Methodology for Teachers – Secondary/Adult – sample task
Unit 1: Classroom Management – Mixed-ability classes
This report aims to evaluate the usefulness of the book English Plus 4, by Oxford English, for mixed ability groups. I have used a sample unit for this evaluation.
1. Motivation
Overall, I think that the contents of this unit are of general interest and the topic could work well with mixed-ability groups because it is motivating. In this unit the topic is ‘differences between generations‘, which naturally generates an interesting exchange of opinions in class. I think this topic works for both teenagers and adults.
The unit starts with an introductory speaking/vocabulary activity which could easily engage students from different backgrounds and with different interests. Students are free to answer according to their capabilities. The questions are based on what the students already know, general knowledge, or their predictions. There is also a quiz, which is not at all restricted by imposed target language, making this doable with a mixed-ability group. The reading comprehension task of the unit is presented in the same way. Target vocabulary of the text is pre-taught through a classifying exercise (e.g. items common now or in the 60s) where all students can be involved from the beginning.
The listening task follows this same pattern of pre-teaching vocabulary through a variety of activities which should also engage the students from the start. The speaking task of the unit deals with everyday situations the students can identify with. This makes the task interesting and the language focus is useful. In the grammar sections, there are clear explanations and instructions. The exercises vary from simple gap fill exercises to more open-ended questions and activities, like writing questions for a quiz. These open-ended activities work well because students can perform according to their abilities, and have the opportunity to work together.
2. Suitability for mixed-ability groups
The unit offers some additional activities for specific groups of students in the class: The students in need of extra help with grammar have a grammar reference section of the unit in their mother tongue with extra practice exercises. There are also additional activities included for revision, which can be used be students who need extra practice. The ‘Curriculum Extra’ and ‘Culture’ sections are useful and interesting additions. They could be used for fast finishers, as they provide extra reading and writing material for higher level students.
The book is organised with a graded sequence of activities, starting with simple tasks that progressively become more challenging. 'Fast finisher' activities are also included. What's more, in the reading section there is an ‘opinion section’ where students can really work at their level and practice free speaking.
3. Adaptation of the material for mixed-ability classes
In my opinion, this book already takes into account mixed-ability groups not only in the coursebook itself, but also with the extra worksheets of activities that are available. As already mentioned, the introductory activities (what-do-you-know type of activities) make it easier for all students to work together.
Likewise, the introductory vocabulary activities work well with mixed groups since they require classifying words, predicting, etc., and students can work together to complete these tasks. The reading comprehension task could be adapted by providing different types of questions for the different groups: from easily-spotted answers in the text to more challenging ones where stronger students have to give justifications for the given answers.
The dialogue task of the unit could be too simple for higher level students. Some groups of students could do the easy activity of replacing the words of a given dialogue and practising on it while the other groups could work on more open and creative dialogues based on the same topic.
The writing task could be complex for lower level groups, although they do have a model text to work with. Here, the teacher could scaffold the task to make it more guided and easier for lower level students. Higher level groups could choose their own topics, which would make the activity more demanding and personalised.
Conclusion
The unit presents the different sections with progressively graded, engaging activities that include all levels and allow the teacher to work with a mixed-ability class. The unit provides a set of alternative activities for different groups of students in terms of language difficulty but also provides extra material to work on, expanding on the topic. This adds motivation and elements to make the lessons more varied. Taking all these aspects into consideration, I consider this book useful for teaching mixed-ability groups.