”Differentiated Instruction” is introduced as a teaching solution to address heterogeneity characteristics of learners in the Foreign Language Lesson. Based on the students “Learning Identity” appropriate differentiated measures are taken to achieve an effective grammar acquisition. Scientific results prove in practice that “Differentiated Instruction” is highly effective for all students.
In every classroom, we can find a wide variety of students bearing different characteristics. Students differ in terms of their knowledge level, learning strategies, learning and working behavior, cultural and social background, experiences, gender, language level and performance, their different preferences in the perception and processing of linguistic information. Students with a range of talents, potentials and interests –, must be taught according to the curriculum- at the same time, the same syllabus in a similar way. According to the pedagogical principles a lesson, during which all learners learn simultaneously and through the same methodology, is impossible to achieve. Each learner is unique in his or her individual way. Since learning is an individual process, the learning outcomes can never be the same for all students. The concept of “Differentiated Instruction” is introduced to address heterogeneity characteristics in the Foreign Language Lesson. Although the DI techniques were used in teaching German as a foreign language, its principles can be used in all foreign languages, as DI is not language specific. Based on the students “Learning Identity” appropriate measures of “Differentiated Instruction” are taken to achieve effective grammar acquisition by each and every student. The heterogeneity factors that were examined refer to learning type, learning style, gender, cognitive skills and ability to memorize, learning strategies in foreign language learning (affective, memory, metacognitive, social learning strategies), emotions, interest, motivation (extrinsic-intrinsic) and socio-demographic characteristics (gender and differences in self-concept, self-esteem in learning a foreign language) of learners. A teaching process according to measures of “Differentiated Instruction” and scientific results measurement via various scientific techniques such as questionnaires, performance tests and statistical analysis, have proved in practice that “Differentiated Instruction” is highly effective for all students. Their performance increases significantly.
