Australia has rich cultural and linguistic diversity (Winch, G., Ross-Johnston, R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L. & Holliday, M., 2011). It is paramount that reading comprehension instruction acknowledges and factors in the diversity of backgrounds, abilities, prior learning experiences and cognitive learning potential of all students (Winch et al., 2011).
Differentiated instruction is about proactively responding to the diverse needs of all students (Tomlinson & Moon, 2013). Differentiated instruction acknowledges the diversity of learners in today’s classrooms, with respects to their "readiness, interests and learning profiles" and proposes teaching to the needs of all students as opposed to using single instruction (Tomlinson & Moon, 2013, p.2).
Teachers can differentiate instruction across four elements of the classroom: content ('what' students learn), process ('how' students learn), product ('how' students can effectively demonstrate their learning) and learning environment - according to the student’s readiness, interest or learning profile, as shown in Figure 2 (Tomlinson & Moon, 2013).
Throughout this site you will discover ways to adapt reading comprehension instruction for your diverse learners.
Figure 2: Key Elements of Effective Differentiated Instruction (Tomlinson & Moon, 2013, p.2)
'Diversity-ethnic-global-literature ' image courtesy of Pixabay