Differentiating Instructions to Teach English Reading Comprehension for Mathematics Department Students

Abstract

Many approaches, strategies, or techniques can be chosen by teachers to deliver their teaching materials. However, not all can be applied in a class especially if the students are coming from various backgrounds, have mixed ability and are at different levels of proficiency. Therefore, the teachers have to determine which that gives most benefits for their students. Mathematics department students who received English subject as one of the compulsory courses may feel difficulties in comprehending English reading materials since English is not their major. Consequently, by understanding all differences, differentiating instructions is necessary to be done for achieving the success in teaching and learning activities. This research is aimed at describing what and how differentiated instruction is done in the classroom to teach English reading comprehension about wetlands. It is expected that the results will give better insights for the teachers as well as the students about the best strategy to teach reading comprehension that can cope with large classes and various needs of the students in teaching and learning English for science students. The findings suggest that differentiated instruction is challenging because the major of the students can determine the tasks that they choose. The differentiated instruction needs more preparation from the teachers because there must be considerations on the students’ level of readiness, interest, and learning profile.