MY RESEARCH QUESTION / THEME :
“How can a teacher ensure that high-ability students are consistently challenged in lessons?”
You need to answer the question, do your research about a UK Secondary School perspective, with AS-Level and A-Level students but not necessarily (but need to be then GSCE level).
You will need to use research to define high-ability generally and from a MFL perspective. You might need to use different key words: more able / gifted.
You also need to define “challenge”. Again, you might need to look for synonyms and you might have to draw on the A-Level spec or Ofqual (although this is not research).
You might decide to narrow down your focus (or not) on grammar or speaking. I don’t think that you are going to find a lot of MFL specific literature for this and you may well have to look at other subjects (for example History?).
Once you have critically appraised you practice based on research, perhaps define the key terms and critically analyse factors ( all based on research) that make a lesson or interactions challenging ( without referring to your practice). You can then critically review research-informed strategies ( without referring to your practice).
This might lead you to focus on an aspect of KS5 teaching, for example speaking because when pupils answer questions on a topic, film or literature, they need to be knowledgeable (A04), they need to be reasonably fluent/spontaneous and they also need to systematically use more advanced skills (comparing, contrasting, evaluating etc…).
WHAT IS MY RATIONALE:
I am a student-teacher in Modern Foreign Language, more precisely a French and Spanish teacher, in a placement in a A-Level college, teaching Year 12 and Year 13 pupils in the UK. This is my first time working with students that level and it is completely different and I realised it was a real challenged to ensure that the teacher is always challenging those high-ability students, by that I mean those with high intelligence, already accepted into top-of-the-country universities or the native, who get the work done quickly. We cannot let them chat or do nothing. What can be done to always have them challenged and motivated?
THANK YOU
