TEACHING IN ABILITY GROUPED ENGLISH CLASSES: A STUDY OF VERBAL INTERACTION AND COGNITIVE GOALS1
A PERSISTENT problem inherent in mass educa tion is effective teaching of individual pupils . To confront this problem teachers have used a combi nation of group activities and adjustments for indi vidual pupils, e.g., differentiated assignments, in dividual assistance, and selection of appropriate ma terials. Individualization of instruction has often been a focus of attention in the schools. Various administrative procedures have been used to facili tate such teaching. One device, long popular with teachers and administrators, is ability grouping, called homogeneous grouping by some. Theoreti cally, this procedure of assigning pupils to class sections on the basis of some measures of achieve ment or academic ability narrows the range of stu dent ability and achievement within the class and en ables the teacher to work more effectively. Its pro ponents argue that with pupil variability thus con stricted, goals may be set mor e specifically and teaching activities may be planned to fit the group and the individuals comprising it. Although the logic of homogeneous grouping is convincing to most teachers, research has failed to substantiate the educational advantages claimed. Since unequivocal conclusions have been unavailable, moves to install ability grouping in schools have been accompanied by differences in opinion. This controversial issue in the public school, ability grouping, has been periodically questioned in terms of its effectiveness and its democratic basis . In general, evidence collected in research on ability grouping has related to pupil achievement under dif ferent systems of grouping, psychological effects of different patterns of grouping on pupils, teacher at titudes, and parents' views of different grouping practices. A fundamental assumption in most stud ies and in most schools where ability grouping is practiced, apparently, has been that when a teacher is assigned a class of a certain ability level his teaching style, goals, materials, and evaluation are accordingly adapted to the general ability level of the class. This basic assumption, however, seems not to have been tested empirically and, therefore, must be questioned. The absence of i n f o r m a t i on about teaching behavior in classes of different ability levels has been called to the attention of educators by Wrights to ne (9), Franseth (6), and others. Drews (4: 28), for instance, suggested that probably little goes on in the homogeneous class that would not have happened in an ungrouped, or heterogeneous, situa tion. Yet no one has done research to verify or re fute such a supposition and to provide relevant evi dence. If teachers assigned to classes of different ability levels do not differentiate their behavior, the case for ability grouping has been undermined on at least two points: 1. Teachers are deceiving themselves, and admin istrators are wasting a great deal of time in as signing pupils to appropriate ability groups. 2. The teacher, by his action, denies his impor tance as a factor in individualization of instruc tion. The possible failure of teachers to differentiate their teaching may explain some of the contradictory results of studies of ability grouping. If the teach ing is not different in classes grouped by ability, pu pils' subsequent learning can not be expected to be different. As Davis (3: 215) has pointed out, "At tention to the process of grouping itself is less im portant than the type of instruction which is given to the group. " This study investigated certain aspects of teach er behavior when teaching at two different ability levels. Teacher-pupil verbal interaction in the class room and cognitive goals were analyzed.