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Journal #3

Pablo Ramírez

Universidad Alberto Hurtado

June 28th, 2019

Inside a classroom, there are a lot of students learning what the teacher is trying to teach

them. But these students are not just that but individuals, and as individuals, they have different

personalities, motivations, interests, and backgrounds. In other words, inside any classroom,
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there is a diversity of realities that interact with each other and that receive the same instructions

from a teacher. In the same regard, they go through different learning processes, such as

perceiving, recalling or transferring, in a variety of ways which affect how they learn. (Brown,

2007). Consequently, students have different ideas of education, as well as different learning

methods which affect directly how they develop inside the classroom. This situation tends to

clash against a teacher’s beliefs and approach towards education, mainly because sometimes

the best way a specific student learns is not the way the teacher teaches which can hinder that

student’s learning process.

By taking into consideration students’ characteristics when planning and giving a lesson

can be very meaningful for students because in that way they would receive the information

easily. This is supported by what Spratt, Pulverness, and Williams (2005) mentions about the

advantages of considering their differences in the classroom, and how that can help teachers to

apply more suitable activities and tasks for students. In the same way, they put emphasis on the

characteristics of certain periods of the age of students, and how they also represent an

influential point on their characteristics. The problem is that some of these factors are not

always considered by teachers which does not ensure that their methodologies and strategies

will be suitable for their students.

I have been able to notice this in all of my ELAB experiences and with different teachers

who have a variety of approaches towards education and different ways of giving a lesson. In

all of these situations, the results are the same: not every student get engaged with the lesson

and they end up forgetting everything they reviewed in a class. Mckimm (2009) mentions that

the best way for a teacher to solve this issue is by assessing students characteristics and needs

in an ordered way. She mentions that, by reflecting on students' characteristics and planning

based on that, can give teachers the opportunity to adapt their methodologies inside the

classroom. This would be very beneficial for students, mainly because, if their characteristics
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are taken into consideration, their learning process would improve, ensuring long-lasting and

meaningful learning. This situation fits with the definition Borja, Sanchez, and Soto (2015)

give on differentiated instruction and the benefits of applying that strategy in the classroom.

They mention that by implementing differentiated instruction, the teacher starts a process of

improvement not only for his or her methodology but also in the way students perceive the

decisions of the teacher. They start reflecting on their own characteristics and styles of learning,

which is very helpful for the fulfillment of lesson objectives and expected learnings.

To conclude, I consider that, even though students' characteristics are not always

considered in the Chilean educational context, they are very relevant on how a teacher's

strategies and approaches develop in a classroom. Consequently, if teachers take those

characteristics into consideration at the moment of planning a lesson or giving instructions,

they have the possibility to create a proper environment for his or her students' learning process.

Even though this would require that the work from the teacher on collecting information in

order to know how his or her students are which could take a lot of time, this would have very

meaningful results.
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References

Borja, A., Soto, S., & Sanchez, T. (2015). Differentiating Instruction for EFL Learners.

Ecuador: Universidad Técnica de Machala Machala. Retrieved from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283658548_Differentiating_Instruction_for

_EFL_Learners

Brown, D. (2007). Styles and strategies. In Principles of language learning and teaching

(pp.118-151). New York: Pearson Education.

Mckimm, J. (2009). Assessing Learning Needs. Retrieved from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26282399_Assessing_learning_needs

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A. & Williams, M. (2005). Learner characteristics. In The TKT

teaching knowledge test course (52-57). UK: Cambridge University Press.