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Formal language teaching and language acquisition are, in some sense, incompatible with one another. This comes to pass, in part, because communication can be wildly complex. It can be tempting in formal instructional contexts to tame the content that is taught. In other words, it can be tempting to simplify the content and contexts of communication at hand in an effort to deal with the complexities that are inherent to communication. Krashen’s (1980) input hypothesis articulates the logic in this approach; how can learners possibly understand a target language if they are overwhelmed with information (words, phrases, and even gestures) that they cannot comprehend?

 

Yet, if practitioners are to align with widely accepted frameworks for evaluation (such as Wiggins’ authentic assessment) and instruction (such as the Buck Institute’s Project-based Learning), they must make it their goal to replicate realistic communication as closely as possible in the classroom. To do this, they should not limit the ways that meaning is created through black and white representations of rules, but rather give learners the tools that they need to create meaning themselves. In this sense, one can argue that it is not the central charge of the language teacher to teach language, but rather to cultivate critical thinking skills, and as a result, promote the development of critical dispositions within learners for understanding and communicating within the target language cultures and contexts. In other words, it is the charge of teachers to promote a truly learner-centric classroom.

 

As Richmond et al. (2019) summarize, learner-centered curricula (in their case, as evidenced through course syllabi), are collaborative, offer multiple formative opportunities to learners, and promote learners’ appropriation of the learning experience. In language teaching contexts, this appropriation is only made possible via the amplification of the learner’s presence as an active participant in the creation of knowledge. The following three characteristics highlight useful ingredients to the cultivation of said presence.

 

1.     Invite learners to cultivate personal connections with course content. Enable these connections with learning activities that allow them to contribute previous knowledge and build enduring schemata:  Researched-based literacy approaches including Frayer Models, story impressions, and open and closed word sorts are powerful in that they allow learners to contribute previously known information to the task of acquiring new information. That is, they enable learners to actively create their own knowledge.  And though most of the research regarding the aforementioned strategies relates to vocabulary and reading in particular, they are easily applied to other language classroom tasks like dissecting language functions (i.e., listening to an apology and documenting and sorting the different strategies, like expressions of remorse and explanations of what happened).

 

2.     Teach learners to think: Learners must be able to think and process. As has already been mentioned, communication can be wildly complex. Part of this complexity lies in the fact that communication is always dynamic, emergent, and structured by the environment in which it exists (Blin, 2016). The possible combination of said environments and targeted communicative tasks is infinite; teachers cannot possibly create lessons for every scenario learners may face. However, teachers can empower their learners to succeed in the scenarios they encounter by actively teaching them to notice, analyze, and apply knowledge of how language and communication patterns work in and through various contexts.

 

One specific approach that teachers can take to help learners attune to the most salient contextual information in communication is the incorporation of thinking routines in the classroom. Additionally, teachers may find it beneficial to dedicate additional class time to the teaching of language learning and communication strategies. Though it was created for Spanish learners, language-agnostic videos featuring theses strategies can be found in LingroToGo, available in the Play Store or the App Store.

 

3.     Foment autonomy: Autonomy is a central component of motivation (RSA, 2010). Though backwards design correctly advocates that teachers craft intentional, meaningful learning experiences to prepare learners to perform on summative assessments, being overly committed to implementing the pathway as designed can strip learners of their autonomy. Instead, teachers must craft flexible pathways for their learners. This flexibility can manifest in a variety of ways. For example, teachers can give learners choice in how to showcase their knowledge, present language learning targets neutral of context and ask that learners research the context most relevant to their personal goals, and even get learners’ input when articulating language learning targets. This flexibility, particularly when paired with teaching learners how to think, can yield profoundly beneficial learning experiences.

 

Obviously, making one’s classroom more learner-centric is a continual process. This week’s Activity of the Week may provide a tangible first step (to the extent that it is needed) in making this shift. No matter what the step, language educators are called to shift the appropriation of the learning experience to learners. Only then can classroom environments be truly learner-centric.