Abstract:

In the era of vast technological development, the use of technological tools can minimize long-lasting teaching and learning problems in mixed-ability classrooms. Within a classroom environment, teachers can identify fast, medium and slow -paced learners. With this in mind, this study aims to enhance differentiated instruction in classroom environments by creating an adaptive-interactive video activity, suitable for fast, medium and slow -paced language learners. More specifically, this study employed interactive video activities especially designed for promoting equity within a language classroom. The interactive video activity was designed in a way that enabled students to use it easily, adapted to their individual needs, and allowed them to be autonomous as they interacted with the various activities included in it at their own pace. This activity implied simulations of real-life situations and adapted to the learning capabilities, styles and preferences, level of performance, knowledge state, and motivation (Kareal, & Klema, 2006). To ensure adaptivity in this interactive video, three different scenes, settings and dialogues of three different difficulty levels related to the topic were created. The videos were interconnected with topic-related questions at specific timings in each dialogue in order to offer the opportunity to the learners to be forwarded to more adaptive activities or repeat them according to their level of understanding and pace of learning. In this process, the teacher acted as a facilitator by helping the students understand the adaptive activities of the interactive video and providing feedback and further resources to support the effective language development of each learner.

The outcome of the implementation of interactive adaptive activities revealed that all learners, regardless their learning pace, could engage and follow it undistracted. Their motivation increased and they could feel equally included. Slow learners didn’t feel like being left behind or disappointed, due to the fact that they could follow exercises adjusted to their level and pace, and fast learners were challenged with exercises of more advanced level.

Interactive-adaptive videos provide potentials of great importance as they can promote learning equity and give to each learner what he or she needs in order to learn in an effective, challenging and motivating way. The study concludes with implications for both researchers and practitioners on the use of interactive-adaptive videos for promoting differentiated instruction in mixed ability classrooms.

Keywords:

Differentiated learning, interactive videos, adaptive videos, computer-assisted language learning.