Differentiated Instruction and Portfolio Assessment: Motivating Young Greek-Romani Students in the English Class

The socio-cultural changes taking place in Greek classrooms over the last years have rendered the modification and revising of the existing teaching material critical. It is argued that in classes with cultural minorities, students’ needs should be put at the forefront, and teaching objectives should be adapted accordingly. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of differentiated instruction and alternative assessment in the teaching of English to diverse population classes within a three-month period. The research focuses on the effect these approaches primarily have on triggering students’ motivation and, secondarily, on their overall linguistic development. In particular, the study examines the outcomes of two groups of diverse population students attending the third grade of primary school. The experimental group was taught through differentiated instruction, while the control group attended the traditional class. The tools employed were a needs analysis questionnaire, a pre- and post-test, portfolio evaluation checklists and semi-structured interviews. The results of the questionnaires showed students’ preference for non-traditional teaching strategies. The findings of the pre- and post-tests revealed that there is a greater progress regarding the skills of the experimental group. However, the statistical analysis (SPSS 26) showed that there are no significant differences. The answers of the portfolio assessment checklists, although scarce, featured the motivating role of portfolios in students’ engagement. The results of the semi-structured interviews showed the student’s positive overall attitude towards the employed strategies. Nevertheless, the wide attendance outflow, the short research period, the limited sample, as well as the lack of equipment provision suggest more extended future research.