Subtle changes you can make to how you communicate that can simplify life for your learners and personalise their experience of your lessons

General Introduction

This blog is part of my Differentiation and Adaptive Teaching Knowledge Base.

I use the terms differentiation and adaptive teaching synonymously. To me, they are the same, as genuine differentiation has always involved adapting your planning and your teaching to meet the needs of the learners in front of you.

For me, differentiation is all the practical strategies, activities and techniques teachers use to personalise learning.

For ease, we can break that down into my five categories of differentiation: Activities, Questioning, Words and Writing, Things the Teacher Can Do and Things You Can Ask Learners to Do or Use.

This blog falls into the category of words and writing.

Deploying Simple Language as a Scaffolding Tool

The more complex the language you use, the less likely it is that all the learners in your class will be able to access the meaning on their first attempt.

That doesn’t mean you should avoid complex language.

To do so is counterproductive.

After all, we want to set high expectations and stretch and challenge all learners.

But it does mean you can differentiate by simplifying your language in response to learner needs.

Consider the different places you might do this:

When speaking to the whole class
When speaking to individuals
When writing comments
On PowerPoint or IWB slides
On handouts

Simplifying does not mean dumbing down. It means making things clear and easy to understand.

Here is an example, taken from Sociology:

‘Primary socialisation is the process by which individuals are taught the norms, values, rules and roles of society within the family unit.

‘It is an on-going process that begins at birth and is joined by secondary socialisation – that is, the influence of other agents such as the media, peer groups and schooling – as the child grows older.’

There are many ways we might simplify this, including:

Using less technical vocabulary and less subject-specific terminology.
Explaining the terminology more clearly as we go along.
Using a different sentence structure.
By giving examples.
By relating it to learners’ personal experiences.

Here is an example of how the same meaning can be conveyed more simply:

‘When a baby is born, their parents teach them many things. This includes lots that we take for granted.

‘For example: how to talk, how to use the toilet, how to eat at a table using cutlery and so on.

‘This process goes on for many years and is called primary socialisation.

‘Primary means first and socialisation means being made a part of society.

‘If we are socialised, then we fit into what society thinks is normal.

‘As we get older, other things influence us.

‘These include education, the media and our peer groups.

‘We call the process through which they teach and affect us secondary socialisation.

‘This is because it comes second and because it also involves being made a part of society.’

In this rewrite I have followed the second and third points made above.

Sentences are kept shorter, meaning they are easier to follow, and keywords are explained as they come up.

Despite these changes, the meaning that the text conveys is similar, if not identical, to that of the more complex original.

The key here is to recognise when opportunities present themselves for simplification, and when certain learners, or even all learners, may benefit from this.

In either case, deploying simple language isn’t about removing challenge or changing the meaning of what you need to communicate to learners.

Rather, it’s about doing the synthesis in your mind, so that what you convey to learners retains an equivalent meaning to the more complex language, while being easier to access.

That is where the scaffolding happens.

How can simplifying your language help you to differentiate?

Using simple language helps all learners to access the meaning of what is said or written.

Simple language does not mean dumbing down, it means communicating clearly.

Communicating clearly means more learners can access the meaning of what the teacher says.

If this is the case, it is likely that more learners in the class will have their thinking stretched.

This is because you can only be challenged if you are able to at least get a foothold as a starting point.

If this is not the case, then the task is beyond your current capabilities rather than just being difficult.

If learners can understand the meaning of what the teacher is communicating then it is more likely they will make progress, regardless of their starting point.

Skilled simplification of language relies on the teacher synthesising complex language in their own mind and then reconveying it to learners in a way that is comprehensible.

This is akin to the teacher creating a linguistic scaffold through which the learner can make sense of what is being said and contextualise the learning.

Using Images Alongside Language

Another subtle tweak you can make to how you communicate is the use of images.

Having these on slides and resources gives learners a different way to access meaning.

It also means learners can check what they think they have understood against the meaning embedded in an image.

This is a classic technique used to support EAL learners.

(For more on which, see my EAL Knowledge Base.)

However, we can also use it to differentiate more widely.

Here are three examples for you to consider.

Images on Slides and Worksheets

Regularly including relevant images on slides and worksheets gives learners an additional way to make sense of the written information they contain.

To illustrate, pick up any magazine or newspaper, or visit any website.

You will nearly always see images and words used in conjunction.

This is for good reason.

The two together convey information in a way that is different to what each conveys separately.

Call on this when planning lessons and creating resources.

Recognise the benefits it brings to all learners, and particularly to learners who, for whatever reason, struggle to access written language, or lack confidence with it.

Keyword Images

Regularly using images to depict new keywords means you are giving learners an alternative path through which to grasp and store meaning.

This is beneficial.

Visual information is a supplement to written information, in these cases.

(The written word is ultimately visual information as well, but it is processed differently from images.)

Learners can use images to check and confirm their understanding of keywords.

They can also memorise the image alongside the keyword.

This is a common technique for young children and for learners of a new language.

It doesn’t lose its efficacy, however, when you get older or when you are dealing with more complex terminology.

Task Type Images

We ask learners to do different types of tasks in our lessons.

Discussion.

Individual writing.

Group work.

Paired work.

And so on.

Identify an icon for each task type you use in your lessons.

Pixabay and Flaticon both offer thousands of free icons you can use for this.

Include these icons on your slide, to signal what the task type is.

Or, in a primary context, make A4 laminated sheets for each task type, with the icon blown up to large scale.

You can then grab the relevant icon sheet and stick it to your board, for learners to see.

The benefit of this approach is that habituates learners into connecting the icon you show them with the expectations you have about the specific task type.

It’s a way of priming learners before a task begins, helping them to get into that task more quickly, and reminding them, through the visual prompt, of what they need to do to be successful.

How can using images alongside words help you to differentiate?

You can use images as a supplement to words.

This means that learners have a second, simpler opportunity to access the meaning of those words.

One that calls on a different mode of thought and a different way of understanding meaning.

Images can provide exemplification, illustration or contextualisation of what a word means.

In each case, learners are not solely reliant on situating a particular word within an abstract system (language); they can connect it to their existing knowledge and experience as well.

Images are a great help to learners whose literacy levels are behind those of their peers.

If a teacher uses them throughout their lessons, they can help these learners more easily engage with the learning and, subsequently, make better progress.