Dear classmates,
I have chosen questions number 1 and 3. Here are my answers.
1. What factors do you consider important in causing mixed ability? Put these in order of importance for you: previous exposure, attitude, learning style, personality, aptitude, motivation
1. motivation
2. attitude
3. aptitude
4. learning style
5. personality
6. previous exposure
3. "Every group is a mixed-ability group." Do you agree with this? What are the implications of this statement for teachers?
I totally agree with this statement as each student in a group is an individual with a given learning style, motivation, attitude and aptitude to learn. This means that teachers have to take into account all variables. and plan the lesson accordingly. It obviously means extra work for teachers because they have to prepare multi-level tasks, adapt them to their students’ learning styles and keep their students’ motivation up. The problem I find is that teachers do not have enough resources to tackle mixed ability: large classes (one teacher for thirty ESO students in a language class), no ICT or tablets in the classroom, pressure to finish coursebooks, emphasis on results and not on quality, etc. I think ICT could be a good way to deal with mixed-ability groups, if technology was available in the classrooms. Luckily some publishing houses have included digital competence in their coursebooks, which can be useful to teachers for mixed ability.