Differentiation is best utilized in classes where student-centred methods are used. If the teacher is talking and controlling the tasks, individual needs of the students cannot be properly taken into account.

The work of teachers has been becoming more and more challenging in the 21st century. The last thing we want is to increase the workload of teachers. That is why I recommend making differentiation invisible and optional for the students. The way I have done it is simple enough …

What is invisible differention like? Firstly, we do not fuss about differentiation but make it a natural thing in class that the students work in pairs and groups and that they are often doing quite different things. And still everyone is doing their best learning English. We do not praise the quick ones publicly for doing a lot of work, neither do we blame the slow ones not achiving so much. In other words, invisible differentiation is present in classes thanks to the organisation skills of the teacher and no-one needs to be ashamed of their level of learning.

What is optional differentiation? To begin with, if the tasks in a lesson are too easy, the advanced students will get bored. On the other hand, if the tasks are too difficult, the students will be frustrated even if they are motivated. So what is the solution to this dilemma?

The answer is simple: Have options and let the students choose which task they want to do. The students know their own level and are the best judges which option suits them best at that point. When discussing the structure of a textbook-based lesson I recommended that we offer our students three options when possible. Why three? Because we cannot have too many options and the old model of ‘slow’, ‘average’ and ‘advanced’ students works well in practice.

See my next article where I give examples of differentiation in ordinary text-based lessons. But now some background ideas.

Differentiation is not a goal in itself but simply a tool to get every student to study at the right level doing the suitable tasks. There are moments in lessons when we do not need to differentiate at all since the group work automatically takes care of smooth progress with assignments.

The main points in how I apply differentiation in my classes run as follows:

1 Do not feel guilty and hesitant if you think a teacher-oriented moment or two are needed during the lesson. Take control when you think it is necessary. For example, when the student pronounce lists of new words after me or read utterances or sentences after me, when we listen to the recording of a new chapter, when we learn a new grammatical rule using inductive method, when I tell stories about my own life.

2 I love to talk about invisible differentation which means that I do not talk about differentiation at all but make it happen by using pair and group work. I constantly change the composition of the pairs and groups. Sometimes I allow them to choose their pair or group members but mostly they are randomly selected: (Take a count to six or pick up number from the box or those born in January and February etc.)

3 Yes, you are right. This is not ‘proper’ differentiation at all but I still use it because the students learn to know each other, learn from each other and know where they stand compared with others in their language, study and social skills. To me this is more important than traditional ways of realizing differentation, the ones you can find below.

4 Offering the students options and choices of what to do in the lessons increases motivation and shows that the teacher has really taken the trouble of thinking how to make the lesson interesting and challenging enough for each individual. These groupings are by no means permanent but vary according to language skill areas.

5 The old streaming system of having three proficiency levels has remained in the Finnish thinking on differentiation in one way: We teach and test various skills often having deliberately three types of tasks. This is also the approach in CLT:

For example, think about the effect of offering options in teaching vocabulary: Do one, two or all of the tasks below. You can do them in any order.

Passive recognition of words

The easy task is based on recognizing the words by making a link between Finnish and English. Leading to grades 5 – 6 out of 10 in exam situations.

pankki 1	car A
auto 2	ticket B
lippu 3	bank C

Active memorization of words

The second one means that the Finnish word is given and the student has to remember the new word in English in a gap sentence or a crossword. I can restrict the options by giving the first letter. Leading to grades 7 – 8 out of 10.

Our summer c______________ (mökki) is by a l____________ (järvi) in Central Finland.

Tasks based on critical thinking or free production

The third and most demanding way of testing would be having the sentence above with no hints at all, as a cloze test. Or the new words are given in Finnish and the student has to write sentences or a story to prove they know how to use the word. Grade level 9 – 10.

pankki, vankila, poliisi, auto, löytää >> make up a story in English

The very same system applies in practising or testing a new grammatical structure.

So: Ideally there is a transition from passive knowledge towards active free production. Nevertheless, we teachers have to remember that some of our students will never be able to become fluent no matter how hard they try. Still, maybe our ways of teaching developed their other skills instead.

5 To sum up, my starting point in planning lessons is how to activate the students and the ideas above and below have become a natural part of my teaching and mostly I am not even aware that I am applying them. As long as my students are learning and enjoying the lessons and all their skills in English are developing I am pleased.

If differentiation is needed, it can take place in many ways:

1. Differentiation using quantity: First everyone is doing the same tasks and some students simply do much more exercises than the slow ones during the lesson. The students check the correct answers themselves after each task or at the end of the session. Cheating is discussed in advance: Who do you think you are fooling? Who is going to suffer if you cheat without understanding the answers?
2. Differentiation using choice: Everybody is allowed to choose any tasks given which they want during the lesson. In other words, the students themselves choose tasks that motivate them. In practice most students are doing different tasks all through the practice time.
3. Differentiation based on learning style: We have already discussed three basic styles of learners who choose task according to their own liking; visual (learn by looking at pictures), auditive (learn best by listening to explanations) and kinesthetic learners (learn best by doing things and by experimenting)
4. Differentiation based on proficiency level and flexible grouping: This is basically the same as streaming used to be: advanced students, average ones and slow learners in their own groups. Sometimes this line of thinking is ok if it is not a permanent solution and the students can choose which group they want to go to.
5. Differentiation guided by a special teacher. Sometimes it is best for the student to spend a specified number of lessons with a special teacher who can give individual guidance on language learning or other difficulties. Remedial teaching outside regular lessons is a relevant possibility.