Individual Differences

Citation: Huitt, W. (1997). Individual differences. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State
University. Retrieved [date], from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/instruct/indiff.html

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There are a variety of individual differences that must be of concern to classroom

teachers. Some of the most prominent are academic ability (or intelligence),
achievement level, gender, learning style, and ethnicity and culture.

In general, there are three different approaches for dealing with individual differences
among students. First, you can develop events of instruction that take them into
account as part of the instructional process. This is the approach used by Bernice
McCarthy, developer of the 4MAT system. The second approach is to provide some
sort of grouping, either between classes or within the classroom itself, in order to
reduce or accomodate for the variability with respect to student background,
achievement, ability or some other characteristic. Leveling or tracking, classroom
grouping, cooperative learning, and individualized instruction are examples of this
approach. Third, you can modify the conditions within which instruction is taking
place. This is the approach used in mastery learning.

Modifying Events of Instruction

One strategy for dealing with individual differences is to develop or modify the events
of instruction so that they specifically address individual differences. This is
exemplified by the 4MAT system developed by Bernice McCarthy. The 4MAT system
is a direct instruction approach to teaching that utilizes research on brain lateralization
dominance and learning style to identify specific instructional events that will be
attractive to a specific type of student. The 4MAT system seems to have considerable
face validity, although there is not the a widespread research base to support it.

Grouping

There are four major approaches to grouping: between-class ability grouping (often
referred to as leveling or tracking), within-class ability grouping, cooperative learning,
and individualized instruction.
Between-class Ability Grouping. With respect to between-class ability grouping,
research does not support this strategy in terms of learning for all students. Students
assigned to the top level (perhaps the top 10 to 15%) seem to benefit from this type of
grouping, but middle- and lower-ability students do not. And although this is still a
popular practice in Ameican education, some school systems are opting to eleminate
it. You might ask the question "Why do we use an educational practice that only
benefits a small number of students but is detrimental for most?" The answer probably
lies more within the realm of politics and expediency and therefore most likely will
need to be dealt with on those terms.

The major problem with between-class ability grouping may lie more with the method
of grouping than with the concept itself. For the most part, ability groups are
determined by a composite score on a standardized test of basic skills or on the subtest
scores for reading/language arts and mathematics. However, student knowledge and
aptitude may not be uniform across all areas of the content being studied. Perhaps
multiple regroupings based on specific prerequisite skills might provide a different
picture of the viability for between-class grouping.

Another problem that research has found with between-class grouping is that teacher
expectations and the quality of instruction are often lower for lower-track groups.
Researchers have observed the same teachers in both lower- and upper-level groups
and have observed a measurable difference in the performance in these classes.
Teachers are generally not as well organized and they use different strategies for
questionning when they have entire classrooms composed of lower-ability students.

A final problem with between-class grouping is that students may begin to lower their
own expectations when they are placed in a lower-level class. This in turn impacts
there achievement which in turn impacts their self-concepts with respect to academic
achievement (particularly in that specific class) which consequently negatively
impacts the teacher's expectations and so on. It is this cyclical nature of the impact of
ability-grouping that may be most detrimental.

Within-class Ability Grouping. On the whole, research tends to support within-class

ability grouping as beneficial to the learning of most students. It seems to be more
flexible and, consequently, less stigmatizing. However, this research is based on a
small sample of classes (mostly mathematics) and, therefore, needs considerable
additional research. In addition, the specific method seems to be important. The
ability-grouped active teaching (AGAT) discussed by Slavin (1994, pp. 319, 323) is
an example of an effective method. In general, if within-class ability grouping is going
to be considered, the teacher may want to have only two groups since it will make the
grouping process easier to manage.
Cooperative Learning. Cooperative learning is an instructional strategy in which
students are placed in heterogeneous groups. In my opinion, cooperative learning is
one of the best researched educational innovations of the last two decades. When
implemented properly, it can have dramatic effects on student achievement.

Individualized Instruction. While individualized instruction is logically the best way

to deal with individual differences, in practice it is very difficult to accomplish. One
innovation that may change that is computer-assisted instruction (CAI). On the whole,
CAI has not yet delivered on its promise to revolutionize teaching and instruction.
However, my expectations are that with the more powerful computers now available
at reasonable prices we will begin to see an impact on achievement in the near future.

Mastery Learning. A third strategy for dealing with individual differences among
students is to change the system within which instruction is provided. This is the
strategy used by mastery learning. In mastery learning, the teaching environment is
structured so that students develop mastery of prerequisite skills before they begin a
new lesson. In practice, mastery learning has not demonstrated any superiority over
traditional instruction when it is implemented on an individual classroom basis.
However, it has been shown to dramatically improve student achievement when it is
successfully implemented on a school- or district-wide basis.

Cooperative Learning
WHAT IS IT? Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small
teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning
activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is
responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn,
thus creating an atmosphere of achievement.

WHY USE IT? Documented results include improved academic achievement,

improved behavior and attendance, increased self-confidence and motivation, and
increased liking of school and classmates. Cooperative learning is also relatively easy
to implement and is inexpensive.

HOW DOES IT WORK? Here are some typical strategies that can be used with any
subject, in almost any grade, and without a special curriculum:
 Group Investigations are structured to emphasize higher-order thinking skills
such as analysis and evaluation. Students work to produce a group project,
which they may have a hand in selecting.

STAD (Student Teams-Achievement Divisions) is used in grades 2-12.

Students with varying academic abilities are assigned to 4- or 5-member teams
in order to study what has been initially taught by the teacher and to help each
reach his or her highest level of achievement. Students are then tested
individually. Teams earn certificates or other recognition based on the degree to
which all team members have progressed over their past records.

Jigsaw II is used with narrative material in grades 3-12. Each team member is
responsible for learning a specific part of a topic. After meeting with members
of other groups, who are "expert" in the same part, the "experts" return to their
own groups and present their findings. Team members then are quizzed on all
topics.

WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF SPECIFIC PROGRAMS? These are just a

few of the successful programs available that use specially developed material:

Team Accelerated Instruction (TAI) in Mathematics: An elementary,

individualied program that provides direct instruction within a cooperative
learning setting, emphasizing concepts, real-life problems, and manipulatives.
TAI is for grades 3-6 and older students not ready for algebra.

Contact: Barbara Luebbe

You may often be teaching a class which has students who are clearly of
different levels. They may have different starting levels of English or they
may learn at very different speeds - for any number of reasons.
 These are several strategies that a teacher can use to deal with this situation. This is
the first of two articles on the topic.

The second article covers...

Range of tasks
Extra work / Homework
Student nomination
Supporting the weaker students
Error correction

This first article deals with the following strategies.

Discussion and needs analysis

Student self-awareness

Work groupings

Discussion and needs analysis

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.

Needs Analysis
Use a needs analysis to prompt the students to reflect upon their learning style,
learning strategies, language needs, learning enjoyment, motivation, language
strengths and weaknesses. Questions that might be included are...

What kinds of class activities do you enjoy / benefit from?

Which language skill do you most wish to develop?

Do you prefer working individually or with a partner?

Would you rather sit and listen to the teacher all lesson or participate in group
work?

Students compare their answers in pairs or small groups. You should collect the
information and prepare a statistical representation of the key questions and answers.
This will help to develop the sense of shared community in the class.

Explain and discuss

Explain the mixed-level situation to the students and give a list of possible approaches
to the teaching and learning. In pairs, the students rank the approaches/ideas
according to their suitability for the situation.

Following feedback, you should highlight the strategies you plan to use.

A student contract
Developing with the students, or perhaps writing it yourself, a contract of behaviour for
activities is a useful device. 'I will help and support my activity partner.' 'I will
participate in group work.'

Tell them what you are going to do

If you think your students are not mature enough to carry out this kind of reflection,
explain the situation to the class and tell them what strategies you will be using. If
students know what to expect, you can hope that they will cooperate.

All of the above work could be done in the mother tongue, although I feel it is best
done primarily in the target language (as it draws attention to the fact that this is a
learning language issue.)
 Student self-awareness
Encourage students to develop an awareness of their own language abilities and
learning needs. What are their strengths and weaknesses, and how can they focus on
these? How can they measure their own progress

This may take the form of a learner's diary, regular self-assessment, keeping records of
mistakes, keeping a record of things learnt.

Work groupings
Varying the way students work in the class will help meet the variety of levels in the
class.

Pair work
You can pair strong with strong, weak with weak, or strong with weak. Perhaps in a
very controlled activity, the strong with weak will work well. In a freer activity, perhaps
strong with strong will be of benefit. Variety in the pairings is the key here - and you
should also be sensitive to the general relationships between different students, and
learn to note who works well with whom.

Group work
These groups could be of mixed levels or similar ones. The hope is that in a smaller
group, the weaker student will feel more able to contribute. Also, if the group is working
with a set of information, divide the information between the students, forcing them to
work together.

You may consider dividing your class into groups by level for the whole lesson, enabling
you to give a different level or number of tasks to each group. Discussion of this
strategy with the class should help prevent stigmatisation.

Whole class - mingles

This is a favoured strategy of mine. A mingle activity involves students talking or
interacting with many different members of the class in a short period of time in order
to achieve a task. This means that any one student will work with students at different
levels - experiencing stronger and weaker levels of communication. This supports the
weaker students and provides opportunities for the stronger ones.

A classic activity is a 'Find someone who...'

In this activity the student has to survey the class to find people who(for
example)
have got something - Do you have a CD player? Or
have done something - Have you eaten fish and chips? Or
like something - Do you like tennis?

If a student answers yes to a question, then the other student should ask for more
information. If a student answers no, then the other should find a new person to ask,
and may come back to the first student with another question later on.

The potential for this is endless. It is a great way to provide practice of a particular
language structure/area (10 questions all using the past simple) and provides controlled
practice as well as the opportunity for further freer discussion. It also creates a lively
classroom dynamic.

Mingles can take many forms - students may have to find the person who has a
matching word to theirs, or the second half of a split sentence. The students may all
have the same or different questions, or a mixture. The key is the general principle of
an information gap or communicative need.

Overall, variety in the types of working groups, and an open discussion of the class
situation will help to deal with some of the difficulties that are present in mixed ability
classes. The aim of these strategies is to create a positive working environment, which
is all part of ensuring better learning.