Teachers’ Instructional Adaptations: A Research Synthesis

Abstract

Researchers recognize adaptive teaching as a component of effective instruction. Educators adjust their teaching according to the social, linguistic, cultural, and instructional needs of their students. While there is consensus that effective teachers are adaptive, there is no consensus on the language to describe this phenomenon. Diverse terminology surrounding the same phenomenon impedes effective communication and comprehensive understanding of this important aspect of classroom instruction. Moreover, researchers have studied this phenomenon using a variety of methods, in various disciplines, with different results. Therefore, our research team completed a comprehensive literature review of the empirical research studying adaptability across academic disciplines. In this article, we describe how adaptive teaching is defined and conceptualized in the education research literature from 1975 to 2014, the methods used to study instructional adaptations, and the results of these studies.

Theorising teacher performance dispositions in an age of audit

“…The varied abilities and interests of students are then respected and teachers can provide the requisite level of support needed to their students via adaptations in teaching practice/s (Parsons et al ., ). This acknowledges the contextual complexity of classrooms, as they include students’ social and historical backgrounds (Parsons et al ., ). While adaptive teaching practice/s support student growth in complex classroom settings, they are difficult to enact as education policy is often unsupportive of teachers and non‐responsive to student diversity (Parsons et al ., ).…”

“…This acknowledges the contextual complexity of classrooms, as they include students’ social and historical backgrounds (Parsons et al ., ). While adaptive teaching practice/s support student growth in complex classroom settings, they are difficult to enact as education policy is often unsupportive of teachers and non‐responsive to student diversity (Parsons et al ., ). The restrictions imposed by narrow curricula, professional standards and standardised testing impede adaptive teaching practice/s (Stevens & Van Houtte, ; Parsons et al ., ), curtailing what teachers can do as part of the educative process.…”

“…Growth as part of the educative process is about holistic forms of human development, cultivating the potentials connected to individual talent and ability over time (Blum, 2017). The varied abilities and interests of students are then respected and teachers can provide the requisite level of support needed to their students via adaptations in teaching practice/s (Parsons et al, 2018). This acknowledges the contextual complexity of classrooms, as they include students' social and historical backgrounds (Parsons et al,…”

“…While adaptive teaching practice/s support student growth in complex classroom settings, they are difficult to enact as education policy is often unsupportive of teachers and non-responsive to student diversity (Parsons et al, 2018). The restrictions imposed by narrow curricula, professional standards and standardised testing impede adaptive teaching practice/s (Stevens & Van Houtte, 2011;Parsons et al, 2018), curtailing what teachers can do as part of the educative process. Teaching practice is then narrowly defined towards particular performance dispositions, which are easily described and measured.…”

Realist Review of Literature on Catering for Different Instructional Needs with Preteaching and Extended Instruction

“…However, as heterogeneity in classes increases, the challenge of tailoring instruction to students' instructional needs becomes increasingly difficult. In a multicultural context students might, for instance, need additional or tailored direct instruction based on their (lack of) prior knowledge, (foreign) linguistic background, or cultural learners' profiles [5]. Adapting instructional design to heterogeneity in classes is, therefore, a major challenge when promoting educational equity, particularly in multicultural settings.…”