The Linguist

14 The Linguist Vol/64 No/4 ciol.org.uk/thelinguist FEATURES How can language teachers cater to the needs of each learner? Christiane Ulmer-Leahey presents a successful teaching model Fortunately, these days there is an abundance of teaching materials available for use in foreign language classes. Publications are based on the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages, making it easy to classify and compare courses. The exercises address current topics and offer opportunities to utilise modern media. However, the ability of conventional language courses to cater to each student in a learning group is limited, even when they use differentiated materials. Language instruction takes place in groups that are heterogeneous in terms of knowledge of the language, past experiences, standard of general education and/or experience with the learning process, psychological, social and domestic situation, level of motivation, and language aptitude, among other factors. Students' learning prerequisites, and thus pace of learning, may differ, but everyone has to learn grammar and vocabulary. It is not feasible to create a separate course for each member of a class, which can lead to frustration for everyone involved. Learners are either overwhelmed or under- challenged, and lose interest in learning over time. Teachers are faced with the challenge of preparing students for exams while trying to maintain a learning pace that can be followed by as many as possible. The authorities that fund the language courses are faced with public criticism when exam results do not match expectations. The Deíntra method In response to these issues, in the 1990s, my team at Llysfasi College in Wales developed a method to support differentiated learning, which received an award for innovative curriculum. Since then I have further developed the system, which I call the Deíntra method, while teaching in a range of institutions, including schools, adult education colleges, universities and private industry. The idea is to use common textbooks and materials but to change the way learning happens. The key difference compared to traditional classroom teaching is the role of the teacher, who no longer attempts to lead an entire class through a canon of exercises in unison. Instead the learning period begins by determining what each student will work on during the lesson. For the most part, the teacher does not use the method of frontal teaching. Their role is to observe and support when required, focusing their attention where learners need it. At the start of a lesson, some people will have a clear idea about the task they need to work on. They will be able to begin quickly, perhaps following brief instructions such as 'Work on the vocabulary for the next section' or 'Continue with the task started in the last lesson.' The teacher can then address learners who require longer explanations. While the teacher develops a knack for keeping waiting times as short as possible, students come to accept short 'down' periods and increasingly use them independently, for example by learning words from the vocabulary section. Most coursebooks, particularly those for beginners, have a similar structure in which common topics ('meeting locals', 'shopping', 'living and working in a foreign city', etc) are returned to with increasing difficulty. Each unit covers a thematic topic and a grammatical topic, with an introductory session followed by exercises and a practice section. At the back, there is an overview of the main grammatical points and the new vocabulary for each unit. Following the Deíntra approach, learners still tend to work systematically through the units, but exercises can be used in flexible ways according to individual needs. The same exercise may act as a review before an assessment for one learner, an exercise in a longer chain for another learner, and a taster of an upcoming topic for a third learner. In most lessons, there will be groups working together and opportunities for partner work. Because of the structure of most coursebooks, learners at different levels can work together on a topic using different sections of the same book. Indeed, it is possible – and desirable – to plan activities in which stronger and weaker members of the group can work together. For example, different tasks can be assigned around a A textbook shake-up IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK

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