Differentiated Instruction in an Elementary School EFL Classroom

Elementary school English teachers in Taiwan face classes of students with differing levels of English proficiency, to the point where about one‐third of the students may have never learned English before, and another third may already have read Harry Potter in English. A successful teacher recognizes that diversity may affect learning and works toward a classroom in which diversity is valued (Tileston, 2004). Differentiated instruction is one way to meet the needs of diverse students (Thousand, Villa, & Nevin, 2007). This article focuses on how Tomlinson's (1999) three components of differentiated instruction can be implemented in an elementary school EFL classroom.