PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ AWARENESS AND BELIEFS ABOUT DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IN EFL CLASSES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Differentiated instruction has been proved to help EFL students obtain high achievement in their learning. Understanding pre-service teachers’ awareness and beliefs about differentiated instruction in an EFL context like Vietnam may bring a variety of benefits to EFL teacher education. The current study, therefore, aims to investigate pre-service teachers’ awareness and beliefs about the benefits and challenges of differentiated instruction in EFL classes. The study was conducted at Ho Chi Minh City of Technology with the participation of 70 pre-service teachers. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through the employment of the questionnaire and unstructured interviews; for data analysis, “descriptive statistics” and “content analysis” were utilized. The findings of the study revealed that most of the pre-service teachers are much aware of differentiated instruction and hold common beliefs that differentiated instruction may not only bring a variety of benefits but also cause challenges to teachers and students. The study highlights the importance of awareness and beliefs about differentiated instruction in EFL classes and provides meaningful contributions to EFL teacher development to enhance the quality of teaching EFL in Vietnam in particular, and in other EFL contexts in general.