How important is differentiation in language teaching?

Differentiation doesn't, however, matter quite so much with primary age pupils, says Alison Mackey, professor of linguistics at Georgetown University in the States. "The younger children are, the less important individual differences are to their learning outcomes," she says. "Researchers think this is because the younger they are, the more they rely on their 'implicit' learning mechanism. This ties in with the idea that there is a critical, or sensitive period, during which young children have an advantage over other learners in terms of ultimate attainment in language acquisition." As children get older, she explains, and begin to switch from that early ability to absorb language naturally to a more explicit way of learning, "things like [needing to develop specific] strategies become important." http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/may/14/differentiation-language-teaching-primary-secondary-students Looking for hints and tips to improve Differentiation - book #Conrew-Training workshop on Differentiation Made Easier. www.concrew-training.co.uk/?page_id=199