Ảnh hưởng của việc đa dạng hóa phương pháp giảng dạy dựa trên phong cách học cá nhân đối với động lực học của sinh viên

Nghiên cứu này là một nghiên cứu hành động thực hiện trong một khóa học môn Reading cho sinh viên năm thứ hai chuyên ngành tiếng Anh tại một trường đại học ở Hà Nội, Việt Nam. Với sự tham gia của một nhóm 26 sáu sinh viên năm 2 từ cùng một lớp học, nghiên cứu này nhằm mục đích 1) xác định phong cách học tập các lớp học được và mức độ hiện tại của động lực học tập; 2) lên dự án và thực hiện một số sự khác biệt khi giảng dạy dựa trên phương thức học tập khác nhau của học sinh nhằm nâng cao động lực học tập của họ; và 3) đánh giá tác động của các can thiệp tâm lý sư phạm vào mức độ động lực của học sinh. Sử dụng các bảng hỏi, phỏng vấn với các học sinh, và tự quan sát nghiên cứu và phản ánh là những công cụ nghiên cứu chính, nghiên cứu cho thấy những sinh viên này có mức độ thấp hiện tại của động lực học tập mà có lẽ là do phong cách học tập khác nhau. Trên cơ sở hiểu biết về phong cách học tập của học sinh, sự da dạng hóa các phương pháp dạy được khuyến nghị sử dụng với hy vọng để nâng cao động lực của những sinh viên này.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Dr Le Van Canhfor his expert guidance and priceless encouragement during my completion of this MAthesis Reviewing the first manuscript in spite of his hectic schedule, he made someimportant suggestions which greatly contributed to the final improvements

Special thanks should also be sent to my students at University of Languages andInternational Studies, without whom the data procedures could not have ever beencompleted

Finally, I take this opportunity to record my sincere gratitude to my family, fortheir patience, support and encouragement I am also profoundly indebted to my fiancé,Dang Tuan Thanh, for his remarkable tolerance and unshakeable faith which motivated

me enough to accomplish this paper on schedule

second-TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ……… ii

Abstract ……… iii

List of tables, figures and abbreviations ……… vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem ……… 1

2 Aims, objectives and research questions of the research ……… 3

3 Significance of the research ……… 4

4 Scope of the research ……… 5

5 Organization of the research ……… 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Key concepts ……… 8

1.1 Learning styles ……… 8

1.2 Differentiated instruction ……… 19

1.3 Learning motivation in ESL/EFL context ……… 28

2 Related studies ……… 32

2.1 Evidence of effectiveness of differentiated instruction ……… 32

2.2 Differentiated instruction and learning style ……… 36

2.3 Differentiated instruction and ESL/EFL motivation ……… 39

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

1 Participants ……… 41

2 Class problem from the teacher’s perspective ……… 44

3 Action research ……… 45

4 Research instruments ……… 47

5 Procedure of data collection ……… 54

6 Procedure of data analysis ……… 56

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 1 Research question 1 ……… 57

2 Research question 2 ……… 62

3 Research question 3 ……… 68

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 1 Summary of the major findings of the research ……… 76

2 The teacher-researcher’s reflection on the project, limitations and suggestions for next cycle ……… 78

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS

List of tables

Table 1 Kolb’s model of learning styles

Table 2 Dunn and Dunn’s learning style theory (VAKT)

Table 3 Two out of six learning styles in Reid’s model

Table 4 Three classroom elements for differentiation

List of figures

Figure 1 Kolb’s model of learning styles

Figure 2 Learning cycle and decision factors used in planning and implementing differentiated instruction

Figure 3 The flow of instruction in a differentiated classroom

Figure 4 Low prep vs high prep differentiation

Figure 5 Components of foreign language learning motivation

Figure 6 The rationale behind differentiated classes

Figure 7 Range of activities in a differentiated classroom

Figure 8 The proportions of the students by their study record in the first yearFigure 9 Equivalent scales of 12 mini-AMTB items

Figure 10 AMTB questionnaire keys

Figure 11 The research first cycle

Figure 12 Students’ perceptual learning style preferences

Figure 13 The participants’ level of motivation before the intervention

Figure 14 Motivational intensity over a six-week period (Sept to Oct 2012)Figure 15 English teacher evaluation over a six-week period (Sept to Oct 2012)Figure 16 Desire to learning English over a six-week period (Sept to Oct 2012)

List of abbreviations

AMTB: Attitude motivation battery test

PLSPQ: Perceptual learning style preference questionnaire

LS: Learning style(s)

LSI: Learning style inventory

ESL: English as a second language

EFL: English as a foreign language

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter containing the rationale, general objectives (guided by research questions)and organization of the study is expected to provide readers background materials and amap of the research paper

1 Statement of the problem

As a lecturer in an English-major university, the researcher of this study has beenteaching several courses of English skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) so far.Therefore, she has had to deal with different teaching situations as well as various kinds

of English major students Through her continuous classroom self-observation, informalinterviews with students and evaluation of students’ lesson journals (a learning dairywhich students were personally asked to keep writing from the beginning of each course

to reflect their perspectives and feelings of the lessons and teachers), the researcher hasrecently identified some questionable problems in her reading class: 1) the students werenot motivated enough to actively join in class activities; 2) some students were somehowmore involved in certain activities while sometimes the others even showed no interest inthese ones at all Different activities may evoke different reactions and feelings fromdifferent students These concerned the researcher so seriously that she decided toinvestigate the situation to look for the answers in a structured manner, rather than in aninformal one like before

Reviewing the body of knowledge which is expected to probably result in thecurrent problem, the researcher has found some factors having a considerable influence

on students’ motivation such as their beliefs, affective state, aptitude, personality, age,and learning styles (To and Nguyen, 2009) Although these elements all affect students,and thereby worth studying, the researcher intend to keep focus only on learning stylefactor in relation to motivation due to her interest and the obvious disadvantages ofresearching many conditions at the same time

Owing to the development of brain and psychology research into individualdifferences, the field of learning style theory has drawn much attention from educationalresearchers since the 1970s However, it was not until the 1980s with the decline ofbehaviorism (stimulus/ response model), the concept of individual learning preferenceswas taken into serious consideration in some studies as a basic influential factor tostudents’ learning Some studies at that time could be mentioned, for example, Cafferty’sstudy of the match in teacher’s and student’s cognitive style (1980), Dunn’s work onstudents’ identifying their own learning style (1983), or learning strategies developedfrom learning styles differences (Willing, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1988) These studies havecome to some important findings 1) learners have different preferred learning styleswhich determine their reactions and attitudes towards particular types of in-classactivities and 2) teachers’ accommodation to different learning styles can have impact onstudents’ motivation (Hunt, 1979, quoted in Willing, 1988, 1988, p.57).

Because learning style is an influential factor on motivation, teacher’saccommodation to students’ different learning mode appears to probably raise the level ofmotivation Many researchers have been arguing about matching/mismatching theorieswhich suggest teachers should either try to match their teaching styles to students’learning styles or try to expand their comfort zone by forcing them to study with differentlearning styles Acknowledging almost all the existing theories, differentiated instructionapproach recently has gained much attention in educational settings According toTomlinson (2001), the goal of the approach is to encourage teachers to proactivelyprepare and offer a wide range of activities which can cater for students’ differences(including learning styles) Despite a lack of numerous empirical studies over theeffectiveness of differentiated instructions, positive feedbacks from teachers during theapplication of the approach in a variety of school settings have been reported worldwide

For the aforementioned reasons, the researcher decided to start an action research

project named “The effects of teacher’s differentiated instructions based on students’ learning styles on their motivation: An action research” to find the solutions to the

classroom problem Though solutions suggested by other researchers’ studies may havebeen proved to be effective, they may never work for her generally unique circumstance.Action research has been employed for its practical goal of solving problem, rather thanother kind of research for theory construction or testing This study, after finished, issupposed to contribute to a relatively neglected area of research in Vietnam or may beimplemented by other practitioners for their shared classroom problem.

2 Aims, objectives and research questions of the research

a Aims and objectives of the research

This study is supposed to examine the relationship among three concepts learning styles, differentiated instructions and academic motivation in higher education classroom

setting This action research project was conducted to aim at solving the problem of lowmotivation level which possibly caused students’ low achievement at university

In the light of that general aim, some specific objectives are drawn up to outline theactual directions of the study as follows:

1) To identify the given class’s learning styles and current level of academicmotivation;

2) To project and implement some instructional differentiations upon the students’different learning modalities aiming to improve their academic motivation;

3) To evaluate the impact of the psycho-pedagogical intervention on the students’motivation level

b Research questions

In brief, the objectives of the research could be specified into these researchquestions:

1) What are the students’ learning styles and their current level of motivation?(Identifying the problem)

2) To what extent does the new intervention cater for the students’ learning styles?3) How does differentiated instruction approach affect the students’ motivation level

in terms of their motivational intensity, lecturer evaluation and English learningdesire?

3 Significance of the research

Once having been finished, this action research is expected to find the solutions tothe problem of the researcher’s own class; otherwise, its findings would shed light onnecessary further studies in order to solve the issue of students’ lack of motivation inlearning English as a foreign language In case the intervention of differentiatedinstructions works for this class, it may suggest a good potential treatment to the problem

of students’ low motivation It does not only help the researcher herself to overcome thedifficulty in teaching but it can also be regarded as a possible suggestion to other teacherswho encounter classes of demotivated students In addition, this research with itsthorough literature review and reliable research instruments could function as a basicreference on the subject matter Therefore, it may benefit other researchers or teacherpractitioners on their way to gain a deep insight into the issue of learning styles,differentiated instructions and motivation

Besides, another simultaneous consequence of this action research is to raisestudents’ awareness of their learning style differences Many students hardly understandtheir learning styles In fact, students are likely to admire advanced classmates, so theytend to imitate their learning styles or methods in the hope that they can improve theirstudy results This impulsive thought might then result in the students’ failure because ofthe incompatibility of applied learning styles and their major ones Consequently, thisunsuccessful attempt usually leads to their lack of confidence and motivation In this

study, after learning style and motivation surveys were administered and analyzed, theresults would be delivered to the students for their own sake Furthermore, if theresearcher’s hypothesis about differentiated instructions by learning styles was right,students’ motivation would be increased significantly.

Last but not least, due to the limitation of a single action research of thegeneralization to the whole population, this paper might not add much value to the body

of the existing literature as well as not persuasive enough for policy makers and schooladministrators to change the methodology or syllabus However, if more action researchlike this one was conducted and the findings were confirmed, everything would changefor good

4 Scope of the research

Action research can be done by a teacher trying to solve a single problem in his/herclassroom Individual action research may search for solutions to the problems of

“classroom management, instructional strategies, use of materials, or student learning”(Ferrance, 2000, p 3) Besides, as few as two or a group of teachers can workcollaboratively on the same subject matter that is shared among classrooms, without orwith the support from principals or educational authorities In addition, to increase thescope of possible impacts, the other two are school-wide and district-wide actionresearch All four types are likely to be differentiated in terms of focus, possible support,potential impact and side effects

According to Elliott (1991, cited in Water-Adams, 2006), the “best” (the mostemancipatory) action research is collaborative in the nature of practice, involving a fewpractitioners “exploring and challenging the constraints of their professional lives”.Meanwhile, individual one is usually criticized for lacking validity, generalization andreplication

However, Ferrance in her booklet of the Brown university series “Themes inEducation” claimed that each type of action research has its own possible impacts andside effects In order to avoid disagreements on process which may cause the delay oreven failure of the research and due to the piloting nature of this study, the researcher of

this study decided to carry out an individual action research to deal with the problems

of her own classroom before suggesting it to other teachers who share the same problem(collaborative) and then proposing it to the faculty administrators (school-wide)

In addition, because this is an individual action research and the researcher also wouldlike to undertake a rigorous and thorough study, she only invited her own reading class ofsecond-year students to participate in the study As a result, the data collection andanalysis could be done, and considered more carefully and thereby producing moreaccurate findings

5 Organization of the research

The study and findings are intended to be shown and discussed in the followingchapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction, which provides a broad view of the whole research by

presenting the current problem, mentioning aims and objectives of the paper,and indicating the significance as well as the scope of the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review, which is supposed to provide theoretical background on

the issue of foreign language learning styles and motivation, discuss the keyconcepts, identify the research gap and review the related studies in thehistory both in Vietnam and in the world

Chapter 3: Methodology, which informs readers of the participants, the chosen

instruments, procedures of data collection and analysis

Chapter 4: Results and Discussion, which presents the description an interpretation of

the collected data in light of research questions

Chapter 5: Conclusion which summarizes the major findings discovered by the research

and written up in the previous chapter (chap 4) Moreover, it suggests somepedagogical implication for teachers who share the same problem as theresearcher The limitations and suggestions for future studies are alsodiscussed in this last chapter

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter was the review of the existing literature relevant to the subject matter whichwas under the researcher’s investigation In this chapter, some key concepts would beexplained clearly and thoroughly In addition, related research works in both internationaland Vietnam context would be analyzed and synthesized to supply readers with a broadview of the topic in the scholarly world

1 Key Concepts

1.1 Learning styles

a Definition of learning styles

Individual difference is not a new field of study Before the 1970s, this term wasconsidered somehow synonymous with ability difference measured by standardintelligence tests However, owing to the achievements in psychology in the 1970s,researchers soon realized the narrowness of this assumption Therefore, the concept ofindividual difference henceforth was changed into the differences in many aspects such

as learning styles, interests, motivations, genders or ages Among them, “learning styles”may have been one of the most popular parts which have been studied since it was firstused in the 1970s The studies on learning styles have been continuing for roughly fivedecades

Although it would be not conclusive enough to prove the emergence, recent yearswitnessed the dramatically increasing records of the researcher numbers working in thisarea Apart from psychological field, research into learning styles has also beenconducted in a vast variety of domains, including management, vocational training andespecially education in different settings and levels

Since a vast quantity of research and practitioner-based studies have deliberately

targeted at learning style, there are now a wide range of definitions, theoretical positions,

models, interpretations and measures of the construct in the area (Cassidy, 2004) On theone hand, this can be convincing proof of the prevalence of this theory in education and it

provides the interested investigators with useful extensive literature for gaining thoroughunderstanding of the issue On the other hand, this fact also causes the researchers such alot of trouble when it comes to the matter of ambiguity, conflicting outcomes ormeasuring instrument selection

For those who are novices at the subject matter, it is quite confusing when they

encounter the terms “learning styles”, “cognitive styles” and “learning strategies” To

some extent, these concepts are usually used interchangeably in the learning style-relatedresearch with little difference in meaning However, in some cases (for some specialpurposes), these terms need to be clearly distinguished According to Allport (1937, inCassidy, 2004) and Riding & Cheema (1991, in Cassidy, 2004), an individual’s learningstyle is the application of his cognitive style into learning situation In other words, ineducation cognitive style is an important component of learning style Meanwhile,

“learning strategy” and “learning style” share a lot in common, except that the latter isadapted more automatically to handle different learning tasks

When it comes to the idea of learning styles, people must bear in mind a simplebut reasonable assumption put forward by Dunn and Dunn (1983) “everyone hasstrengths, but different people have very different strengths”

Since the term “learning style” was first in use in the 1970s, there have beentireless efforts among scholars and researchers to define it Therefore, it is not a greatsurprise to find numerous definitions of learning styles

Among these countless trees, there is one oak which should not and cannot beignored The definition by Keefe (1979) has been mentioned in lots of learning styleresearch (Reid, 1987; Willing, 1988; Coffield, 2004)

Learning styles are characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological behaviors thatserve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and

respond to the learning environment … learning style is a consistent way of

functioning, that reflects the underlying causes of learning behaviors (p 40)

Three components of learning styles referred to in the definition could be presented asfollows:

Perceptual

The sensory channels (one or more senses) individuals rely on

to perceive, understand, organize and retain knowledge (Dunnand Dunn, 1979; R Dunn, 1983; Reid, 1987)

For the consistency of the study, whenever the term learning style is mentioned, itrefers to the notion by Keefe (1979) Moreover, it is worth noting clearly at this point thatthis study just focus on sensory channels or perceptual learning preferences as a primarypart of learning style differences

b Learning style theories, models and measures

As mentioned earlier, this study field of learning style has drawn much attentionfrom plenty of researchers around the world Consequently, this following review oflearning style models and instruments would be impossible to be all-inclusive Rather, it

is going to refer to the most reviewed constructs in significant review papers andexcludes the minor models that are only the adaptation of the critical models to small-scale samples or just the new labels of the existing constructs

In the review entitled “Learning Styles and Pedagogy in Post-16 learning” byCoffield et al (2004), 71 learning models which had been developed for the last 40-50years were listed Among them, the reviewers identified 13 major models mostly basing

on their popularity

Therefore, in this paper the researcher would not mention these minor ones Out ofthe 13 leading models, David Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and Dunn, Dunnand Price’s LSI are the most well-known and widely used in the UK and US respectively.Moreover, Joy Reid’s (1987) model was also reviewed on this part because of theresearcher’s later use of his self-report questionnaire

David Kolb’s learning styles model

David Kolb (1984) defined learning style as “individual orientations that gavedifferential emphasis to the four basic learning theory: Concrete Experience (CE),Reflective Observation (RO), Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and ActiveExperimentation (AE)” These four were grouped into two categories: experience-grasping approach with CE and AC; and experience-transforming approach with RO and

AE Depending on the dominance of one grasping and one transforming among four factors inside an individual, there were four basic types oflearning styles as follows:

experience-Learning style Dominant factors Characteristic features

Converger AC (thinking) and AE

Assimilator AC (thinking) and RO

(watching)

Capable of creating theoreticalmodel with inductive reasoning

Accommodator CE (feeling) and AE (doing)

Actively engaging with theworld and actually doing thingsinstead of merely reading about

or studying them

Table 1 Kolb’s model of learning styles

Figure 1 Kolb’s model of learning styles

Dunn and Dunn’s VAK/ VAKT models

Rita Dunn and Kenneth Dunn have spent more than 35 years devoting on thestudies concerning the learning styles (identification, instruments and assessment oflearning styles, etc.)

As mentioned before, Dunn, Dunn and Price (1978, cited in Willing, 1988)included perceptual strengths in the 18 distinguishable learning style elements Theperceptual strength element consisted of three types of learning preferences in receivingthe knowledge inputs: visual (prefer viewing pictures, maps, diagrams, etc.), auditory(favor listening to tapes, lectures or music), and kinesthetic (involve more in doing,touching and moving) Thus, the Dunns’ learning style model is frequently used inAmerican school system known as VAK or sometimes VAKT with tactile (prefer hands-

on involvement, note taking, model building, etc.) included (Coffield et al., 2004)

According to the Dunns’ theory, each individual have one or two dominant styles(among those basics) which will role as the filter to favorably receive the informationdelivered in the individual’s best way of learning.

Dominant

V: visual

- Mind sometimes strays during verbal activities

- Observes, rather than talks or acts; may be quiet by nature

- Organized in approach to tasks

- Likes to read

- Usually a good speller

- Memorizes by creating mental images

- Thinks in pictures

- Easily put off by visual distractions

- May focus on the ‘big picture’ and use advanced planning

- Finds verbal instructions difficult

- Remember faces

- Strong on first impressions

- May have good handwriting

- Enjoys using color

- Notices details

- Often a quick thinker

A: auditory - Talks to self aloud

- Outgoing by nature

- Whispers to self while reading, may hum or sing while working

- Likes to be read to

- May be particular about the exact choice of words

- Memorizes by steps in a sequence

- Very aware of rhythm

- Easily distracted by noises

- May have difficulty with written instructions

- Remember names

- May assess people by the sound of their voice

- Enjoys music and the sounds of words

- Enjoys talking and listening

- Can remember – and often mimic – speech by picking up rhythm

of the sentence

- May need time to think (i.e discuss it with myself)

- May assess a situation on ‘how it sounds’ to them

K:

kinesthetic

- In motion most of the time/ fidgety

- Outgoing by nature; expresses emotions by physical means

- Reading is not a priority

- May find spelling difficult

- Likes to solve problems by physically working through them

- Very good body control, good timing and reflexes

- May need time to think (i.e process the actions involved)

- Will try new things – likes to get involved

- Like physical rewards

- Remembers what they have done rather than seen/ heard

- May assess people and situation by what “feels right”

- Enjoys doing activities

- Plays games, simulations and role-playing

- Underlines

- Takes note

- Constructs models

- Loves art-related activities such as drawing, painting, and sculpting

- Makes diagrams, mind maps, webs

- Taps pencil or foot/ fiddles with objects while studying

Table 2 Dunn and Dunn’s learning style theory (VAKT) (Source: Authors; Adapted from Coffield et al., 2004; Dunn & Griggs, 2003; Dunn,

2001; Dunn, 2003, cited in Penger & Tekavcic, 2009, p 6)

Joy Reid’s VAKT model

Joy Reid was one of the well-known researchers who had spent quite a lot of timeand effort studying learning styles, especially perceptual strengths

Once realizing that no research had been published on the perceptual learningstyles of non-native speakers (NNSs) of English before and then claiming that failuremay rest not only on material but teachers’ unawareness of learning styles as well, Reid(1987) on TESOL Quarterly reported his study which provided the insights into NNSs’perceptual modalities in their classroom

Like Dunn and Dunn, Reid also followed VAK/VAKT model which was addedtwo more components named group and individual learning styles Hence, Reid’sconsisted of 6 learning styles instead of 3 or 4 constructs as usual

Referring back to Dunn and Dunn’s definition of learning style, these twoconstructs could somehow be found in the sociological element (working alone, in pair,with peers, in team, with adults, or varied) Meanwhile, they were included in perceptualchannels by Reid (1987) This was the different point between Dunn and Dunn’s andReid’s VAKT model

The typical characteristics of 4 learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile)coincided with those detailed in Dunn and Dunn’s For the two added learning styles, the authorhad also given the explanation for those who had these preferences.

Group

learning

style

- Learn more easily with at least one another student

- Be more successful completing work well when workingwith others

- Value group interaction and class work with other students

- Remember information better when studying with two orthree classmates

- Learn and understand new information better with thestimulation from group work

Individual

learning

style

- Learn best when working alone

- Think better alone

- Remember information one learns by oneself

- Understand new material best when learning it alone

- Make better progress in learning by oneself

Table 3 Two out of six learning styles in Reid’s model

Six learning preferences were grouped into three ranges: major, minor andnegative learning style preferences It was advisable that students learnt in their majorlearning styles in which they could function well and learn best Minor preferencescontained those learning styles in which students could still function well whereasstudents’ negative one showed the difficulty learning in these ways

David Kolb’s and Dunn and Dunn’s learning style inventory were thought to beone of the leading models in the field from which many other models have beendeveloped or adapted (Coffield, 2004) However, Smith (2001) has figured out 6

weaknesses of David Kolb’s LSI: 1) the process of reflection is mostly ignored (Boud etal., 1983) 2) four constructs in the model do not apply to every situation (Jarvis, 1987;Tennant, 1997) 3) it shows the lack of attention to cultural differences (Anderson, 1988)4) the idea of stages or steps does not reflect the reality of thinking 5) the empiricalweakness cannot back the theory and 6) the problematic relationship of knowledge andlearning (Jarvis, 1987) As a result of these problems, the application of Kolb’s modelneeds a great caution though this model is appreciated to provide “an excellentframework” to plan teaching and learning.

Dunn and Dunn’s model also had to cope with many critiques which stronglycriticized the model as invalidate, unreliable and lacking an underlying theory Thereality and validity of Dunn and Dunn’s LSI have been criticized by some otherreviewers However, the Dunn and Dunn’s LSI was one of the most widely used in theAmerican schools owing to its advantages such as positively claiming the potentiallearning ability of all students, respecting individual differences and showing its goodeffects in many practitioners’ adaptation to their samples of students

In this research, the Dunns’ learning style inventory would be used thoroughly andconsistently as the reference of learning style models However, criticized to be difficultfor students and faculties to assimilate all, the instruments with too many principles (18)would be narrowed the focus on perceptual strengths/ preferences only, namely VAK orVAKT model

Turning to this point, Reid’s VAKT model with 6 components was taken intoconsideration of the researcher because of the convenient use of Perceptual Learning-style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ) by Reid (1987) as the style-identifyinginstrument (see Chapter 3_Methodology) Moreover, Reid’s VAKT was basically similar

to that of Dunn and Dunn with more than two styles These two, group and individualwere also very important in student’s process of gaining and retaining knowledge Hence,

from the researcher’s viewpoint, Reid’s model was more complete to some extent As aresult, in the scope of this research, Reid’s model will be used thoroughly

1.2 Differentiated instruction (Teaching style/ teaching approach)

a Definition of differentiated instruction approach

Instruction differentiation theory was established on the basis of studentdifferences which require a variety of suitably-adapted instructional approaches Studentswith diverse needs should be provided not just one but multiple options to learn materialsand ultimately achieve success equally in the classroom The necessity of differentiatedinstructions was confirmed by the significant findings in brain research which manyexperienced teachers have always assumed:

 No two children are alike

 No two children learn in the identical way

 An enriched environment for one student is not necessarily enriched for another

 In the classroom we should teach children to think for themselves

http://www.ascd.org

According to an expert in this field Tomlinson (2000), there is not just one way todefine instruction differentiation In the most fundamental way, differentiation can beunderstood as a teacher’s act of “tailoring” his/ her instruction to meet individual needs

If a teacher tries to differentiate her instruction in the classroom, she varies her teaching

in content, process, products, or the learning environment to proactively respond toindividual variance to create the best learning experience possible and therefore, keep allstudents engaged The model of differentiated instruction was aimed at maximizinglearning-teaching flexibility, material access and possibilities of success for all students

in diverse classroom Basically, it offers students multiple options to absorb information,make sense of ideas and express what they learn (Tomlinson, 2001)

Differentiating instruction means teachers’ “adjusting the curriculum andpresentation of information to learners rather than expecting students to modifythemselves for the curriculum” (Hall, Strangman & Meyer, 2003)

To differentiate instruction is to recognize students' varying background knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning and interests; and to react responsively Differentiated instruction is a process to teaching and learning for students of differing abilities in the same class The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student's growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or she is and assisting in the learning process.

(Hall, Strangman & Meyer, 2003)

Figure 2 Learning Cycle and Decision Factors Used in Planning and Implementing

Differentiated Instruction

b Components of differentiated instruction

Tomlinson (2000) clearly drew up a differentiation guideline indicating that therewere three elements in the curriculum which could be differentiated to benefit students indiverse classroom

Teachers can differentiate at least three classroom elements based on student

readiness, interest, or learning profile:

Content – what the student needs to

learn or how the student will get access to the information

 Several elements and materials (acts, concepts, generalizations or principles, attitudes, and skills) are used to support instructional content

 Tasks and objectives to learning goals need aligning

 Instruction is concept-focused and principle-driven and should be adjusted in complexity level to suit diverse learners

Process

– activities in which the student engages in order to make sense of or master the content

 Flexible grouping is consistently used

 Classroom management benefits students and teachers.

Products

– culminating projects that ask the student to rehearse, apply, and extend what he or she has learned in a unit

 Initial and on-going assessment

of student readiness and growth are essential.

 Students are active and responsible explorers

 Expectations and requirements for student responses should be varied

Table 4 Three classroom elements for differentiation

(Tomlinson, 2000)

c Features of differentiated instruction

Tomlinson (2001) showed 7 key features of differentiated instruction as follows:

Differentiated instruction should be proactively planned by a teacher before a

class This teacher assumes the differences among his learners, thereby preparing a range

of ways to “get at” and express learning This preparation in advance will help the teachernot to passively reacting to some of the learners as other teachers in undifferentiated classusually do

“Differentiated instruction is more qualitative than quantitative” Some people

suppose that differentiating instructions means more work for advanced students and lessfor struggling ones in a given class However, Tomlinson (2001) claimed that adjustingthe number of the work does not effectively influence students’ learning process, butchanging the nature of the assignments does

Differentiated instruction should be employed along with continual assessments.

Through informal chats with individuals, class discussion, students’ work, observation or

a variety of other ways, teachers can assess their students’ progress which can indicatewhat works for each learner to make the most of their potential and talents

“Differentiated instruction provides multiple approaches to content, process and product”

“Differentiated instruction is student-centered.” In a classroom, an effective

lesson should be “engaging, relevant and interesting” However, it would not reach thatgoal if every student only had one avenue to find the lesson equally engaging, relevantand interesting Moreover, students do not have the same level of understanding at thebeginning on which later understandings will be built Consequently, differentiatedinstructions which provide these students multiple paths to achieve lesson objectivesreally take these premises into consideration

“Differentiated instruction is a blend of whole-class, group and individual instruction.”

“Differentiated instruction is organic.” In other words, this is a dynamic process.

When differentiating the instructions, teachers try to create the best learning match totheir students at that time Over time, students/learning match may become less ideal andthat’s when teachers need to make more adjustments to maintain the effective matches

(adapted from Tomlinson, 2001, p.6)

Figure 3: The Flow of Instruction in a Differentiated Classroom

d Differentiated instruction strategies

In her text, “How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms” (Chapter 6), Carol Tomlinson (2001), identifies 17 key strategies for

teachers to successfully meet the challenge of designing and managing differentiatedinstruction However, the author also claimed that there is no particular recipe fordifferentiated instruction due to its nature and ultimate goal of fitting a wide range of

student variance The differentiating depends on many unique characteristics of a classsuch as learner’s learning styles, personalities or learning profiles

Here are 17 “megastrategies” which can be used to successfully differentiateinstructions to make learning fit students better:

 “Have a strong rationale for differentiating instruction based on student readiness, interest, and learning profile.” The rationale will be used in

communication strategy aimed at students and their parents Just like the teacher,these people need to understand the “new rules of the games”, thereby notbecoming resistant but contributing to the new learning ways

 “Begin differentiating at a pace that is comfortable for you.” Moving ahead

with differentiating instructions quickly or not should vigorously rely on teacher’sreadiness point, which is good for both students and teachers themselves.Differentiating should start from the point where teachers enjoys most or feel themost comfortable and confident working with

 “Time differentiated activities to support student success.” Students’ time

spans of attention are different Advanced students have longer time span thanstruggling ones One thing to bear in mind in differentiated class is to make timeallotment for class activities shorter than both advanced and struggling students’attention time spans

 “Use an “anchor activity” to free you up to focus your attention on your students.” Advanced students are usually likely to finish the task sooner than the

others, which causes dead time in class As a result, teachers need to preparesome anchor activities (suitable for students’ readiness and interests), so that theycan assign these activities in case some students claim “I’m done” too soon inclass These on-going activities can be done without teachers’ assistant.Therefore, teachers have more time to support those in need while the others aredoing something meaningful

 “Create and deliver instructions carefully.” Multiple directions are needed, but

delivering it to the whole class at one time may cause confusion or attention

deficiency Some other options such as tape-recorded directions, task cards orassignments sheets could be employed to solve the problem of instructiondelivery.

 “Assign students into groups or seating areas smoothly.”

 “Have a “home base” for students.”

 “Be sure students have a plan for getting help when you are busy with another student or group.” Advanced students can work as consultants for other

students with proofreading, finding answers or details, and so on

 “Minimize noise.”

 “Make a plan for students to turn in work.”

 “Teach students to rearrange the furniture.”

 “Minimize “stray” movement.”

 “Promote on-task behavior.”

 “Have a plan for quick finisher.”

 “Make a plan for calling a halt.”

 “Give your students as much responsibility as possible.”

Figure 4: Low-prep vs high-prep differentiation

e Teacher’s role in a differentiated class

It is self-evident that the role of teachers in differentiated class is different from that ofteachers in traditional class in which the content is taught in the same way in the same time spanfor all students

- Keeper and dispenser of knowledge - Organizer of learning opportunities

- Coach or mentor

- Director of an orchestra (metaphor)

The ability which these teachers need to develop:

 assess student readiness through a variety of means,

 “read” and interpret student clues about interests and learning preferences (learning styles)

 create a variety of ways students can gather information and ideas,

 develop varied ways students can explore and “own” ideas,

 present varied channels through which students can express and expand understandings

What Differentiated Instruction Means for Teachers

 provide several learning options, or different

paths to learning, which help students take in

information and make sense of concepts and

skills

 develop a separate lesson plan for each student in a classroom

 provide appropriate levels of challenge for all

students, including those who lag behind, those

who are advanced, and those right in the

middle

 "water down" the curriculum for some students

(adapted from Willoughby published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill)

We all know that one way of learning may interest some students, butsimultaneously annoy or discourage the others Therefore, differentiating instructions is

teacher’s inevitable task However, differentiation just calls on teachers to prepare arange of ready approaches to learning much of the time which most students find learning

a fit much of the time

1.3 Learning Motivation in ESL/ EFL context

a Definition of motivation

Motivation has always been a familiar term to every teacher in charge Whenteaching a particular group, there are a lot of factors which may make students fail toachieve the lesson objectives and then course objectives, including the complexity ofmaterials, teacher’s instructional approach or learning facilities, to name just a few Apartfrom their low study records and a number of other factors, poor motivation which can bedetected through some class symptoms like students’ slumping in their seats, failure toattend class discussion or class sleep is probably another worth-considering indicator.Tucker et al (2002) suggested that motivation directly affects academic achievement,whereas the other factors only have indirect influence on learners through motivation

Dörnyei (1994) referred to motivation as “one of the main determinants” inlearning second/foreign language (L2) It is self-evident that those who are not motivatedenough are usually struggling with school work and hardly achieve academic success.The first studies over motivation were initiated by two Canadian psychologists, RobertGardner and Wallace Lambert These researchers were also marked by introducing

“scientific research procedures, standardized assessment techniques and instruments” andthereby “setting high research standards and bringing L2 motivation research tomaturity” However, Gardner’s motivation construct was then challenged and degraded

as being too “influential” or “dominant” so that others concepts were ignored or not fullyconsidered Moreover, Dörnyei also pointed out that the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery(AMTB) by Gardner had quite large scope of the social environment, rather thanspecifically focusing on academic motivation (though it does have educationaldimensions with some question items asking about motivation in classroom)

Academic motivation is a student’s desire (as reflected in approach, persistence,and level of interest) regarding academic subjects when the student’s competence isjudged against a standard of performance or excellence (DiPerna & Elliott, 1999;McClelland, 1961; Wigfield & Eccles, 2002 in McGrew, 2004) Academic motivation is

a subtype of the general construct of effectance motivation, which is defined as the

“need” to be successful or effective in dealing with one’s environment (Gresham, 1988 inMcGrew, 2004)

In this study, the definition by Wlodwoski (1985, p 2, quoted by Root, 1999) will

be used thoroughly Motivation is regarded as “the processes that can (a) arouse andinstigate behavior, (b) give direction or purpose to behavior, (c) continue to allowbehavior to persist, and (d) lead to choosing or preferring a particular behavior.”

Gardner and Lambert (1972) mentioned the following factors which are ratherrelated to motivation that will attempt to relate the second language ability to these twofunctions

1 Integrative motivation, defined as the desire to be a part of recognized or

important members of the community or that society that speak the second language It isbased on interest in learning the second language because of their need to learnabout, associate or socialize with the people who use it or because of purpose orintention to participate or integrate in the second language using the same language inthat community; but sometimes it involves emotion or affective factors a greatdeal (Saville-Troike, 2006, p 86)

2 Instrumental motivation involves the concepts of purely practical value in learning

the second language in order to increase learners’ careers or business opportunities,giving them more prestige and power, accessing scientific and technical information, orjust passing a course of their study in school (Saville-Troike, 2006, p 86)

Furthermore, the motivation is further classified into two main categories as thefollowing:

1) Extrinsic motivation refers to a desire to get a reward and avoid punishment.

It emphasizes external need to persuade the learner to take part in learning activity(Arnold, 2000, p 14), such as homework, grade, or doing something to pleaseteachers Both integrative and instrumental motivations are also grouped under thebranch of the extrinsic motivation (Harmer, 1991, p 4)

As extrinsic motivation is based on external outcomes such as rewards andpunishment This motivation could bring a negative impact to the students,because with extrinsic motivation, students do not learn with their strong intention orwill but they study it because they are pushed by the interest in the rewards or thepunishment When a student is learning because he is promised rewards or because hewants the rewards, he will be highly motivated to come to classes and learn and achievethe goal that is set for him But when these rewards are taken away, or sometimeseven if they do not see any punishment, the student will not be interested in coming

to class and learn the language any longer

2) Intrinsic motivation refers to learning itself having its own reward (Arnold, 2000, p.

14) It means the learners are willingly and voluntarily (not compulsorily) try to learnwhat they think it is worth or important for them When students have intrinsicmotivation, they have the internal desire to learn and they do not have the need forexternal outcomes There are no negative impacts in having intrinsic motivation Inaddition, intrinsic motivation pushes the student to learn without rewards, because theneed is innate or come from inside or depends on their own will Lightbown and Spada(1999, p 56-57) mentioned that teachers do not have many effects on students’intrinsic motivation since the students are from different backgrounds and the onlyway to motivate students is by making the classroom a supportive environment

b Motivation model - Components of motivation

Motivation is a “dynamic”, “eclectic and multifaceted” concept; therefore, aresearcher who intends to initiate a motivation construct easily turns out to make it toorestricted or static The last decades have seen a lot of efforts of researchers to establishmotivation constructs For example, Gardner’s motivation construct known as theintegrative-instrumental system is popular on account of its “simplicity and intuitivelyconvincing character” Nevertheless, this construct is “too static and restricted” according

to Dörnyei (1994) Consequently, some other studies tried to expand the Gardner’sconstruct by “adding new components, such as intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, intellectualcuriosity, attribution about past successes/failure, need for achievement, self-confidence,and classroom goal structures, as well as various motives related to learning situation-specific variables such as classroom events and tasks, classroom climate and groupcohesion, course content and teaching materials, teacher feedback, and grades andrewards” Based on Gardner’s construct and these studies, Dörnyei has integrated all thecomponents into one construct with three components specifically as follows:

Figure 5: Components of foreign language learning motivation

(Dörnyei, 1994, p 280)

2 Related studies

2.1 Evidence of effectiveness of differentiated instruction as a classroom practice

When reviewing the studies about differentiating instructions, Hall, Strangmanand Meyer (2003) noticed that there was not much existent empirical research to prove

the theory validity As a result, the gap in the literature of this area can be acknowledgedand further studies in future should be necessarily encouraged Although differentiatedinstruction approach, the whole “package” itself lacks empirical validation, itscomponents have been investigated and validated in educational research for years Theidea of differentiated instruction theory has just been put forward, but in fact, itsconstituents, including “readiness, effective management procedures, grouping studentsfor instruction, and engaging learners” (to name just a few) are grounded in the reliableworks from the mid-1980s to the present Given as a typical example, “readiness”concept in the theory which suggests the content should be slightly ahead of learners’current level of mastery (i.e learners should be slightly pushed beyond the point at whichthey can learn unassisted) is based on Lev Vygotsky (1978, in Hall, Strangman & Meyer,2003) and the zone of proximal development (ZPD), the range at which learning takesplace, by Fisher et al (1980, in Tomlinson, 2000).

Despite the shortage of empirical research, a significant quantity of testimonialsand classroom examples were provided by the authors of several publications and websites Tomlinson (2000) reports the promising results (improvements in classrooms) ofthe application of the full model of differentiation in some educational settings Initially,this instruction process was introduced to gifted learners who did have much difficulty inacquiring the content Owing to the findings of its “excellent potential to positivelyimpact learning” (Hall et al., 2003) and the reality of the diversity of today’s classroomsettings, this approach was then quickly applied to students of all abilities at all levels.After years of application in general education classroom settings, many web sites werecreated in which the experts of this study area provided a plentiful source of advice,suggestions and illustrating lessons for teacher-practitioners For example, the studies byLewiss and Batts (mentioned in Tukbure, 2011) showed that a five-year differentiatedinstruction program resulted in the increase of promotion rate from 79% to 94.8% aftersummative testing at the end of the school year, revealing students’ performanceimprovement

The main drawback of this approach is teachers’ unfamiliarity with this conceptwhen they all can picture exactly how a “single-size instruction class” is due to theirexperience over many years It means the difficulty which teachers must encounter when

it comes to imagine what a differentiated instruction class look and feel like (Tomlinson,2001) This uncertainty leads to differentiating phobia which makes teachers fearattempting to implement this approach in their classroom

Brandt (1998) explained the link between the conditions in which people learnbest and differentiation Apparently, the link indicates the rationale for differentiatedclassroom as follows: