THE CONCEPTUAL BASIS OF SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING

HUMANISTIC EDUCATION AND EXPERIENTAL LEARNING COMPETING CONCEPTS OF EDUCATION The general debate over how education is to be conceptualized in general, and the question of whether learning is a matter of mastering a body of content "received" from former generations, or the development of skills and attitudes in particular, is reflected in a great deal of contemporary thinking in a second language teaching and learning. I HUMANISM AND EXPERIENTAL PSYCHOLOGY To my mind, the most to articulate examination of humanism and experiential learning and relation to language education is provided by Kohonen (1992), who argues that the experiential model offers, potential for a learning atmosphere of shared partnership, a common purpose, and a joint management of learning (p.31). He provides contrast between traditional and experimental models of education in ten key dimensions. I INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE LEARNING Deductive leaning is a process of adding to our knowledge by working from principles to examples. Inductive learning is as a way of adding to our knowledge of the words. In induction, one works from examples to principles, rules, and generalizations. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) I RECONCEPTUALIZING LANGUAGE Language was generally seen as a system of rules, and the task for language learners, was to internalize these rules by whatever means were at their disposal (informal contexts, at the disposal of the teacher or teaching institution). I TAILORING COURSES TO LEARNERS The notion that different learners have different communicative requirements, and that these ought to be reflected, both in the content of the curriculum (what is taught) and learning processes (how it is taught), was also reinforced by an ideological shift in focus away from the teacher and the textbook and toward the leaner.

LEARNER-CENTERED EDUCATION DEFINING LEARNER-CENTEREDNESS The concept of learner-centered education has been controversial, mainly because it is susceptible to multiple interpretations. Some teachers react negatively to the concept, because they feel that, implicit in the nation, is a devaluing of their own professional roles. I LEARNER INVOLVEMENT IN THE LEARNING PROCESS

At this point, it is necessary to turn from the concept of learner-centeredness to the closely related concept of learning-centeredness. A learning-centered classroom is designed to enable the learner to make critical pedagogical decisions by systematically training them in the skills they need to make such decision. Such a classroom is constituted with complementary aims. Lerner-centeredness is therefore not an all-or-nothing concept. It is relative matter. It is also not the case that a learner-centered classroom is one in which the teacher hands over power, responsibility, and control to the students from they one. I LEARNER-CENTEREDNESS: ANOTHER DIMENSION There is one other sense in which the tern learner-centered is often used. This is when it refers to classroom, not in which learners are involved in making choices about what and how to learn but in which learners are actively involved in the learning process, classroom in which the focus is on the learner in the sense in which they do all the work. I PRINCIPLES OF ADULT LEARNING Brundage and Macheacher (1980), who have carried out extensive research into adult learning. o Adults who value their own experience as a resource for further learning or whose experience is valued by others are better learners. o The learner reacts to all experience as he/she perceives it, not as the teacher present it o Adults do not learn when over stimulated or when experiencing extreme stress or anxiety. NEGOTIATED CURRICULA There was a requirement of all students to follow scientific methodology, that is, form an hypothesis, test it out and present the findings in terms of the original hypothesis. A student workbook was developed by the cluster team to support this unit of work, and included several self assessment/reflection tools, as well as student and teacher guidelines. I LEARNER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LEARNING PROCESS I MOVING LEARNERS ALONG THE NEGOTIATION CONTINUUM This is particularly true of steps 4-9, which focus on learning process, and can be introduced alongside steps 1-3, which are more content oriented. o Steps 1: make instruction goals clear to learners o Step 2: allow learners to create their own goals o Step 3: encourage learners to use their second language outside the classroom o Steps 4: raise awareness of learning process o Steps 5: help learners identify their own proffered and strategist o Steps 6: encourage learner choice o Steps 7: allow learners to generate their own tasks o Steps 8: encourage learners to become teachers o Steps 9: encourage learners to researchers TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING Task-based learning is the type of classroom organization needed to support a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. Savoie and Hughes (1994), writing about a

process that they used to design a problem-based learning experience for their students, describe the following actions for creating such a process: Identify a problem suitable for the students. Connect the problem with the context of the students' world so that it presents authentic opportunities. Organize the subject matter around the problem, not the discipline. Give students responsibility for defining their learning experience and planning to solve he problem. Encourage collaboration by creating learning teams. Expect all students to demonstrate the results of their learning through a product or performance.