Abstract:
With the increase in student diversity in Australian regular primary classrooms, there has also been a parallel increase in the variety of instructional methods available to address student diversity. Hence, today’s teachers have at their disposal myriad instructional methods formulated from a sound research basis on which to differentiate instruction to meet individual student needs. With the research suggesting a strong link between instruction, student engagement and achievement, this paper presents part of the results of a PhD study investigating reading instruction in primary classes. Students with low, average and high-reading ability were observed during literacy lessons. The study investigated the relationship between student diversity, instructional differentiation and academic engagement. The results indicated some teacher differentiated instruction and student academic engagement. Research suggests that differentiation of instructional practice, classroom ecologies and student responses form a nexus that contribute to academic engagement and academic achievement. However, the results of this study align with other research that suggests very little differentiation occurs in regular primary classrooms.