Mixed
Ability: Opportunity Or Disaster?
For
many teachers, the fact that they do not teach homogeneous
groups is a constant worry. Every class they walk into is
multi-level, with weaker and stronger students often sitting
side by side; a situation made particularly acute when students
are organised into year groups (as in a high school) rather
than streamed for ability.
Yet,
in a sense, all classes are mixed ability. Multiple Intelligence
(MI) theory, Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and group
dynamics analysis have shown us that no two people behave
the same. Students are individuals, after all, and they
all have different aptitudes and skills. While some students,
for example, are extremely competent at organising their
own learning and will study at home and willingly use self-access
centres (go to 'Learner autonomy' in the ELT Forum topic
archive, eltforum.com/topic1), others find this extremely
difficult. This variety provides us with one of the main
arguments in favour of methodological eclecticism
Different
Language Levels In One Class
Clearly,
having two very advanced students in a group of 40 beginners
presents a challenge to any teacher. Having a group with
a wide range of language competences makes the choice of
material problematical. At the very least, it means the
teacher will have to think hard about who will be able to
do what with the material, and perhaps adjust task and texts
in a number of different ways.
We
compensate in other ways too. With experience, we rough-tune
our language when talking to mixed ability groups so that
our students can understand as much as they need to. We
are similarly capable of producing variable comprehensible
input to accommodate a number of different individuals.
However,
the fact remains that, for most of us, a greater mixture
of ability provides a corresponding increase in the challenge
to the nerves of the teacher!
What's
The Answer?
Even
though it is the norm in teaching rather than the exception,
there is no answer to the issue of mixed ability teaching.
However, various suggestions are put forward about how to
offer different material and tasks for different sub-groups
within a class.
Another
- and perhaps more radical - response is to see mixed ability
groups as opportunities for all concerned. In this view
of things, students cope with language and activities in
various different ways, and their levels (and degrees of
engagement) can change dramatically within even short spaces
of time. In this view, the best thing to do with the mixed
ability 'problem' is to ignore it.
These
are the issues that are explored in this month's topic,
with different writers advocating very different ways of
dealing with mixed ability classes; from providing different
tasks and materials to ignoring the problem altogether.
Download
the Development Pack and
join me in the next live chat session to discuss the issues
raised - go to The Forum for details.
I wish you good reading!
Jeremy Harmer
