For all of the issues mentioned above, this paper is designed to discuss some benefits of student centered method in teaching English for tertiary students. At the same time, it also focuses on examining different burdens that stake holders likely encounter when teaching and learning with this method.
Chi n l c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Tháng 11/2014 ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH LẤY SINH VIÊN LÀM TRỌNG TÂM TRONG CÁC TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC Ở VIỆT NAM: LỢI ÍCH VÀ THÁCH THỨC Đào Th Thanh H o Trường Đại học Hà Nội Tóm t t: Trong xu hướng hội nhập tồn cầu, nhu cầu cấp thiết đặt cho hệ thống giáo dục Việt Nam hệ thống giáo dục tiếng Anh trường ñại học Việt Nam thực cải cách, ñặc biệt ñổi phương pháp Abstract: In the trend of international integration, dạy học cho học sinh tiếp thu kiến thức there is an urgent need to reform education system, cách hiệu phát huy ñược hết khả especially in the teaching and learning methodology, so Việc giảng dạy tếng Anh trường đại học nhằm đáp ứng nhu cầu Mục tiêu việc dạy ngoại ngữ cấp độ áp dụng phương pháp nhằm giúp sinh viên giao tiếp thành thạo, phối hợp ăn ý học tập ñộc lập Tuy nhiên, phương pháp giảng dạy tiếng Anh truyền thống lấy giáo viên làm that students can obtain knowledge effectively and develop their own potential ability Teaching English at university is not an exception The main goal of language education at this level is to apply new approaches to help learners master in English communication, fully cooperate with others and learn independently However, unfortunately the traditional trọng tâm lại khơng phù hợp để đáp ứng nhu cầu way of teaching English (e.g teacher -centered method) người học, phương pháp khiến việc học is no longer suitable to meet the needs of students ngoại ngữ trở nên bị động, sinh viên khơng có nhiều because their learning is very passive and they lack hội thể thân lớp Chính thế, vài chances to practice the language in class Therefore, thập niên trở lại ñây, phương pháp dạy học tiếng over the last few decades, student-centered learning Anh lấy sinh viên làm trọng tâm ñã ñang ñược sử has been introduced to encompass replacing lectures dụng rộng rãi nhằm giúp việc học chủ ñộng with active learning, integrating self-paced learning ñồng thời sinh viên bắt kịp với chương trình học programs Student-centered learning environment’s Rõ ràng phương pháp có nhiều ưu ñiểm cách advantages outweigh the traditional teacher-centered dạy học truyền thống sinh viên tham gia hoạt động thiết thực, giao tiếp tự nhiên học theo ñúng khả ñiều hứng thú Tuy nhiên, áp dụng vào trường ñại học, phương pháp lấy sinh viên làm trọng tâm đặt thách thức khơng nhỏ cho nhà quản lý giáo dục, thầy cô giáo cho sinh viên Thách thức trước hết đến từ ñặc ñiểm văn hóa sinh viên Việt Nam, sau ñó khả tiếng Anh hạn chế phần ñông số họ Hai nhân tố khác không phần quan trọng ảnh hưởng việc tuân theo giáo trình hệ thống kiểm tra đánh giá Trong viết này, tác giả trình bày số ưu ñiểm bật phương pháp giảng dạy tiếng Anh lấy người học làm trọng tâm, ñồng thời thảo luận thách thức áp dụng phương pháp ones since complimentary the former activities, provides natural learners with interaction, and fulfillment of their own learning interests Nevertheless, when being applied and implemented at university, student- centered approach does pose some challenges for educators, teachers as well as learners The first difficulty comes from Vietnamese cultural characteristic, then followed by Vietnamese students' low proficiency in English Finally, the curriculum and examination system are also two other factors that should not be overlooked For all of the issues mentioned above, this paper is designed to discuss some benefits of student centered method in teaching English for tertiary students At the same time, it also focuses on examining different burdens that stake holders likely encounter when teaching and learning with this method 75 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng IMPLEMENTING LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH IN TEACHING ENGLISH AT VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES Introduction In the trend of international integration, we have witnessed numerous changes in almost all aspects of life, including higher education Today, there is an urgent requirement for tertiary learners to obtain skills to adapt themselves to various situations and communicate in English with different people from different cultural backgrounds For this reason, teaching students how to communicate effectively, cooperate with others and learn independently has become the main goal of language education (Cheng 2003) In fact, communicative skill "prepares learners to better communicate through their assessment, enter into dialogue with peers and academics, and formulate questions to further their learning" (Deakin University 2013) Therefore, undoubtedly once students can master this, they can gain success in their study and their future career Unfortunately, the focus of traditional ways of teaching and learning (e.g teacher-centered and passive learning approaches) is not suitable to help students reach such goals As a result, it becomes crucial to make changes and reforms in the traditional teaching approach and provide students with knowledge and skills in a modern way Over the last few decades, learner-centered approach has been introduced and implemented in many Vietnamese universities in teaching students different subjects in general and English in particular This is because teachers believe in this mode’s promising benefits of providing students with new skills such as activeness, independence, cooperativeness and creativeness However, this kind of pedagogy is still new and hard to accept for many students because it has a connotation of learning environment and cultural appropriateness, taking into account the fact that Vietnam is a society that is culturally oriented towards 76 collectivism rather than individualism (Hofstede & Hofstede 2005) Hence, beside significant advantages of learner-centered teaching, there are also many considerations posed for teachers of English and educators that are going to be identified and discussed later This paper is conducted to address two main issues: (1) In what way does learner-centered approach benefit learners of English? (2) What challenges are there in implementing this approach in the Vietnamese context? Learner - centered Approach: The Notion and Benefits 2.1 The Approach Notion of Learner-Centered The concept of learner-centered or studentcentered learning was coined as early as 1905 by Hayward and developed in Dewey’s work in 1956 Another developer Carl Roger (2013), the father of client-centered counseling, helped expanding this approach into education prospect In his book ‘Freedom to learn for the 80s’, Roger describes the shift from the expert - teacher to the student learner to meet the need for a change in the traditional environment where students became passive, apathetic and lacked enthusiasm In fact, learner-centered learning does not own one universally-agreed definition, though it has been a term often used by a number of higher education policy-makers or teachers This is because in different contexts, the approach is taken into account in different ways However, there is a major principle which has been approved by all proponents and researchers Chi n l c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p of the approach This is that, learner-centered method is based on the philosophy that the student is at the heart of the learning process In other words, this approach focuses on each student's interests, abilities, and learning styles, placing the teacher as a facilitator of learning By such teaching style, the student's voice is acknowledged as central to the learning experience of every learner, and ideally they can choose what and how they will learn, and the way they will assess their own study National Center for Research on Teacher Learning (1999) even made it clearer by emphasizing the pro-activeness of students in this pedagogy They showed that during their learning process, students are active participants; they utilise their own strategies and study English at their pace, which make learning individualized rather than standardized (1999) Moreover, learner-centered learning helps develop various skills such as critical thinking, reflective thinking and problem solving This is a notion which underlies all attempts at applying the learner-centered approach Whilst this means that the student is the focal point of the process, the role of the teacher remains paramount, particularly under the context that students' competencies are not the same 2.2 Conventional Versus Learner-centered Approach The differences between conventional approach and learner-centered approach are quite easily recognized With the conventional or teacher/expert approach, learners are viewed as relatively passive, and external reinforcement controlled by teachers is necessarily available to shape their behavior (Skinner1953) What is more, learners are ‘‘empty vessels to be filled with knowledge’’, thus, they really need "an expert" to feed them information (Garfield 1995; Moore 1997) In this light, knowledge is defined as an entity transmitted and absorbed by students Therefore, a good teacher should be the one who transfers information thoroughly and at the right Tháng 11/2014 pace so that learners can receive and "digest" information to make it their own (Moore 1997) As a result, under this approach, learning is viewed as a linear process, progressing steadily from ‘‘not knowing’’ to ‘‘knowing’’ In the traditional lessons, the predominant use of formal lectures, seminars and examinations are very powerful Teacher provides structured material during lectures, while students listen carefully and take notes quickly Then, during seminars, students are questioned their understanding on the material Finally, absorbed knowledge is checked and assessed by conducting examinations several times during the term This approach is relatively efficient since it allows educators to teach many students within a rather short period of time Unfortunately, in most of the cases, such methods might focus on the "surface" rather than "deep" comprehension levels and just help the students to get a high score in the test but not evaluate their true competency (Biggs 1999) On the other hand, learner-center approach is in contrast to the traditional method mentioned above In this way, learners are not passive receivers of information and knowledge but rather active participants in a complex learning process They have the responsibility to accommodate their own unique learning style so as to structure their own learning Meanwhile, the teacher plays the role of a guide who assists the learner in the process of constructing their individual system of knowledge Broughton (1994) adds that “the language student is best motivated by practice in which he senses the language is truly communicative, that it is appropriate to its context, that his teacher’s skills are moving him forward to a fuller competence in a foreign language” (p.47) It can be understood that, the teacher is there not to explain but to encourage and help students to explore, try out, make learning interesting, and learn from mistakes 77 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng Unlike teacher-centered approach, the modern style puts students into the center, the materials given by teachers are less significant than the development of logical or systematic concepts through social exchange (Vygotsky 1978) This implies that the social environment surrounding learners helps encourage the development of their thoughts, beliefs and behaviors inside and outside classrooms From a constructivist perspective, students are actively and individually shaping their own social knowledge, rather than merely copying knowledge from teacher (Garfield 1995) For this reason, the assessment of their understanding aims to diagnose the problems and promote learning 2.3 Proposed Benefits of Learner-centered Approach over Traditional Approach in Teaching English Traditionally, teacher-centered English teaching methodology focuses on accuracy of grammatical structures and isolated items of vocabulary Jim Scrivener (2012) stated that “the teacher spends quite a lot of class time using the board, materials and explaining things again and again as if he/she is ‘transmitting’ the knowledge into learners' brain” (Scrivener 2012, p.16) At the same time, students are required to learn the rules and the items of lexis by heart, and make some sentence examples based on such things However, most of the time they explore only narrow avenues of the language since the syllabuses are grammatical-based and the language is grouped by purpose (Scrivener 2012, p.16) Meanwhile, other important skills like listening and speaking which are crucial for interaction processes are not appreciated properly and taught effectively When it comes to assessment, the teacher-approach seems to judge students' ability based on their memorization and paper work This might be inaccurate and subjective because sometimes it is affected by various factors and contexts 78 By contrast, learner-centered style does have their advanced uses in teaching English as a foreign language First and foremost, it creates a friendly learning environment for students to be more open and proactive in study In his book named Learning Teaching, Scrivener (2012) emphasized the importance of communicative competence in language learning He meant that students are expected to "be able to use the language for meaningful communication" and a foreign language should be taught in the way so that “not simply for the learner to be able to write to a foreign pen friend” but to broaden his or her horizons by introducing “certain ways of thinking" in simultaneous real life conversations (Richard 2008, p.4) Under this significance, teacher only plays the role as a guide while learners base on such instruction and perform the task in their own ways They share responsibilities in class and actively get involved in individual work as well as group work to reach the desired results (Walters 2011) As learners participate in communication with each other and learn from their own mistakes during their performance, they can strengthen their communicative skills, and apply English language into different specific real life contexts In this approach, learners are self motivated and enjoy learning more because they can choose and feel comfortable with the topics without worrying about making mistakes For example, in speaking or writing lessons, students have the right to decide the topics by relying on the wide theme suggested by teacher In this way, they not major in only one topic but are able to acquire more knowledge in different challenges and settings (Weimer 2013) The eventual result is that fluency and accuracy in English usage gradually improves Another advantage of leaner-centered method in teaching English is that students benefit from collaborating, supporting, and co-operating with one another With this methodology, all the Chi n l c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p students are required to face the challenges by helping each other and sharing ideas to solve problems Teachers choose suitable activities and guide them into the lesson, then groups of students must decide what to and how to deal with the task on their own Under the instruction of teachers, learners work in groups discussing the solution, supporting each other, sharing the leadership and producing meaningful speech or statements themselves This is particularly effective with productive skills like speaking Long and Porter (1985) indicated that group work in learner-centered teaching approach is an "attractive alternative" to the teacher-led mode and "a viable classroom" that can replace individual conversations with native speakers In other words, both of them agreed that by this mode, teachers no longer get involved too much in the students' performance but let them practice speaking together in teams to self improve their skill In short, learner-centered approach is obviously more advantageous than teacher-led mode The former tends to encourage students to show their potential on their own while developing the cooperation as well as proactiveness in learning In other words, students feel more comfortable and easier to learn under learner-centered system because they can master their own leadership and get experiences from their mistakes Implementing Learner-centered Approach in Teaching English in Vietnamese Context 3.1 Current Situation: The Shift from Teacher-centered to Learner-centered Approach Following the trend of contemporary English teaching pedagogy, the reform of the teaching English in Vietnam has focused on developing learners' communicative proficiency and promoting learners' autonomy and pro-activeness in language classrooms In fact, the booming of Tháng 11/2014 communicative approach has shifted the teaching process from "language form" to "language function" which is in accordance with the needs of students (Savignon 1997) Inevitably, the language teaching mode has also changed from traditional teacher-centered to more learnercentered (Nunan 1988; Tudor 1996) This communicative language teaching style requires learners' active participation and negotiation to produce meaningful interaction in class and of course this aims to encourage students to interpret and construct meaning by themselves based on the basic guide from teacher (Breen & Candlin 1980) Theoretically, under the learner-centered methodology, students are aware of their objectives and goals so they know what to and how to in order to achieve these goals Thus, this model for" language curriculum development shifts from what should be done in a course of study to what is specifically done by language teachers in their classes through the negotiation between teachers and learners in the planning, implementation and evaluation of language courses" (Nunan 1988) However, in most of Vietnamese tertiary institutions, the so called topdown approach is very strict, hence, curriculum is still assigned by the Ministry or teacher board, and so the negotiation is not very strong Nonetheless, the autonomy of learners in studying a language is emphasized and modified in some aspects Specifically, at the early phase of the course, students’ needs are collected and analyzed so that learning styles can be figured out and used for selecting course content and teaching methodologies During every lesson, more responsibility is placed in the hands of students to manage their study and teachers now just play the role of facilitators to help learners get knowledge in their own way rather than being "the source of knowledge" Learners' autonomy can be fostered through communicative tasks by which they can develop their English language as well as skills In a student-centered class, at different times, there are various activities in which students may be working alone to prepare ideas or making notes, 79 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng or in pairs, or in groups to discuss their answers, react to one another‘s written work or share ideas Also in a student-centered class, students may be teacher-led, before they work together, their teacher will help them prepare to work together with explanations and pronunciation practice While students are working together, their teacher will be available to give advice and encouragement After they’ve finished working together, and the class is reassembled, their teacher will give them feedback, offer suggestions and advice, make corrections, and answer questions 3.2 Challenges Posed for Educators and Teachers The challenge firstly comes from Vietnamese cultural characteristic Although the learnercentered approach promotes the autonomy and activeness of students in class, not in all cases the methodology obtains successes An important aspect, particular to Asian cultures, is the preservation of 'face' which means "a person's social and professional position, reputation and self-image" (Go & Mok 1995, p 46) Students are afraid of losing face when they give the wrong responses or being unable to answer teacher's question Therefore, they would rather not express their personal opinions nor argue with others in the formal class Commonly, they not usually take part in discussions until they are asked to so This has a negative impact on the effectiveness of the lesson in which students tend to be inactive and reserved Another burden in implementing the learnercentered approach is the Vietnamese students' low proficiency in English In the university where English is trained professionally, this is not really the matter because their major is English, thus, they can use it to actively take part in different activities such as discussions, arguments, or sharing ideas, etc This foreign language can be employed as the main tool of interaction in class so that students can gain knowledge, and at the 80 same time, practice their language ability However, in many other tertiary institutions where English is just considered as a "minor subject", the story is completely different Most of students in these universities are at the elementary or preintermediate level of English proficiency, so without the thorough and careful instruction from teacher they hardly manage to carry out their tasks in an independent way Take role-play activities as a good illustration for this Teacher often finds it difficult to assign these tasks for students however interesting and useful they are because students' vocabulary and structures are limited To be specific, they might have many ideas in their mind but not know how to express them and argue with classmates in English Therefore, teacher should be available to feed them in and guides them step by step in order to ensure the comprehension of the whole class In this light, students' language competence really challenges any teacher who wants to apply learner-centered approach in his/her class which requires the autonomy and pro-activeness from students Last but not least, the curriculum as well as examinations are also the two factors that have significant impacts on the efficiency of the learner-centered mode In Vietnamese education system, these two issues often own the mutual influence on each other, hence, teacher has to follow the assigned curriculum and make sure students can achieve fruitful results at the end of the course based on their performance in examination As Hopkins (2002, p 281) observes, “one of the threats to child-centered learning is the narrowing of the definition of effective student learning to test scores It is evident from the case studies that teachers in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania are subject to significant expectations and pressure to ensure student success on national examinations.” In other words, the gap between knowledge and outcomes is serious that both teachers and stakeholders need to bear in mind in “both pre-service and in-service teacher education Chi n l c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p if learners’ communicative skills as well as learning strategies are to be improved” Obviously, a shift from traditional approach to learnercentered approach means a spectacular change in the way of assessment, otherwise the latter is just interpreted at the classroom level rather than at the course or curriculum level in which students are supposed to have the autonomy in deciding the course planning, implementation, assessment and evaluation Conclusion In conclusion, the learner-centered approach in teaching English at tertiary level does prove its strengths in terms of promoting students' independence and activeness in class Due to this fact, Vietnamese university education system has tried to apply this mode as a new method in teaching English to catch up with the global integration trend However, what maybe successful in global contexts may not be equally appropriate in a particular local settings There are always some certain contextual factors that put direct impacts on the implementation of the methodology In the case of the learner-centered approach, such burdens are cultural appropriateness, Vietnamese students’ English competence, and the mutual relation between learning and assessment Therefore, this paper raised a concern about the way the learner-centered methodology is implemented at university level in Vietnam to teach English All educators, education managers to teacher and learners must get involved in an attempt to address these challenges because culture appropriateness, students’ English competency, and the link between curriculum and assessment determine the success or failure of the Tháng 11/2014 course Only when reform policy conducted by stakeholders and methodology developed by teachers are consistent and sufficient would the approach gain high achievement REFERENCES Biggs, J 1995, “Student approaches to learning, constructivism and student-centered learning”, Paper presented at the Improving university teaching: Twentieth International Conference 10-13 July University of Hong Kong, Hongkong Breen, M P& Candlin, C N 1980,“The essentials of a communicative curriculum in language 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ed, McGraw- Hill, New York 12 Tudor, I 1996, Learner-centredness as language education, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 13 Vygotsky, L 1978, “Mind and society”, The development of higher mental processes, MA: Harvard University Press, Cambridge 14 Weimer, M 2002, Learner-Centred Teaching Jossey Bass, A WileyCompany, San Francisco 81 ... chuyên ng IMPLEMENTING LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH IN TEACHING ENGLISH AT VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES Introduction In the trend of international integration,... speaking Long and Porter (1985) indicated that group work in learner-centered teaching approach is an "attractive alternative" to the teacher-led mode and "a viable classroom" that can replace individual... conducted to address two main issues: (1) In what way does learner-centered approach benefit learners of English? (2) What challenges are there in implementing this approach in the Vietnamese context?