English and the Case for Non-Streaming

Abstract

Most teachers react with enthusiasm or resignation on being given “A” or “F” classes respectively. Perhaps we are not so aware that teacher expectations, teaching styles and individual differences have much to do with the learning process and streaming. Teacher perceptions and attitudes towards “good” and “dull” classes (or competent and incompetent language learners) may be encouraging the existence of self-fulfilling prophecies. Rosenthal and Jacobson’s (1968) experiment showed that if teachers believed a child to be “good” they will treat her differently. Three teachers of a school were chosen to be the subjects. The experimenters administered a test of general abilities to all pupils but informed the three teachers it was a special test to identify “late bloomers” (pupils who have not realised their potentials yet) who would be expected to perform very well later. The teachers were then told the test had identified a few students as “late bloomers” in each teacher’s class when in fact they were selected at random. At the end of the year the experimenters gave the same test so that they could compare the “late bloomers” and the rest of their classmates. It showed that the “late bloomers” had outgained their classmates on this test. This implies teacher expectations (with its attendant favourable reactions in this case) had affected the “late bloomers’” performances. Moreover these “late bloomers” were perceived by their teachers as being more likely to succeed in future, more interesting, happier and more intellectually curious.