Greetings Marie and everyone,

I very much appreciate that you, Marie,  are turning to the subscribers of this list for input to help inform the topic area of the next guest discussion.

If I reflect back on my own 33+ years of L2 teaching in a rather broad array of settings in several countries, my own teacher training as well as my training of other teachers and tutors, case studies of public schools with high numbers of NNES learners, and experiences hiring and working with other teacher, tutors, as well as volunteers, one instructional challenge seems to stand out above all others: it is the challenge of accommodating highly heterogeneous students who are grouped into one classroom and are expected to successfully learn together.

This challenge is compounded by many highly commendable efforts made by "laypeople" (oftentimes volunteers who receive minimal training) to assist NNES learners.  Their own areas of expertise may have little or nothing to teaching in general, not to mention teaching an L2 in particular. 

Typically due to limited funding, small numbers of learners in particular settings, and learners hailing from a variety of social, cultural, linguistic, and formal educational backgrounds, it is all too common to be confronted with classrooms that beg the question, "What am I to do?" with no suggestions or support on the horizon.

Those students who don't have the requisite time to attain their goals given the constraints of and delays involved in heterogeneous groupings of students (not to mention added delays created by open-entry and open-exit enrollment), may either exit the program out of sheer frustration, or else resort to efforts, such as self-study (which often fails due to a lack of extreme levels of motivation and/or a need for interaction with others).

To this day, I have not even begun to crack a tough-shelled nut: some students have limited time to attain their goals, and having them learn in heterogeneous groups no doubt can necessitate long-term instruction for which learners have no time.  As long as classrooms become communities of learners who support one another, are not in a great hurry, and attend class also to meet social or personal needs, heterogeneity is something wonderful (for me at least) to work with. Collaborative learning (and teaching) strategies enter the mix in a prominent fashion.

I wonder these thoughts resonate with other subscribers.

Thanks,

Michael


Michael A. Gyori 
Maui International Language School 
www.mauilanguage.com



      
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