five English proficiency levels in Ms. Jensen’s seventh grade

Ms. Jensen’s Seventh Grade English Competence Levels

Ms. Jensen’s seventh grade has five English competence levels: competent, intermediate, basic, emergent, and pre-emergent. Ms. Jensen’s class of fifteen students has been examined using the Arizona English Language Learners Assessment (AZELLA) and will be divided into groups based on their skill levels for in-class English dialect expressions exercises to help them understand and succeed in their assignments. A teacher can see from the class AZELLA results that half of the students are at the intermediate or elementary level in one or two of the four reviewing criteria. Notably, teachers do observations based on four principles: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Grouping Students: Heterogeneous and Homogeneous

There are two main ways of grouping students, namely, heterogeneous and homogeneous. Heterogeneous grouping is characterized by mixing the groups so that students of all levels are represented in each category, while the homogeneous is grouping students based on their level of ability. According to Paul (2006), a homogeneous cluster is the best grouping strategy, since it helps struggling students to learn at high levels. It also gives precise observing of students, thus, empowering the instructor to guide them regarding their weaknesses (Paul, 2006).

Homogeneous Grouping in Ms. Jensen’s Class

In the case of Ms. Jensen’s class, homogeneous grouping is the best and the number of students in the class makes it ideal for having three groups of five students each. The primary group includes Aryana, Gabriel, Michael, Suzanne and Petie. The second group includes Jakob, Jade, Desiree, Jerry and Noah, while the last group involves Carlos, Corynn, Hailey, Roman and Rebecca. Group one are students who can perform well in at least one of the evaluating criteria while group two has students whose performances rank at the intermediate level. Finally, the last unit comprises of students that are at the primary level and below. The use of homogeneous grouping in this class ensures that all students participate in the given assignments and students who have never actively participated in groups will participate in group work.

Benefits of Homogeneous Grouping

When working amid in-class English language arts assignments, the teacher can deploy the sort of grouping because it empowers synchronized learning speeds and students get a chance to learn with the speed that suits them best. Similarly, it makes it less demanding for the educator to distinguish the feeble students and areas that they are weak. Furthermore, the teacher focuses on helping the students to comprehend the given material at their own particular pace and guarantee them ample learning environment (Paul, 2006). This sort of grouping provides equal opportunity for all students since they are assigned learning material and topics that advantage them as indicated by their capability level.

Advantages of Homogeneous Grouping

According to Brown (2005), this sort of a classroom setting helps each student as opposed to generalized class learning where both students with high capability mix with those of low capacity (Brown, 2005). Students with high proficiency level do not have the opportunity to exhaust their ability. For instance, the teacher is obliged by the classroom rules to incorporate all the students in the new topic regardless of their ability. Furthermore, the educator must not discriminate against a student with lower capacity. Additionally, the school guidelines require the students with higher and lower capability to move from the pre-emergent and emergent levels to primary and intermediate level.

Heterogeneous and Homogeneous Grouping

In a nutshell, heterogeneous and homogeneous grouping have different advantages, and depending on the subject, either one or both of these grouping methods can be applied to provide maximum success in the classroom.

References

Bock, R.D. (Ed.). (2014). Multilevel analysis of educational data. New York, NY: Elsevier.

Brown, J.D. (2005). Testing in language programs: A comprehensive guide to English language assessment. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill College.

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). Critical thinking reading & writing test. Tomales, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking.