Materials Evaluation,

Adaptation and Design Day 2

Materials Differentiation
Day 2
Sessions 1 and 2

Principles of materials differentiation

(the Listening skill)
Day 2
Session 1

Principles of materials differentiation

 Aims of Session 1

1. Considering ‘mixed ability’ classes

2. Identifying what differentiation is
3. Principles of differentiation
 Getting ready for the session

So you said….
 Mixed level groups

Often classes are described as ‘mixed level’ or

‘mixed ability’.

1. What do we mean by this?

2. What are the pros?
3. …and cons?
 Mixed level groups

What are they?

The learners differ in:
1. language proficiency
2. language aptitude
3. literacy and study skills
4. attitude and motivation
5. self discipline.
They may also be heterogeneous and differ in age /
L1 / maturity / cultural and economic background
 Mixed level groups

What are the cons?

The challenges are:

1. preparation – time and amount
2. teachers can feel it is difficult to achieve focus and
control
3. classroom management can be hard
4. it is difficult to juggle the differing needs of the
learners
5. it can be challenging to cater for different learning
styles
6. engaging quiet students can be challenging.
 Mixed level groups

What are the pros?

The learners benefit because:
1. there are always lots of students for interaction
2. rich variety of human resource
3. cooperation can work well
4. it keeps us focused on challenge and effective
teaching and learning
5. encourages professional development.
(Hess 2001)
 Materials for mixed ability groups

So what does this mean for materials?

We need to consider:

• the level of the students

• their aptitude and study skills
• differing learning styles

and we need to understand differentiation.

Differentiating
 Differentiating

We
diffe can Material
renti
by... ate
Task/
Teaching assistants
outcomes

Mixed ability

Level of teacher
Grouping
support

Timing/ pace
 Differentiating: dictation

Let ’
s loo Material
deta k in
il….
Task/
Teaching assistants
outcomes

Mixed ability

Level of teacher
Grouping
support

Timing/ pace

Handout 1 a / b / c
 Differentiating
There are a variety of ways to differentiate learning in mixed level or mixed ability
classes.

One common way is to vary the amount of teacher support. In some classes a teaching
assistant may be available to help learners who need extra support. Alternatively the teacher
may focus on these students during monitoring of tasks in order to help them.
 
Another method is to differentiate by task. Teachers can vary the tasks given to different
groups of learners e.g. allowing learners to choose which questions or how many they answer
or giving additional tasks to ‘fast finishers’ so they are kept busy. Timing and pace can be
varied for different students on this basis. For older learners project work is especially useful
as the tasks are personalised.
 
Differentiation can also be achieved by grouping. Learners can be grouped in ‘same’ or ‘cross-
ability’ levels. The teacher can vary the work given to groups of different abilities. Collaboration
is a useful way to manage learning: stronger learners can benefit from helping weaker
learners.

Finally the materials used can be differentiated. They can be changed completely or partially in
order to support the learners.
 Differentiating

How can we differentiate?

Some examples

Handout 2
 Flexibility with tasks and materials

Materials can be considered:

Static

Dynamic
 Flexibility with tasks and materials

Static features: ‘reside overtly

in the texts’
Tangible/surface level

Dynamic features: ‘abstract

qualities of flexibility, creativity and
exploration, all of which are viewed
as activating the learning process’
The interplay and use
(Rubdy 2003)
 Differentiating materials

The selection of materials involves matching

the given materials against the context in
which they are going to be used and the
needs and interests of the teachers and
learners who work within it, to find the best
possible fit between them.
(Rubdy 2003)
Day 2
Session 2

Applying differentiation to Listening

Considering the communicative classroom

Let’s remind
ourselves of the
principles of the
communicative
classroom.
Considering the communicative classroom

Preschool Primary Secondary and Post-

Secondary
Secure environment Clear examples Collaboration
Praise Step by step guidance Teacher controlled tasks
Variety Encouraging cooperation Independent learning
Visual, aural, kinaesthetic Creativity Problem solving
activities Constant error correction Reflection on own work
Strict rules Recognising success Choosing focus for study
Changing activities
regularly

Active participation
Meaningful and realistic language use
Examples that are personalised/related to learners’ experience
A variety of tasks for different learning styles
Teacher monitors from front of class
Acceptance of errors
Considering the communicative classroom

Preschool Primary Secondary and Post-

Secondary
Secure environment Clear examples Collaboration
Praise Step by step guidance Teacher controlled tasks
Variety Encouraging cooperation Independent learning
Visual, aural, kinaesthetic Creativity Problem solving
activities Constant error correction Reflection on own work
Strict rules Recognising success Choosing focus for study
Changing activities
regularly

Active participation
Meaningful and realistic language use
Examples that are personalised/related to learners’ experience
A variety of tasks for different learning styles
Teacher monitors from front of class
Acceptance of errors
Principles for Listening
materials
The Listening skill: What is Listening?

How would you

define Listening?
The Listening skill: What is listening?
 The Listening skill: What is Listening?

In the Malaysian classroom…

1. What type of Listening in the classroom do

learners do? Why?
2. How authentic are the tasks?
3. How can teachers make Listening more varied
and interactive?

Handout 3
 The Listening skill: What is Listening?

Interactional and transactional

1. Interactional for social purposes

2. Transactional for communicating information
Transactional
Interactional

Handout 3
 The Listening skill: What is Listening?

Processing skills

Handout 4
 The Listening skill: What is Listening?

Processing skills TD

• Bottom up skills
Decoding incoming data BU

• Top down
Using previous information to understand
the meaning of the message
 The Listening skill: Supporting learners

What do learners find difficult about

listening?

Handout 5
 The Listening skill: Supporting learners

What can we do with listening materials

and tasks in order to support learners?

Handout 6
 The Listening skill: Supporting learners

• pre-teach vocabulary or use pictures / other contexts to activate prior

knowledge/schemata - engage a mix of top down and bottom up
processing
• emphasise different skills (listening for gist / detail / specific information)
• use a variety of task types to reflect what we really do when we listen e.g.
labelling pictures / filling in charts / understanding if something is true or
false / summarising / picture sequencing
• encourage, even if texts are difficult, by highlighting what they understand
• use video to help by providing paralinguistic and other visual clues
• encourage use of personal devices so learners can control the listening
themselves

Handout 6
Differentiating Listening materials: a sample
 The Listening skill: an example B1 - B2

BBC Teens English

https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/study-break/vide
o-zone/five-ways-spot-fake-news

Handouts 7a / b / c
 The Listening skill: Ways to differentiate

• Use different listening texts or get weaker students to focus on one

task only instead of all the tasks.
• Give additional language tasks to stronger learners while weaker
learners listen to the text; then complete the task together.
• During second listening, allow weaker students to read the transcript.
• Allow learners to choose how much they do e.g. ‘you must do 3 of
the 10 questions but if you want to do more you can’.
• Add in extra support for weaker learners e.g. instead of gaps give
options.
• If you have the facilities, allow learners to stop and start the listening
themselves.
• Get students to compare answers before deciding in small groups;
the teacher can support the weakest group.
 The Listening skill: What is Listening?

We need to consider:

• the type of Listening text

• what kinds of sub-skills are being used
• how the materials support this
• how the teacher can manage the materials to
support.
The Listening skill: Ways to differentiate

Do you have any

questions?
Day 2
Session 3

Applying differentiation to Listening

 Thinking about differentiation

• What types of differentiation do most teachers in Malaysia

do?
• What will they find challenging or easy about the
approach?

Discuss in your group

 Differentiating material

You are now going to use some Listening materials and

differentiate them. Choose a different level from the one you did
yesterday.
Material A: Primary level; A1 level.
Material B: Secondary level; B1 level.

Decide with your group which material you would like to

work on.
• Think about the tasks and how you can build in support.
• Once you have finalised the tasks decide how you can
differentiate for stronger and weaker students.
• Redesign the tasks so that they can be used in a multilevel
group.
Handout 8
Day 2
Session 4

Differentiation continued
Reflection
 Differentiating material

Now regroup. Find a partner from a group who

differentiated material from the level you didn’t do.

Discuss your findings and present your summary.

• Show your partner how you differentiated the
materials.
• Did you partner change their materials in similar
ways?
Reflection
 Reflection

Think about the following questions:

Was it easy to differentiate the materials?

What did you find easy or difficult?