students centered approach.

Let your students play the main role, you are the guide!

                                                            Monserrat Angulo Alejandro

In the 18^th century the Illustrated  Model based the teaching- learning process on the teacher (teacher-centered approach). He  was thought to be the only one who had the knowledge and the reason, so the student was the receptor. Student was not able to argue or express disagreement.  In the 19^th century the Revolutionary Model  asked to give the student the liberty to think and express his own ideas, but the teacher remained the main actor. After that, in the 20^th century with the Modernist Model the student was required to apply knowledge to real situations, he must be able to relate theory with practice, it meant that the teacher started to lead the student act in the class and build his own knowledge, even that the teacher still controlled the process.

Nowadays  the Education Reform in Mexico is suggesting the Integrated Skills Model which focuses on competencies development and technology use, to give the student the opportunity to take active part in the modern and globalized world. It demands the teacher to break paradigms and rethink about his teaching way. Students must now be guided through their own learning process until they become autonomous at doing it, they need to experience real situations while l building their own knowledge, they also need to get familiar with technology.

This article will be mainly based on the way teachers should make students participants of building their own knowledge in the class. The first point is related to learner-centered approach nowadays, the second is how the teacher can  make student interact each other and become autonomous, using technology also.

CHAPTER I.-LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH

Due to the modernity and globalization, students  need to be able to think and express their thoughts and interact to  each other, solve problems, innovate; in other words, develop competencies. Now the teacher needs to make his students get involved in a more participative way.

1.1 Definition

Learner-centered approach.- Student autonomy and initiative to learn are accepted and encouraged,  the teacher asks open-ended questions and allows wait time for responses, higher order thinking is encouraged, students are engaged in dialog with the teacher and with each other,  the class uses raw data, primary resources, manipulative, physical and interactive materials. (J & Brooks M. , 1993) Teacher guides learner through expected outcomes using rubrics. ( Carlile et al,2004)[ Insert annex 1 here]

 Diana Laurillard  argues that there are four aspects of the teaching-learning process: a) Discussion - between the teacher and learner; b) interaction - between the learner and some aspect of the world defined by the teacher; c) adaptation - of the world by the teacher and action by the learner; and d) Reflection -on the learner's performance by both teacher and learner.

Piaget said that students must construct their own knowledge  through experience. He thought that the student must be capable of doing new things not simply repeating. Vigotsky adds that teachers should  promote learning contexts in which students play an active role in learning. Roles for the teacher and the student are therefore shifted as a teacher collaborates with his student in order to help him facilitate meaning construction. He suggested that the teacher’s job is to assess the student´s understanding to locate the point in the “zone of proximal development when the student needs the assistance.

1.1.1     Characteristics of LCA

It is focus on both student and instructor;  use typical situations; instructor models students interact with instructor and one other; students work in groups, in pairs or alone depending on the purpose of the activity; students talk without constant instructor monitoring, instructor provides feedback/correction when questions arise; students have some choice of topics; students evaluate their own learning, instructor also evaluates; classroom is often noisy and busy.

1.2 Gradual release towards learner autonomy

Here we can see which are teacher responsibilities and which the student’s ones.[Insert annex 2 here]

CHAPTER II.- INTERACTION FOR AUTHENTIC COMMUNICATION

Competencies Model insists on giving students the chance to use the English language in real situations by making them interact each other. It means that the students is the main actor of the process now, we as teachers should help them scaffold “their building structure in a solid way”, then monitor and assess them.

Jeremy Hammer  says that  teachers need to get  students involved in a participative and interactive way. When planning their class be sure that they have included a variety of dynamics where students can practice and consolidate the topic.

2.1.-Communicative language teaching

The teacher set up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real-life (Galloway,1993) Teacher in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listening more. (Larsen- Freeman, 1986)

2.1.1 Integrated -skill instruction (content-based language instruction and task based)

Content-based instruction is when students practice all the language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in a high integrated  communicative manner while learning content such as science, math,… (oxford, 2001) [Insert annex 3 here]

For beginners, the content often involves basic social and interpersonal communication skills, but past the beginning level, the content can become increasingly academic and complex.

 In task-based instruction, students participate in communicative tasks in English. Tasks are defined as activities that can stand alone as fundamental units and that require comprehending, producing, manipulating, or interacting in authentic language while attention is principally paid to meaning rather than form (Nunan, 1989).

The integrated-skill approach, exposes English language learners to authentic language and challenges them to interact naturally in the language. Moreover, this approach stresses that English is not just an object of academic interest nor merely a key to passing an examination; instead, English becomes a real means of interaction and sharing among people.

2.1.1.1 Tools for activating materials  and tasks  in the English language classroom

 Activation techniques are tools to make materials and task more interactive and more learner focused, encouraging students to take more responsibility for their own learning. Three strategies are: elicitation, gapping and adaptation.

Elicitation: the process of drawing out something, of provoking a response. “Allow students to draw on what they know on existing schemata/scaffolding- and provide for a rich sharing of ideas within a sociocultural context.”  (Huong 2003).  It is also an excellent lead-in to many other activities that exercise critical thinking and inquiry.

Examples:  In extended brainstorming the first step is to elicit responses from students as a group. Students should be encouraged to respond quickly with the first things that come to mind and to call them out to be included together on a map on the board.(Englander, 2002). b) elicitation vocabulary games:  things in a school, emotions, ...)[Insert annex 4 here]

Gapping: The authentic purpose for communication transferring information of bridging the gap, from one person to another. Examples. Riddle schmooze is to exchange information or to chat informally; to come up with a gapped schmooze, one needs to have pieces or ports to complete a communicative act. (when they are given a part and stand up to find others from other classmates.[Insert annex 5 here]  Give a question to memorize and other an answer, then they stand up and in a nosily way find their partners( it also work with definitions. Monster madness.- drawing (shapes) sit back to back. Group presentation, reports and newscasts. Publish shorter articles on a class blog among others.

Adaptation/extension: Extending and adapting are techniques that offer a practical way for teachers to draw on realia and authentic materials to spice up classroom activities. Adapting allows for materials to be drawn from unlimited sources that the students already know and care about (Englander, K. 2002).

2.2 Project work

Project-based learning can enhance your classroom and encourage your teenagers to “grow their own plants!” (  Gardner  ,  1994  ) “it is an authentic instructional model or strategy in which students plan, implement and evaluate projects that have real-world applications beyond the classroom” (Railsback, 2002)

Project work, in its various configurations, shares these features: focuses on content learning rather than on specific language targets, real-world subject matter and topics of interest to students can become central to projects, it is student centered, though the teacher plays a major role in offering support and guidance throughout the process, it promotes cooperative work rather than competitive, students can work on their own, in small groups, or as a class to complete a project, sharing resources, ideas, and expertise along the way, leads to the authentic integration of skills and processing of information from varied sources, mirroring real-life tasks, culminates in an end product (e.g., an oral presentation, a poster session, a bulletin board display, a report, or a stage performance) that can be shared with others, giving the project a real purpose. The value of the project, however, lies not just in the final product but in the process of working towards the end point. Thus, project work has both a process and product orientation, and provides students with opportunities to focus on fluency and accuracy at different project-work stages.[ Insert annex 6 here]

2.3.- Use technology in the class

Nowadays there are dozens of resources that we can use for making the class interesting. Resource packs from text books,  flash cards, CDs, videos, movies, Tv programs, articles, games (bingo, memory, etc), web sites, e-mails, facebook, blogs, cell phone recorders, etc. Try to make them part of your lesson plans, students love using technology, recording conversations, doing informal research by using cellphone, passing information by Bluetooth, designing web sites, using the Facebook as an out class resource, filming oral exams and so on.

As a conclusion teacher should be worried about planning his lesson by integrating skills, give his students more time for interacting , make them think and use the language in real situations, use TIC, let them make projects, for keeping students both, motivated and acquiring the language in a more dynamic and natural way.

REFERENCES

Modelo Educativo Nacional de Educación COPARMEX

Harmer Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman, London, 1983.

Laurillard, D. M.,Rethinking University Teaching: A Framework for the Effective Use of Educational Technology. Routledge, London, 1993.

Brooks  J & Brooks M, In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivism Classroom, Alexandria, 1993.

Carlie O., A. Jordan, and A. Stak , Learning by design: Learning Theory for the Designer of Multimedia Educational Material, 2004.

Fisher D. and N. Frey, Better Learning Through Structured Teaching, Alexandria, Virginia, 2008.

Galloway  A., Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction and Sample Activities, Center for Applied Linguistics, 1993.

Mohan, B., 1986, Language and Content, Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, Oxford, 2001.

Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Larsen-Freeman, D., Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Oxford University Press, 1986.

Englander K., Real-life problem solving: A collaborative learning activity, 2002.

Huong  L. P. H., The mediational role of language teachers in sociocultural theory, 2003.

Brinton, D., M. Snow, and M. Wesche, Content-based second language instruction. New York: Newbury House, 1989

Carter, G., and H. Thomas, "Dear Brown Eyes": Experiential learning in a project orientated approach, 1986.

Fried-Booth D, Project work with advanced classes, Project work. New York: Oxford University Press,1986.

Grabe, W., and F. Stoller.  Content-based instruction: Research foundations. In The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating language and content. eds. M. Snow and D. Brinton. White Plains, New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1997.

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