nvestigating Teacher’s Awareness and his Role when Dealing with Mixed-Ability Classes.

Abstract

In the process of teaching and learning within mixed-ability classes, students differ in many aspects. In any EFL class, teachers are confronted with many difficulties; to identify each student‟s needs and get everyone involved in the classroom is really challenging since teachers may find themselves focusing on high achievers only because they are always active and dominate the class. Hence, along this study we attempt to investigate to what extent are teachers aware of the diversity existing in mixed-ability classes and how to cope with this issue. To carry out this research work and test the advanced hypotheses, samples of forty first year EFL students and five teachers at Ibn Khaldoun university of Tiaret were targeted relying on two questionnaires directed to both teachers and students. Accordingly, it examines the attitudes of low achievers towards high achievers and the teacher‟s role to establish a balanced classroom. The findings reveal that teachers are not aware to some extent of the diversity in mixed-ability classes. Moreover, some solutions and strategies are suggested to EFL teachers that would help them to promote students‟ involvement when teaching those classes and establish a positive environment to reach out all of them especially those with low achievements in the learning process