The Effect of Differentiated Instruction on EFL Learners: Teachers’ Perspective

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of differentiated instruction implementation on students' learning and the challenges that face its implementation. The sample consisted of 60 grade 6 respondents randomly distributed into two groups. The experimental group N =(30) was taught English following differentiated instruction strategies of flexible grouping, tiered assignment and tiered instruction in the areas of content, process and product. However, the control group N=(30) was taught English traditionally following the one-size-fits-all method. Moreover, 42 English teachers who were teaching elementary grades from grades 1-9 in one of Irbid districts which is called, Taibeh, distributed in 14 schools, formed the population of the study. Fourteen teachers were interviewed to answer the two questions of the study. The researchers followed a mixed-method design in which both a quantitative method which was a pretest/ posttest and a qualitative method which was a semi-structured openended interview with teachers were used to answer the questions of the study. T-test results revealed that there was a statistical significant difference between the two groups favoring the experimental group. Planning for differentiated activities, the lack of resources and the lack of administration's support were the most common challenges of differentiated instruction's implementation.

Implementation of Differentiated Learning to Enhance Elementary School Students' Mathematical Critical and Creative Thinking Skills

“…The research findings indicate that the implementation of differentiated learning in the experimental class can enhance critical thinking skills to a greater extent compared to the control class, which utilizes conventional teaching methods, based on the average post-test scores. Differentiated learning provides students with the opportunity to develop critical thinking skills in understanding problems, evaluating information, drawing conclusions, and making generalizations (Benedicto & Andrade, 2022;Magableh & Abdullah, 2020). Differentiated learning is considered as a solution to meet the diverse learning needs of students and their potentials.…”

Investigating Differentiated Instruction and the Contributing Factors to Cater EFL Students’ Needs at the Collegial Level

“…The teacher and the learners make adjustments primarily because of their poor socioeconomic backgrounds. Moreover, the larger the class, the more we must differentiate and cope with individual differences (Magableh & Abdullah, 2020).…”

“…Based on previous studies (Karadag & Yasar, 2010;Logan, 2011;Magableh & Abdullah, 2020;Servilio, 2009;Suban, 2006;Tulbure, 2011), one way to cover the needs of students in a multi-level class with a variety of learning styles is using differentiated instruction, but before applying differentiation instruction, teachers should determine "students' readiness, abilities, and needs." According to Tomlinson (2005), student readiness pertains to a student's aptitude, competence, and understanding of a topic.…”

The Implementation of Teaching English Using Differentiated Instruction in Senior High School during Covid-19 Pandemic

“…An English language class is made up of students who are all diverse, they come from various backgrounds and cultures that vary in their interests, readiness, needs, and development (de Graaf et al, 2019;Putri et al, 2020). It is not new to believe that pupils learn in a variety of ways (Gorghiu et al, 2015;Magableh & Abdullah, 2020). An English class has accelerated learners, struggling ones, the talented, the disabled, the auditory, the visual, the reading/writing, and the kinesthetic learners.…”

“…Planning for differentiation takes much time, especially in designing the tasks and the content (Magableh & Abdullah, 2020). Moreover, during the pandemic of Covid-19, the interaction between the teacher and students was limited since they only met in a virtual class (Benjamin & Aguilar, 2020).…”