Introduction
Classrooms are exceptionally busy places since innumerable events in classrooms take place when teachers ask children questions, new concepts are explained, pupils talk to each other, some of those who misbehave are reprimanded, and others are ignored. At the turn of the century, the academic society is currently challenged with promoting learner-centered classroom environment, thus revolutionizing the traditional teacher-centered teaching approach. According to Brown (2003) the shift of perspective when it comes to teaching has been geared towards meeting the needs of the students and improving their academic performances. Moreover, issues on school violence, different student needs, diverse student populations, educational renewal programs and the impact of the advances in technology in the academe are factors in initiating change in teaching (Brown, 2003).
According to Wang, Haertel and Walberg (1994) classroom management tops a list of twenty-eight categories that most influence learning. Problems occur when there is an evident conflict between the teaching styles of the faculty members and the learner styles of the students (Brown, 2003). In effect, there is a need to harmonize the teaching approaches of teachers and the learning styles of the students for better classroom performance. At present, promoting learner-centered classroom environment is a popular approach among educational institutions in order to increase the academic performances of the students (Brown, 2003). However, different issues might be considered when it comes to promoting the learner-centered approach in classes where the students are second language learners.
Hence, this paper shall discuss the problems that teachers encounter in promoting a learner-centered classroom environment by reviewing published books and journal articles in the hope of providing enlightenment to the members of the academic society. More specifically, the discussion focuses on the learning issues present among language learners and the function of the learner-centered teaching approach to the students’ performances. Discussions likewise include the concepts of the learner-centered and teacher-centered approaches, characteristics and problems of language learners, and the problems encountered by teachers of second languages in promoting the learner-centered teaching approach.
The Learner-Centered Teaching Approach vs. the Teacher-Centered Approach
The learner-centered approach is a model designed to provide solutions to issues on meeting diverse student needs. According to Altan and Trombly (2001) the learner-centeredness model could offset the challenges in the education sector due to its feasible methods of attending to the diverse characteristics and needs of the students at present. The learner-centered approach is known for placing students at the center of the classroom to better examine their learning needs, strategies and styles for their increased classroom performance. Students in learner-centered classrooms arte normally engaged in small group activities to accomplish a school tasks and projects. Such approach highlights the need for extensive planning and task-specific classroom management to meet the individual needs of the students (Altan & trombly, 2001). There are two essential factors identified by Mccombs and Whisler (1997) for a learner-centered approach to classroom management and teaching. These include the (1) characteristics of the learners, and (2) the teaching practices.
The characteristics of the learners are examined in detail particularly those students who are considered as low-performers in class. According to McCombs (1997) the characteristics of the learner include consideration on his or her heredity, experiences, perspectives, background, talents, interests, capacities, and needs as foundations and factors in creating positive learning contexts. The learner-centered approach likewise takes into account the cultural factors that may influence the ability and susceptibility of the students to learn, thus focusing on how individual students learn (Singham, 1998; McCombs & Whisler, 1997). Furthermore, Milambiling (2001) highlighted the context-sensitivity of the learner-centered education since the existing culture in a particular classroom environment greatly identifies the content and methods that will be most appropriate to use. Milambiling (2001) believed that curricula should address the culture of the learner in a context of his or her learning environment.
On the other hand, the teacher-centered approach is characterized with knowledge transmission as the primary teaching style. According to McDonald (2002), teachers are highly dependent on the abilities, skills, and efforts of the students in which student achievement is the vanguard of the curriculum. Since such curriculum is accountable to specific education standards, teachers most often than not tend to sacrifice the needs of the students to adhere to the curriculum standards (McDonald, 2002). Berliner (in Scherer, 2001) believed that teachers need to study and compare each other’s lessons as well as visit classes to come up with case studies focusing on low-performing students in order to improve the quality of education.
Teachers in the teacher-centered learning environment tend to focus on the content of the curricula rather than the ability of the students to process the lessons because their relationships with the students are merely affixed in the intellectual discussion of very limited educational materials (Brown, 2001). As what McDonald (2002) further elaborated, teaches need to have the capacity to understand the specific needs as well as learning capabilities of the students in their classes in order to come up with ways to provide the most suitable teaching approach. Moreover, Blackwell, Futrell and Imig (2003) highlighted the need for the government and the education administration to avoid the utilitarian teaching approach in order to support absorption and acquisition of knowledge among the students.
To put it clearly, both the learner and the teacher-centered approaches highlight the important role of the student to make learning possible. However, the teacher-approach depends on the teacher’s control for learning which is grounded on the teacher’s knowledge thus placing secondary emphasis on understanding the information processing of the students. The learner-centered approach, on the other hand, recognize the responsibility of the teachers to know the information processing capability of the students to come up with ways to best teach them through positive learning connection in a the classroom environment, thus placing the obligation of learning to the students.
Second Language Learners
According the US Department of Education (1992) American schools and classrooms are inhabited with more than 2.6 million children categorized and characterized as limited-English proficient. The National Clearninghouse on Bilingual Education (1995) further indicated that 66% of these children are in the elementary grades, 18% are in middle school and 14% in high school in which majority (75%) speak Spanish at home while the remaining 25% speak Vietnamese, Hmong, Cantonese, Cambodian, and Korean, and a number of Native American languages. Moreover, it was found out that despite the fact that the large density of these students are in California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, a significant number of second language learners likewise live in most of the states of US (Henderson, 1994).
Usually, the programs serving English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students in public schools particularly in America include (a) immersion, (b) submersion, and (c) sheltered instruction. Occasionally, bilingual education programs are an option in which general education teachers are responsible for teaching limited English proficient (LEP) students in their classrooms on a daily basis (Perez, 2000). According to Toohey (2003) school districts most of the time assigns language learners students to the regular English class in order to help them learn the language easier. However, language learners become subject to identity classifications such as ‘advanced learners’, ‘intermediate learners’ and ‘beginning learners’ making language learner students feel their lack of linguistic competence. The general decrease in confidence among language learners make them vulnerable and at risk to cultural subordination which most of the time result to lesser active and powerful roles in oral participation and practices (Toohey, 2003).
According to recent U.S. census reports, while the population of the United States increased by 10%, the population speaking languages other than English at home increased at the rate of 38%. Furthermore, one in six of all youth in the United States, ages 14 to 19, either speaks a language other than English at home, was born in a foreign country, or both (Waggoner, 1999). In this light, adhering to the principles of the learner-centered approach among students of second language appears to be the most appropriate method to encourage literacy and excellent classroom performances. Through the learner-centered teaching approach, each individual language learner student is given equal attention when it comes to their capability to process and learn the language that they are not very familiar with.
Problems in Implementing Learner-Centered Approach among Second Language Learners
According to Bredekamp and Copple (1997) learning among second language learners is ideal in a non-threatening, joyful environment that promotes interaction through hands-on activities that interests the students and enhances their background knowledge to help facilitate a learner-centered environment for more effective learning (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997).For the record, Giambo and Szecsi (2004) indicated that ESOL children involved in art activities learn the colors, shapes, names of tools, and verbs in which through their drawings, children can express feelings and thoughts for which they do not yet have the vocabulary in the second language. During the silent period, when children absorb the new language but do not yet speak, the teacher can use art for assessing children's comprehension (Giambo & Szecsi, 2004). However, art classes among children are cumbersome when it comes to issues on class management in which disciplined activities pertaining to education as well as behavior is a common concern among teachers.
The indicated growing number of second language learners in educational institutions around the world resulted to higher demand for teachers who are capable of teaching the English language and can likewise speak non-English languages to better facilitate the learning capabilities of language learner students. However, according to Gold (1992) these teachers who are asked to tech English language to non-English students lack the necessary educational training in either Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) or other academic credits to teach bilingual education (Gold, 1992). Such teachers become by default teachers of the English language who face conflicts and challenges of helping language learners to acquire English as a second language as well as the academic content of the structure of the English language. According to researchers that focused on the issue of lack of educational training among second language teachers, the complex problems faced by teachers in creating a learner-centered learning environment result to anxiety to even the most capable and dedicated teachers (Fillmore, 1982; Ramirez et al, 1990; Saville-Troike, 1984).
In response, Wyatt-Smith (2000) inquired into the balancing of instructional-measurement goals in the practice of education; the playing-out of the goals in classrooms, especially in relation to issues of diversity, equity and inclusive curriculum; the understanding of the relationship between state-based standardized literacy testing programs in Years 3, 5 and 7 and the routine classroom assessments under the control of the teacher as well as the possibilities for congruence between the two; and the nature and function of teacher judgment and standards in these different assessment approaches . The study found out that the education community needs to be clear about the purposes of various assessment programs and how the purposes of such programs relate to one to the other by effectively using teacher judgment to investigate and examine the links between the school assessment program and the standard test program. There is also a need to invest in teacher judgment training through professional development programs focusing sharply on assessment and through system support mechanisms including those provided through internal and external moderation networks (Wyatt-Smith, 2000).
Conclusion
For the teachers and other people in the academe, the results of the reviewed articles should be a constant reminder to the subsequent steps and measures that will be applied and implemented in the schools in relation to the consequences brought by changes in the educational system. Instructors should be sensitive enough in dealing with every student due to differences in cultural orientation by conceptualizing better means on how to exhaust the learning abilities and capacity of the students incorporating teaching materials that students can relate and incorporate themselves to. They should also realize the significant role they play in the continuous development and improvement of the educational environment by taking their stance on issues that are best dealt by educators.
For the language learner students in the school, it is always important to be open to new ideas and skills being provided by teachers. Taking part and contributing on the studies that can provide improvements in the education system for the betterment of the future social community should be emphasized among students. Their role as successors of the future society should be realized and inculcated early on. Recognizing the importance of education not just a means of completing a stage in this existence but by realizing the advantages and added value that learning provides to each individual should be a motivation to become a person worthy of appreciation in the future.
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