Questions 1.1.

How do you feel about the reflective question: “it isn’t a big chunk of your time, is
it?”. What implications does it have for some teacher’s management of classroom time? Do we
consider activities in terms of time consumption or in terms of assumed utility? Justify your
answers with arguments from the materials and the readings.

In terms of time, of course teachers take it into account as a valuable resource when planning the classes
and, of course it has a big implication when discussing about classroom management. “Time management
is the thread running through almost all aspects of teaching — organizing the day, organizing the
classroom, deciding how long and how often to teach various subjects, recording student progress, or
keeping behavior problems to a minimum” (Chioma et al., 2018, p. 15431). In light of the latter
statement, we as teachers have a syllabus to follow, topics we have to cover in every term; time
management is something serious to consider when planning; even we have to take into account time for
upcoming inconveniences or things that are not expected to happen in our classes. I see why the teacher
was reluctant at the beginning when this question was asked, not only because of the two minutes it was
going to take, but for the unexpected things that might have happened. Taking into consideration that
there were 33 students that were not used to having these activities, so that discipline could have been
another problem for the classroom management where time could have taken more than 15 minutes to
have everything organized and delayed the activities upcoming. However, I do not consider changing and
rearranging the classroom as something bad, of course changing methodologies can help students
improve because of the variety and they can see learning as something fun so that the learning process
can be easier, but everything must be planned with anticipation, otherwise time could be wasted and not
only the classroom management can be affected but even the students’ learning process and what they are
supposed to learn in determined time.
Questions 1.2. To what extent does Wilson’s story cater for individualised learning? What
advantages and what drawbacks can you identify with the ‘procedure’ described? (Ur, 1996:236)
Explain your answer.

Wilson’s story caters for individualized learning when using this activity for promoting independence in
their students. When working in groups, students assume roles and each is responsible for contributing to
the overall task. Thus, students are responsible of their own learning in this case.

Long(1990) argues that the advantages of the procedure are that students get to use the language by
negotiating meaning and will use a variety of other functions (as cited in FUNIBER, 2016). Therefore,
students get to practice the language in a more comfortable way among their partners and they get to have
more practice in the target language. Furthermore, it promotes independence of their own learning and the
assignment of roles within a group gives them responsibility for participating in constructing and
contributing in the overall task assigned.

On the other hand, we find the disadvantages that basically, are related more to the discipline side. Since
pupils will be working in groups, independence can affect the use of the target language as they are
achieving the task. Noise level in the classroom can affect the teacher being pendant of the use of the
language in their students. Also, learners can use the time for doing other activities that are not related to
the class and, the goal of the task can be done for some members of the group while others do not take
advantage of the time given. All these are characteristics that teachers need to take into account when
planning group activities.

Questions 1.3. Considering Ur’s statements in our module, do you think the technique described
could be used with mixed- ability groups? If so, would this always result in more successful SLA for
learners?

Mixed-ability and heterogeneous classes are similar terms used in literature. Nevertheless, discussing
about “heterogenous class” refers to students grouped together but each of them differ in terms of native
language, learning style preference and age (Le & Renandya, 2016). The term “mixed ability” has been
discarded for some because it does not wholly encompass the deepest reality on what we find in our
classrooms. Ur argued that “learners bring more to the classroom than the term “mixed ability” (1996,
p.302). In spite of the latter, Ur’s general statements indeed could be used in the technique described
since the approach is to maximise students’ potential to acquire the language.
In Wilson’s practice, it is evident the use of teams in order to complete a given task. Lou (2013) says that
the main goal of heterogenous classes is emphasizing in social interaction, cooperative and collaborative
learning. By grouping them using the “mixed ability technique” and taking into account not only their
level of proficiency in the target language but other characteristics such as their multiple intelligences or
learning styles, etc; might boost the benefits where all of them work for a common goal by providing,
producing and practicing.

Moreover, teachers designed activities should promote and encourage the communication and
participation of the students within the group. Dörnyei (2001) suggests three ways teachers can help
learners to become more successful in their learning:

 Provide multiple opportunities for success in the language class.

 Adjust the difficulty level of the tasks to match the students’ abilities and counterbalance
demanding tasks with manageable ones.
 Design tests that focus on what learners can do rather than what they cannot do,
and also include improvement options. (as cited in Le & Renandya, 2016, p. 75)

However, the use of this technique would not always result in a more SLA for learners. According to Le
& Renandya (2016)” while weaker students are not able to follow the pace, or complete the tasks,
stronger students are sometimes not tolerant enough, resulting in classroom management problems” That
is to say, learners can be affected by some factors such as their intrinsic motivation, their fears at the
moment of using the language, and even their personalities.

Ur (1991) states that the assumption that:

Not all students learn in the same manner and at the same pace, and delivering one-size-fits-all

lessons wherein students are supposed to do more or less “the same thing, at the same time, and

in the same way ” is pedagogically indefensible (as cited in Le & Renandya, 2016, p. 75).

Therefore, organizing groups using mixed ability must be something to consider doing interspersed, as an
innovative tool so that learners get the opportunity to have practice with this methodology and exploit
their own potential, and for teachers to understand the diversity and even diagnose the environment we
are working with, so that planning lessons and assigning tasks for our students can be a plus for our
framework of teaching. But then, it should not be the only practice to apply within the classroom, the use
of other methodologies is necessary because not all pupils learn the same at the same pace as mentioned
before and the idea is not to educate them into failure nor excluding low level proficiency students into
any kind of segregation.

References

Chukwuji, C.E., Oshun, G. Okeke, C.F. & Agu, P.U. (2018). Impact of Time Management on
Productivity of Private Secondary Schools in Education District V, Lagos State, International
Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 13(21),15431-15438

FUNIBER. (2016). Group work. In Classroom management- Tecniques and Reflections on Practice, 37–
47.

Hattie, J., & Anderman, E. M. (2013). Within Class Grouping: Arguments, Practices, and Research
Evidence. In International guide to student achievement, 167-169, Routledge.

Le, V. C., & Renandya, W.A. (2016). Teaching listening in mixed ability classes. EJALTEFL, 5(2), 73-82