An Analysis of the Effects of Ability Grouping on Student Learning in University-Wide English Classes

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze college students’ and English teachers’ attitudes toward between-class ability grouping, and to gain more insight into the effects of homogeneous placement on learning a foreign language. Statistical methods are used to ascertain: (1) how students perceive the effects of ability grouping on _x000D_ learning English from various perspectives, (2) whether there are significant level effect and timing effect on students’ perceptions of ability grouping, and (3) whether teachers show more positive or negative attitudes to the grouping arrangement. Subjects included 582 college students and 34 English teachers from Da Yeh _x000D_ University. All the students were placed into four levels of classes according to ability. At the time the survey was conducted, they were either near the end of the first-year English program or the end of the second-year program. Research findings indicate that the majority of the students and teachers show evident support for ability-grouped class placement. The interaction effect between level and timing is found to be _x000D_ non-significant. It is important to note that whenever there is a significant timing effect, students in the second-year program hold less positive attitudes towards the effect of the homogeneous grouping arrangement than those in the first year. When a level effect is significant, lower-level students show stronger support for the grouping practice than those in the higher ability level.