General Information about Learner-Centered Activities.

    The term “ learner - centered” has been applied to many areas of language learning and teaching. We talk about a learner - centered curriculum, learner - centered methodology and learner - centered activities. In this article  will be addressing issues associated with the latter: learner - centered activities. The aim of this article is not to discuss the merits of learner - centered activities, with the hope of convincing teachers of their advantages.Given the attention that learner – centered learning has received, most teachers should be aware, if not convinced, of the positive effects such an approach can have on learning. This article, instead, will focus on a way of defining learner – centered activities. The objective will be provide an alternative two – dimensioned definition of learner – centered activities. The two criteria used in the definition do not constitute new ways of describing learner - centered activities. It simply aims to show that enlarging the definition of learner - centered activities can highlight avenues for application in the classroom. I hope that you will see that the distinction is a useful one to make and that it opens up a new way of looking at learner - centered activities.

    For the first criterion I shall use the term learner - focused activities. This term will be used to relate to activities which focus on the learners needs, interests, background, etc. The second term  shall use is  learner - prepared activities. This term will be used to refer to activities which have been prepared by the learners. This is to say that the learners have had a hand in finding, choosing or  creating the materials which provide the input and/or  output for the activity. We shall use the term learner -

centered refer to activities of these types in general, which could be learner – focused and/or learner – prepared but where no precision    required. By redefining the definition of learner – centered activities, perhaps we might gain a better understanding of what learner – centered activities are and how they can be used in the classroom. And what kinds of activities should be given to the learners? Here some examples of activities that can be done according to the four language skills.

1) Speaking

In speaking class, to get the learner - centeredness is for  example by getting the students interact with their friends as much as possible during the class rather than only by listening and imitating the instructor.

The role of the instructor here is the facilitator, guide, and evaluator of the process. The learners should be given a bigger portion on practicing language through various speaking activities like:

· information gap 

· describing a thing/a person/a place

· reporting something (news, unusual occurrence )

· surveying friends about an issue in the society

· interviewing friends

· practicing public speaking ( MC, news, presenter, etc.)

For example let the students engage with a topic (the topic should be relevant with the competency  that wants to be achieved in the meeting ),

share and discuss the topic with their friends and finally present their opinion in the classroom.

2) Listening

The listening activities can be linked with the Speaking activities. The thing that should be emphasized here is that the learner should be given bigger opportunity in practicing listening comprehension through many listening resources. The instructor can ask the students to get their own listening resources by listening to the English News Service from the

radio or television, you tube, or listening to English songs, and movies.

In the end of any listening activities the instructor should give assessmen activities to:

· examine the students comprehension of the listening material

· make the students recognize English sounds

· make them aware of slang, and pronunciation matters.

3) Writing

In writing classroom, the students will have the chance to enhance their  writing ability through various writing exercises. The instructor is the guide and feedback provider during the writing process.

Peer-editing, cooperative writing, diary writing, are some of the method that can be used in the classroom.Besides, they should be introduced too to some examples of academic writing, for example paper and thesis.

4) Reading

In reading both the instructor and the students can explore the reading material resources. The students can freely choose their own reading

sources as long as it still has relation with the topic that is being discussed. The instructor can freely give instruction on assessing the students reading comprehension for example:

- skimming, scanning skill

- reading to find main idea and specific information

- answering some questions about the reading comprehension

- summarizing an article

- retelling an article (spoken/written )

- vocabulary exercises.

The most important thing in implementing the learner- centered approach is that the teachers should minimize their instructing role in the classroom. They should avoid explaining too much or dominating the classroom. The students should be given the chance to learn in their own way [8].

 

Student-centered learning is based on the constructivist theories of education championed by Swiss clinical psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget observed that children cognitively construct knowledge and meaning through new experiences and interactions, as opposed to rote memorization.

 

There are several different ways that an educator can attempt a more student-centered approach. Here are a couple of strategies that are commonly confused with student-centered learning:

· Personalized learning is a student specialized approach where the student’s interests and culture are taken into consideration and incorporated into their education. While this may certainly engage the student in the learning process, it is just one component of a fully student-centered approach.

· Project based learning is yet another engaging strategy that is sometimes equated with student-centered learning. While this encourages students to develop an array of skills that can be applied anytime/ anywhere, this is not a completely student-centered approach. Though, any student-centered program will certainly incorporate the generalization of skills that project based learning promotes.

Although they are a step in the right direction, both of these approaches may still be firmly rooted in a teacher-centered model if they grant full oversight of the learning process to the educator, undermining the student’s ability to identify:

1. What they want to learn

2. How they are going to learn

3. How they are going to track their progress

4. How they can determine their success and improve, as needed.

This type of learning is student directed and owned, meaning the student has a stake in their education alongside parents and educators. True student-centered learning must also be determined by success criteria, or the concrete elements that should be included in their work at each step. The instructor needs to clearly articulate the criteria of success when giving an assignment to students. This ensures that students can identify, understand, and track the quality of their work with the support of their educational community. This process of formative assessment allows the student to essentially ‘grade’ themselves and discover exactly what to do to improve their work. If you question whether or not an educational program is truly student-centered, consult this brief litmus test of questions to ask, provided by The Core Collaborative. We’ve found these questions useful to consider when we customize each of our student’s unique programs at the Literacy and Language Center.

 

 

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