Differentiating Language Tasks in the LOTE Classroom

AFMLA Conference

July 12, 2009, Sydney

Lisa Dowse, DEECD SMR Program Planning & Development Officer-LOTE

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Why Differentiation?

•Differentiate or Disengage: Research from Melbourne University…capable students who are not challenged in language classrooms can become disengaged and may discontinue language learning

•consideration for prior learning and the need to cater for students’ individual learning levels is something all language teachers would acknowledge as important to assist students to achieve their best (PoLT)

•In any one class there can be students with varying experience, e.g. Pathway 1 students, students from bilingual programs, students with some family background in the LOTE

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•time to plan and prepare for differentiation

• the constraints of text books

•the lack of resources featuring differentiated tasks

Blockers

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Text

Task

Interest

Ability

Outcome

Support

Differentiated Learning

by

Types of Differentiation taken from Differentiation – taking the initiative, Pathfinder 18 CiLT, 1993Anne Convery and Do Coyle

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•time on task

•materials

•tasks

•language assistant

•peer tutoring from older / more experienced students

•teacher acting as supporter, assessor, facilitator, co-learner

By Support

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Time on task

•More finishing-off time for some learners

•revision at the end of a unit for some learners with extension activities for others

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Materials

•banks of extension activities

•checklists to assist students who are working independently

•sheets with some translation assistance

•reinforcement / revision activities

•word charts

•a completed model as a guide

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By Task

•Same text, but tasks of graded difficulty, e.g. Bloom’s taxonomy

•e.g. reading comprehension: less-able learners not required to understand every word, only gist

:more-able learners more searching questions

•Listening comprehension :less-able learners identify minimal information

:more able learners open-ended tasks (examples from progression points assessment tasks)

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By Text

•spoken or written materials at different levels of difficultyAdvantages: all cover the same ground / topic creating class cohesion•e.g. :mainstream learners text book weather forecast

:more-able learners an authentic recording of a weather forecast

:less-able learners an article from a coursebook :more-able learners an article from an authentic newspaper or magazine.

*To ensure all learners have access at some time to authentic resources, collect more simple authentic texts suited to less-able learners, e.g. cartoon captions, advertisement slogans, etc.

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Ways to modify a text for different ability levels

A mainstream text

When planning a unit of work, choose the main text which will act as the base for language learning. Choose a text which is aimed at the expected VELS level for the class. Then create 2 other texts; one as an extension level and one as a modified level. This can be done by varying the levels of scaffolding.

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Scaffolding

A Modified Text•Picture clues•Cognates•Punctuation•Repetition•Reduce variety of structures•Supply much context / background to the passage

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Scaffolding expanded

Picture cluesadd more pictorial clues, even within the text. (See examples). With enough exposure, these students should be able to decode the text later without the pictorial clues. punctuation can aid comprehension: highlight or bold the question mark.

RepetitionChoose the main structure you want to introduce, delete others and repeat this structure with slight variations whenever possible. (See examples).

ContextInclude the context at the start, either by role-plays, visuals or introducing the setting in English, so the students are linked in and can predict what the new language is likely to be about.

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Avoiding students feeling discouraged by working on less challenging texts

If there is a concern that students will feel deflated by being set an easier passage, this can be disguised by making the passage a similar length to more difficult texts but with more repetitions. (Students often equate length with difficulty).

You can further offset students’ concerns by:

•e.g. varying groupings: in some units of work, students can be grouped according to different criteria; interest in a topic, own choice, etc.

•by offering responsible tasks to students who are working on modified work, such as presenting a role-play of their text to a younger class.

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An Extension Text

•don’t include many pictorial clues or cognates

•include filler and expander sentences

•e.g. for letter writing, in the introduction have the writer say a little about his / her background, fill in more gaps about the purpose for writing or add some sentences for politeness.

•include extra phrases in the body of the text, e.g. “In my opinion”, “Last Wednesday”.

•add adjectives and adverbs to the basic structures

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An Extension Text continued

•change some nouns to synonyms

•vary structures

•allow the students to use dictionaries

•use some vocabulary from past units •encourage students to fill new words/ meanings into personal dictionaries

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By ability

Learners are grouped by ability for teaching and learning purposes•within a class•across a year group

Ability grouping (not static and changes according to the dynamics of the situation): well suited to some tasks: e.g. introducing a more complex grammar point : corresponds to Early Years Literacy methodology, which has the following lesson planning structure

-Whole Class Activities-Small Group (Dynamic Ability grouping)

-Whole Class Activities (Sharing back, etc.)

*There is some overlap here with differentiation by text as differentiated texts would be used by the appropriate ability group.

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By interest

Learners are given a degree of choice to work on something which interests them personally

-equipment-skill

-topic or subject matter

To ensure students make choices which continue their progress, you might want to:

•make suggestions about suitable choices without mandating the choice

•offer a selection of activities and stipulate a minimum number to be completed within a given time, allowing them more time to work at their own pace on those of their own choiceMultiple Intelligence approaches would work well here.

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By outcome

All learners are working on the same task, but produce widely different results

•e.g. a differentiated worksheet with some students completing 1 or 2 tasks… ticking boxes, filling gaps, others working through these activities quickly then working on open-ended tasks at the end

•productive tasks such as writing and speaking fit well into this category, e.g. supplying simple factual information through to descriptive and imaginative responses

*demonstrate value for all learners’ work by displaying all the examples

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Consider Prior Learning

Both prior learning and progress so far will inform your planning of:

•dynamic ability groups•choice of activities for interest-based activities•degree and type of support•differentiated outcomes •how you differentiate a text for the different ability levels

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Organisational considerations

Prior to beginning to differentiate the learning, use tools which gather information about students’ interests and prior learning

•KWL

•Student profile (an “old faithful” as a language task, but useful in finding out student interests as well)

If creating banks of extension activities

•laminate to avoid re-doing

•place them on the school’s intranet for students to access

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Core Work & Branching Work

Branching Work

Reinforcement Core Work Extension

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Questioning Techniques: Begin small; practise trialling different questioning techniques

Less-able learners: ask questions which require minimum original verbal response:•a nod or head shake•a Yes or No•ask the less-able student a similar question to one you have just asked a more-capable students, so they can see the model, e.g. I play soccer. I play cricket. •include the answer as one of two choices in the question ,e.g. Do you like juice or soft drink? •use picture clues, so students can point.

More capable learners can be asked more open-ended questions.

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Sensitivity

•use question types randomly, so there is no obvious move from ‘easy’ to more demanding questions

•be generous and fair in use of praise and encouragement

•handle mistakes and wrong answers sensitively to create a climate in which learners can, and will want to, operate according to their differing abilities

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•hyperlink•wikispaces•I.T. “hiding” the information behind text boxes

Some examples

Destination Departure Time Platform Additional Information

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Recording

One teacher devised a symbol which she placed beside items on her lesson plan to indicate which activities featured differentiation;

D

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Lesson Structure: some possibilities

Introduction

Modified group

Teacher Support

Mainstream Group

Teacher Support

Extension Group

Teacher Support

Sharing with whole group

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Core work: would be VELS at the expected level

Extension work would be based around next progression points / standards

Modified work would depend on students’ own achievement levels

If students have not been working on the same work, the same testing tool would not be appropriate.

As different students perform best in different areas, vary the types of assessment from unit to unit, e.g. posters, surveys, tests, anecdotal notes, teacher observation, role-plays.

Assessment

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Arrange for students to discuss their progress with you, so that they can work towards greater autonomy over their learning (Personal Learning).

Have them keep a portfolio of their work, presenting their work and discussing with you what they believe are their strengths and weaknesses and areas they could focus on in future units of work and set learning goals: they write up an action plan for how they plan to achieve these goals.

Tools such as the “Thermometer” might help them.

Portfolios & Personal Learning

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In SMR, we are planning for a practical hands-on session in Term 3 or 4, where teachers bring some useful supplementary and differentiated activities to share, and everyone creates new ones, such as extension activities, some consolidation activities…

Where to from here