The purpose of this study is to examine the concept of individualization of instruction, especially as it applies to high school English instruction, thereby providing both a rationale and a strategy. The first two chapters of the study provide the rationale for individualizing high school English instruction; Chapters Three and Four suggest a strategy for individualizing high school English instruction; and Chapter Five presents a summary and conclusions.Chapter One analyzes some of the conditions of our society of the latter part of the 20th century which call for new approaches to education in order to prepare young people of today to live and grow into the 21st century. One of the approaches discussed and encouraged by many educators is that of individualization of instruction, and one hypothesis of this study is that individualization of instruction is appropriate to the subject of English. Chapter Two continues the presentation of a rationale for individualizing English instruction by examining some of the major developments in the concept of individualization from the early 1900's to the present. The review of literature reveals that much remains to be done in the application of the theory and principals of individualization to the practical implementation of them.The second part of this study (Chapters Three and Four), therefore, is designed to move from theory to practice. Chapter Three recognizes that, as the learning situation shifts from the traditional large group instruction setting to a classroom operating on an individualized approach, the responsibilities and activities of both teacher and student shift also. This chapter, therefore, discusses some of the essential changes in role and function of both teacher and student in an individualized situation, with specific application to the individualized high school English program. Chapter Four provides further application of theory to practice, specifically for high school English. In this chapter, model units for various areas of English are presented as guides to help teachers prepare their own units for the initiation of an individualized program in English for grades 10-12.The examination of the rationale and the presentation of a strategy for individualizing high school English instruction lead to certain conclusions which are included in Chapter Five. One conclusion is that efforts should be made to prepare prospective teachers of high school English to approach English instruction through an individualized approach. A second conclusion is that experienced English teachers also should be provided help to understand the rationale and strategy behind the concept of individualized instruction and be given assistance and encouragement to consider this approach as a viable alternative to traditional methods of instruction. The third conclusion is that some controlled research studies should be carried out to see the relationship between traditional approaches to the teaching of English and individualized methods as far as measurable outcomes and pupil attitudes are concerned, with the recognition that some of the goals of an English program (and sometimes essential ones) are unassessable ones.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/177249 |
| Date | January 1975 |
| Creators | Kelleher, Joan, |
| Contributors | Adrian, Daryl B. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | iv, 179 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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