Implementation of tiered instruction in reading contributing to the gifted students’ needs in teaching English at Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools

Author(s):

Aliya Olzhayeva(presenting / submitting)Anzhela Aitbayeva

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching

Format:

Paper

Session Information

27 SES 05 B, Cross-cultural Comparisons on Reading in Classrooms

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-23

13:30-15:00

Room:

K3.05

Chair:

Marte Blikstad-Balas

Contribution

Students studying at Nazarbayev Intellectual schools are regarded to be gifted in science and math because they take enrollment tests in three languages (Kazakh, Russian, English), math and they also take test on giftedness. The aim of these schools is to develop students’ giftedness and expand their unique potential. In this respect, the role of English is vital because English regarded as a language of instruction; some subjects are entirely taught in English in high school and students in grade 12 take international exams such as IELTS and SAT. Therefore, it is important to develop students’ ability to read, understand, analyze and evaluate academic texts and write academic papers. For students whom English is a second language these skills are challenging to master. Some of the recent research defined gifted[AK1] children as having an ability to grasp abstract concepts, being curious about the environment, having good memories and being creative (Lowenstein, 1981). Cross (1997) identified the psychological and social traits of gifted children as displaying excessive self-criticism and perfectionist tendencies. Okan and Ispinar (2009) concluded that gifted children need to be challenged and that they prefer challenging tasks rather than simplified ones. If gifted students' needs are met it can help them to develop and maximize their potential (as cited in Olzhayeva, 2014). These challenging tasks could be organized through differentiation tasks, known as tiered instruction.

The necessity of a differentiated instruction is raised in the Integrated Programme developed by Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools and when teachers plan their lessons they need to consider the types of differentiation which will be offered to students with high linguistic abilities. Tiered instruction works when teachers make small adjustments in their tasks to meet the needs of their students (Preszler, 2006). This type of support is directly related to Bloom's taxonomy where Tier 1 is understanding and remembering, Tier 2 is application and analysis, Tier 3 is evaluation and creativity. It is important to ensure that students are able to master the lower level skills in order to move to the higher tier stage. Tiered learning tasks engage students slightly beyond what they find easy or comfortable in order to provide genuine challenge and to promote their continued learning (as cited in Kingore, 2006). Optimally, a tiered task is neither too simple so that it leads to boredom nor too difficult so that it results in frustration. For English language teachers working at Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools in the framework of Integrated Programme the challenging point is to develop tiered instruction which corresponds to the needs of gifted students.

Research questions

Which reading learning objectives in high school do English teachers find the most difficult to teach at Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools?
Which reading learning objectives do high school students find the most difficult to achieve at Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools?
What tasks do teachers develop and what type of tiered instruction do they provide for learning objectives for reading which are difficult to attain?

Method

Convenience sampling is chosen to conduct this study, namely English language teachers and students of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools. First stage of the research: the survey has been conducted in 2016 among the English teachers (total number of participants is 100) of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (19 schools took part) where 88% of participants responded that they need theoretical and practical support in teaching gifted students. Moreover, 22% of participants always use the differentiated instruction during the lessons, 64% - sometimes and 12 teachers rarely use differentiation. The second part of the survey focused on learning objectives which are challenging for teachers to teach. The results of the survey show that teachers experience some difficulties with learning objectives for reading in high school (Aitbayeva, 2016). These reading objectives require high order thinking skills. According to the survey it is difficult to construct the proper tasks for assessing these reading objectives and as a consequence to differentiate the tasks (Aitbayeva et al., 2016). Second stage of the research is a survey: it is planned to conduct a survey for high school teachers and students at four Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools. The expected number of participants for the survey is 200-250, both students and teachers. The survey questions will focus on identifying the reading learning objectives which are difficult to teach and achieve and possible reasons if it. The results of teachers’ responses could be compared with the last year’s results. Third stage is an interview: 10-12 high school teachers of four Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools will take part in a semi-structured interview, the aim of which is to obtain deeper insights of their practice of tiered instruction. Forth stage is lesson observation which allows to collect the evidence of tiered instruction in the natural classroom setting. It is expected to observe from 20-25 English lessons in grades 10 and 11 in the same four schools. In the lesson observations the observer would be an undisguised and non-participant observer who would sit at the back of the class. All the ethics will be taken into consideration. These methods would allow to collect both qualitative and quantitative data and make the results more reliable.

Expected Outcomes

It is expected to: 1) Identify the learning objectives in reading which high school teachers find challenging to teach. 2) Identify the learning objectives in reading which high school students find challenging to achieve. 3) Identify the types of tiered instruction and tasks which teachers implement to attain learning objectives for reading skill in high school. 4) Develop a system of methodological support of tiered instruction which will help teachers to design reading tasks which correspond to the needs of gifted students. In a long term the effectiveness of this support could be measured.

References

References Aitbayeva, A., Suleimenova, A., & Zabornik, L. (2016). NIS Integrated Programme of Development: How to support gifted children at English lessons. Aitbayeva, A. (2016). Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools: Monitoring Report. Cross, T.L. (1997). Psychological and social aspects of educating gifted children. Peabody Journal of Education, 72 (3), 180-200. Kingore, B. (2006). Tiered Instruction: Beginning the Process. Teaching for High Potential. Retrieved January 19, 2016 from gifted.tki.org.nz. Lowenstein, L.F. (1981). The psychological problems of gifted children. Caxtons: Pullen Publications. Okan, Z., & Ispinar, D. (2009). Gifted students’ perceptions of learning English as a foreign language. Educational Research and Review, 4 (4), 117-126. Olzhayeva, A.T. (2014). Oral corrective feedback in a second language classroom: a case study of eleventh grade teachers’ choices and learners’ preferences at a school for gifted children in Kazakhstan (Master’s thesis). Preszler, J. (2006). Strategies That Differentiate Instruction, Grades 4-12. On Target. Retrieved January 15, 2016 from http://www.sdesa6.org/content/projects.htm. Yunus, M.M., Sulaiman, N.A., & Embi, M.A. (2013). Malaysian gifted students’ use of English language learning strategies. English Language Teaching, 6 (4), 97-109.

Author Information

Aliya Olzhayeva (presenting / submitting)

Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools

Semey

Anzhela Aitbayeva

"Centre for Educational Programmes" under Autonomous Educational Organisation «Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools»

Linguistic Departement

Astana

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