Differentiated Instruction in Foreign Language Classrooms

Differentiated Instruction in Foreign Language Classrooms

Introduction

Multidimensional and multidisciplinary field of teaching foreign language can be examined under different perspectives. According to educators, an educational act may consist of three main areas: knowledge, Professor and student. It does not conform to the requirements of the teaching / learning a foreign language, this triangle fits the needs of teaching situations: the teacher, the student and the method. Each of these elements can constitute a particular aspect of the process of teaching / learning foreign language in classroom. In recent decades, we are witnessing the emergence of a new approach in which "the inversion of a pedagogy of teaching in a pedagogy of learning. This means that an element this tripartite attracts more attention from researchers: the learner. The researchers / educationists interested in revealing the mechanisms of appropriation of knowledge and understanding by the learner, whether child or teenager and adult. Research that will study the subject adult learner may involve several areas such as science education and psychology.

Many teachers arise a question from time to time that why some students make no effort to learn, but on the other hand, some others do it with perseverance. Regarding the foreign language classroom, we believe that this question arises more. Adult learners are demotivated vis-à-vis the foreign language they have chosen to study, for various reasons, we include some: confused picture of the country and native to the relevant foreign language, methods uninteresting wrong methodology used by the teacher, lack of motivation, lack of outlet, etc.. We can add another reason: non-compliance characteristics of adult learners. The learners are, since the new pedagogies of education (which began to develop early in the twentieth e century), the key element of any teaching. The learner is involved in teaching, and undergoes changes in function of its physical, psychological and intellectual.

What Is Differentiated Instruction?

Differentiated instruction is sometimes referred to as differentiated learning (Tomlinson, 2000b). Educators discuss what differentiated instruction means to them from different perspectives. “Differentiated instruction is simply providing instruction in a variety of ways to meet the needs of a variety of learners” (Connell, 2005). “Differentiation consists of the efforts of teachers to respond to variance among learners in the classroom. Differentiated instruction”; for example, “challenging the students at higher levels while supporting students at lower levels. Differentiated curriculum and instruction provides flexible time frames for the completion of assignments which allows students to “reach the same goals by different path.” Focused on the individual's needs, readiness and interests, the purpose of differentiated curriculum and instruction is to engage all students regardless of different levels of ability, effort, and learning style.

Therefore, on one hand, differentiated instruction is the teacher's intention and attitude that values uniqueness of each student which can be translated into instructional endeavor of maximizing learner potential. On the other hand, it is the teacher's action in a systematic way of instruction planned through understanding learner uniqueness and strategically adjusting instruction in accordance with individual ...