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If language is to be successful, the learner’s needs, not the grammar or vocabulary or functions, must form the core of the curriculum and teaching. Learners’ needs vary widely. Take, for instance, learning styles. At least twenty different dimensions of learning styles have been identified. Some people prefer to learn by watching , listening and reflecting on their observations. Others are more comfortable learning by using abstract conceptualization, analyzing, and then acting on an intellectual understanding of the situation. Others learn best by doing and by active experimentation, while still others learn from feelings and specific interpersonal experiences.
What this means is the teachers must know the preferences of each student in the class. Ask students if they like to learn through activities, through watching and listening, through memorizing rules, or through picturing in their mind and feeling. Ask them if they learn new information by listening to lectures, by watching TV, by talking with friends or by reading in their native language. Ask them if they like to work alone or with others.
There is an abundance of Learning Styles Inventory information available for teachers to draw from in texts or on the internet. You will see that a variety of learning styles begin to emerge in your classrooms. Therefore a variety of strategies must be built into lessons so that all learners can draw on their preferred learning styles. Research has shown that teachers tend to teach from and to their own learning styles. BE AWARE OF THIS and try to capture the needs of the class.
If knowing about learning styles is important, of equal importance is why students have come to class. What do they need to understand, speak, read, or write more English to do? Is it to talk to their child’s teacher, talk on the telephone, use money, or buy medicine? Or is it to take the bus, shop for clothes, get a job, or get further schooling? Or is it to read the newspaper, read bills or write a check, or fill out an application? A quick class survey should get you this information.
You’ll find that most of the standards and competencies from the State of Florida Adult ESOL curriculum will be included when you get the results of any student survey. Those which are not can be added. But remember that students must be tested by CASAS or BEST Plus on the subject matter that you teach in class. Somehow a balance needs to be reached between the individual students’ needs and those survival skills which meet federal and state requirements and which are reflected on the standardized testing instruments.
In a learner-centered class, the teacher creates a supportive environment in which learners can take initiative in choosing what and how they want to learn. The teacher does not give up control of the classroom, but rather structures and orders the learning process, guiding and giving feedback to learners. In a traditional teacher-centered classroom where the teacher makes all the decisions, learners are sometimes stifled. At the same time, too much freedom given to learners, especially those from cultures where the teacher is the sole and absolute classroom authority, may cause learners to feel that the teacher has abandoned them. The teacher must determine the right mix of license and guidance. The following are characteristics of learner-centered classrooms:
- What happens in the language classroom is a negotiated
process between learners and the teacher. The
content and sequence of the curriculum is seen
as a starting point for classroom interaction and for
learner generation of his or her own learning materials.
The language presented and practiced in a good adult English
as a Second Language (ESL) text is usually based on situations
and contexts that language minority adults have in common.
Unique vocabulary and phrases can then be added to the
curriculum to fulfill the communication needs of particular
groups of adult ESOL students. The participatory process
means that teachers must ask the learners what they think
and what they want to learn and do.
- Problem solving occupies a good portion
of any adult's life. Therefore, it is not surprising that
problem-solving activities are a necessary part of learner-centered
curricula. Problem-solving exercises should be prominent
in any classroom. Learners can be asked what they would
say or do in a particular situation, or about their own
experiences in circumstances similar to those presented
by the teacher. Learners can also be asked to present
the pro's and con's of a situation, to negotiate, to persuade,
or to generate problem-solving and simulation activities
from their own lives. By presenting and solving problems
in the classroom, learners become confident in their ability
to use language to solve problems and to take action in
the larger social sphere.
- The traditional roles of the teacher
as planner of content, sole deliverer of instruction,
controller of the classroom, and evaluator of achievement
change dramatically in a learner-centered classroom. When
the classroom atmosphere is collaborative, the teacher
becomes facilitator, moderator, group leader, coach, manager
of processes and procedures, giver of feedback, and partner
in learning. This is true whether the teacher has planned
a whole-class, small-group, paired, or individual activity.
It is also true whether the teacher has adopted a communicative,
natural or whole language approach to the learning process.
- In managing communicative situations
in a learner-centered environment, teachers set the stage
for learners to experiment with language, negotiate meaning,
make mistakes, and monitor and evaluate their own language
learning progress. Language is essentially a social function
acquired through interaction with others in one-to-one
and group situations. Learners process meaningful discourse
and produce language in response to other human beings.
The teacher is responsible for establishing the supportive
environment in which this can happen. This does not mean
that the teacher never corrects errors; it means that
the teacher knows when and how to deal with error correction
and can help learners understand when errors will interfere
with effective, comprehensible communication.
Various types of exercises and activities can be used in a learner-centered environment. These include question and answer, matching, identification, interview, fill-in, labeling, and alphabetizing; using charts and graphs; doing a Total Physical Response (TPR) activity; playing games such as Concentration and Twenty Questions; creating role-plays and simulations; developing a Language Experience Approach (LEA) story; or writing a dialogue journal.
Excerpts from Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating Workplace ESL Programs, Allene Guss Grognet, Center for Applied Linguistics, June 1996. Revisions by Allene Guss Grognet for Teaching Adult ESOL: An Online Course, May 2007.
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