ABSTRACT

This paper has three parts. The first part examines the teacher-centered
approach in teaching which consist of five approaches and the characteristics of
each approach. The second part discusses regarding the student-centered approach
and also the characteristic in application. The third part combines of the two
approaches that include teacher-centered and student-centered in teaching learning
process.

I. INTRODUCTION
Teaching is an activity in sharing knowledge and experience that aimed at
bringing meaningful learning through approaches, methods, and techniques. The
activities involved in facilitating or educating to impart the knowledge or skills to
learners. In other words that teaching is the process of attending to learners’
needs, feelings and experiences to help them learn particular things.
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II. DISCUSSION
In teaching learning process, there are two fundamentally different ways of
understanding teaching. The first is teaching as a teacher-centered activity in
which knowledge is transmitted from teacher who has acquired that knowledge to
learners who knows nothing. The second is teaching as a student-centered activity
in which the teacher ensures the learning is made possible for the students.
Teacher in here can supports, guides, encourages the students in their active
creation of new knowledge and independent learning.
As a teacher, it is best to choose appropriate approach based on the
situation and condition of the students in order to the teaching learning process
can run more effectively. In here, the two ways of approaches in teaching will be
explained in detail as follow:

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A. Teacher-centered Approach in Teaching
Teacher-centered approach is a kind of approach that the knowledge is
transmitted from teacher to students, it means the teacher who knows everything
and the students just passively receive information. In here, teacher is the main
actor that has authority in the classroom. The teacher guides the students by doing
lecturing, demonstrating the concepts and materials, also giving the instruction
when he/she teaching in the classroom. Meanwhile, the students only listening,
taking notes, answering the questions, or do the assignments and tests.
Furthermore, there are some approaches of teacher-centered in teaching are as
follow:

1. Grammar-Translation Approach
Grammar translation approach is a traditional approach in teaching
learning process. In this approach, teacher is a main actor in the class which
means that teacher is more active than the students. The teacher teaches the
students to learn the target language and asks them to translate the sentences word
by word. The general purpose is for the students are to be able to translate
language into the other. In this way, communication is not necessary in teaching
learning process, but it is more focus on the primary skills such as reading and
writing.
In practicing this approach, the teacher always asks the students to
translate a new word or sentence from English into the other language and also
memorize the grammar rules such as present tense, past tense, irregular verb, past
participles and the others that are very important for the student.

2. Audio-Lingual Approach
This approach is a kind of approach in language teaching which is more
focused on listening and speaking before reading and writing. It uses dialogues or
conversations as the main role of teaching a foreign language to the students and
the teacher also can use drilling technique to guide the students in order to teach a
foreign language. Using L1 is not allowed in this approach.

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 For example in applying this approach, the teacher uses target language
rather than mother tongue or L1 to teach in the classroom. The media used by the
teacher like picture, actions, and visualization. The characteristics of this approach
are more focus on pronunciation and grammatical explanation.

3. Total Physical Response

Total Physical Response (TPR) is a language teaching approach which is
design to build the coordination between speech and action through the physical
activity. In this approach, the teacher tries to combine the information and skill
through the sensory system. The purpose of this approach is when the students
learn their target language and they respond physically and automatically to the
teacher command. The students are required to carry out the instruction that is
given by the teacher by doing the action or an activity physically. This approach is
belongs to the beginner level of language learning, especially for children in
kindergarten.
Practically, there is an interaction between the students and the teacher or
vice versa and also among the students with the assistance of the teacher in the
classroom. The performance of the students can be graded individually, by pair or
by group.

4. Community Language Learning

Another teacher-centered approach is Community Language Learning
(CLL). In this approach, the teacher’s role as a counselor and the student’s as a
client, which means the teachers consider not only their students’ intellect but also
they need to understand the relationship among students’ feelings, physical
reactions, instinctive protective reactions and desire to learn. In the other words
that CLL involves humanistic techniques which engage the whole person,
including the emotions and feelings as well as linguistic knowledge and
behavioral skills. In this way, the teachers can help the students to overcome their
fears or negative feelings into positive energy in learning the target language and
also develop what aspects of a language they would like to learn.

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 5. Content-Based Approach
This approach focused on integrates the learning of language with the
learning of some other contents. The content can be themes, i.e. some topics such
as popular music, sports in which students are interested or it could be another
subjects like geography, biology that is taught by the teacher through the medium
of language. It usually belongs to the subject matter in academic including the
syllabus. The main goal of this approach is the teacher wants the students to
master not only the language but also the content as well. It is expected that
students can use the language to express or deliver the contents.
In application the teacher can use authentic media like ‘globe’ for teaching
geography lesson through language instruction. The other ways that teacher can
use to deliver the contents through the use of visuals, picture or by giving a lot of
examples that related with students’ prior experience.

B. Student-centered Approach in Teaching

Student centered approach is more focus on the students’ activity in
teaching learning process. But, it does not mean that the teacher does not lead the
classroom without giving any guidance to the students. Teacher in here is only as
a facilitator and guider to the students to help them for developing their
knowledge, skill ability, and critical thinking. Instead of relying to the teacher, it
usually involves equally interaction between teacher and students such as in a
group work, or other collaborative activities that can help the students to learn
how to collaborate and communicate each other. As a teacher, it is very important
to know some student-centered approaches in teaching in order to decide the best
way or work for us and the students. In here, there are four student-centered
approaches are as follow:

1. The Silent Way

Silent way is one of the student-centered approaches that more emphasis
on students’ cognition in learning. In this approach, the teacher should be as silent

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as possible in order to the students can produce as much language as possible.
Indeed, the teacher just as a facilitator and monitoring the students’ efforts while
the students are encouraged to have an active role in learning the language. The
objective of this approach is the students are expected to be able to express their
feelings, thoughts and needs to the target language also to correct their own errors.
Silent way views language has its unique features that students can learn a
language through many ways or objects that can be demonstrated in order to the
students can produce the language based on the situation or object such as sound-
chart, rod, spelling chart. It also could be in physical object like clocks, animal,
people, fruits and the others as well. For example in application, the teacher uses a
Fidel (spelling chart) to teach students how to spell the sounds of English.
Without say anything the teacher points to the sound color chart in order to the
students spell the sounds of the language.

2. Communicative Language Teaching

Applying the theoretical perspective of communicative approach,
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) aims broadly to make communicative
competence as the goal of language teaching, which means CLT emphasizes on
communicative competence rather than grammatical structure as central in
teaching. CLT views that language is for communication which means that it
expects the students in order to learn how to communicate appropriately in the
target language.
In this approach, the students are as communicators and independent
learners in the classroom which means that they are more active than the teacher.
The students should be able to understand their own learning. While in this case,
the teachers’ role as facilitators that facilitate the communication in the classroom
and engage the activities with the students also monitor the students’ performance.
In applying this approach, there are some characteristics in teaching
learning process such as giving games, role plays, and problem-solving tasks
through in pairs, small groups or whole groups communicative activities.

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 3. Task-Based Language Teaching
Another approach that views language as communication is the Task-
Based Language Teaching. It considers the functional role of language in real
tasks as the main goal to the students to communicate in classroom for an ideal
learning. As Freeman & Anderson (2011) stated that tasks are meaningful, and in
doing them, students need to communicate. Tasks have a clear outcome so that the
teacher and students know whether or not the communication has been successful.
There are some characteristics in this approach that differ with other
approaches. This approach is based on the tasks that make it differs with
traditional approaches. The lessons are mainly focused on student-centered and
communicative tasks as a central in teaching learning process which means
grammatical structure or focus on form is unintentional.
For example in practice, the teacher asks the students that they are going to
complete a time table so that the teacher can introduce to the students to the
language they will need to complete the task. Definitely the task is meaningful
also relate with possible situations in their live outside the classroom. Then, the
students can communicate with their peers to complete the task.

4. Participatory Approach
The goal of this approach is to involve the students as problem solver how
to understand their social and real-life issues, then to help empower the students to
take action and make decisions in order to gain control over their lives in that
context.
This approach has characteristic that what happens in the classroom should
be related and connected with what happens in the outside. In this way, the
teacher facilitates and orders a problem to the students in order to they can discuss
and solve the problem. For example when teacher using a picture as a media in the
classroom and asking the students to try understand the problem and elicit
solutions from the picture. So that the students are expected to be able to use the
language that they are learning in order to solve problems in their lives.

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C. Teacher-Centered and Student-Centered Approaches (Mix Approaches)
In teaching learning process, there are some cases that it is best for the
teachers to use a combination of approaches like teacher-centered and student-
centered to ensure that all students’ needs are met. It means that teacher and
students have equal participation in the classroom which is teacher or students can
not stand alone. Sometimes, collaborative between teacher and students is very
important in order to the teaching learning process can run more effectively. In
here, there are three approaches the more concerned on teacher-centered and
student-centered are as follow:

1. Direct Approach
This approach allows the students to perceive meaning directly through the
target language because no translation is allowed. Visual aids and pantomime are
used to clarify the meaning of vocabulary items and concepts. It means that the
teacher should demonstrate by using objects (e.g. pictures or realia) not explain or
translate it in order to help the students to understand the meaning. In this case,
students speak a great deal in the target language and communicate as if in real
situations. In here, students are expected to be able to think in the target language
in order to communicate in the target language successfully. For achieving that,
teacher and the students should be more like partners in the teaching learning
process which means that teacher and students can help each others.

2. Suggestopedia
This approach helps students to study language in bright and colorful
classroom, so that the students will be more easy and comfortable in learning
language. For more important that the students can feel enjoy during teaching
learning process, especially in learning foreign language. The kind of this
approach is the learning environment is relaxed and has a soft music in the
background.

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 In this approach, there are four main stages in teaching learning process;
(1) presentation that helps the students to think positively that learning language is
easy and fun, (2) concert session (passive and active), (3) elaboration means the
students are encouraged to play role with the new language creatively and (4)
practice.

For example in application, the teacher asks the students to choose a name
and character in the foreign language, and then they can imagine being that
person. Dialogs are presented to the accompaniment of music. Students just relax
and listen to them being read and later playfully practice the language during an
‘activation’ phase.

3. Cooperative Learning
Cooperative or collaborative learning is a teaching learning approach that
provides opportunities to the students to learn in small groups or work in teams in
order to learn from each other in groups. In this case, not only the group
configuration that makes cooperative learning distinctive but also the cooperative
between students and teachers is very important. That is why this approach is
more concerned on not only student-centered but also teacher centered. In this
way, teacher teaches students are not thinking competitively and
individualistically and helps students collaborative so that they can work together
more actively. It means that teacher not only teach language but also cooperation
as well.
In cooperative learning activities, each member of a group is responsible
not only for learning what is taught by the teacher but also for helping their team-
mates learn. For example, students work through the assignment until all group
members successfully understand and complete it.

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III. CONCLUSION
In teaching learning process, there is no choice that student-centered is
more effective than teacher-centered or vice versa. It is based on the situation or
condition of the students. Thus, as a good teacher, he or she should be able to
decide wisely which one of the approaches, methods, techniques and activities
that is appropriate for each particular task, context and student. Moreover, a
teacher should focus on motivation and helping students become independent and
inspired to learn more.

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 REFERENCES

Brown, Douglas. (2000). Teaching By Principles an Interactive Approach to

Language Pedagogy 2nd Ed. San Francisco, California: Longman

Freeman, Diane. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching 2nd Ed.
New York: Oxford University Press

Freeman, Diane & Anderson, Marti. (2011). Techniques and Principles in

Language Teaching 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press

Richards. J. & Rodgers. T. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language

Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press

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