Tema 25

Tema 25.

El proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje centrado en el alumno: fundamentos tericos y aplicaciones.

La identificacin de las motivaciones y actitudes ante la lengua inglesa.

Aplicaciones didcticas.

Traditionally, teaching has been the central issue in FLT. It was thought that, if teaching was efficient, learning would automatically occur. Consequently learning was seen as a passive process. Since the 1970s, the belief that language is a means of communication has inspired a new approach in English teaching: the Communicative Approach. Due to its influence, nowadays language is taught and learnt in a very practical way in the classroom. In this sense, our students have become the protagonists of the teaching and learning process and their individual differences have started to be considered. Moreover, this answer to individual differences is one of the main principles established by LOMCE 8/2013, December 9th

Based on this view, the present essay aims to study the learner-centred approach. For this purpose, this topic will be divided into three main sections. In the first part, we will analyse its theoretical foundations and the way to apply it to the FL classroom. In the second part, we will examine the main factors that influence FLL as well as the identification of motivation and attitude of our students towards English.. Finally in the third part, we will establish some practical applications.

We deal with an essential topic since the teaching of a FL must be personalised to the characteristics of our students. In addition, LOMCE 8/2013, December 9th emphasizes the significance of this topic by providing schools and teachers with autonomy to adapt the prescriptive curriculum and the methodology that they use to their particular group of students.

FIRST

Traditional models focused on teaching items of language in isolation. In these methods, among which we may point out the Grammar-Translation Method, the teacher was the authority in the classroom and learners were seen as passive recipients of knowledge.

Later on, these traditional methods were questioned by Chomsky who claimed that language acquisition should not be a passive process since learners are able to use their own thinking processes to discover the rules of the language they are acquiring. Afterwards Piaget who worked on the principles of The Cognitive Approach stated that learners should adopt an active role and be more responsible in their own learning process. These ideas derived from cognitive theories and, along with some others, constitute the basis of the learner-centred approach whose main principle is that teachers must take learners into account when planning the objectives, contents, activities and materials, in order to suit the learners needs and interests. This means that the whole learning process must be built up around the characteristics of our students and that they need to develop learning strategies to become autonomous learners, which is reflected in 1 of the 8 Key Competences established by the Royal Decree 126/2014, the learning to learn key competence, involving the development of some strategies in order to be an efficient learner. We can classify these learning strategies into four main types which are metacognitive, cognitive, socio-affective and communication strategies:

- Firstly, metacognitive strategies are mainly used to regulate learning. We may point out planning learning, hypothesising, comparing, self-questioning, self-assessment, self-correction and reviewing.

-Secondly, cognitive strategies are more specific and involve manipulating the subject. They include memorizing, matching, predicting, using a class library, a dictionary, risk-taking and organizing work.

- Thirdly, socio-affective strategies involve children in social activities to expose them to language. They take on responsibility for their own learning by working independently from the teacher.

- Lastly, communication strategies refer to the use of aspects like gestures, mime, synonyms or paraphrases in order to maintain communication e.g. Can you repeat please?

After having considered its origins and main principles, we will concentrate now on the most important aspects of a learner-centred curriculum. To do so, we will examine the methodology, the materials, the assessment and the role of the teacher in this approach.

Regarding methodology, all the elements must be in interaction and influence each other. Also, a learner-centred curriculum develops the 4 skills of language in an integrated way since this promotes the learning of real content and is highly motivating for students. Moreover activities are varied and linked to real life situations.

As far as the materials are concerned, most of them are produced by the learners in the classroom and these should reflect the outside world. For this purpose, the materials should be authentic whenever it is possible. They should also meet the students interests and previous knowledge and foster independent learning.

We must not forget that assessment is a very important part of the learning process because it establishes a relation between the teaching practice and the learning process. In a learner-centred approach curriculum we can assess our students by daily observation and objective tests among others. However, what is really important in this approach is that students learn how to assess their own progress in order to become aware of both their achievements and the areas that need improvement. In order to assess themselves, students can complete a grid every week which may include items like This week I have learnt or I have used English to among others.

Lastly, it is important to consider the role of the teacher. Within this approach, we have to modify the curriculum content in order to adequate it to our students characteristics, keep the motivation of our students, attend their individual differences and organise the learning experience carefully and in advanced. In addition, we act as participants, monitors and resource in the classroom.

After having considered the most important aspects of a learner-centred curriculum, we will now examine some concrete possibilities for helping students to learn more effectively. To do so, we will consider some areas in which we can apply learner-centred ideas.

As we know, this approach considers that every activity can be based on the knowledge and experience of the students. One way of doing so is through what is known as Syllabus negotiation in which the main idea is to involve the students in decisions on their study programme. Negotiation can affect the whole structure of the syllabus or just specific sub-parts of it such as the choice of topics for certain activities, the selection of some materials, or the decision whether a particular activity will be performed in groups, pairs or individually.

Another way to apply learner-centred ideas is grouping students into pairs and groups. According to Donn Byrne, pair and group work present many advantages since it increases the amount of speaking time of the students and enables them to practice the four skills of language in an integrated way. It also improves personal relationships because children have the opportunity to help each other and they can learn from one another too.

As we may know, involving students actively in the learning process also involves encouraging students to understand the learning goals and activities. Although children in Primary Education cannot cope with abstract concepts we must train them in language awareness through activities like classifying, matching or sequencing which will help them to achieve this purpose.

Finally, project work is a very useful activity for integrating skills since it involves some research and some group discussion about the topic until eventually, the students write the final product. Because of this, project work has a great learning potential as it involves different learning strategies such as researching, group discussion, recycling vocabulary and working autonomously all of which meet both the Communicative Approach and Learner-Centred Approach requirements.

SECOND

Once having considered the main aspects of the learner-centred approach and the way to apply it to the FL classroom, we shall concentrate on the second part of this topic, that is, the identification of motivation and attitude of our students towards English.

As we know, the learner-centred approach places emphasis on the learner because a FL is not learnt by groups, but by individuals.

Every class is made up of individuals, and each of them has different ages, aptitudes, learning styles, personalities, motivation and attitudes. All these factors will influence FLL as well as our planning decisions and that is why they must be considered. In what follows, we will explain what these factors consist of and their consequences in the teaching-learning process:

One of the main factors to consider when teaching a FL is our students age. Most linguists agree that children are better prepared to learn a language than adults at an auditory and phonological level, because their brain has a natural capacity that diminishes as the years go by. Also, their natural spontaneity comes in handy when learning a FL because, generally, they have less inhibiting factors. At the same time, our students age will affect the choice of topics and types of activities, which must be adapted to their age and interests.

Another factor is our students aptitude. It is popularly believed that some people have more aptitude for learning a FL than others. Considering this will make us plan different activities for students with different types of aptitude and respect childrens learning rhythms.

As we know people learn in different ways, since they have different personalities, preferences and abilities. In this light, Howard Gardner claimed that individuals have al least seven different intelligences that can be developed over a lifetime which are logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and verbal/linguistic intelligences. Traditionally, schools have just focused on the development of linguistic and mathematical intelligences. However, modern teaching such as the learner-centred approach emphasize the need for teachers to design activities that focus on the seven intelligences, not only to facilitate language acquisition, but also to help students realize their full potential

Also personality is considered as an important factor when learning a FL. It has been suggested that an outgoing and sociable person learns a FL better than a reserved, shy student. This can affect certain situations in the FL classroom such as the level of acceptance of activities like role-play or drama performances.

Lastly, some other factors that might influence FLL are the students previous knowledge, a low self-esteem, learning difficulties, family problems and their culture. The teacher can analyse the cause, show more interest towards the learners and plan activities that are as interesting as possible.

After having considered these factors, we must not forget that motivation is a variable that influences FLL too. According to Jeremy Harmer, motivation is some kind of internal drive that encourages somebody to pursue an action. If people perceive a goal to be sufficiently attractive, they will be strongly motivated to do whatever is necessary to reach it. In this sense, we can state that motivated students usually do better than students who are not as motivated. According to Jeremy Harmer there are two types of motivation in FLT: extrinsic and intrinsic, depending on whether they originate outside or inside the classroom: on the one hand, extrinsic motivation is concerned with factors outside the classroom, such as the grade of identification with the target culture and, on the other hand, intrinsic motivation is related to what takes place inside the classroom such as the physical conditions of the classroom, the methodology used or the teachers attitudes.

The concept of attitude is very close to that of motivation: they are both related in the sense that if students have a positive attitude towards learning, they are more motivated. Therefore the identification of the students motivation and attitudes will enable the teacher to help them in the learning process.

THIRD

After having analysed the identification of motivation and attitude of our students towards English, we will now develop the last part of the topic, that is, the suggestion of some practical applications of the learner-centred approach in the FL classroom.

Firstly, we should raise our students awareness of the importance of learning English. In order to achieve this, our students will be able to:

List the names of their favourite English-speaking people (footballers, film stars, singers...).

Find English-speaking countries on a map.

Be asked to look for English words in the environment.

Brainstorm all the words they already know in English.

Secondly, we should try to create an English speaking environment in the classroom. In order to do so, the following displays can help to create an interesting and motivating environment:

Posters of Britain, USA or other English-speaking countries.

Pictures of famous English-speaking people.

Photographs of British or American cities, typical houses...

English signs.

Students works.

A book corner.

Thirdly, we should try to make lessons enjoyable. In order to do so we can:

Choose topics close to students interests and lives.

Design motivating activities, which are success-orientated, familiar and varied.

Add variety to the learning situations using different techniques.

Introduce students choice whenever possible.

Use varied materials.

Let students personalise the tasks.

Lastly, we should know how to attend to diversity. In order to do so, several measures can be taken: when it is necessary, tasks must be graded so that students work on the same basic activity but with different levels of difficulty. Also when questions are asked, they will be adapted to students level of competence. In this sense, stronger students may be asked difficult questions, while weaker pupils will be given several options to choose from. Moreover in order to deal with different learning speeds, fast finishers can check their own work, read or play language games while the rest of students finish. Finally, working in pairs and groups will contribute to encourage cooperation and socialization.

Conclusion

To conclude, we would like to remark that, as proven in this topic, the learner-centred approach puts the emphasis on the active role of the students and their involvement in the learning process. For this purpose, we must take into account different factors such as their age, learning styles, motivation and attitudes since in this way, students will be more motivated and we will ensure their participation in the activities

Along this topic we have dealt with the learner-centred approach. To do so, we have first analysed its theoretical foundations and the way to apply it to the FL classroom. Then, we have examined the main factors that influence FLL as well as the identification of motivation and attitude of our students towards English. Finally, we have established some practical applications.

In order to develop this topic, the following bibliography has been used:

BREWSTER, J. et al. (2003): The Primary English Teachers Guide. Penguin English.

HARMER, J. (2003): The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman.

LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. (2003): Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford University Press.

VARELA, R. et al. (2003): All About Teaching English. Centro de Estudios Ramn Areces.