Theme: learner-centred approaches to teaching and learner autonomy contents: introduction

LEARNING STAGES	TEACHER-DIRECTED
LEARNER-DIRECTED
Identifying needs	Placement tests, teacher feedback.	Learner experiences difficulties in using the language.
Setting goals	Determined by the course, relatively fixed.	Contextually determined, relatively flexible.
Planning learning	Determined by the teacher. Somewhat flexible.	Contextually determined. Very flexible.
Selecting resources	Provided by teacher.	Self-selection by learners.
Selecting learning strategies	Teacher models and instructions.	Self-selection by learners.
Practice	Exercises and activities provided by teacher	Implementation (language use) and experimentation.
Monitoring progress	Regular classroom feedback and comments on assignments and tasks	Self-monitoring, peer feedback
Assessment and revision	Tests, curriculum changes	Self-assessment, reflection

Figure 2: Stages in the development of learner autonomy
I will now discuss each of these stages in turn, with specific attention to how they can be implemented in the classroom.
Identifying needs
It is surprising how often learners have no clear idea of their language needs, and the discrepancies that exist between what learners think they need and where their actual weaknesses lie. Equally worryingly, many learners have little idea of their learning needs (Barcelos, 2008). In other words: they have little knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses as language learners. They may know, for example, that they need to improve their writing skills, but may not know that they are poor at learning with and from others, which is a learning skill, and one that will affect their success in writing.
In many classrooms, learners are simply given scores that indicate their general levels, but not always individualised profiles of their strengths and weaknesses, including their learning needs. More importantly, learners’ individual needs often do not directly inform classroom practice and learners may be forgiven for wondering what the relation is between their learning and the teacher’s teaching.
An alternative is to make an extensive needs analysis process a focal point of the class in the first weeks of the course and to encourage students to share their findings with others. Subsequent classroom activities should be linked explicitly to the identified needs and students asked to reflect on their success in completing classroom activities in relation to their needs.
The language and learning needs should be recorded (perhaps in a learning diary or portfolio) and reviewed regularly. As a needs analysis is the starting point of a dynamic process, it should be repeated at regular intervals. In this way, students become aware of the importance of aligning their work with their needs on an ongoing basis.
Setting goals
Just as the needs analysis helps students take the first step in understanding their strengths and weaknesses, goal setting helps them to be specific about the outcomes they are aiming for. As Nunan says: ‘learners who have reached a point where they are able to define their own goals and create their own learning opportunities have, by defnintion, become autonomous’ (1999,145).
However, most traditional courses are very prescriptive in what learners are expected to learn. It may not be possible or desirable for teachers to ignore existing curricula and required learning outcomes (such as, for example, in the case of national exams), but learners should be encouraged to view the course as one element in achieving their own goals, and to seek out additional support or opportunities for practice, if needed. In addition, having clear goals allows learners to focus on those aspects of the class that are most relevant to them.
In the longer term, it may be feasible for teachers to encourage the school to move toward a degree of learner-choice in the courses:
[...] the key difference between learner-centred and traditional curriculum development is that, in the former, the curriculum is a collaborative effort between teachers and learners, since learners are closely involved in the decision-making process regarding the content of the curriculum and how it is taught.
The only way to move toward learner-centredness, then, is for students to have some say over what they are taught.
Planning learning
Setting goals and planning learning are different sides of the same coin. Whereas one’s goals help to specify one’s destination, planning is like finding the best road to get there. Planning involves drawing up practical plans and allocating time to them. This step is often not made explicit by teachers, who tend to direct classroom practice in the following respects:

1. 
   content and activities
   

1. 
   the order of the content and the activities
   

2. 
   the ways in which learners are expected to participate and interact
   

In other words, most classrooms prescribe the ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ of the learners’ actions. Learner-centred approaches will aim to (gradually) encourage learners to make these decisions for themselves. This could mean giving learners a choice over, for example, whether to use a model argument essay to do cohesion-building exercises, or to write a rebuttal essay. This may mean offering different types of activities for the same set of materials or language content. It may also mean that certain activities do not have to be completed in a fixed order.