Teaching Strategies for Korean Language Classes with Highly Mixed

Ability Students

Didi Sukyadi, Didin Samsudin, Risa Triarisanti and Velayeti Nurfitriana Ansas

Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Jalan Dr. Setiabudi No.229 Bandung-Indonesia

didinsamsudin@upi.edu

Keyword: mixed ability class, teaching strategy.

Abstract: Recruitment system and selection of the first batch of 2015 Korean Education Study Program’s students were

only through Saringan Masuk (SM UPI); therefore, every student has different teaching ability, age,

motivation, and characteristic. In brief in each class, there are medium achiever students, high achiever

students, and low achiever students. Based on the background, the research questions of the present study are

how the students’ variety and background in the first batch of 2015 Korean Education Study Program are and

also how the lecturers’ strategies to deal with the students’ highly mixed abilities are. The aim of the present

study is to investigate the varied condition of the first batch of 2015 Korean students’ ability and to learn

appropriate teaching strategies to serve the students with mixed ability. The present study use a qualitative

approach with case study method in the Korean Education Study Program. The findings of the present study

suggest that the use of various teaching strategies is an appropriate effort taken by the lecturers in dealing

with the mixed ability students in order to achieve competitive teaching outcome which is in line with the

intended teaching target. The findings also suggest that appropriate efforts to improve the students’ ability

and to cope with the issues occurred in class with mixed ability are by giving extra class to the low achiever

students and by providing fun extracurricular activities outside the formal class hours, for example, the

extracurricular of Korean song choir.

1 INTRODUCTION

Human communicates through sounds which are

known with the term ‘words’. Words are part of

language. In Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI);

The Official Dictionary of Indonesian, language is

defined as an arbitrary sounds symbol system, which

is used by members of a society to cooperate, interact,

and identification themselves (KBBI offline 1.5,

2009). Meanwhile Stevenson (2015) in Oxford

Dictionary of English language is defined as “the

system of communication in speech and writing that

is used by people of a particular country.” According

to the aforementioned definitions of language, we can

infer that it is language that is used by humans as a

tool to express ideas, thoughts, feelings, as a tool to

improve themselves and to get information.

Language understanding is an important skill to

be mastered by humans. There are about 7000

languages in the world used by humans as a tool of

communication. The more someone understands

various languages, the easier s/he improves

her/himself in facing international competition.

In facing Masyarakat Ekonomi Asean (MEA);

Asean Economic Community (AEC), Indonesia

should be able to create internationally competitive

human resources. One of their competences is able to

master various languages in the world. UPI

(Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia); Indonesia

University of Education, as a university which has a

vision to be the leading and outstanding university

has 5 foreign language education departments i.e.

English Department, German Department, French

Department, Japanese Department, and Arabic

Department. To respond the development of science,

technology, arts, demand of society and global

changing, UPI has added a new foreign language

education department that is Korean Education

Program.

The rapid and well development of Korea in the

world including in Indonesia, has driven UPI to

facilitate Indonesians who want to learn Korean and

the culture of Korea by establishing the Korean

Sukyadi, D., Samsudin, D., Triarisanti, R. and Ansas, V.

Teaching Strategies for Korean Language Classes with Highly Mixed Ability Students.

DOI: 10.5220/0007170405330537

In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference

on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 533-537

ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2

533

Education Program. UPI becomes the only university

which opens Korean program in the realm of

education and it is expected to be able to produce

competence Korean teachers.

Korean Education Study Program is the youngest

program in FPBS UPI. The first lecturing activity of

semester 1 (odd semester) was started on September

1, 2016 with 53 students divided into two classes. At

first, the recruitment system and selection of new

students were through Saringan Masuk (SM UPI); the

entrance test of UPI, in 2015. The recruitment system

and the new students selection in 2016 will follow the

procedure regulated by the Direktorat Jenderal

Pendidikan Tinggi (Dikti); Directorate General of

Higher Education, and UPI through some ways

online as follows: 1) SNMPTN, 2) SBMPTN, 3) SM

UPI, 4) Dual Mode, and 5) International channel. The

Student’s educational background in his/her first

language. Students arrive in an Korean Education

Study Program with varied educational background.

Some student have had little or no education about

Korean Language.

Observing the result of monitoring and evaluation

during the odd semester lecturing and the study result

of the odd semester (September 1, 2015 – early

January 2016) from the result of recruitment system

and the new students selection through SM UPI, some

phenomena are found: every student has different

teaching ability, age, motivation, and character, there

are some students who are really able to follow the

lecturing, there are students who have ever learnt

Korean before and there are students who have just

known Korean for the very first time. In brief in every

class, there are medium achiever students, high

achiever students, and low achiever students.

Due to the phenomenon, we conducted a study

entitled “Teaching Strategies for Language Classes

with Highly Mixed Ability Students” (A Case Study

of the First Batch of 2015 Korean Education Study

Program Students FPBS UPI) in Bandung.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Vygotsky (1986) language, especially

meaning, is at the center of the dynamics of

consciousness that composed in humans (in

Cammarata, 2016), therefore learning a new language

not merely understands the meaning to communicate,

but, learning a new language means having the ability

to gain new possibilities of perception. As expressed

by Byram and Esarte-Sarries (1991) that:

“Language is not simply a reflector of an

objective cultural reality. It is an integral part of

that reality through which other parts are shaped

and interpreted. It is both a symbol of the whole

and a part of the whole which shapes and is in turn

shaped by sociocultural actions, beliefs and

values. In engaging in language, speakers are

enacting sociocultural phenomena; in acquiring

language, children acquire culture.”

Studying a new language for students is closely

related to the process of teaching the new language by

teachers / lecturers. Teaching according to Hasibuan

and Moedjiono (2012) is the creation of an enabling

environment for the learning process. This

environmental system consists of components that

affect each other, the instructional objectives to be

achieved, the material taught, teachers and students

who must ensure the role and exist in certain social

relationships, types of activities undertaken, as well

as teaching- available.

Learning a language other than mother tongue

means that we seek to understand others, as

expressed by Reagan, Timothy and Osborn (2002)

that:

“In studying languages other than our own, we

are seeking to understand (and, indeed, in at least

a weak sense, to become) the Other – we are, in

short, attempting to enter into realities that have,

to some degree, been constructed by others and

which many of the fundamental assumptions

about the nature of knowledge and society may be

different from our own. We are, in fact creating

new selves in an important sense.”

With regard to language learning, Kumaradevelu

(2006) explains that there are classroom procedures

that teachers need to apply, modifying the material

and facilitating student interaction activities.

Modifying this material relates to how the teacher

presents the material so that it can be accepted well

by the students, while facilitating student interaction

activities related to the activities of teachers in

assigning tasks to students so that interaction runs

smoothly between students in the classroom. The

success of these activities will be greatly influenced

by what strategies that teachers use in the learning

process.

Every student has his/her own learning style,

linguistic knowledge background, and individual

pace in teaching and improving. Therefore, most

foreign language classes involve students with mixed

abilities (Richard, 1998).

Mixed abilities or ‘heterogeneous’ class is a term

used to describe a class which consists of students

with various proficiency levels. All classes consist of

students who are different in so many ways. They

have different strength and weaknesses in

CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology

Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education

534

approaching teaching. They also respond various

leaning methods and classroom situation differently

(Ur, 1991).

Ma (2016) explains the factors determining

students’ ability in teaching language as follows: age

of maturnity; Intelligence and multiple intelligences;

Teaching style; Language aptitude; Language levels;

Mother tongue; Learner autonomy; Motivation or

attitude towards the subject; Cultural background.

Classroom condition with mixed ability requires

appropriate teaching strategy. Some strategies that

can be used in mixed ability classroom are as follows:

Supportive teaching environment; Classroom

management; Teaching to learn; Variety; Grouping;

Pace; Interest; Collaboration; Individualization;

Personalisation; Blooms taxonomy; Open-endedness;

Open-endedness; Compulsory plus optional tasks;

Adapting materials; Adapting materials (Bremner,

2008).

Teaching activity in mixed ability class is

certainly not easy, there are many difficulties and

obstacles faced both by the lecturers and the students.

Therefore, Tomlinson (2005) also suggests teaching

strategies to mixed ability class which can solve the

difficulties, they are: Have a strong rationale for

differentiating instruction based on students’

readiness, interest, and teaching profile; Begin

differentiating at a pace that is comfortable for you;

Time differentiated activities to support student

success; Use an “anchor activity’ to free you up to

focus your attention on your students; Create and

deliver instruction carefully; Assign students into

groups or seating areas smoothly; Have a “home

base” for students; Be sure students have a plan for

getting help when you’re busy with another;

Minimize noise; Make a plan for students to turn in

work; Teach students to rearrange the furniture;

Minimize “stay” movement; Promote on-task

behaviour; Have a plan for “quick finishers”; Make a

plan for “calling a halt”; Give your students as much

responsibility for their teaching as possible; Engage

your students in talking about classroom procedures

and group processes.

Several studies on mixed ability classes have been

conducted including: Challenges Facing EFL

teachers in Mixed Ability Classes and Strategies Used

to Overcome Them by Al-Shammakhi and Al-

Humaidi (2015) with the results of their research

showing that there are various levels of difficulty

experienced by the teacher and the use of varied

strategies, further research results show that there are

similar difficulties experienced by both male and

female teachers in varied teaching skills and there is

no significant difference in the use of learning

strategies between the two. In another study

conducted by Morris (2008) with the title of “A

Qualitative Investigation of Interdisciplinary Mixed

Ability Cooperative Classes in Inner Ring Suburban

High School”, stated that to face problems in the

classroom with varying abilities required special

training for teachers to be able to use various

strategies and to do the various learning activities.

3 METHODOLOGY

The present study was conducted for 8 months from

March to November 2016 in Korean Education Study

Program, Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra,

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia; Faculty of

Language and Literature Education, Universitas

Pendidikan Indonesia. Subjects of the study are: (1)

fifty three first batch Korean Education Study

Program’s students with varied educational

background and competence at whom some of them

come from Senior High/Vocational schools of

various region in Indonesia, (2) five expatriate

teachers from Korea who have more than five years’

experience in teaching Korean and now are staffs of

Korean expatriate teachers in Korean Education

Program, Faculty of Language and Literature

Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, (3)

three full time teachers of Korean Education Study

Program FPBS UPI. The instruments of the data

collection comprise the teaching result of the Korean

Education Study Program’s students in the first

semester of 2015/2016, students’ questionnaire and

interview, and Korean expatriate teachers’

questionnaire and interview.

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Profile Description of Korean

Education Students’ Ability

The focus of the present study is students with mixed

ability in language classes. The term mixed ability

refers to all students with mixed abilities (Cambridge

Dictionary). Classes with mixed ability level describe

classes which consist of learners with different level

of language ability. The different level of language

ability can be seen from their first and second

semesters’ GPA as shown in table 1.

Teaching Strategies for Korean Language Classes with Highly Mixed Ability Students

535

Table 1: Table of GPA in semester 1 and 2.

Category

Mean

Classroom management

3,01

Teaching material

2,79

Teaching process

2,84

Motivation and Interest

2,88

Respond to teaching

4,49

Source: Data Processing Result 2016.

Table 2 shows the strategies often used by the

lecturers to teach the class with mixed ability

students. In the table, it is observed that the lecturers

tend to use all strategies simultaneously even though

the strategies are not always be used. All teaching

strategy categories have the same average score that

are: 3.01, 2.79, 2.84, 2.88, it suggests that the

lecturers rarely use the strategies in the classroom.

Degeng (1997) in his book “Strategi Pembelajaran:

Mengorganisasi Isi dengan Model Elaborasi” states

that teaching method refers to the way taken in a

certain condition to achieve the teaching goals

intended; meanwhile, teaching strategy refers to the

process of choosing, implementing, and developing

the teaching strategies to obtain a procedural step that

can be used to achieve the intended goals.

According to the theory, we understand that

lecturers have an important role in determining the

steps of teaching strategies that are about to be

conducted in every teaching activity to achieve the

intended goals. Based on the result that has been

previously explained, additional lecturers training in

how to implement appropriate teaching strategies in

class with mixed ability students is needed so that

lecturers can fulfill the students’ need optimally.

4.3 Description of Students’ Respond

According table 3, students strongly agree to the

strategies the lecturers used to cope with the difficulty

and to improve the language ability in class with

highly mixed ability students such as by giving extra

class to the low achiever students, by providing

interesting materials, etc. Higher students’ respond is

derived in the extracurricular activity that the

lecturers often give outside formal class hours.

Students feel that the strategy suits them and that they

CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology

Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education

536

feel helped by the activity. It is in line with the

statement given by the lecturers and the students

during the interview session conducted by the

researchers.

Table 3: Student’s respond.

Extra Class

of Korean

Literature

Extracurricular

of Korean Song

Choir

Extra

Time for

the Low

Achiever

Students

Interesting

Teaching

Material

Teaching Material Helping

to Improve the Language

Competence

Valid

Missing

Mean

4,3725

4,6471

4,5882

4,5098

Mode

4,00

5,00

Source: Data Processing Result 2016.

As stated by Šimanová (2010), and Bremner

(2008) that classroom conditions with varying

abilities require appropriate instructional strategies.

Some of the strategies that can be used in classes with

such diverse capability conditions are as follows:

Supportive learning environment; Classroom

management; Learning to learn; Variety; Grouping;

Pace; Interest; Collaboration; Individualization;

Personalisation; Blooms taxonomy; Open-endedness;

Compulsory plus optional tasks; Adapting materials;

Homework.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Mixed ability in each Korean Education Program

student especially batch 2015 could be influenced by

many factors. Based on the findings, factors mostly

influencing the difference in the students’

achievement are maturity, mother tongue, interest and

motivation. Mixed ability class certainly requires

appropriate teaching strategies in order to achieve a

competitive teaching result which is in line with the

intended teaching targets. Findings of the present

study suggest that the combination use of teaching

strategies is an appropriate step taken by the lecturers

in mixed ability class; furthermore, lecturers have

done many efforts to improve the students’

achievement, for example, by providing extra class

for low achiever students and by conducting fun

extracurricular activities outside the formal class hour

like the extracurricular of Korean song choir.

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facing EFL teachers in mixed ability classes and

strategies used to overcome them. World Journal of

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Bremner, S., 2008. Some thoughts on teaching a mixed

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Byram, M. and Esarte-Sarries, V., 1991. Investigating

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Cammarata, L., 2016. Content-based Foreign Language

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Degeng, I.N.S., 1997. Strategi Pembelajaran:

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