We teachers are afraid of student centered learning!

What is student-centered learning method?

Many second language teachers are familiar with the term student-centered Learning (SCL), also known as Learner Centred Teaching, Active Learning, person-centered Learning. When we talk about student-centered Learning, we have to touch on related elements to it such as Students and teachers as co-learners, student-student interaction, learner autonomy, curricular integration, respect for diversity, thinking skills, and alternative assessments.

What is Student Centred Learning?

According to Felder and Brent ( 1996 , p. 43) defined SCL as “a broad teaching approach that includes substituting active learning for lectures, holding students responsible for their learning, and using self-paced and/or cooperative (team-based) learning.” SCL shifts the focus of instruction from teachers to students and prepares students to be lifelong learners, i.e., people with the ability and desire to continue learning inside and outside of formal education.

Student Centred Learning and Four Perspectives on education

These four perspectives (Progressivism, Humanistic Psychology, Constructivism, and Socio-Cultural Theory) have a major impact on SCL including the ten elements we mentioned above.

1 Progressive education:

Dewey ( 1929 ) was a renowned name in the field of Progressive Learning which emphasizes learning by doing, interacting with the worlds in which students live in the present day, cooperating with classmates and with others beyond the classroom, and using learning to improve the lives of others. Classical, traditional knowledge is valued by Progressivism, but it is valued for what it offers for use in enjoying and improving the world today, not as knowledge for the sake of grades or exams.

2 Humanistic Psychology

It can be understood by seeing what motivates students. Does what motivate them extrinsic or intrinsic? Extrinsic will be like outside motivators like national exams or scores to acquire to pass a level of sort. Intrinsic is what motivates a person from the inside. The student wants to understand and learn for his or her own motives.

3 Constructivist Theory

(Piaget 1954 ) Constructivism derives its name from the belief that learners internally construct their own knowledge, rather than passively receiving knowledge which is poured into learners by external agents, such as teachers and course materials. The process of knowledge construction is an active one based on learners taking information from teachers, course materials, the internet, and other sources and making it their own, by such means as explaining, debating, role-playing, creating visuals, comparing, and connecting.

4 Socio-Cultural Theory

(Vygotsky 1978 ), a fourth perspective that infl uences SCL. A key concept in Socio-Cultural Theory is scaffolding, i.e., the learning students gain via interaction with teachers, peers, and others. However, not all types of interaction are of equal value. A teacher who shares answers of exercises neither does help him/her nor the receivers of the answers. Instead, providers and receivers of help only benefit when they engage in forms of higher-order thinking, such as explanations.

Linking Ten Elements of Student Centred Learning with Second Language

1 Students and Teachers as Co-learners

Socrates once said “To know is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.”

There are many reasons and ways to be co-learners with their stu[1]dents. One way is for both teachers and students to learn and share about electronic resources and tools. For example, new websites and apps for language learners seem to appear every week. A second way for us to be co-learners with our students is for us to say to students, “I’d like to know more about ________ . Would any of you like to investigate it with me? Afterward, we can share what we learn with the rest of the class.” While it seems easy to say that, for many teachers, it can be difficult for teachers to swallow their pride and admit to students that teachers do not know everything.

2 Student-Student Interaction

This offers a prime means of putting students at the centre of learning activities. When students interact with peers, they become the active ones, while teachers talk much less, acting instead as guides on the side by monitoring student-student interaction and intervening to praise, correct, question, share and motivate. Speaking less can be a major adjustment for many teachers, because teachers are accustomed to teacher-centered instruction, beginning from when they were students themselves (Oleson and Hora 2014 ).

One frequent piece of advice suggests that teachers coach their students in the use of collaborative skills, i.e., skills that enable groups to func[1]tion well, e.g., skills such as praising others, asking for reasons and offering suggestions. Second language students often lack the language involved in utilizing collaborative skills. For instance, to encourage students to praise their group mates, teachers might want to pre-teach praising gambits, such as “I like the way you ________” and “You are a good group mate because you _________.”

3 Learner Autonomy

The previously discussed SCL element, student-student Interaction, encourages students to be more independent of their teachers, as students form support networks with peers. These support networks prepare students for Learner Autonomy which Benson defined as “a capacity to control important aspects of one’s learning” ( 2013 , p. 852). “Control” is the key concept here. As part of SCL, students, with guidance from family, teachers, peers, and others, take increasingly greater control of their own learning, in preparation for becoming lifelong learners. Internet resources, such as online dictionaries, facilitate learner autonomy. However, many students lack the skill to wisely exercise control of their own learning.

Furthermore, many students prefer to avoid the responsibility that accompanies learner autonomy. Thus, it may be best to introduce autonomy in a gradual manner. For instance, students can be given choices in areas such as sub-topics to study, what extensive listening or extensive reading materials to use, which post-listening or post-reading activities to do, what name to give to their group, which extra question to ask their partner or who the beneficiaries of their service-learning (Billig and Waterman 2014 ) activity should be. [Note: service-learning activities involve students (perhaps along with their teachers) in providing a service to others while at the same time, students learn knowledge and skills in line with their curriculum. An example of a service-learning project might be students reading about the plight of abandoned pets before visiting a shelter for such animals and spending time with the animals there].

4 Focus on Meaning

How can students exercise the SCL element of Learning Autonomy when they do not understand why they are learning, what they are learning, or why the content is being taught in one particular way? Students’ frequent lack of understanding of the big picture of their learning is why the SCL element of Focus on Meaning is important. Focus on Meaning becomes especially important for second language students who, unlike students in first language contexts, face the additional challenge of using a second language as they attempt to understand what is taking place.

We learned a simple technique to promote Focus on Meaning from their former colleague Stephen Hall who now heads second language instruction at Sunway University in Malaysia. At the beginning of each lesson, Stephen writes or projects the lesson’s agenda, consisting of the what and the how of his lesson planning. Next, Stephen explains this agenda to students and seeks their input. As each point on the agenda is tentatively completed, Stephen gives that point a tick mark. Near the end of the lesson, this agenda can serve as a tool to review the lesson. Nowadays, much course material, including syllabi, is made available to students online.

5 Curricular Integration

 The next element of SCL, Curricular Integration, links closely to one of SCL’s roots, Progressivism. The Progressivists argue for strong ties between the curriculum and the wider world. For example, language instruction can follow a content based approach, with students listening, speaking, reading and writing on topics from their future or current studies, their future careers, or global issues, such as the use of non-human animals for humans’ entertainment, clothing, or food. Additionally, Curricular Integration fits with Focus on Meaning, because the latter helps students grasp why they study what they do.

6 Diversity

The SCL element of Diversity becomes important because every class of students consists of a diverse group of individuals. These differences can be seen in such forms as students’ races, countries of origin, religion, sex, social class, personality, interests, achievement level, and intelligence profile.

SCL involves teachers being aware of and appreciating this diversity among students so that all students have equal opportunities to learn and to enjoy their education. Furthermore, teachers can develop this diversity as a means of broadening and deepening students’ learning experiences.

One means of deploying the SCL element of Diversity involves utilizing the understanding gained from Multiple Intelligences Theory (Gardner 1993 ), which flows from the Constructivist theory. By using tasks that call upon many different intelligences, i.e., different abilities and interests, some aspects of those tasks will fit the ways that different students enjoy learning and perform well.

For example, a writing task can also involve creating an image or video to accompany the writing or posting their writing on social media. In this way, different students can be stars of their groups, not just those students who write relatively well. Furthermore, students may come to better appreciate the advantages of working with people different from themselves. The internet offers many tools for mobilizing different intelligences, e.g., for visual/spatial intelligence, the internet offers a wide range of images and videos; for musical/rhythmic intelligence, songs, lyrics, and scores are readily available online; and for verbal/linguistic intelligence, students and teachers can access a wide range of word puzzles, as well as tools for creating their own puzzles.

7 Thinking Skills

SCL offers students more responsibility for managing their own learning and the learning of peers and teachers. In order to shoulder that responsibility, students need to be able to do more than follow teachers’ orders. Students need to be able to think for themselves and to be able to deal with new situations. Thus, students need to develop their thinking skills. A shortlist of these skills includes explaining, comparing, sequencing, categorizing, applying, creating, and evaluating. One technique for facilitating students’ development of thinking skills is Exchange- A- Question. Here, instead of students waiting for teachers to provide questions for learning, as in teacher-centered learning, students, guided by their teachers, write their own questions.

Step 1 Teachers explain the types of questions students might write, such as questions that ask for explanations or comparisons. Teachers help students understand the characteristics of such questions.

Step 2 Students work alone to write one or more questions. They also write answers for their own questions. Students answering their own questions make it more likely that students will write doable questions, i.e., questions that peers can answer.

Step 3 Students exchange questions with a partner, answer each others’ questions and then compare answers. Critical thinking skills can be fostered using a technique called Switching (McLaughlin and DeVoogd 2004 ). Switching, such as gender switch, setting switch, language switch and emotion switch, enables students to deepen their learning by examining different perspectives. For instance, after reading a short story, students can be asked questions such as: Would the story have ended differently if the main characters were women? (gender switch); If the story took place in a different country, would the characters come up with a different solution to their problem? (setting switch); If the heroes were more cheerful, would this change the tone of the story? (emotion switch).

8 Alternative Assessment

Assessment plays an important role in SCL, because students need frequent infor[1]mation in order to monitor their own and their peers’ learning. Traditionally, teach[1]ers have been the only ones assessing students. Alternative assessment welcomes students to join in assessing the processes and products of learning, as well as the affective side of learning, such as students’ motivations, attitudes, and self-esteem as learners. Other terms that are similar to alternative assessment are assessment for learning, authentic assessment, holistic assessment, and integrative assessment. One way to implement authentic assessment involves the use of the 3-2-1 technique. 3-2-1 has many variations. Below is one variation; teachers and students can develop their own.

3 At some point in a lesson, usually but not necessarily near the end of the lesson, each pair of students write a total of three points (at least one point from each student) they have learned so far. This step encourages students to review, check, and consolidate their learning.

2 The pair members each ask two questions. These questions can be “I do not understand” questions or “I want to know more” questions. This step highlights that learning is never complete.

1 The pair members each think of one way that they can use one of the points that they have learned. This step links to the Focus on Meaning element of SCL, as the step aids students’ understanding of why they learn what they learn.

9 Learning Climate

The SCL element of Learning Climate recognizes the affective side of learning. This follows from the work on human needs by Maslow ( 1971 ) and other Humanist psychologists. Maslow posited that in order for people to develop toward their potential, certain needs must be met. In the case of second language students’ learning environment, these needs include feeling safe to communicate in a second language, being part of a learning community in which everyone is supported, feeling respected by others, and having the opportunity to develop their unique selves. Many strategies exist for building conducive learning climates.

One strategy involves teachers and students looking for the positive. For example, when teachers and students give feedback on student writing, instead of only highlighting errors, they can also point out areas of excellence in students’ writing. This attention to the positive not only provides support and shows respect but also encourages students to continue doing what they do well, while at the same time, they work to improve those areas where they have yet to achieve excellence.

9 Learning Climate

 The next element of SCL, Curricular Integration, links closely to one of SCL’s roots, Progressivism. The Progressivists argue for strong ties between the curriculum and the wider world. For example, language instruction can follow a content based approach, with students listening, speaking, reading and writing on topics from their future or current studies, their future careers, or global issues, such as the use of non-human animals for humans’ entertainment, clothing, or food. Additionally, Curricular Integration fi ts with Focus on Meaning, because the latter helps students grasp why they study what they do.

10 Motivation

Emphasis on the affective side of learning also links to the SCL element of Motivation. Whereas teacher-centered learning focuses on extrinsic motivation, i.e., motivation that comes from teachers and others outside of students, SCL seeks to build intrinsic motivation, i.e., motivation that comes from within students, with students doing tasks not only as a means to an end but also for the enjoyment of the tasks themselves. Of course, as with most constructs in education, overlap exists, e.g., students may do tasks for both extrinsic and intrinsic reasons (Lepper et al. 2005 ).

One means of building students’ intrinsic motivation connects to the first SCL element discussed in this chapter: Students and Teachers as Co-Learners. Just as in an SCL environment, students are not the only ones who learn and teachers are not the only ones who teach, in SCL, teachers are not the only ones who motivate others. Students should appreciate that they can motivate their teachers. For instance, when students show interest in a task or topic, it becomes easier for teachers to become more interested. In other words, in keeping with a key message of SCL, students are powerful; students have control. When students engage with learning, that energy motivates peers and teachers.

Conclusion

To conclude, SCL forms just one part of a larger paradigm shift (Jacobs and Farrell 2001 ). This shift involves greater power fl owing to those who have tradition[1]ally been near the bottom of hierarchies. Traditionally, teachers have stood atop the classroom hierarchy. However, outside the classroom, in the school, principals and other administrators have been the powerful ones; they appear to control teachers in ways similar to those via which teachers appear to control students in classrooms. Thus, hand in hand with students taking on a greater role in controlling their own learning, this paradigm also calls for teachers taking on a greater role in shaping what happens in the school.

SCL talks about students being given more power over their own learning, but in the final analysis, when it comes to learning, students have always been and will always be the powerful ones. Constructivism tells us that teachers cannot pour knowledge into students’ heads; students must construct that knowledge for themselves. Similarly, teachers cannot make students want to learn, regardless of how many tricks teachers use to motivate their students. The essential point is this: learning is a student-centered process. SCL merely recognizes this reality and seeks to teach with that reality in mind.

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