all interest, eager to ask questions - this kind of diversity, as any educator knows, has always been a part of classroom teaching.

It results from the heterogeneity of the learners present in one class.

Students' ability varies in their interest, attitude, knowledge, speed, etc. However these variations may vary in different degrees.

Problem of handling classes with mixed ability or heterogonous learners is an age old challenge for all the teachers.

Various solutions keep coming from time to time. The most common solution that comes up is differentiation, i.e. dividing the students into common groups of intelligences. But this solution has raised many eyebrows of parents as well as students who doubt whether this technique will help or negatively affect the students.

Instead of physically dividing them into groups teachers need to work on varying degrees of structured pedagogy which they can apply in the same class without letting students know that they are being discriminated on the basis of high and low abilities. My paper deals with a pedagogy as well as andragogy that help in developing techniques for dealing mixed ability classes.

Heterogeneity in Classes

Heterogeneous classes are one of the basic realities which every teacher has to face. Heterogeneity could be seen in terms of language background, learning speed, learning ability, cultural background, etc. It could be seen everywhere at every level of teaching learning process.

With such kind of diversity existing in the classroom we cannot think of providing homogeneous learning. We teachers need to identify the problems of mixed ability classes and try to come out with the solutions of eliminating them.

The Goal of This Paper

My paper makes a systematic study of the factors that create diversity, identifies the challenges it presents to the teacher or tutors and approaches that might minimize the complications involved and maximize the learning process. Being a teacher myself I have taken my food of thought from my workplace only.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Linguistic Purism and Language Planning in a Multilingual Context | The Problems of Teaching/Learning Tenses | Language and Literature: An Exposition - Papers Presented in Karunya University International Seminar | Similes in Meghduta - The Absolute Craftsmanship in Language | Culture of the Tamil Society as Portrayed in Ponniyin Selvan | Deconstructing Human Society: An Appreciation of Amitav Ghosh's Sea Of Poppies | Enabling Students to Interpret Literary Texts Independently by Enhancing their Vocabulary | Coping with the Problems of Mixed Ability Students | Displaced Diasporic Identities - A Case Study of Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz | English Language Teaching in Developing Countries Error Analysis and Remedial Teaching Methods - An Overview | Diaspora Literature - A Hybrid or a Hybridized Product? | Anita Desai's Journey To Ithaca - A Manifestation of Vedantic Knowledge | A Study on the Physiological, Psychological and Spiritual Perspectives of Different Selves in a Self with Special Reference to Yann Martel's SELF | Conveniences and Complexities of Computer-Aided Language Learning | The Danger Lurking Within: The African American Woman in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye | Practices and Paradigms of Using Multimedia and Language Laboratory for Teaching Communication Skills to Technical Students | English: A Blessing in Disguise - A Study of Chinua Achebe's Technique of Hybridization | Language Teaching - The Present Day Challenges | Is Literature a Viable Medium for ESL Acquisition? | The Lord of The Rings : Galadriel, The Light Of Middle-Earth | Teaching Reading - A Challenge in Itself | The Silent Way | Translator as Reader: Phenomenology and Text Reception - An Investigation of Indulekha | The Dysfunctional Women in Mary Gordon'sThe Other Side | Utopia and Dystopia, Conflict Between Two Extremes - An Appraisal of Anita Desai's Cry, The Peacock | Reading 'god' Backwards | The Comic Vision in the Stories and Sketches of R.K.Narayan | My Responses to The English Teacher | 'Fall from Grace into Grief': Putting into Perspective the Outrages of Terrorism in Salman Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown | Style and Language in M. G. Vassanji's The Assassin's Song | Affirmation of Life in Lloyd C. Douglas' Magnificent Obsession | Effectiveness of Group Investigation Model and Simulation Model in Teaching English | A Mathematical Treatment of Feministic Literature for the Prediction of Social Trends | Multiple Intelligences and Second Language Learning | Amitav Ghosh's The Circle Of Reason - A Study of Diaspora | The Role of Multimedia in Teaching Writing in English | A PRINT VERSION OF ALL THE PAPERS OF JANUARY 2010 ISSUE IN BOOK FORMAT | HOME PAGE of January 2010 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR

Archana Shrivastava, Ph.D.
Business Communication Area
Birla Institue of Management Technology
Greater Noida 201306 (NCR)
Uttar Pradesh, India
archana.shrivastava@bimtech.ac.in

 
Web www.languageinindia.com
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