| dc.description.abstract | Teaching a mixed-ability class at undergraduate level is challenging since
lecturers have to give equal opportunities to all students to develop their knowledge
and skills. A preliminary study was conducted in an ESP class of Information
System undergraduate program at Ibrahimy University Situbondo. The 23 students'
reading ability levels vary from the low readers who are still struggling on
vocabulary to the advanced readers who are ready for academic reading. The lowest
student's score was 24/100, and the highest was 92/100. Only 39% or 9 students
achieved the standard (the minimum grade 60). The lecturer used the same method
and a reading text for all students in the previous teaching process, so it failed to
accommodate all levels of the students.
Based on the preliminary and previous studies, the best solution for this
class problem is Differentiated Instruction (DI) approach, which then focused more
on a method called tiered assignment. It is a method of teaching diverse students
with the same skill or concept but grouping students into tiers and giving them
assignments with different levels of complexity based on their readiness. According
to the benefits of this method on reading comprehension in higher education
reported in previous studies, this current study aimed to improve undergraduate
students' reading comprehension in mixed-ability class using tiered assignment.
The design of this study was classroom action research. A set of lesson plan
was prepared for the action. The observing stage or data collection was conducted
using three instruments; test, questionnaire, and observation checklist. The criteria
of success were at least 80% of students achieve the minimum grade 60 and the
students' feedback toward this lesson is positive. The reading scores were analyzed
using percentage formula to calculate the proportion of students who achieved the
standard.
Two cycles were conducted. The results showed that 91% of students could
achieve the minimum standard and gave positive feedback toward the learning
process. It implies that tiered assignment can improve reading comprehension in
this class with a set of modified scenarios. The key strategies that make this action
research successful lie on; 1) combining the differentiation of pre-reading material,
teacher assistance, and reading assignments; 2) designing the materials and
assignments for each tier in the same portion and duration; and 3) applying
classroom management in which the teacher provided full assistance on the basic
tier while keeping track of students progress in the other tiers | en_US |
