SKKN Some guides to help the mixed ability students improve their communication skills at Nhu Thanh...

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
I. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
First and foremost, learning English can help people pursue and obtain
more career opportunities. These days, the job market is global—many
companies need employees who can communicate with partners and clients all
over the world. Very often, that means finding employees who speak English.
The global job market has even created new positions for bilingual
people. By learning English, people could become a translator, a language
teacher or an English marketing professional for a global company.
English is the most-used language online, with nearly 1 billion users typing and
chatting in the language. If individuals can understand and read English, they
will be able to access and enjoy many more resources online.
Obviously this is helpful if they are just using the internet to browse and
have fun. But many people and businesses also need to conduct research, market
themselves or communicate and develop connections online—English will be
crucial for success.
Email is also now a very common way to talk with people all over the
world. Email is the primary way for many companies to communicate with
customers or other businesses. Being able to write emails or other
correspondences in English is another important asset for employers.
Whether it’s for fun or for work, if people can understand English, they
will be able to communicate with more people online or use many more
materials.
Communication skills are essential for a successful career, satisfying
relationships and a personal sense of accomplishment. Communication is seen
every day through TV commercials, interaction with the person opening a door
for people and listening to the CEO of their company speak. Effective
communication empowers people, provides clear direction and increases
productivity. Without it, people lose motivation and the inability to make a
decision, and they become angry because their messages are not understood
In fact, many Vietnamese students who have good professional

knowledge, but can’t use English well don’t get good jobs. So, English is the
first and the most important standard for workers who want to work not only at
foreign companies but also at national ones.
It is easy for students to get frustrated in a class of mixed ability. Stronger
students may feel held back, weaker students may feel pressured. The teacher
may feel stressed. The best solution to this is to have an open-class discussion
about the classroom situation - to ensure the best for everyone it is better to
acknowledge the situation and for everyone to agree how to deal with it. It is
probably best to stage and structure the discussion. .
Therefore, in this study I present some guides which I have used
successfully with classes of different sizes and levels to teach mixed ability
classes so that students can improve their communication skills.

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II. AIMS OF THE STUDY
I do the research to know about the fact of teaching and learning
communication skills in Nhu Thanh High School more clearly. This study also
investigates whether the guides can have positive impact on process among
students and can develop their communication skills or not. Bearing in mind, I
decide the research with title “some guides to help the mixed ability students
improve their communication skills at Nhu Thanh High School.”
III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study aims at finding answer to the following research question:
How can guides help the mixed ability students improve their communication
skills at Nhu Thanh High School?
The question has been addressed to the class A1 that I have been teaching in
Nhu Thanh High School with the aim to examine how guides help the mixed

ability students improve their communication skills
IV. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study does not aim to teach any skill in a systematic way, because it is
experience not for teaching but for practice. The study investigates giving guides
to help the mixed ability students improve their communication skills at Nhu
Thanh High School.
V. METHODS OF THE STUDY
In this study, I use some research tools to collect and analyze the needed data
Recording is used to record the process of giving some guides
The second tool used in this study is interviews with students at the end of the
research to study whether giving guides is really suitable for them or not.
Surveying through the answer sheets is used to know the practical situation of
teaching and learning English in the mixed ability classes.

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PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
What are mixed ability classes?
Mixed ability or ‘heterogeneous’ classes are terms used to describe classes made
up of students of different levels of proficiency. These terms are misleading as
no two learners are really alike and ‘homogeneous’ classes do not actually exist
(Ur, 1991). All classes are to some degree made up of learners who differ in
many ways. They may have different strengths, weaknesses and approaches to
learning. They may respond differently to various teaching methods and
classroom situations.
In this article, I cover mixed ability factors, the problems with and advantages of
teaching mixed ability classes as well as strategies for teachers who teach mixed

ability classes.
Mixed ability factors
There are many factors that influence the characteristics of the learners that
make up one single class. Some of these factors include:
- Age or maturity
- Intelligence and multiple intelligences
- Learning style
- Language aptitude
- Language levels
- Mother tongue
- Learner autonomy
- Motivation or attitude towards the subject
- Cultural background
Advantages of teaching mixed ability classes
Due to the frustrations felt by teachers teaching mixed ability classes, it can
sometimes be difficult to see the advantages of teaching mixed ability classes.
There are a number of advantages to teaching mixed ability classes. Mixed
ability classes provide a rich pool of human resources (Ur, 1991). Learners come
to class with different knowledge, experiences opinions, ideas and interests
which can be drawn on to provide interesting, varied student-centered lessons
(Hess, 2001). Such diverse classes are interesting to teach and provide greater
opportunity for innovation and creativity. There is ‘educational value’ in mixed
ability classrooms, as through their interaction, students can help and learn from
each other (Ur, 1991:305). Learner autonomy is developed in such learning
environments, as teachers may not be able to always tend to the individual,
learners help or teach each other, work together or individually. Mixed ability
classes provide opportunity for teachers to develop themselves professionally, as
teachers need to adopt a problem solving approach to the difficulties they face
and experiment with a range of teaching approaches.

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Why should teachers learn to manage mixed ability classes?
Teachers may feel frustrated by the challenges they face in their mixed ability
classrooms and may not know how to create successful learning and teaching
environments that meet the needs of all learners in a single class. Bremner
(2008) states that the ‘biggest stumbling block to effective mixed ability
teaching would seem to be teacher’s attitude. Teachers lack the knowledge of
strategies to use in the classroom for a wide range of ability.’ Teachers who are
familiar with the different abilities and needs of their learners and use mixed
ability teaching strategies effectively are much better equipped to meet the
diverse
learning
needs
of
their
learners
(Šimanová,
2010).

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CHAPTER 2: PRACTICAL SITUATIONS
I. METHODS OF THE STUDY
The research is done qualitatively in the context of English class A1. In this
survey, I use the survey questionnaire for students. This survey is designed to

collect information for the study on “some guides to help the mixed ability
students improve their communication skills at Nhu Thanh High School”

II. THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH
COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN MIXED ABILITY CLASSES
Possible
problems
teachers
may
face
Teachers may encounter a number of problems when teaching in mixed ability
environments. These are some comments made by teachers about their
experiences of teaching mixed ability classes:

RichmondPublishing
According to Ur (1991: 303), some of the challenges teachers of mixed ability
classes may face include:
Discipline - Teachers may find their mixed ability classes are chaotic or difficult
to control. Discipline problems occur when learners feel frustrated, lose
concentration, get bored, or behave in a disruptive manner. Some reasons why
mixed ability classes may be more difficult to control may be because different
learners may find the subject matter easier or more difficult to grasp, weaker
learners may require more assistance from the teacher, or more advanced
learners may dominate aspects of the lessons.
Interest – Learners may differ in their learning styles, motivation and interests.
Teachers of mixed ability classes may find it difficult to provide content and
activities that are motivating and interesting to all learners in a class.
Effective learning for all – In mixed ability classes it is difficult to provide
effective learning for all learners. The content or activities in a lesson may be
too easy for some and too difficult for others.

Materials – Materials are usually rigidly aimed at a certain kind of learner and
may not offer teachers options or flexibility.
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Individual awareness – Teachers may find it difficult to get to know and follow
the progress of all learners in a class. In classes where there are many
differences, teachers are not able to devote time and attention equally to all
learners (Šimanová, 2010).
Participation – In mixed ability classes, more advanced learners tend to
participate more actively than weaker learners. Lack of participation or attention
from the teacher, may further affect weaker learners proficiency in the subject.
Correction – Teachers may feel overwhelmed by the marking load and may also
not feel equipped to deal with the errors made by a student. For example a
subject teacher may not feel comfortable correcting a learner’s language errors.

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CHAPTER 3:
RECOMMENDATION TO IMPROVE
THE MIXED ABILITY STUDENTS’ ENGISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS
I. RECOMMENDATIONS
According to the data analysis from the survey, it can be personally concluded
that the most important feature that makes my students to engage more in the
lesson is the kind of assessment which forces them to learn although the
meaningfulness of tasks also more or less affect the level of engagement
the most meaningful tasks to my students are tasks that can help them to pass the

tests at the end of the semester not tasks that give them reasons to communicate
as I expected.
Therefore, I present some guides to help the mixed ability students improve their
communication skills at Nhu Thanh High School”

II. PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS

1. Adapting materials for mixed ability classes
In these cases it’s important to remember that all students will get something out
of the class, but not necessarily the same things, and not necessarily what you
aim to teach them! For example, the beginners may begin to get a grasp of your
classroom language whilst the stronger students may begin to be able to put a
new
tense
into
use.
Adapting materials for mixed ability classes can take different forms.
One way to adapt materials is to rewrite reading texts and grade the language
accordingly for different levels. In an ideal world where a teacher has all the
time in the world to prepare their classes this may be the perfect solution.
However, the reality is that this sort of adaptation is extremely time consuming
and not many teachers can actually go to this length to adapt materials for mixed
level groups. Another problem that can arise with this sort of adaptation is that it
can be awkward to give out different texts to different students. There’s a danger
that they will instantly realise that they have been labelled as a weak or strong
student and, in the case of the weaker students, this will no doubt effect their
motivation.
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I would like to offer some ideas of how you can support your weaker students
and offer extension activities for your stronger students whilst using the same
materials as the starting point for the class. This way the preparation time
involved for the teacher isn’t drastically higher, and the group can still work
together
for
most
of
the
class.

Extension activities for stronger
Support for weaker students
students

Pre-teach difficult vocabulary and
leave it written on the board for
Ask early finishers to write new students to refer to. Use visuals if
vocabulary up on the board with possible.
definitions.

Reading

If there are gaps, give students the
Rewrite a part of the text in a answers in a jumbled order, with a
few extras.
different tense / person.
Draw attention to the title,
Write their personal opinion / a short pictures etc and set the scene

summary of the text. Write beforehand so their mind is on
track for the topic.
questions about the text.
Break the text into chunks and
give the option of only reading
some of the text.

Listening

Give out the tape script and
nominate a ‘vocabulary master’ to
look up tricky words or expressions Pre-teach vocabulary, use visual
in a dictionary to then explain to the prompts when appropriate.
group.
Give students time to discuss
Focus on the accents or intonation of answers before feeding back to
class.
the speakers and get students to the
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copy

chunks.

Give students the tape script on
If it’s a true/false activity, follow on second
listening.
by asking ‘why/why not?)

If it’s a gap fill, supply the words
with a few extras.

Correct the draft together before
Give creative tasks that students can
students copy up in neat.
do
at
their
own
level.

Writing

Reduce
the
word
limit.
Indicate mistakes using correction
code to give students a chance to
Encourage use of dictionaries /
self-correct. (Sp = spelling, Gr =
vocab
books.
grammar
etc.)
Increase

the

word

limit.

Give and example piece of writing
as a model before they begin
writing.

Indicate where they could use more
interesting
ways
of
saying
Pair or group weaker students
something.
with stronger students.

Give students time to rehearse and
Ask students to justify / defend their gather their ideas before a role
play
or
discussion.
opinions.

Speaking

Ban easy words like ‘nice’ to push Pair weak and strong together.
their vocab to a higher level.
Let students make notes before
Get students to record themselves the speaking activity begins.

and
self-correct. Allow for ‘thinking time’.
Pair students of higher level together Grade students on the effort they
make rather than their ability.
so they really go for it.
With a whole class mingle like a
class survey or a ‘find somebody
who...’ practise the questions as a
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group

beforehand.

Give weaker students more
listening and thinking time before
calling on them to answer
questions.

2. Tips for good classroom management with mixed ability groups
Strategies
for
teaching
mixed
ability
classes
Some useful strategies for managing mixed ability classes (Šimanová, 2010,
Bremner, 2008) are listed below:

Supportive learning environment – It is important to create a supportive learning
environment in the classroom, where learners feel confident and able to perform
to the best of their ability.
Classroom management – By managing classes effectively, teachers can ensure
that learners will be involved as much as possible in the lesson. Classroom
management techniques include organising the classroom layout for maximum
learning potential, involving all students, learning and using learners’ names,
teachers cultivating a positive attitude through their own attitude to the class,
praise and encouragement, grading and using relevant teacher talk, using the
board effectively and managing learning activities by giving good instructions,
asking concept checking questions, using pair and group work, setting time
limits, monitoring the activity and including feedback on the activity.
Learning to learn – Teach learners about different learning styles and the
different learning strategies for visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners. Teach
learners how to be resourceful so that they know where to find help if they get
stuck. Provide learners with the goal for the lesson and encourage learners to
review and assess whether they have achieved the goal by the end of the lesson.
Variety – Vary topics, methods of teaching, focus, materials and activities.
Variety will generate learner interest and motivation; and lessons will
accommodate different learners’ levels, abilities and learning styles.
Grouping – Use a range of interaction patterns in class. Learners should work in
groups, pairs and individually. Groupings should be changed often, thereby
giving learners an opportunity to work with different learners.
Pace – Teachers must be mindful of the pace of their lessons. Teaching a class
too slowly or too quickly may lead to boredom or frustration. A teacher must be
aware of his/her learners’ abilities and pitch the pace of the lesson accordingly.
Interest – Teachers need to make the lessons interesting in terms of content,
topic and activities. To find out what interests the learners, teachers could find
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out what interests the learners outside the classroom, allow learners to share
their interests with the class through project work and personalization activities,
such as ‘show and tell’, or allow learners to chose the content, topics or
activities for lessons, where appropriate.
Collaboration – Getting learners to work together and cooperating has a number
of benefits for the learners and teacher. Learners develop their learner autonomy
and learn from their peers, rather than always being reliant on the teacher.
Learners who collaborate on tasks learn how to compromise, negotiate meaning
and develop self-evaluation skills. Collaboration tasks can involve project work
as well as pair or group activities.
Individualization – Hess (2001:12) describes individualization as ‘providing
opportunities for students to work at their own pace, in their own style and of
topics of their choosing’. Individualization can be promoted in the classroom
through portfolios, self-access centres, individualized writing or personalised
dictionaries.
Personalisation – Ur (2001:306) suggests including activities which allow
learners to respond personally. Such tasks increase learners’ motivation and
interest as they are based on something the learners have experienced and can
relate.
Blooms taxonomy – Make use of higher order thinking skills by providing
learners with problem-solving, analysis, evaluation and synthesis activities,
rather than only comprehension tasks.
Open-endedness – Open-ended activities allow learners to respond to tasks and
questions which have a variety of possible answers rather than one correct
answer. Open-ended tasks allow learners to perform at their level of ability.
Such tasks include sentence completion activities, story completion activities,
brainstorming, writing own definitions for words, answering questions in a
range of ways.

Compulsory plus optional tasks – Ur (2001) suggests learners are assigned
compulsory tasks with additional materials should they finish the core tasks. By
setting compulsory plus core tasks, all learners are engaged and can feel a sense
of achievement when completing a task.
Homework – Homework is an excellent tool to provide learners of all levels and
abilities with an opportunity to review and consolidate the material covered in
class.
In reality, every class can be described as a mixed ability class as it is made up
of learners who are different in terms of their knowledge and ability. This article
aimed to outline mixed ability factors and the advantages and problems
associated with teaching mixed ability classes. Studies have shown that teachers
who view their learners’ differences in a positive way and embrace strategies for
teaching mixed ability classes are better equipped to teach in mixed ability
classroom
contexts.
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III. SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES AFTER GIVING GUIDES FOR
TEACHING MIXED ABILITY CLASSES AT NHU THANH HIGH
SCHOOL.
Example :
Example : Using “ The practical semester exammination”
Teacher asks students to participate in practical semester exammination
including making videos, giving presentation, roleplaying, singing a song,
ect…,after an applying guide - period to practise English so that they can
improve their communication skills. However, I give them different tasks based
on their ability.
For stronger students

For weaker students
Interviewing
Role-playing
Stronger students can interviewing Students role-play based on the story
based on their background knowledge and practiced before

Quang Huy and Trinh Linh (10 A1, school
year: 2014-2015) were making a dialogue “
The tenth graders (10 A1, school year: 2014Hoi xoay, dap xoay”
2015) were roleplaying “ Tam and Cam
nowadays”

Nguyen Dung and Quach Nuong (10 A6,
school year: 2014-2015) were making a
dialogue about “ Interviewing for a job”
The tenth graders (10 A1, school year: 20142015) were roleplaying “The health”

Giving presentation

The tenth graders (10 A6, school year: 20142015) were roleplaying “ Superstitions”

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( Tran Thu Thao, 10 A6, was giving a
presentation about travelling”
The tenth graders (10 A6, school year: 20142015) were roleplaying “ Miss cute””

( Students, 10 A6, were giving a presentation The tenth graders (10 A1, school year: 2014about “fashion collection of household 2015) were roleplaying “ The Voice”

chores””

( Thuy Trang and Thao Van, 10 A1, were
giving a presentation about “ sharing
household chores”

( Tran Thu Thao, 10 A6, was giving a
presentation about “Pollution”

( Nguyen Hien and Trinh Ha , 10 A1, were
giving a presentation about “ Volunteer
work”
( Trang Nhung and Phuong Anh, 10 A1, was
giving a presentation)

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CHAPTER 4: RESULT
In conclusion, giving guides is an efficient way to teach English . This way I get
the best results in the classroom. It arises students’ motivation.
They felt more confident when they were given the suitable tasks although they
did not know about that
Students became more motivated in class and were actually talking more with
their classmates. It was also noticed that students began to express more
opinions and give extended reasoning in their interactions.
Moreover, the result of testing has increasingly improved. The following is the
result chart of class A1
Before giving guides.

Class

A1

Excellent
(%)
3,1

Good Fair
(%)
(%)
11,9

After giving guides
Poor
(%)

Excellent
(%)

good
(%)

Fair
(%)

poor
(%)

11,3

29,7

33,8

25,2

14,3

34,2

35,7

15,8

35,2 49,8

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PART THREE: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
I. CONCLUSION
The key strategies for teaching mixed level classes are probably developing a
positive and collaborative working atmosphere and providing a variety of work
suitable for different levels. It probably doesn't work to stick your head in the
sand and pretend the class is all of one homogenous level, a situation which
doesn't exist anywhere.
II. SUGGESTION
For group tasks, add a specific instruction so that everyone must participate

(“write two sentences each”, “submit one idea each”, “take turns to speak so that
you all speak”).
Vary the way you nominate students to answer questions for activities; it’s easy
to slip into the “one right answer” syndrome, in which you go for the one right
answer first – usually provided by the stronger students. Nominate weaker
students by name first, then ask the question. Start with easier questions for
weaker students, alternating with harder questions for stronger students.
Pronunciation is an ideal candidate for correction with your stronger students. If
you feel you need to “spread the correction around” so that it’s not always the
weak ones getting corrected, then correct aspects such as individual sounds,
word stress and intonation.
Be as enthusiastic in your praise of the stronger students as of the weaker ones
(perhaps an obvious point, but I’m always surprised at how much a teacher’s
enthusiasm can infect a class).
These are some of the techniques that have worked for me. Mixed ability
teaching is difficult, and you may find that some things work better than others

The Headmaster’s identification

Thanh Hoa, the second of May, 2018
I ensure that this study has been written by
me
The writer

Bui Thi Tu

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REFERENCES
Bremner, S. (2008) Teaching a Mixed Ability Class.
[Accessed 20
May 2011]
Hess, N. (2001) Teaching Large Multilevel Classes. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Šimanová, A. (2010) Dealing with Mixed Ability Classes.
[Accessed 20 May
2011]
Richmond Publishing, Teaching a mixed ability class.
/>m [Accessed 20 May 2011]
Tomlinson, C. (1999) The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the needs of
all learners. Alexandria: ASCD.
Ur, P. (1991) A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

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