TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction………………………………………………………………………..1
Chapter 1
Learner-centered teaching…………………………………………………………3
1.1 Teacher’s role in a student-centered classroom………………………………..5
1.2 Needs analysis………………………………………………………………….8
Chapter 2
Advantages and problems of a student-centered classroom……………………….11
2.1 Motivation and autonomy……………………………………………………...11
2.2 Learners’ potential and previous experience…………………………………..12
2.3 Learner resistance……………………………………………………………...13
Chapter 3
Reader-centered approach………………………………………………………….16
3.1 Demands on the teacher………………………………………………………..17
3.1.1 Reading in a student-centered classroom………………………………….18
3.1.2 Materials selection…………………………………………………………20
3.2 Interest developing techniques………………………………………………21
Chapter 4
Implementation of the reader-based approach……………………………………..25
4.1 Investigating students’ interests………………………………………………..26
4.2 Lesson one…..…………………………………………………………………26
4.3 Lesson two……………………………………………………………….…….33
4.4 Lesson three….…………………………………………………………………39
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..…44
Bibliography
Appendices
INTRODUCTION
In many classes, the common factor influencing English lessons is the dominant role played by the teacher. It is the teacher who makes most of the decisions about the teaching content and materials. Students are taught under the exact control of the teacher but this control usually makes them constrained since they cannot contribute to the lesson more than as learners who should be submissive, follow teacher’s guidance and who do not have many opportunities to express their individuality.
The aspect of English language that was especially under my observation was reading performed by teenagers. It turned out that most of the reading texts and activities were highly teacher-centered and, although they were to develop students’ reading skills, they seemed to ignore students as individual readers.
This diploma paper is devoted to student-centered reading activities in order to show that the goal of reading activities should be not only to develop students’ reading skills, but also to reflect the needs and preferences of heterogeneous learners. Such activities should express teacher’s orientation towards each student and let learners be the contributors to interesting reading lessons.
The main body of this work is concentrated on the learner-centered teaching and its aspects such as: individualization of students, teacher’s role, advantages and problems of student-centered
classrooms, with special regard to the reader- centered approach.
The practical part presents three lessons which were conducted with the students from the second year of the Secondary School of General Education number two in Leszno. These lessons were designed on the basis of the reader-centered approach and evaluated on the basis of the questionnaires filled by the students and the mentor teacher and the teacher’s own comments. These lessons are to support the presented theory and to demonstrate how this theory can be used in practice in a classroom.
