Abstract

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Almost every English language class these days are heterogeneous in terms of students' capacities, interests and pace of learning. Students with very advanced learning skills and students who struggle mightily with understand and using English are in one class. The language teacher facing such a diverse class with distinct levels of ability has to address the problem of how to meet the needs of everyone in the class. Against this background, this paper analyzes the needs of good and poor learners in a mixed ability class and to suggest principles for the refinement of high-quality instruction called "differentiation". Based on the variations while learning/using language, the learners are broadly classified as advanced learners and struggling learners. The teacher needs to plan and prepare the class according to their learning profiles to make them responsible for their own learning. The paper focuses on understanding variations learning profiles of students, the needs of advanced and struggling learners, suggests a few principles that are useful to ensure the learners to maximize their learning and proposes some guidelines for learning-profile differentiation. The teacher orchestrates the groups of mixed abilities with differentiated instruction using different materials and activities suitable for everyone in the class.