Introduction
Writing is the courier that can transform the feelings and views of persons into written form as it is often seen as a burdensome process requiring attention and accuracy, and hence something to be done carefully. However, a lot of writing is done under the strain of time, when fluency in production is of great importance. This occurs, for example, in note-taking, setting examinations, writing emails and letters, and unfortunately often in completing assignments. To develop students’ potential to write effectively in a foreign language, different kinds of writing should be involved in the writing program, such as careful writing, writing for fluency, and extensive writing aiming at quantity such as diary, personal letter, and narrative writing.
McCarthy (2014) ensures that teachers tend to think about building fluency in terms of reading, but now more than ever, teachers should be helping their students build writing fluency as well. Readers who do not read smoothly use much of their cognitive energy to interpret individual words and phrases, making it difficult for them to focus on the hint of what they read. Correspondingly, students who had a shortfall in writing fluency dedicate lots of mental power to form individual words or basic sentence formation, making it harder for them to concentrate on delivering their thoughts and feelings adequately.
Tomlinson (2015) proposed building a conceptual map of Differentiated Instruction (DI) in classrooms. The features of efficacious differentiation are (1) instruction and curriculum are anticipatory, not receptive; (2) elastic use of small teaching-learning groups in the lecture room; (3) various objects used by individuals and small groups of students in the schoolroom; (4) variable pacing as a means of addressing learner needs; (5) knowledge-centered; (6) learner-centered. Then, she showed five differentiated aspects, including teaching content: in the textbooks, tutors can respond to students in varying degrees and demands; in the teaching method, it seems to be diverse. (2) Differences in the process, primarily via the discussion group work. (3) Learning is a result of differentiation: in case that those students can be immersed in such a changing setting, they can feel freer to express their learning aftermaths, i.e., it encourages heterogeneity of learning aftermaths. (4) Differences in the teaching milieu: teachers can create a classroom-learning atmosphere to guide students. (5) Learning milieu differentiation: teachers give students different space, different times, different teaching aids, and the like. Teachers who implement differentiated teaching can comprehend students’ different learning styles and can use different instructional materials, or teaching methods to make the most powerful learning. Differentiated classrooms are distinguished by being learner-centered, knowledge-based, assessment-centered, and community-based (Coubergs, Struyven, Vanthournout, & Engels, 2017; Tomlinson, 2015).
This study aims to investigate the effect of a program based on Differentiated Instruction on developing secondary stage students' writing fluency. The study underscores the influence of the newly coined Tomlinson's theory '' Differentiated Instruction" on making an upheaval and revolution in learning foreign languages. It has been suggested that the DI-based program could be used in different settings to enhance and consolidate effective fluent writing for secondary stage students. Hence, five sub-skills for fluent writing had been adopted: Meaning construction, grammatical accuracy, clarity of ideas, self-expression, and organization of ideas, which are individually assessed to show how much improvement students scored before and after the implementation of the program. Moreover, the study focused on using four important strategies, mind-mapping, visualization, YouTube videos, and photo-story 3. These strategies help students in constructing meaning and generating new ideas. It is hoped that findings from this study would provide valuable insights for instructors, curriculum planners, teachers, and policymakers to take the necessary actions to enhance learners' writing fluency.
Accordingly, the following questions have been considered to explore the context of writing fluency of secondary stage students from a Differentiated perspective. Research questions are stated hereunder:
The main question is: How can Al-Azhar Secondary Stage students' writing fluency be enhanced. Hence, there is a need to answer the following sub-questions.
1. What is the status quo of the level of Al-Azhar Secondary Stage students’ writing fluency?
2. What are the characteristics of a suggested program based on Differentiated Instruction to develop the target students’ writing fluency?
3. To what extent will this program affect the target students’ writing fluency?
Literature Review
Components of Fluent Writing
Fluent writing comprises multiple constituents that make the writing more fluent and seamless. Among these constituents are lexis, structures, mechanics of writing, word choice, and context. To be able to use a particular lexical item correctly and distinguish between its various meanings (i.e. phrasal verbs), students must begin using it in its natural context as soon as possible. Students can begin using language creatively even as beginners. Even the limited amount of words they know can serve well to create a poem or a very short story. Teachers might create exercises asking students to write a poem using words such as bed/bad, hat/head, etc. to practice their correct spelling and meaning in context.
In addition to practicing lexis, also grammatical structures can be practiced by the means of writing. Learning grammar is according to Scrivener (2011), a complicated process where learning the rules does not necessarily mean that the student can use them himself and understand them. He points out, there should be some way that students can transfer this studied knowledge into a living ability to use the language. Writing can serve as a means of practicing the newly acquired grammatical structures as well as the language patterns that students learned in the past. Poems, stories, jokes, articles, fairytales, etc. can focus on practicing various aspects of grammar - be it tenses, participles, articles, parts of speech, passive constructions, conditionals, etc.
In composition, ‘mechanics’ means the recurrence of words, to how they are spelled or arranged on paper. A simple example of mechanics is indenting the first word of each paragraph. Conventions of writing need that a sentence beginning is capitalized and ends with full-stop punctuation (period, question mark, or exclamation point).
Appropriate Strategies for Developing Writing Fluency
Teachers have to enjoy methods that provide additional supports to address a broad range of writing skills while concurrently developing student use of a structured writing process that produces more well-versed and free writers. Previous studies indicate that teaching writing strategies, planning, editing, goal-setting, and note-taking generated apparent positive impacts on writing quality. Project-based learning is more than the simple incorporation of a project; it is experiential and meaningful learning. Project work is a learning experience that seeks to provide students with knowledge from various areas of learning. It is ample and integrative and can be applied to real-life situations. These aspects can be considered to foster meaningful written production because students are not only learning a language but are also learning through a language. Specifically, this process involves multi-skill activities which focus on a theme of interest rather than on specific language tasks.
Lee (2012) posits that journal Writing revolves around three domains; Description, Analysis, and Interpretation. The teacher may ask students to describe settings, activities, and people in enough detail to allow the reader to form a clear mental picture of the situations, procedures, or events presented in the journal. In terms of analysis, they may analyze the activities, events, and behaviors reported in terms of roles and responsibilities, as well as opportunities and constraints; as for interpretations, ELLs may write an objective appraisal of the values, goals, and accomplishments of the people and situation reported.
According to Getachew (2014), many writers have also stressed the importance of pre-writing activities in content area classes for producing organized and enriched essays and reports. Students should plan their ideas and decide on their relationship ordering using, for example, the techniques of brainstorming, quick-free writing, and browsing sources, reflecting, etc. Meta-cognitive instruction should also include the management of emotions that go with the mental stress of the students at a time of confronting difficult tasks, uncertainties, mistakes, and familiarities. Less proficient students, especially those who have continually experienced academic failure, must be taught self-motivational strategies for confronting problems that arise during the writing process.
Fluency Difficulties Encountered by Students
Tolesa (2014) classified problems in writing as Psychological problems which are the problems related to the writer's sense of isolation while writing because of the absence of any physical interaction and feedback from the teacher. The students also face linguistic hardships such as grammatical problems, sentence structure problems and problems of diction are linguistic problems that prevent students' effective writing in English while Grammatical Problems are also one of the problems in students; writings as they have some problems in their second language writing like using verbs that take different forms depending on tense and subjects they are used with, they create problems for a second language or foreign language writing students in addition to problems with subject-verb agreements, pronoun references, and connectors. Those students who have the problem of writing good sentences structures are unable to produce longer sentences requiring subordination and coordination. Cohesive devices are crucial in writing.
Benefits and Challenges of Applying Differentiated Instruction in the EFL Classroom
To be able to successfully differentiate, a teacher must know his/her students well. At the core of differentiated instruction is the relationship between the educationist and the students (McCarthy, 2014). The learning in the classroom should be driven by data collected by the teacher from the students, rather than the textbook (Reese, 2011). It is essential for language learners to have a variety of texts such as storybooks, news articles, picture books, and web pages, so they can be exposed to a variety of authentic languages. Offering foreign language learners content-specific material at levels that they can read successfully enables them to get key vocabulary and information. Materials at the appropriate difficulty levels could provide students with the scaffolding needed to develop stronger reading skills. Teachers must be careful to differentiate the material but not have different materials.
Differentiated Instruction Activities and Techniques
Since DI directs instructors and educationists to vary their resources to meet the student's needs and satisfy their interests, four techniques are adopted and stressed that comply with Web 2.0 Technologies. They are Photo Story 3, YouTube videos, Visualization and Mind-mapping. Photo Story is a gratuitous application that allows users to create a visual story from their digital photos in which the user can upload certain photos they take or download via the internet. The application uses some effects on analog photos and allows adding narrative, visual and audio additions, transitions, commentary, and music to generate a movie file with zoom effects. After making a photo story, it can be played on a personal computer by the use of any Media Player. It can run on smartphones as well. Users are allowed to create a DVD or CD for their stories. The final free download version (3.0) allows using music in the background.
Gutierrez, Puello, & Galvis (2015) state that how individuals feel and process information from the surrounded world is called visual literacy. The essence of teaching narrative writing with picture series lies in the fact that they provide a sense of the context of the language by bringing the world into the study hall. Pictures contribute to productive skills (speaking and writing) by stimulating and providing information to be referred to in conversation, discussion, and storytelling. Pictures present shared expertise for students in the hall, a common basis that leads to a variety of language activities. These pictures may be used to design tasks that concentrate on developing narrative writing. For example, a teacher may execute a picture sequence, cartoon series, or photo story to fulfill an objective that has a relation to storytelling or writing about steps.
The effect of pictures in writing may also be observed in students' use to promote a variety of texts, from basic simple sentences to the production of more complex paragraphs about almost any kind of topic and genre. (Alvarez, 2013; Aschawir, 2014). According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Visualization is the shaping of mental visual images. The term refers to all types of mental or visual images produced in the mind especially while one is busy reading a narrative or descriptive piece of literature. The outcome of visualization is an image relevant to the events, scenes, characters, or ideas described in the text. Makarova and Varaksa (2017) point out that it involves "The creation of real or unreal images in the mind’s eye. It usually refers to visual images, sounds, movements, touch, taste, and smell, in general, all the images that can be recognized by the human senses or imagined by the human mind. (P. 65)
According to Hillar (2012), a mind map is known as one of the most efficient tools to think, recollect, and organize ideas in a visually friendly way. Bukhari (2016) states that mind mapping is the most effortless way to promote information in a human mind and collect information from out of the brain. It is an innovative and effective way that maps our ideas. Maps are easier to follow than the long delinquent note-taking or listing techniques where ideas are kept in a top-down sequence and it becomes difficult to connect the last idea to the first in the list. Mind maps can work as a bridge to pave the way for the learners to plan ideas in the pre-writing activity. Learners can be given samples to prepare a step like a pattern in a hierarchy that would help them keep ideas until the whole of the essay is accomplished. Mind-mapping techniques are suitable for application in the pre-writing phase to probe ideas and create thoughts on the topic for writing. The usage of a mind map can present information through images, symbols, keywords, codes, and color to the level one desires to do. This type of organization of ideas can capture the visual, spatial, and kinesthetic bits of intelligence of some learners. Riswanto (2012) researched the appropriateness of mind mapping while providing training in writing. Results showed a vast distinction was present in the writing accomplishment of the students taught using the strategy of mind mapping.
According to Rennie, (2012), YouTube also has an important role to play in starting discussions and writing tasks. YouTube-assisted learning helps learners gain greater authority and autonomy when learning via this platform. Many studies have been conducted to experiment with the effect of YouTube on developing writing of EFL learners. Oddone (2011) investigated the use of YouTube videos and websites in the auditorium. They can be deemed as audiovisual material, which can be implemented to teach other subjects through English with low-achievers. Pratiwi (2011) and Anggraeni (2012) reported their study that the video helps the students enable to investigate main ideas, organize them, choose appropriate words to create sentences and paragraphs, produce accurate sentences in terms of grammar and use mechanics ( which are spelling and punctuation) in writing. Consequently, YouTube is efficacious in enhancing better writing in English.
Serrato (2016) devised the Watch-think-write strategy. According to her, it is an effective technique that the teacher can implement after video watching. A teacher can begin with documentaries like National Geographic Abu Dhabi and edit them with some software like Vibby, Edpuzzle, and PlayPosIt. In the "Watch" part, Students watch the section and no writing is allowed. Regarding the "Think" part, the whole class or small group discusses the segment and no writing is allowed as well. The time allocated for this is adjusted depending on the class and content in the "Write" part, students can aggregate the new information in their guided notes and even submit a synopsis or pose new questions to answer.
Some other strategies are suggested like Tiered lessons and Jigsaw. The benefit of Tiered lessons, according to Aftab (2015, P. 95-96) is to stay focused on the standards and curriculum while maintaining flexibility in content, process, and product. With the standard and curriculum in mind, the teacher can tier for readiness (above, at, and below grade level), interest, or learning style. She can tier her lesson for content, process, or product. Returning to the example of a unit on reading nonfiction, the curriculum focus might determine important information (main idea) of the text. Here, starting with a heterogeneous, whole-group lesson would be appropriate. Smaller groups would then be established based on interest. The unit could be tiered through assignments, homework, readings, materials, or assessments that reflect the student's ability level, learning style, or interest. Teachers can explore many models for tiered lessons.
Hogan (2014) suggests, within cooperative learning, that a jigsaw is a technique whereby instruction can be differentiated, allowing students to be introduced to new material and to maintain responsibility for the concept according to their ability levels. In this technique, the class forms groups known as home groups and each member receives a subtopic. Next, each home group divides into research groups in which students become experts on a part of the overall topic. Later, they return to the homegroup with information to share with that group. Cooperative learning is an effective instructional strategy because the responsibility for learning is borne by teams of students and not just the teacher. Moreover, this gives the teacher more time to assist individual students and small groups of students.
Differentiating Classroom and Integration of Technology
Crescent & Lee (2011) argue that technology is considered an important and effective tool in language learning nowadays. It plays a major role in facilitating teaching and learning. Technology namely includes computers, mobile phones (smartphones), and the internet. Making use of and involving some technological apparatuses may motivate students and teachers to do their traditional assignments in diverse and charming ways technological devices may make the educational environment different from the traditional way that concentrates completely on the classroom in giving information to learners to a new way of learning outside the classroom. Students can utilize online tools to help them develop their vocabulary and collocation. This opinion was supported by Deliana et. al. (2021) study which found out that even native English speakers consulted Google Scholar (GS) to revise and correct about 62% of their collocations. In addition, scholars, researchers, instructors, and students checked Google Scholar articles to improve and correct their language.
The rise of technology integration has significantly contributed to the change in teaching writing in a second language. Such integration in L2 learning and teaching shows a shift in educational models from a behaviorist learning style to a constructivist one. Not only does it motivate and encourage ESL students to engage in writing, but also it uses multiple methods that are beneficial in cultivating writing skills among students (Lee, 2012).
Using those technical devices can supply that much-needed opportunity. Ghandoura (2012) found, after having interviewed students, that they thought computers made writing drills an easy and quick way. The possible demerit of these tools is that writing on computers gives a quick warning to grammatical and spelling errors, which could become an easy way they may depend on. Moreover, in a rich technology, ELLs can become better readers and writers of English. Nasution et al. (2021) study investigated the role of educational games in developing learning. The study showed that the students were interested in using online educational games for language learning with fun. They also valued the language learning provided by educational games.
Online and blended learning programs can grant differentiated learning choices. The programs can be fully online, meaning that content and instruction are delivered through the Internet, or blended, meaning that programs use both online and face-to-face instruction. Some online and blended learning courses comprise computer software and proprietary packaged curricula that teachers use to offer differentiated learning preferences. Online and blended learning courses can also allow students to progress through the online content at a flexible pace, giving students sufficient time to grasp the content. (Means, Toyama, Murphy, & Baki, 2013).
One of the important applications is "WhatsApp messenger". According to Rouse (2013), it is a platform of instant messaging that lets iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows, Android, and Nokia Smartphone users swap text, video, image, and audio messages free of charge. WhatsApp application is exclusively common with end-users who do not have limitless text messages. In addition, WhatsApp offers group chatting and location sharing options. WhatsApp Inc. was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both veterans of Yahoo! Studies of Alhawiti (2015) and Cakir (2015) studies showed that participants expressed their desires to make use of mobile phones for educational purposes when they become teachers of English.
Methodology
The researcher adopted a quasi-experimental One-Group Design to test the hypotheses of the study. The researcher used a suggested program based on "DI" with the group and administered a pre and post-test to identify its effect on students' ability to research writing fluency before and after studying the program.
Study Participants
The participants of the study were randomly selected from First Year Secondary students of Al-Jalawea institute. The study group consisted of (32) Students and represented the experiment group.
Study material and Instrument
To carry out this study, the researcher implemented (1) a suggested program, which he designed in compliance with the theory of Differentiated Instruction. Before this, (2) a placement test was used to determine the students' ability to write fluently, and (3) a writing fluency test, which was applied before and after the administration of the program to measure the effects of using the program.
Results
Table 1 T-test Results for the significance of Differences Between the Mean Scores of the Participants' every Skill ( Meaning Construction, Organization, Clarity of Ideas, Accuracy, and Self-Expression) on the Pre and Post Writing Fluency Test (N=32) and (DF= 31)
skill
Mean
Std. Deviation
t-test
Sig.
Effect size (η2 )
pre
post
pre
post
Meaning construction 7.80 11.95 3.56 3.44 2.196 0.025 0.135
Medium
Organization 3.93 16.03 4.86 3.75 12.034 0.000 0.823
Very Large
Clarity of Ideas 3.40 14.09 3.84 3.29 7.707 0.000 0.657
Large
Accuracy 4.66 14.43 3.84 3.39 6.752 0.000 0.595
Large
Self- expression 3.81 14.37 3.84 3.48 7.071 0.000 0.617
Large
Table 1 shows that the significance level (sig) for the Meaning Construction sub-skill is greater than (0.01) and less than (0.05). This indicates that there is no statistically significant difference in this sub-skill at the 0.05 level between the mean scores of the study participants on the pre and post-administration of the writing fluency test in terms of (Meaning Construction). Conversely, the aforementioned table shows the significance level for other skills (Clarity of ideas, Organization, Self- expression, and Accuracy) is less than 0.01. This indicates that there is a statistically significant difference at the 0.01 level between the mean scores of the study participants on the pre and post-administration of the writing fluency test in terms of (Clarity of ideas, Organization, Self-expression, and Accuracy) in favor of the posttest. This means that the H01 should be accepted in terms of "Meaning Construction'' and refused in other components. Consequently, the alternative hypothesis is to be accepted. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the study participants on the pre and post-writing fluency test regarding the development of the (Clarity of ideas, Organization, Self-expression, and Accuracy) in favor of the post-administration mean scores.
Ezzat (2016) points out that the effect size is calculated using the following mathematical formula:
Effect size (η2) = t2 ∕ (t2 +df) DF= degrees of freedom = (n-1) t= t-calculated value η2 is interpreted as follows:
If (η2) < 0.010, then the effect size or the relationship is weak. If 0.010 ≤ (η2) < 0.059, then the effect size is small.
If 0.059 ≤ (η2) < 0.138, then the effect size is medium. If 0.138 ≤ (η2) < 0.232, then the effect size is large.
If 0.232 ≤ (η2), then the effect size is very large.
From table 3, it is clear that the calculated effect size, expressed by the ETA squared for the sub-skill (Meaning Construction) equals 0.135, which indicates that the program has a medium effect on developing this skill while effect size, expressed by the ETA squared for the other skills (Clarity of ideas (0.675), Organization (0.823), Self-expression (0.617) and Accuracy (0.595) which are very large effect sizes. This indicates that using DI is highly effective in developing EFL First Year Al-Azhar Secondary Students in (Clarity of ideas, Organization, Self-expression, and Accuracy).
Table 2.t-test Results for the Significance of Differences Between the Mean Scores of the Participants' ‘Overall Writing Fluency on the Pre and Post Administration of the Writing Fluency Test
skill mean Std. Deviation
T-test
Sig.
Effect size (η2 )
pre
post
pre
post
Over Writing Fluency 21.62 70.34 18.01 15.42 10.552 0.000 0.782
Table 2 shows that the significance level (sig) is less than (0.01). This indicates that there is a statistically significant difference at the 0.01 level between the mean scores of the study participants on the pre and post-administration of the writing fluency test in terms of the overall writing fluency skills in favor of the posttest administration. This means that the H02 should be refused. Consequently, the alternative hypothesis is to be accepted. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the study participants on the pre and post-administration of the writing fluency test regarding the development of ‘overall writing fluency in favor of the posttest administration scores.
From table 2, it is clear that the calculated effect size, expressed by the ETA squared, equals 0.782, which is higher than 0.232, which is a very large effect size value. This indicates that the suggested program based on DI has a great effect on developing the writing fluency for First-Year Al-Azhar Secondary Stage Students "The study participants''. So, on measuring the Effect of the Suggested Program on Writing Fluency for First-Year Al-Azhar Students, The effect size in the previous tables indicates that the effect of the suggested program is very large on the development of the first year Al- Azhar students' writing fluency.
Discussion
Results of the statistical analysis show that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the study participants on the pre and post administration of the test in terms of the development of the participants' general "writing fluency" in favor of the mean scores of the posttest. This is presented through the second hypothesis and table 4. This depicts the very large effect of using DI on developing EFL Al-Azhar secondary stage writing fluency.
Having a close look at each writing fluency component, the statistical analysis results for the five components measured throughout this study indicate that there is a statistically significant difference in each writing fluency component between the participants' mean scores on the pre and post administration of the test in favor of the scores of the posttest except the component Meaning Construction. This may be due to the difficult nature of the component. Therefore, it can be inferred that a program based on DI can be used effectively to develop EFL Al-Azhar First Year Secondary Stage Students' writing fluency.
Throughout the results indicated by t-test results as a statistical procedure which was applied to each sub-skill of the test, it has become evident that the suggested DI-Based program helped to develop four components of EFL writing fluency for Al-Azhar first-year secondary stage in English to a great extent, while the fifth component, Meaning Construction, has been developed to an average extent as it is somewhat difficult for some students to understand the meaning behind the words as they are not usually used to doing this cleverly on this own. The following four writing fluency components, in particular, have developed:
• Organization (Topic sentence, supporting sentences, introduction, concluding the sentence, organization, order, and completeness).
• Accuracy (careful use of language and word choice to express meaning).
• Clarity of Ideas (Ideas are legible, understandable, accessible, short, and to the point).
• Self-expression. (Being able to express oneself freely, present one's thoughts, beliefs, and ideas.)
After showing the results of the study, it should be said that the suggested DI-based program for developing writing fluency sub-skills has been successful. Some reasons seem to be behind the high effect of the suggested DI-based program. Each student was trained to write paragraphs fluently in multiple ways and had a variety of opportunities to understand and retain academic information. Moreover, the program had already been presented in different ways and techniques, so students' genuine understanding has been emphasized. As the suggested DI-based program activated various challenges of knowledge and contained miscellaneous ways of learning including modern technology and using Social Networking Sites such as Facebook and WhatsApp in addition to Educational Games, students did not get bored. In contrast, their inner potentials of creativity appeared. In addition, within the suggested DI-based program, the aim was to allow learners to concentrate on certain aspects when writing a paragraph such as considering grammatical accuracy and punctuation, expressing their opinions and views in the right way, taking into account organizing their paragraph into an introduction, a body, and a conclusion, avoiding unclear ideas and construct relevant and suitable meaning. Thus, students could become more engaged in discussing specific topics; they got a better understanding of the topics discussed when they expressed their opinions in comfortable ways for all of them.
Teaching writing from a differentiated Instruction perspective might have significant advantages for the students. This is emphasized by, Tomlinson (2014, P.4) when she pointed out that ''Differentiated classrooms embody common sense. The logical flow of thought in a differentiated classroom is this: a nurturing environment encourages learning. The Quality curriculum requires clear and compelling learning goals used in ways that engage students’ minds and lead to understanding.''
DI-based activities in the program may have helped the students to be more exposed to the English language and to use it to discuss real debatable issues in real contexts for factual purposes. The program comprised various activities and techniques according to the students' own pace and learning profile. Therefore, it allowed the researcher to devise flexible activities and form small or large groups, in addition to utilizing activities for low achievers and outstanding students, so that the former could learn easily and freely and the latter could learn rapidly and competitively. The difference between the students' mean scores of the pre and administration of the writing fluency test was highly significant. This could be attributed to the nature of the DI-based tasks and activities that may have fostered the students’ ability to write fluently and reasonably and express their points of view freely.
Other means of assessment apart from the traditional techniques were used. The researcher depended on Facebook and WhatsApp groups as a part of mobile learning to deliver small tasks considering the graduation in easiness and difficulty and from the known to unknown from a constructivist perspective. The researcher did not evade modeling to encourage low achievers, weak and shy students to practice more than in ordinary classrooms. Every student within the program had an opportunity to specialize and excel in at least one area of human intelligence based on the Multiple Intelligences Theory that inspired Tomlinson's Theory of Differentiation. Since the researcher began the suggested program, no single student was unable to find an interest or success.
However, Meaning Construction should have great attention as it is usually the most difficult component of writing fluency not only for students but also for any EFL learner. Therefore, teachers must deliver special training for students and give them more time to be able to comprehend this skill. More specifically, the results of this study could be consistent with the results of some closely related studies through which DI-Based instruction was utilized to recommend improving the writing fluency components. For example, Ernest et al (2011) recommended the implementation of Differentiated Instruction theory as a data-based ceaseless process of using practices based on proofs to fulfill the demands of all students in an inclusion classroom.
Conclusions:
EFL secondary education students are given few opportunities to argue debatable issues reasonably, write clear ideas, adopt an error-free approach, express their opinions freely in a writing form, utilizing DI strategies and various technological means. Therefore, the findings of the present study indicate that arguing via activating multiple ways of knowing should be implemented. Throughout the discussion of the results, it has become clear that the DI-based program may have a significant role in developing the students’ writing fluency. This was reflected in the significant “t” value of the test as a whole and of each separate sub-skill in the test. All the values were highly significant. The DI-based program was effective for many reasons. The positive effect of the suggested DI-based program on developing the writing fluency of Al-Azhar first-year secondary stage students was attributed to the program's addressing of the students’ different bits of intelligence, learning profile, readiness, areas of interest, and learning style. As students learned differently, the researcher as a teacher could fully encourage meaningful and enjoyable learning as much as possible for all the participants involved.
To sum up, since most of the educationalists and educational institutions, universities, or schools have often sought to help students develop a fluent writing accomplishment and self-confidence, DI theory provides a theoretical foundation for recognizing the different abilities and talents of students as well as giving academic help to the teachers and educators to consider the students' learning profile and recruit every possible activity to teach students at the same class. Evaluating learning in this way allows a considerable number of students to successfully interact in classroom learning vividly.
Recommendations:
Based on the results of the present study, the following recommendations are presented. It is recommended that the EFL syllabus of Al-Azhar first-year secondary students should be developed to meet the requirements of writing skills, especially the writing fluency skills. EFL classes need to devote more time to the writing class to allow students to follow different writing styles that are appropriate to their different kinds of bits of intelligence. EFL students should be trained to work in environments that are suitable and appealing to them and in class where both homogenous heterogeneous groups simultaneously are existent. The teacher should be trained on how to know the learning styles, bits of intelligence, and interests of their students, differentiate content, teaching strategies, evaluation techniques, and learning environments, use modern technology and make use of the Differentiated Instruction activities to deliver a good education and encourage students to take a step forward.
DI-based teaching should be incorporated in teaching writing in different educational stages so as to enhance students’ abilities in writing fluency and teachers of EFL are aware of the importance of enhancing the student-centered learning contexts. Therefore, the role of the EFL teacher should be changed from being a dominant figure in the classroom to being a facilitator, advisor, consultant, guide, and organizer. Teachers are attributed to care for students’ individual differences by diversifying their teaching techniques in such a way that involves the different bits of intelligence that the students possess. Curriculum planners and designers are highly recommended to integrate DI activities not only in teaching writing but in EFL teaching in general. Lessons should be vivid, lively, well-designed, varied, and addressing all learning styles and interests. Mobile learning techniques such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and computer-based activities must be merged into lessons. It is prudent that assessment has to be varied not only a paper one. Students may be assessed electronically via computer or the internet. Oral Evaluation and interviews may be other means of evaluation. It is advisable that educational games, field trips, videos, PowerPoint, hands-on practice should be considered and implemented in EFL syllabi.
References
Abdul-Hamid, Ezzat. (2016). Psychological and Pedagogical Statistics, applications using SPSS, Dar El-Fikr El-Arabi.
Aftab, Jaweria. (2015). Teachers’ Beliefs about Differentiated Instructions in Mixed-Ability Classrooms: A Case of Time Limitation. Journal of Education and Educational Development Vol. 2 (2), 94 – 114. https://doi.org/10.22555/joeed.v2i2.441
Alhawiti, M. (2015). The Effect of Mobile Language Learning on ESP Students’ Achievement. Journal of Modern Education Review, 5(3), 272- 282. https://doi.org/10.15341/jmer(2155-7993)/03.05.2015/007
Alvarez, C. (2013). Fostering self-efficacy for descriptive writing in a group of A1 adolescent learners through the use of learning logs (Master thesis, Universidad de la Sabana. Chía, Cundinamarca).
Anggraeni, S. N. (2012). Optimizing the Use of Youtube Video to Improve Students’ Competence in Writing Procedure Text (A Classroom Action Research at the Tenth Grade Students of SMA N Kebakkramat in Academic Year of 2011/2012). Sebelas Maret University. https://digilib.uns.ac.id/dokumen/download/24666/NTI1MjI=/Optimizing-the-use-of-youtube-video-to-improve-students-competence-in-writing-procedure-text-A-Classroom-Action-Research-at-the-Tenth-Grade-Students-of-SMA-N-Kebakkramat-in-Academic-Year-of-20112012-abstrak.pdf
Aschawir, A. (2014). Using series pictures to develop the students’ ideas in English narrative writing. Scholarly Journal of Education, 88-94. https://scholarly-journals.com/sje/archive/2014/October/pdf/Aschawir.pdf
Bukhari, S. (2016). “Mind Mapping Techniques to Enhance EFL Writing Skill”.
International Journal of Linguistics and Communication. Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 58-77. https://doi.org/10.15640/ijlc.v4n1a7
Cakir, I. (2015). Opinions and attitudes of prospective teachers for the use of mobile phones in foreign language learning. Contemporary Educational Technology, 6(3),239-255. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6152
Coubergs, C., Struyven, K., Vanthournout, G., & Engels, N. (2017). Measuring teachers’ perceptions about differentiated instruction: The DI-Quest instrument and model. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 53, 41-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2017.02.004
Crescente, M. L., & Lee, D. (2011). Critical issues of m-learning: design models, adoption processes, and future trends. Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, 28(2), 111-123. https://doi.org/10.1080/10170669.2010.548856
Deliana, Panah, I. & Manshor, R. (2021). English Collocations Improvement through Google Scholar. TESOL International Journal, Volume 16 (6.2), 92- 108. https://www.tesol-international-journal.com/volume-15-issue-6-2020/
Getachew, A. (May 2014). The Effect of Process Writing Approach on Grade 10 Learners’ Writing Skill. The Case of Mentawuha Secondary School, Mentawuha Town, Awi Zone, Amhara Region. Ma Thesis. Haramaya University. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1034097.pdf
Ghandoura, W. (2012). A qualitative study of ESL college students' attitudes about computer-assisted writing classes. English Language Teaching, 5(4), 57-64. https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n4p57
Gutierrez, K., Puello, M. & Galvis ,L. (2015).Using Pictures Series Technique to Enhance Narrative Writing among Ninth Grade Students at Institución Educativa Simón Araujo. Canadian Center of Science and Education; Vol. 8, No. 5, pp.45-71. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v8n5p45
Hillar, S. (2012). Mind Mapping with FreeMind. Packt. Publishing Ltd.
Hogan, M. (2014). Differentiated Instruction in a Standards-Based Middle School Science Classroom. Dissertation, College of Education, Walden University. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=dissertations
Kok, B. (2012). The Influence of Differentiated Geometry Education on Gifted Students’ creativity, spatial ability, and academic achievement. Dissertation, Istanbul University.
Lee, H. (2012). The reading response e-journal: An alternative way to engage low-achieving EFL students. Language Teaching Research, 17 (1), 111- 131. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168812457539
Makarova, Elena Aleksandrovna & Varaksa, Anna Mikhailovna. (2017). Education process visualization in metacognition development and sustainability. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education.5(2):, 65-74.
https://doi.org/10.5937/IJCRSEE1702065A
McCarthy, J. (2014). 3 ways to plan for diverse learners: What teachers do.
Edutopia. Retrieved December 15, 2015, from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-ways-to-plan- john-McCarthy
Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2009). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED505824
Merriam Webster Dictionary.Definition of Visualization. Retrieved from
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/visualization
Nasution, D. K., Panah, I & Atmojo, W. T. (2021). Tertiary Students’ Preference of Online Educational Games in the Language Learning Course. TESOL International Journal, Volume 16 (6.2), 109-140. https://www.tesol-international-journal.com/volume-15-issue-6-2020/
Oddone, C. (2011). Using Videos from YouTube and Websites in the CLIL Classroom. Studies about Languages, 18. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.sal.0.18.417
Pratiwi, A. (2011). Optimizing the Use of Youtube Video to Improve Students’ Writing Skill (A Classroom Action Research at the Second Grade of SMP Negeri 1 Juwirang Klaten in the academic Year of 2009/2010)No Title. Sebelas Maret University. https://eprints.uns.ac.id/5518/1/207250811201108501.pdf
Reese, S. (2011). Differentiation in the language classroom. The Language Educator. 40-46. September 14, 2015, https://www.scribd.com/doc/264618494/differentiation-in-the-language-classroom
Rennie, F., 2012. E-Learning and Social Networking Handbook, Routledge.
Riswanto, Pebri Prandika Putra.(2012). “The Use of Mind Mapping Strategy in the Teaching of Writing at SMAN 3 Bengkulu, Indonesia”. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science. Vol. 2, No. 21. http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_21_November_2012/8.pdf
Rouse, M. (2013). WhatsApp messenger. March 5, 2018,
http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/WhatsApp
Scrivener, Jim. (2011). Learning teaching: the essential guide to English language teaching. 3rd ed. Macmillan Books for Teachers.
Serrato, M. (2016). ‘Watch-Think-Write’ and Other Proven Strategies for Using Video in the Classroom. KQED. Retrieved from https://ww2.kqed.org/education/2016/08/23/watch-think-write-and- other-proven-strategies-for-using-video-in-the-classroom/
Tolesa, Eshetu.(June 2014). An Assessment of the Teaching of Writing Skills in the Context of the Current English Language Teaching Textbook: The Case of Two Secondary Schools in South West Shewa Zone. MA Thesis. Haramaya University. https://docplayer.net/56866094-M-a-thesis-eshetu-tolesa-june-2014-haramaya-university.html
Tomlinson, C.A. (2014). Second edition.'' The Differentiated Classroom, Responding to the Needs of all Learners". ASCD.
----. (2015). Teaching for excellence in academically diverse classrooms. Society, 52(3), 203-209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-015-9888-0
Egypt