Learning-Centered Methods

This paper made to fulfil the assignment of:

Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Lecturer:

Ima Fitriyah, M. Pd

Created by:

Achmad Nur Iqna Pratama (932212917)

ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT
FACULTY of TEACHER TRAINING and EDUCATION
INSTITUTE of ISLAMIC STUDIES (IAIN) KEDIRI
2019

1
 PREFACE

Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

Thanks to God who has given his bless to the writer for finishing the English
paper assignment by the title “Learning-centered Methods”.

Shalawat and greetings may be bestowed on the prophet Muhammad SAW,

1. Ima Fitriyah, M.Pd. as the supervisor

With all the limitations of the knowledge, experience and abilities of the
author in writing this paper, the authors believe that this paper is still far from
perfection. Therefore, the author expects constructive critics and suggestions so that
they can be used as writing guidelines in the future.

Finally, only to God, the author always asks for His blessings and mercy,
hopefully this paper will benefit for us.

Kediri, Oct 5th, 2019

Author

2
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Issue Background
Learning-centered methods focus on how to teach L2. These
methods aim at providing learners to participate in open-ended meaningful
interaction through language learning tasks. This is based on the assumption
that familiarization with meaning making will help learners to master L2.
The teacher’s task is to created situations in which learners are exposed to
meaningful problem-solving activities. These methods include Silent Way,
Suggestopedia, Total Physical Response, Natural Approach, and
Community Language Learning.
The teacher is the authority in the classroom. In order for the method
to be successful, the students must trust and respect her. The students will
retain information better from someone in whom they have confidence since
they will be more responsive to her 'desuggesting' their limitations and
suggesting hocv, easy it will be for them to succeed. Once the students trust
the teacher, they can feel more secure. If they feel secure, they can be more
spontaneous and less inhibited.1
B. Purpose and Intent
1. To understand the definitions of learning-centered method.
2. To mention every models of learning-centered method.
3. To understand every models of learning-centered method.

1
Diane Larsen-Freeman, Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, 2nd ed., [Nachdr.],
Teaching Techniques in English as a Second Language (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2008).

3
 CHAPTER II

THEORY

A. Definition
Learning-centered method or teaching centered approach is a
teaching method where the teacher is in actively involved in teaching while
the learners are in a passive, receptive mode listening as the teacher teaches.
Taken to its most extreme interpretation, teachers are the main authority
figure in a teacher-centered instruction model. Students are viewed as
“empty vessels” who passively receive knowledge from their teachers
through lectures and direct instruction, with an end goal of positive results
from testing and assessment. In this style, teaching and assessment are
viewed as two separate entities; student learning is measured through
objectively scored tests and assessments.
Learning-centered methods, or “designer” methods, as Nunan
(1989:97) calls them, emerged in the 1970’s. The emergence of these
methods was stimulated by the growth of research on second language
learning and spirit to have innovative methods. Unlike the language-
centered methods (which were chronological), these methods emerged at
the same period, with no relation to each other. The following description is
quoted and summarized from the description of the methods written by
Brown (2001:36-37) and Larsen-Freeman (1986). Brown writes his
description based on the format of Richards and Rodgers’ (2001) model of
method.2

2
Fachrurrazy, Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Teacher in Indonesia, (Malang:
University of Malang, 2011) 5-6.

4
 B. Model of Methods
Based on Fachrurrazy (2011:21-26) that used as references, there is
5 model of learning-centered method. They are as follows:
1. Total Physical Response (Asher)
 Theory of language: Basically a structuralist, grammar-based view
of language.
 Theory of learning: L-2 learning is the same as L-I learning;
comprehension before production, is "imprinted" through carrying
out commands (right-brain functioning); reduction of stress.
 Objective: Teach oral proficiency to produce learners who can
communicate uninhibitedly and intelligibly with native speakers.
 Syllabus: Sentence-based syllabus with grammatical and lexical
criteria being primary, but focus on meaning, not form.
 Activity types: Imperative drills to elicit physical actions.
 Learner roles: Listener and performer, little influence over the
content of learning.
 Teaching roles: Active and direct role; "the director of a stage play"
with students as actors.
 Roles of materials: No basic text; materials and media have an
important role later. Initially voice, action, and gestures are
sufficient.3
Total physical response (TPR) is a language teaching method
developed by James Asher, a professor emeritus of psychology at San
José State University. It combines language and gesture, thus making
language acquisition more natural and memorable (Asher 2007; Curtain
and Dahlberg 2010; Larsen-Freeman 2004; Morley 2001). In TPR,
instructors give commands to students in the target language with body
movements, and students respond with whole-body actions. Learners are
not expected to speak while performing actions, which makes TPR stress-
free and suitable for teaching beginners, either young learners, teenagers
or adults (Asher 2007).
Asher developed TPR as a result of his experiences observing young
children learning their first language. He noticed that interactions
between parents and children often took the form of speech from the
parent followed by a physical response from the child. Asher made three

3
Fachrurrazy, 21–22.

5
 hypotheses based on his observations: first, that language is learned
primarily by listening; second, that language learning must engage the
right hemisphere of the brain; and third, that learning language should
not involve any stress.
The practice of this method is in the forms of commands given by the
teacher and responded with actions (physically) by the students. The
teacher, for example, says:
Stand up, Point to the window, Look at your friend, Smile, Sit down.
At first the commands are given and responded one by one by a group
of students. Gradually, two, three or more commands are given by the
teacher at once, and responded accordingly by individual students. Later,
a student may replace the teacher to give commands to his/her friends.
The teacher is advised to insert fun commands, such as, jump three times,
dance or jump like a frog, just to make students relaxed. This method is
intended to overcome the fear of speaking out by beginners. The
limitation of this method seems that it is effective for beginning levels of
language proficiency and for young learners. Advanced learners need
different strategies in learning. Reading and writing activities are difficult
to be conducted using TPR.4

4
Fachrurrazy, 22

6
 2. The Silent Way (CALEB GATTEGNO)
 Theory of language: Each language is composed of elements that
give it a unique rhythm and spirit. Functional vocabulary and core
structure are keys to the spirit of the language
 Theory of learning: Processes of learning a second language are
funda-mentally different from L-I learning. L-2 learning is an
intellectual, cognitive process. Surrender to the music of the
language, silent awareness then active trial.
 Objective: Near-native fluency, correct pronunciation, basic
practical knowledge of the grammar of the L-2. Learner learns how
to learn a language.
 Syllabus: Basically structural lessons planned around grammatical
items and related vocabulary. Items are introduced according to their
grammatical complexity.
 Activity types: Learner responses to commands, questions, and
visual cues. Activities encourage and shape oral responses without
grammatical explanation or modeling by teacher.
 Learning roles: Learning is a process of personal growth. Learners
are responsible for their own learning and must develop
independence, autonomy, and responsibility
 Teacher roles: Teachers must (a) teach, (b) test and (c) get out of the
way. Remain impassive. Resist temptation to model, remodel, assist,
direct, exhort.
 Roles of materials: Unique materials: colored rods, color-coded
pronunciation and vocabulary charts.5
The Silent Way is a language-teaching method created by Caleb
Gattegno that makes extensive use of silence as a teaching method.
Gattegno introduced the method in 1963, in his book that named
Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way.
It is a methodology of teaching language based on the idea that
teachers should be as silent as possible during a class but learners should
be encouraged to speak as much as possible. It is based on the premise
that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom but
the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as
possible. Elements of the silent way, particularly the use of color charts

5
Fachrurrazy, 22–23.

7
 and the colored Cuisenaire rods, grew out of Gattegno’s previous
experience as an educational designer of reading and mathematics
programs.
The silence in this approach is used to focus students’ attention, elicit
their responses and encourage them to correct their own errors. Rather
than a clear-cut teaching methodology, the Silent Way constitutes a
game-like approach to teaching a foreign language that has been based
on careful observation of the workings of the mind. Thus, the Silent Way
is more often considered as an “alternative language teaching ‘system’”
(Cook, 2008, p. 266).6
3. Community Learning Language
This method is an extension of Counseling Learning Method (CLM).
 Theory of language: Language is more than a system for
communication. It involves whole person, culture, educational,
devel-opmental communicative processes.
 Theory of learning: Learning involves the whole person. It is a social
process of growth from childlike dependence to self-direction and
independence.
 Objectives: No specific objectives. Near-native mastery is thegoal.
 Syllabus: No set syllabus. Course progression is to pic-based;
learners provide the topics. Syllabus emerges from learners'
intention and the teacher's reformulations.
 Activity types: Combination of innovative and conventional.
Translati-on, group work, recording, transcription, reflection and
observation, listening, free conversation.
 Learner roles: Learners are members of a community. Learning is
not viewed as an individual accomplishment, but something that is
achieved collaboratively.
 Teacher roles: Counselling/parental analogy. Teacher provides a
safe environment in which students can learn and grow
 Roles of materials: No textbook, which would inhibit growth.
Materials are developed as course progresses.7
Community Language Learning (CLL) is the name of a method
developed by Charles A. Curran and his associates. Curran was a

6
Mustafa Caner dan I Yuksel, “The Silent Way,” Aproaches and Principles in English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) Education, 2014, 41.
7
Fachrurrazy, Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Teacher in Indonesia, (Malang:
University of Malang, 2011) 23-24.

8
 specialist in counselling and a professor of psychology Chicago.
Community Language Learning represents the use of Counselling-
Learning theory to teach languages. In lay terms, counsellor is one person
giving advice, assistance, and support to another who has a problem or is
in some way in need, Community Language Learning draws on the
counselling metaphor to redefine the roles of the teacher (the counsellor)
and learners (the clients) in the language classroom. The basic procedures
of CLL can thus be seen as derived from the counsellor-client
relationship.
Community language learning (CLL) is a language-teaching
approach8 in which students work together to develop what aspects of a
language they would like to learn. It is based on the Counselling-
approach in which the teacher acts as a counsellor and a paraphraser,
while the learner is seen as a client and collaborator.
An example of the practice of this method is that the students sit in a
Role circle. The teacher tells that they will have a conversation, and if a
student wants to say something, he/she just raises his/her hand and asks
the teacher (e.g. What is "Selamat pagi" in English?). The teacher will
approach and whisper to him/her "Good morning". Then, the student says
"Good morning". When another student wants to respond to this greeting,
he/she does the same as the first student, and the teacher whispers to
him/her, and so on. After the conversation has ended, they discuss the
kinds and uses of the expressions they have used. Next time they choose
another topic.9

8
Jack C. Richards dan Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, 2.
ed., 14. print, Cambridge Language Teaching Library (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008)
113.
9
Fachrurrazy, Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Teachers in Indonesia (Malang: State
University of Malang Press, 2011), 23–24.

9
4. The Natural Approach
THE NATURAL APPROACH (KRASHEN AND TERRELL)
 Theory of language: The essence of language is meaning.
Vocabulary, not grammar, is the heart of language.
 Theory of learning: There are two ways of L-2 language
development: "acquisition" (a natural subconscious process), and
"learning" (a conscious process). Learning cannot lead to
acquisition.
 Objectives: Designed to give beginners and intermediate learners
basic communicative skills. Four broad areas; basic personal
communicative skills (oral/written); academic learning skills
(oral/written).
 Syllabus: Based on selection of communicative activities and topics
derived from learner needs.
 Activity types: Activities allowing comprehensible input, about
things in the here-and-now. Focus on meaning, not on form.
 Learner roles: Should not try to learn language in the usual sense,
but should try to lose themselves in activities involving meaningful
communication.
 Teacher roles: The teacher is the primary source of cormprehensible
input. Must create positive low-anxiety climate. Must choose and
orchestrate a rich mixture of classroom activities
 Roles of materials: Materials come from realia rather than textbooks.
Primary aim is to promote comprehension and communication.
In addition to the Acquisition Learning hypothesis, Krashen also
proposes 4 other hypotheses, i.e. Comprehensible Input hypothesis,
Affective Filter hypothesis, Monitor hypothesis, and Natural Order
hypothesis. The problem with this method is in its difficulty to define
some of the terms. Theoretically, comprehensible input hypothesis
means that a teacher should teach the material which is a little bit beyond
the students' mastery of e.g. for the topic "Borobudur Temple", the
students have been familiar with it (comprehensible input); therefore,
they only learn its description in English. Affective filter hypothesis
means that the students will learn English easily when they are in relaxed
and not tensed condition. A teacher should create this condition and
motivate the students. Monitor hypothesis means that the students
monitor (control) the English they use. The monitor will work if the

10
 students: (a) intentionally want to use monitor, (b) know the mistakes
they make, (c) know how to correct the mistakes, and (d) have time for
correction. Natural order hypothesis means that the students should be
taught based on the order of language acquisition, e.g. a teacher usually
teaches simple present tense earlier, whereas research shows that
students' earlier acquisition is present continuous tense. The teacher
should follow the order from research findings.10

CHAPTER III

FINAL

A. Conclusion
Based on the explanation above could be concluded that materials in EFL
is a set of teaching materials used in the class by language learner. It may be
presented in print (a textbook, a workbook, a photocopied handout, so forth),
audio or video form, on CD-ROMS, on the internet or through live performance
or display. Materials is like information, tool and text becoming necessary to
plan and implement learning. The term coursebook is used to mean a textbook
of which the teacher and, usually, each student has a copy, and which is in
principle to be followed systematically as the basic for a language course. There
are some categorize of textbook : Teacher resource books, Other student
textbooks, Realia, Self-made paper-based visual aids, Commercially available
visual aids. Using textbook have advantages and disavantages so that learners
must be able make it as well as possible their can.

B. References

Caner, Mustafa, dan I Yuksel. “The Silent Way.” Aproaches and Principles
in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Education, 2014, 41–53.

Fachrurrazy. Teaching English as a Foreign Language For Teachers in

10
Fachrurrazy, 24-25

11
 Larsen-Freeman, Diane. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching.
2nd ed., [Nachdr.]. Teaching Techniques in English as a Second Language.
Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2008.

Richards, Jack C., dan Theodore S. Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in

12