A Survey Into The Role Of The Teacher-as-Mediator In ELT

In the context of the recent English language teaching (ELT) reforms in China, learner autonomy and lifelong learning have gained increasingly greater recognition. But how can English teachers empower their students to be autonomous through their classroom teaching practice? Feuerstein's theory of mediation suggests that language teachers should play as mediators, selecting and employing effective mediation tools to provide appropriate stimuli and comprehensible language input for the learners, helping them become autonomous language learners.This thesis aims to investigate the role of the teacher-as-mediator in ELT. A survey through the means of questionnaires and follow-up interviews is conducted among the university teachers and students in exploring their perceptions of the twelve mediation tools, with the hope of finding in what extent teachers can make use of the mediation tools in ELT to facilitate students' autonomous learning, independent thinking and problem-solving abilities.The research results show that the teachers and the students generally take a positive attitude towards the importance of the mediation tools, and most teachers have frequently used the mediation tools, which they consider very important. However, there are still some activities that the teachers did not practice as much as the students expected, or what the teachers have done was not recognized by the students in ELT.The findings indicate that a greater interaction and negotiation space should be advocated and highlighted in the real teaching process between teachers and students. If the classroom practice in the future turns from knowledge-based to mediation-based approaches in ELT, students' language learning ability will be greatly improved and the step towards learner autonomy will accordingly be further accelerated.