Proficiency Level Analysis: How to Measure Your Skills

Learning Groups 

Grouping of students is considered a sensible strategy for many educators. Heterogeneous and homogeneous groups aim to provide students with positive outcomes in their achievements. Teachers have a responsibility of choosing which type of grouping method that is the best for success and progress of all the students. Homogeneous grouping is the division of students into small groups which include students with the same level or abilities. For example, putting high achievers or low achievers in the same classroom. Heterogeneous grouping can be defined as, a division of students into groups that include mixed abilities or low achievers and high achievers together (Dar & Resh, 2018).  This paper will focus on homogeneous grouping method and its benefits to the welfare of the students. 

Homogeneous Grouping Method 

Homogeneous grouping in an educational setting involves the organization of students such that students with similar grades or abilities are placed together and work with materials provided for their levels which is determined through assessments tests. These groups are also referred to as ability groups (Park & Datnow, 2017). When organizing reading or writing, the teachers have to put all the high achievers or talented students together in their group. The teacher then meets with the high graders in the same classroom and teach them with higher level books in the various levels of reading that exist in the class. Students can be placed into the same class by their talents or abilities in specific subjects. 

There are challenges of homogenous groupings. Students with lower learning or proficiency abilities might feel that they have been set aside from the rest due to their “poor” comprehension. On the other hand, students with higher learning abilities might distance themselves from the others because they may feel superior to their colleagues. This grouping might also be strenuous for the teacher because they have to develop curriculum and teaching strategies that meet the different group needs. Nevertheless, this grouping system has benefits that outweigh the challenges. The positive effect of homogenous grouping is that it provides students with instructions according to their level of understanding and their individual needs are also met. Most schools apply the homogenous grouping such as setting and banding to raise the academic achievements of learners. It also makes it easier for teachers to teach and concentrate on the abilities and level of the students understanding (Park & Datnow, 2017). Students in this groups can freely interact with themselves because they perceive that they are at the same proficiency level. In so doing, they share ideas and discussions that help to improve their performance. Therefore, the homogenous group is most suitable for students of this ESL class. 

Grouping for Writing 

Writing as a skill requires both the students’ and teacher’s efforts. Amongst the four language skills, it is usually emphasized by teachers in second language learning (Banditvilai, 2016). Writing skills require proper command of the language to be able to appropriately articulate words and phrases. The skill is relatively complex in comparison to reading or speaking skills as the student is expected to have a mastery of proper spellings of words, sentence structure, punctuation, and grammar. Different students have different learning abilities. The intricacies of writing skill mean that those students with lower learning abilities will require more time to effectively develop and enhance their writing skills. Fast learners on the other hand, or those with better command of English might feel that the basic learners are dragging them. This group of ESL needs a homogeneous grouping method in order to place students with the same writing levels in the same group. In these groups, the students will be able to learn different genres like recount and narrative, descriptive and expository based on their levels which are prescribed by the syllabus. Students will also engage in class discussions, peer editing and act in role-playing. These activities will help them have more practice and build up experience which will enable them to have a good sense of what they will write about in the end. 

Placing the ESLs in homogeneous groups of writing will raise instruction level and increase the pace for proficient achievers while emergent achievers will be able to enjoy individual attention from the teachers. The intermediate and pre-emergent will also be placed in their groups and taught according to their level of understanding. Advanced students will be taught many difficult concepts according to their level of understanding while low achievers will have fewer and simple things to deal with. With homogenous grouping, teachers will adjust with the pace and the needs of the ESLs leading to more achievements in their studies. 

Conclusion 

In summary, homogeneous grouping method is most suitable when it comes to placing the students according to their writing levels. This will not only make it easier for the teachers, but it will also enable the students to understand and grasp what they are taught according to their level of understanding. Homogeneous grouping means placing the students with the same abilities or levels of learning in the same groups or classes. Students are placed according to their writing levels in this ESL class by their assessment tests levels and are given different activities in those groups. Writing activities requires involvement of both the teachers and students. The homogenous groups will enable the students to freely review and comment on the work of their peers without developing thoughts of superiority or inferiority. Homogeneous is, therefore, the most suitable and effective grouping method for this class. 

Homogeneous Chart 

References  

Banditvilai, C. (2016). Enhancing Students' Language Skills through Blended Learning.  Electronic Journal of e-Learning ,  14 (3), 220-229. 

Dar, Y., & Resh, N. (2018).  Classroom Composition and Pupil Achievement (1986): A Study of the Effect of Ability-Based Classes . Routledge. 

Park, V., & Datnow, A. (2017). Ability grouping and differentiated instruction in an era of data-driven decision making.  American Journal of Education ,  123 (2), 000-000.