THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LEARNER-CENTRED APPROACH AND THE TEACHER-CENTRED APPROACH IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

The changes in the education industry especially with the emergence of online schooling has led to many controversies in the education industry as stakeholders argue about the approaches to education that are most efficient and effective. Among these controversies include the one between the learner-centred and teacher-centred approaches to education. The argument is on whether learning approaches and processes should be tailored to the needs of the students or whether the students should act just like knowledge receptacles in a situation where the teachers act as the sources of knowledge. This paper researches on the differences between the two learning approaches in the teaching of English as a foreign language. This is approached through first examining the general differences between the two learning approaches in terms of the activities involved, the learning environment, and positions held by either the teacher or student in either approach. This was followed by an analysis of the teachers’ responsibility in both approaches, where the actions and practices of teachers were investigated. This included the analysis of the way a teacher relates to the students, the choice of learning materials, and how the needs of the students are met by the teachers. The responsibility of the students in both approaches was also investigated through the analysis of their actions and practices. This involved the research on how their approaches to leadership are in both approaches, their level of participation in deciding the content, their relationships with their teachers, and how involved the students are in ensuring that their needs are met. The comparison of the two approaches in terms of their efficiency and effectiveness in student’s proficiency showed that each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses, hence choosing one approach lead to avoiding the advantages of the other. The student-centred approach, however, was recognized as more suited for teaching English as a foreign language.