Dealing with large classes of mixed ability class Content Introduction Chapter I planning a comprehension instructional sequence lesson

CHAPTER II. Strategies for teaching mixed ability classes

Some useful strategies for managing mixed ability classes (Šimanová, 2010, Bremner, 2008) are listed below:

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  Supportive learning environment – It is important to create a supportive learning environment in the classroom, where learners feel confident and able to perform to the best of their ability. 
  
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  Classroom management – By managing classes effectively, teachers can ensure that learners will be involved as much as possible in the lesson. Classroom management techniques include organising the classroom layout for maximum learning potential, involving all students, learning and using learners’ names, teachers cultivating a positive attitude through their own attitude to the class, praise and encouragement, grading and using relevant teacher talk, using the board effectively and managing learning activities by giving good instructions, asking concept checking questions, using pair and group work, setting time limits, monitoring the activity and including feedback on the activity.
  
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  Learning to learn – Teach learners about different learning styles and the different learning strategies for visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners. Teach learners how to be resourceful so that they know where to find help if they get stuck. Provide learners with the goal for the lesson and encourage learners to review and assess whether they have achieved the goal by the end of the lesson. 
  
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  Variety – Vary topics, methods of teaching, focus, materials and activities. Variety will generate learner interest and motivation; and lessons will accommodate different learners’ levels, abilities and learning styles. 
  
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  Grouping – Use a range of interaction patterns in class. Learners should work in groups, pairs and individually. Groupings should be changed often, thereby giving learners an opportunity to work with different learners. 
  
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  Pace – Teachers must be mindful of the pace of their lessons. Teaching a class too slowly or too quickly may lead to boredom or frustration. A teacher must be aware of his/her learners’ abilities and pitch the pace of the lesson accordingly. 
  
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  Interest – Teachers need to make the lessons interesting in terms of content, topic and activities. To find out what interests the learners, teachers could find out what interests the learners outside the classroom, allow learners to share their interests with the class through project work and personalization activities, such as ‘show and tell’, or allow learners to chose the content, topics or activities for lessons, where appropriate.
  
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  Collaboration – Getting learners to work together and cooperating has a number of benefits for the learners and teacher. Learners develop their learner autonomy and learn from their peers, rather than always being reliant on the teacher. Learners who collaborate on tasks learn how to compromise, negotiate meaning and develop self-evaluation skills. Collaboration tasks can involve project work as well as pair or group activities. 
  
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  Individualization – Hess (2001:12) describes individualization as ‘providing opportunities for students to work at their own pace, in their own style and of topics of their choosing’. Individualization can be promoted in the classroom through portfolios, self-access centres, individualized writing or personalised dictionaries. 
  
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  Personalisation – Ur (2001:306) suggests including activities which allow learners to respond personally. Such tasks increase learners’ motivation and interest as they are based on something the learners have experienced and can relate. 
  
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  Blooms taxonomy – Make use of higher order thinking skills by providing learners with problem-solving, analysis, evaluation and synthesis activities, rather than only comprehension tasks. 
  
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  Open-endedness – Open-ended activities allow learners to respond to tasks and questions which have a variety of possible answers rather than one correct answer. Open-ended tasks allow learners to perform at their level of ability. Such tasks include sentence completion activities, story completion activities, brainstorming, writing own definitions for words, answering questions in a range of ways.
  
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  Compulsory plus optional tasks – Ur (2001) suggests learners are assigned compulsory tasks with additional materials should they finish the core tasks. By setting compulsory plus core tasks, all learners are engaged and can feel a sense of achievement when completing a task. 
  
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  Adapting materials – Course books are designed for a particular language level and do not offer much flexibility. As a result teachers may need to adapt the materials to make them easier or more challenging. 
  
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  Homework – Homework is an excellent tool to provide learners of all levels and abilities with an opportunity to review and consolidate the material covered in class. 
  

In reality, every class can be described as a mixed ability class as it is made up of learners who are different in terms of their knowledge and ability. This article aimed to outline mixed ability factors and the advantages and problems associated with teaching mixed ability classes. Studies have shown that teachers who view their learners’ differences in a positive way and embrace strategies for teaching mixed ability classes are better equipped to teach in mixed ability classroom contexts.

2.1 Teaching students who are clearly of different levels.

You may often be teaching a class which has students who are clearly of different levels. They may have different starting levels of English or they may learn at very different speeds - for any number of reasons.

These are several strategies that a teacher can use to deal with this situation. This is the first of two articles on the topic.

The second article covers...
Range of tasks
Extra work / Homework
Student nomination
Supporting the weaker students
Error correction
This first article deals with the following strategies.
Discussion and needs analysis
Student self-awareness
Work groupings
Discussion and needs analysis
It is easy for students to get frustrated in a class of mixed ability. Stronger students may feel held back, weaker students may feel pressured. The teacher may feel stressed. The best solution to this is to have an open-class discussion about the classroom situation - to ensure the best for everyone it is better to acknowledge the situation and for everyone to agree how to deal with it. It is probably best to stage and structure the discussion.
Needs Analysis
Use a needs analysis to prompt the students to reflect upon their learning style, learning strategies, language needs, learning enjoyment, motivation, language strengths and weaknesses.
Questions that might be included are...
What kinds of class activities do you enjoy / benefit from?
Which language skill do you most wish to develop?
Do you prefer working individually or with a partner?
Would you rather sit and listen to the teacher all lesson or participate in group work?
Students compare their answers in pairs or small groups. You should collect the information and prepare a statistical representation of the key questions and answers. This will help to develop the sense of shared community in the class.
Explain and discuss
Explain the mixed-level situation to the students and give a list of possible approaches to the teaching and learning. In pairs, the students rank the approaches/ideas according to their suitability for the situation.
Following feedback, you should highlight the strategies you plan to use.
A student contract
Developing with the students, or perhaps writing it yourself, a contract of behavior for activities is a useful device. 'I will help and support my activity partner.' 'I will participate in group work.'
Tell them what you are going to do
If you think your students are not mature enough to carry out this kind of reflection, explain the situation to the class and tell them what strategies you will be using. If students know what to expect, you can hope that they will cooperate.
All of the above work could be done in the mother tongue, although I feel it is best done primarily in the target language (as it draws attention to the fact that this is a learning language issue.)
Student self-awareness
Encourage students to develop an awareness of their own language abilities and learning needs. What are their strengths and weaknesses, and how can they focus on these? How can they measure their own progress
This may take the form of a learner's diary, regular self-assessment, keeping records of mistakes, keeping a record of things learnt.
Work groupings
Varying the way students work in the class will help meet the variety of levels in the class.
Pair work
You can pair strong with strong, weak with weak, or strong with weak. Perhaps in a very controlled activity, the strong with weak will work well. In a freer activity, perhaps strong with strong will be of benefit. Variety in the pairings is the key here - and you should also be sensitive to the general relationships between different students, and learn to note who works well with whom.
Group work
These groups could be of mixed levels or similar ones. The hope is that in a smaller group, the weaker student will feel more able to contribute. Also, if the group is working with a set of information, divide the information between the students, forcing them to work together.
You may consider dividing your class into groups by level for the whole lesson, enabling you to give a different level or number of tasks to each group. Discussion of this strategy with the class should help prevent stigmatization.
Whole class - mingles
This is a favored strategy of mine. A mingle activity involves students talking or interacting with many different members of the class in a short period of time in order to achieve a task. This means that any one student will work with students at different levels - experiencing stronger and weaker levels of communication. This supports the weaker students and provides opportunities for the stronger ones.
A classic activity is a 'Find someone who...'
In this activity the student has to survey the class to find people who…(for example)
…have got something - Do you have a CD player? Or…
…have done something - Have you eaten fish and chips? Or…
…like something - Do you like tennis?

If a student answers yes to a question, then the other student should ask for more information. If a student answers no, then the other should find a new person to ask, and may come back to the first student with another question later on.

The potential for this is endless. It is a great way to provide practice of a particular language structure/area (10 questions all using the past simple) and provides controlled practice as well as the opportunity for further freer discussion. It also creates a lively classroom dynamic.

Mingles can take many forms - students may have to find the person who has a matching word to theirs, or the second half of a split sentence. The students may all have the same or different questions, or a mixture. The key is the general principle of an information gap or communicative need.

Overall, variety in the types of working groups, and an open discussion of the class situation will help to deal with some of the difficulties that are present in mixed ability classes. The aim of these strategies is to create a positive working environment, which is all part of ensuring better learning.