Leveraging Diagnostic Assessment Aligned to Differentiated Learning: Voices of English Language Teachers

The Merdeka Belajar curriculum emphasizes flexibility and student-centered learning, making diagnostic assessment crucial for teach English effectively. By identifying each student’s language proficiency and learning needs early on, teachers can tailor instruction to meet diverse abilities within the classroom. This aligns with the curriculum’s goal of fostering independent and meaningful learning experiences. Diagnostic assessment also supports differentiated instruction, ensuring that students receive targeted support and challenges based on their individual progress. As a result, it enhances both student engagement and mastery in English, making it an essential tool for teachers implementing Merdeka Belajar curriculum. Despite the curriculum’s clear benefits, there is a pressing need for a study investigating how teachers utilize diagnostic assessments to identify students’ learning profiles, interests, and readiness. Therefore, this study intends to capture the utilization of diagnostic assessment to promote the differentiated learning, especially in junior high school. By employing qualitative research design, this study involved 19 English teachers in state and private junior high schools in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Participatory observation and semi-structured interviews were used as the instrument to collect data. Through the qualitative analysis, this study revealed that English teachers utilized some tools such Kahoot!, quizzes, Google Form, and questionnaires to implement diagnostic assessments. This study also delineated seven crucial procedures that English teachers conducted to successfully execute differentiated learning. These measures encompass structuring classroom arrangements, employing varied educational resources, implementing adaptable instructional strategies, and performing consistent assessment alongside prompt feedback. The incorporation of diagnostic assessment in the Merdeka Belajar curriculum is essential for developing effective differentiated learning modules. This method allows teachers to cater to the distinct needs of each student, hence improving their learning experiences and academic results.