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- Title
Ability Grouping and Academic Performance: Perceptions of Secondary School Pupils in Masvingo, Zimbabwe.
- Authors
Chinyoka, Kudzai
- Abstract
This article examines the views and perceptions of Ordinary Level pupils with regard to ability grouping in four urban secondary schools in Masvingo. Ability grouping, also known as tracking/streaming, is the practice of grouping children together according to their abilities in the classroom. In Zimbabwe and many other countries in Southern Africa, ability grouping has been a much used and sometimes misused approach in meeting the diverse needs of learners. The qualitative descriptive survey design was adopted for use in this study and data were collected using questionnaires, observations and interviews. There were mixed feelings among learners on the merits and demerits of ability grouping. Low ability pupils said they received low quality instruction, fewer textbooks, less attention from teachers and were also taught by negatively labelled teachers, temporary and student teachers, while high ability classes were labelled positively, received maximum support from teachers and were taught by more experienced teachers. The initial differences between pupils in high ability and low ability classes were therefore exacerbated by ability grouping. The research study proposed that heterogeneous grouping be adopted, that schools allocate experienced teachers to low ability classes and that teachers use positive labels and comments to stimulate interest among pupils, thus building their self concepts.
- Subjects
MASVINGO Province (Zimbabwe); ABILITY grouping (Education); ACADEMIC ability; SECONDARY school students; TRACK system (Education); MIXED ability grouping (Education); O-level examinations
- Publication
NAWA Journal of Language & Communication, 2012, Vol 6, Issue 2, p12
- ISSN
1993-3835
- Publication type
Article