Learner-Centred vs Learning-Centred Teaching

Webinar with Rod Bolitho, 31 May 2023: Handout

Task 1
If possible, please take a few minutes to work through this task before the webinar.
(a) Consider these examples of teacher behaviour and identify the ones that are
typical of your way of teaching.
1. Teacher asks individual learners in turn to answer reading comprehension
questions.
2. Teacher asks learners to work in groups to answer comprehension questions.
3. Teacher reads a story aloud to learners.
4. Teacher explains a grammar rule.
5. Teacher monitors group work on a task from the textbook.
6. Teacher corrects learners’ pronunciation.
7. Teacher corrects mistakes in learners’ written work.
8. Teacher gives feedback on an oral presentation by learners.
9. Teacher asks learners to draw up criteria for evaluating presentations.
10. Teacher gives learners a text and asks learners to work out a rule about the
use of the passive voice.
11. Teacher calls students to the front to ‘perform’ in English in front of the class.
12. Teacher talks for 60% of lesson time.
13. Teacher asks a difficult question and nominates a learner to answer.
14. Teacher asks a difficult question and waits for a volunteer to be ready to
answer.
15. Teacher tells learners they have three minutes to complete a pair-work task.
16. Teacher tells learners to let her know when they have completed a task.
17. Teacher models an utterance and asks individual learners to repeat.
18. Teacher asks learners to repeat in chorus.
(b) Which of these classroom behaviours are likely to be more teacher-centred and
which more learner-centred?
Task 2
You will watch a short video of the start of a lesson. This is an opportunity to
compare your own practices with those of another teacher. After viewing, please…
1. …find examples of this teacher’s behaviour that are similar to those in the list
in Task 1.
2. ...decide in what ways the teacher’s behaviours promote learning. Give one
or two examples from the video.
3. …identify any similarities with / differences from your own classroom practice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbRxBPY1vsc
Task 3
Which of these teacher interventions would be most likely to promote learning –
choose three or four:
1. reading a poem aloud to a class
2. getting learners to read poems aloud
3. correcting learners’ mistakes instantly during a speaking activity
4. asking learners to take turns to respond to a true/false exercise
5. getting learners to prepare a short sketch in small groups about a local issue
6. explaining a grammar rule to learners
7. monitoring group work to make a note of errors for later feedback
8. asking learners to work in groups to prepare questions about a text
9. getting learners to work out a grammar rule from examples
10. giving learners an opportunity to correct their own mistakes
11. getting learners to follow your instructions by responding physically
12. addressing a question to the whole class and allowing thinking time
13. correcting mistakes in learners’ written work
Task 4
Consider this list of factors that can influence learning in a class context, and answer
these questions
a) How much control do teachers have over these factors?
b) Which of these factors affect your own classroom practices most strongly?

1. the teacher’s personality

2. the teacher’s voice
3. the teacher’s attitude to English
4. learners’ attitude to English
5. the teacher’s beliefs about teaching and learning
6. learners’ beliefs about teaching and learning
7. the teacher’s attitude to the learners
8. how the textbook is used (or not!)
9. the layout of the classroom
10. psychological factors e.g. learning space
11. exam pressure
Step 5
Round -up phase:
1. Q & A
2. Summary of key points, emphasising the importance of learning as the key
factor in a teacher’s decision-making and in planning and teaching a lesson
and stress that ‘learner-centred’ vs ‘teacher-centred’ and TTT vs LTT are
simplistic and unhelpful distinctions.
rodbol44@yahoo.co.uk