Critical Essay
Learner-Centered Methods expose and illustrate the pedagogy from both earlier and late versions. Is to
say, that we hace to focus on the learner and the emphasis on communication
have certainly made the pedagogy very popular, particularly among language
teachers around the world, some of whom take pride in calling themselves
“communicative language teachers”.
Also, the greatest achievement of learner-centered
pedagogists is that they successfully directed the attention of the
language-teaching profession to aspects of language other than grammatical
structures, by treating language as
discourse, not merely as system, they tried to move classroom teaching away
from a largely systemic orientation that relied upon a mechanical rendering of
pattern practices and more toward a largely commu-nicative orientation that
relied upon a partial simulation of meaningful exchanges that take place
outside the classroom.
In Chapter Seven,
the author takes prominent examples of the Natural Approach and the
Communicative Teaching Project that fall into the category of learning-centered
pedagogy. Provides a succinct survey and careful examination of language
teaching methodologies derived from linguistic, psychological, and social
perspectives of SLA. In the last part of the book, Kumaravadivelu discusses
three features of post method pedagogy, including post method condition, post
method pedagogy, and post method predicament. In addition, learning-Centered
Methods defines and describes the theoretical principles and classroom
procedures regarding to the Natural Approach and Communicational Teaching
Project that represents the learning-centered pedagogy and how to develop
appropriate interactional activities.
In Chapter Eight,
explores five myths of method: There is a best method out there ready and
waiting to be discovered; Methods constitutes the organizing principle for
language teaching; Method has a universal and historical value; Theorists
conceive knowledge, and teachers consume knowledge; and Method is neutral, and
has no ideological motivation. These myths may discourage practicing language
teachers to wait for recipes from established authorities on the approaches and
methods instead of exploring their own language teaching approaches and methods
to better understand “the potential strengths and limitations of particular
learners and contexts for learning, and make use of them in adapting
learning/teaching procedures” (Saville-Troike, 2006, p. 180). Also, shows the limits of method as, the
meaning of method and the death of method. Most of the definitions about method
coincided that is something planned and implies an order. In addition, it
analyzes five myths about methods according to what research has disclosed.
In conclusion, learners have to pay
greater attention to communication as a social behavior, as the activity
approximates a communicative situation the learners may encounter outside the
classroom. The focus here is not just formal and functional effectiveness, but
also social appropriateness. In addittion, It is common knowledge that
practicing teachers, faced with unpredictable learning/teaching needs, wants,
and situations, have always taken liberty with the pedagogic formulations
prescribed by theorists of languageteaching methods. In committing such “transgressions,”
they have always attempted, using their robust common sense and rough-weather
experience, to draw insights from several sources and put together highly
personalized teaching strategies that go well beyond the concept of method as
conceived and constructed by theorists.
