Dealing with Mixed Ability Classes in Comprehension and Written Expression Teaching: The Case of 1st year EFL Students of the Department of English, Tlemcen University

Abstract

There is no doubt that all classes have students with different abilities, mixed ability classes combine students with varied qualities, competences, levels, skills, and needs. Being teachers in heterogeneous classes requires a great deal, awareness, efforts, and responsibility. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify the factors that put students in heterogeneity issue, the challenges EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers meet in teaching those classes and the teaching strategies teachers deem appropriate and helpful to fulfill the students’needs when dealing with mixed ability classes. This research work was carried out in the University of Tlemcen at the Department of English. It strives to investigate the situation the case study was about in the module of Comprehension and Written Expression(CWE) in the first year level. Two main research instruments were employed in order to collect data that are teachers’questionnaire which was addressed to first year CWE teachers and classroom observation which was done with the permission teachers. After reviewing and analyzing the data collected from the two research instruments employed in this study, the results showed that dealing with mixed ability classes in teaching writing skill needs big efforts from both teachers and learners, there should be a suitable, florishing, and thriving strategies and techniques to create a helpful teaching/learning environment for both of them and meet all students’needs in those classes.