Effects of differentiated writing instruction by tiered assignments on writing ability of ninth grade students

Abstract

This study aimed to: 1) explore the effects of differentiated writing instruction by tiered assignments on students’ writing ability, and 2) investigate students’ opinions towards the instruction. The participants of this study were 12 ninth grade students, who were studying Standard English III, at Triamudomsuksapattanakarn Ratchada School. The participants came from 3 different writing ability levels: Apprentice, Intermediate and Advanced. During the 8 weeks of instruction, the participants were provided with writing assignments, specifically tailored to match with their current writing levels. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed-Rank Test were used to measure the progress of students’ writing after receiving the instruction. The opinions of the participants were analyzed by using content analysis. The results revealed that (1) the participants gained higher mean scores in the post-English writing test than in the pre-English writing test at 0.05 significant level; (2) the participants found that the instruction had a lot of advantages. As reported by the participants, tiered assignments gave them the opportunities to work on appropriate and challenging tasks, which led to improvement on writing in terms of length, accuracy and fluency. The participants were taught in conducive environments, which enhanced their self-efficacy and motivation to learn English writing. Moreover, the participants confirmed that the instruction promoted success in writing. The participants also mentioned the disadvantages of the study, which related to extensive workload and the lack of assistance from more capable peers.