INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem, the significance, the scope

and delimitations of the study and the definition of terms.

Background of the Study

Classroom diversity is one of the major trends in schools today. Educators need to understand the nature and evolution of human diversity because they will be encountering diverse learners in the future. Recent research studies show that diversity must be celebrated as it enriches ones knowledge and experience.

Background of the Study

Teaching from an awareness of and a deep respect for cultural diversity is a step that teachers can take toward building democracy in education, a tradition that insists that all human beings have similar opportunities to develop themselves (Varenne and McDermott, 1999).

Statement of the Problem

The general research question is:
How effective are the teaching strategies being employed by the teacher-respondents in addressing the needs of their diverse students?

Statement of the Problem

In order to answer the research question, these sub-questions were formulated:

1.What is the profile of the teacher-respondents according to: a. Age b. Gender c. Years of Teaching d. Educational Attainment e. Social Status 2. What is the profile of the student respondents according to: a. Age b. Gender c. Nationality d. Language Spoken e. Social Status

3. What is the level of effectiveness of the teaching strategies currently employed by the teacher-respondents in terms of: Faculty Evaluation Banduras Teacher Efficacy Scale
4. What is the level of diversity among the student-respondents? Nationality Language Learning Style

5. What teaching strategies can be effectively delivered to address students of diversity?

Significance of the Study

The following are the individuals and institution that will benefit from this study: 1.Teachers 2.Students 3.School Administrators 4. Secretary and staff of the Department of Education 5.Future Researchers.

Theoretical Framework
The study is based on the Learning Style Theory and Diversity Pedagogy Theory. Learning Style Theory Joy Reid (1995) said that matching teaching styles with learning styles give all learners an equal chance in the classroom and builds student self-awareness. Diversity Pedagogy Theory (DPT) is a set of principles that point out the natural and inseparable connection between culture and cognition (Sheets, 2005).

Conceptual Paradigm

INPUT
1. Teacher respondents : a. Age b. Gender c. Years of Teaching

PROCESS

OUTPUT

Surveys and interviews will be conducted. 1. Approaches to Teaching Inventory (Trigwell and Prossers) 2. Banduras Instrument Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale 3. VAK Learning Style Inventory

d.Educational Attainment
e. Social Status 2. Student-respondents : a. Age b. Gender c. Nationality d. Language Spoken

Determining the effectiveness of the teaching methods that address the needs of the diverse learners

e. Social Status

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

The study discusses the level of diversity among students and covers the teaching methods used by the professors at the Institute of Education of Far Eastern University-Manila to address the needs of diverse learners. Students that are culturally and linguisticallydiverse and students with different learning styles will be the focus of this study. The study does not cover those of other institutes at FEU-Manila. Student diversity may also be in the form of age, gender, religion and socio-economic-status but it will not be covered in this study.

Definition of Terms
The following are the terms that will be used in this study which will be described for better understanding of the readers.

1.Adaptive Learning Environment (ALE) 2.Auditory Learning. 3.Culture. 4.Differentiated instruction. 5.Diverse Students. 6. Diversity 7. Ethnicity 8. Kinesthetic Learning

9. Language 10. Learning Styles 11. Multicultural Education 12. Sheltered Instruction 13. Teaching Method 14. Universal Design for Learning 15. Visual Learning

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES The review of related literature and studies is divided into four parts: the diversity among learners, the teaching methodologies, measuring teaching effectiveness and lastly, the synthesis.

Diversity among Learners

Diversity encompasses many characteristics including ethnicity, socio-economic background, home language, gender, special needs, disability, and giftedness (Alton-Lee, 2003).

 Cultural and linguistic diversity is a very broad concept and encompasses the differences that exist between people, such as language, dress, traditions, food, societal structures, art and religion (Hobart City Council).

 The term learning style has been defined in several ways by many authors, yet the most representative definitions refer to two essential aspects: a) the learning style represents an individuals preferred ways of responding (cognitively or behaviorally) to learning tasks which change depending on the environment or context (Peterson, et al., 2009), and b) the learning style refers to the idea that individuals differ in regard to what type of instruction is most effective for them (Pashler, et al., 2008) (as cited in Tulbure, 2012).

The VAK Learning Style model is one of the simplest and therefore most popular learning styles model. It is based on how we perceive information, it uses three sensory modes Visual (seeing and reading), Auditory, and Kinesthetic (movement and tactile or touch) to determine three preferred learning-style categories.

Teaching Methodologies
Previous studies have enlisted the teaching methodologies that worked for diverse learners such as differentiated instruction, universal design, sheltered instruction, multicultural education, peer tutoring, cooperative learning, use of visual aids, active learning experience and use technology in terms of website and electronic media. These methods will be discussed in this chapter.

Measuring Teaching Effectiveness

The way teacher effectiveness is defined impacts how it is conceived and measured and influences the development of education policy. Teacher effectiveness, in the narrowest sense, refers to a teachers ability to improve student learning as measured by student gains on standardized achievement tests (Little, Goe & Bell, 2009).

To capture teacher efficacy researchers have used a variety of formats:

Ashton, Buhr, and Crocker (1894) Gibson and Dembo (1984) Bandura (1998) Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001) Siwatu (2007)

SYNTHESIS

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This portion discusses the methodologies that will be used in this study such as the research design, the participants, environment, instruments and statistical treatment method that will be used in analyzing the data.

Research Design

Quantitative research is, as the term suggests, concerned with the collection and analysis of data in numeric form. It tends to emphasize relatively largescale and representative sets of data, and is often, falsely in our view, presented or perceived as being about the gathering of `facts' (Blaxter, Hughes and Tight, 1996: 61). Correlational research investigates a range of factors, including the nature of the relationship between two or more variables and the theoretical model that might be developed and tested to explain these resultant correlations (Lomax, Lin, 2009).

Research Participants The study will involve teachers and students of FEU Manila Institute of Education. The teacherrespondents will be the 7 professors of 2nd year BEED SPED block. The student respondents will be the 30 students of 2nd year BEED SPED block. Their learning styles will be assessed for this study. 15 international students, whose first language is not Filipino and who have at least studied in the university for a year, will be randomly selected for cultural and linguistic diversity.

Research Environment The researchers chose the Institute of Education in FEU Manila as the locale for the study. According to the FEU Advocate, for the First Semester of A.Y. 2012 2013, FEU had 29, 580 students, 544 of which are international students. The Institute of Education had 789 students.

Research Instruments This section discusses the research instruments that will be used in gathering data for this research such as personal data of the participants, research tool, research procedures and statistical analysis.

Personal Data Form The study will have teachers and students as respondents. For the teacher respondents, the following information will be asked: gender, age, educational attainment, social status, annual income, years of teaching experience, position, specialization and current subjects being taught. For the student respondents, the following information will be asked: gender, age, year, course, nationality, language, social status and annual family income. Names will be optional for confidentiality.

Research Tool The researchers have adopted survey questionnaires for this study. I. Learning Style Inventory.

II. Approaches to Teaching Inventory (Trigwell and Prossers).

III. Banduras Teacher Efficacy Scale.

Research Procedures

The researchers will be using different modes of media available in gathering information such as the use of library and internet. The researchers will conduct surveys and interviews for students and teachers. All respondents will be asked for consent before any survey and/ or interview will be conducted. The confidentiality of all information will be assured. All of the results will be analyzed after the data gathering

Statistical Analysis

I.

Data checking and Summarisation.

II. Percentage Frequency Distribution III. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the ttest. IV. Chi-square Test