Experiencing Differentiated Instructions as the Effort of Promoting Reading Comprehension Level

Abstract

The current study explored the usefulness of differentiated instruction in the
promotion of English learners reading comprehension in higher educational
system. One TOEFL preparation class of a language center at University
of Muhammadiyah Jember was chosen as the research participants. The
students were taught through the strategies of differentiated instruction, viz.
flexible grouping, tiered instruction, and tiered assignments, in the areas of
content, process, and product. The outcomes of descriptive statistics from
comparing pre-test and post-test results indicated that the students were
having a positive experience with differentiated instruction in relation to their
reading comprehension level. Further, the results also revealed that students
also performed better in literal and inferential reading comprehension after
experiencing differentiated instruction in the classroom.
Keywords: differentiated instruction, reading comprehension.