Teacher's Role In The Student-Centered College ELT

The recent interest shown in student-centeredness in foreign language related to concepts such as learner autonomy, self-directed learning, or syllabus negotiation, revolves around a redefinition of the role that students can play in their learning of a foreign language. In a student-centered approach, students are seen as being able to assume a more active and participatory role than is usual in traditional approaches. However, student roles cannot be redefined without a parallel redefinition of teacher roles. It is this aspect of student-centeredness that will be considered in this dissertation, that is, the roles and responsibilities of the teacher within a student-centered approach to foreign language teaching.A national questionnaire survey on Chinese college English teachers' educational beliefs shows there is belief confusion in the transition period from traditional to modem teaching. In addition, this author's personal failure at her first try on the student-centered approach triggers the reflection on the teacher role in this new approach. This paper tries to arouse teachers' role awareness in this educational innovation, which will be of much help for their professional development and vital to the success of student-centered English language teaching (ELT) as well.This dissertation falls into five chapters.Chapter One introduces the definition of role and teacher's role in the traditional teacher-centered English teaching, whose ineffectiveness of being unable to meet the needs of students to cope with their future professions and practical use in society has been often expressed.Chapter Two presents the definition of student-centeredness and different perspectives on student-centered language teaching. Then it looks in details at the theoretical bases of student-centered teaching, from educational and language teaching perspectives in particular. Constructivism emphasizes the importance of what the learner brings to any learning situation as an active meaning-maker and problem-solver. Thus the learner plays a central role in our education. The examination of humanism also leads to the stress of the development of the whole person in educational settings and to the suggestion that language teaching and learning can and should be seen in this light. A rationale for the student-centered teaching is drawn from work on communicative language teaching, which is based on the principle that learners must learn not only to make grammatically correct statements about the experiential world, but also must develop the ability to use language to get things done. In addition, a contrast is drawn between teacher-centered and student-centered teaching in terms of their mission and purpose, teaching and learning structures, learning theory and nature of roles.Chapter Three provides a historical survey of researches on teacher role which has served to shape our current understanding of the place and role of teachers in the student-centered English teaching process. A teacher in the student-centered English language class is basically a facilitator of learning. He takes up four specific functions in this new situation-providing content expertise, managing learning, preparing students and transferring responsibility. Furthermore, this chapter discusses two kinds of factors, interpersonal and task-related, which affect the teacher's role performance in the student-centered ELT.Chapter Four deals with a popular college English textbook-New College English (NCE). After analyzing its student-centered feature, this part discusses learner training,classroom management and some exploratory procedures and techniques on using this book, in which teacher roles are illustrated.The final chapter is the conclusion. It suggests that teachers adopting a student-centered approach should think carefully of the implications of this choice in term of the extra work and responsibilities it entails. Then it calls for a wider attention and contribution to this educational innovation because it is rewarding for the de...