The identification of communicative competence as the goal of language learning has led to a major shift in the ways that language teaching professionals understand and carry out their work. The result has been a move from an older “traditional” model to a newer “contemporary” one.
Traditional model: In the traditional model, language learning is understood as a product of transmission. The teacher transmits knowledge about the language. The learner is the recipient of the transmission.
The traditional model can be attractive for several reasons:
- It is the method by which many teachers themselves were taught
- It makes sense: The teacher should be the focus of the classroom, since the teacher knows the language and the learners do not
- It requires fairly simple preparation: All the teacher needs to do is develop and present a specific point about the language’s grammar forms and structures (or present the material outlined in the appropriate chapter of the textbook) and distribute related exercises
- It requires relatively little thought about learners or learner activities: All learners listen to the teacher’s presentation or do an assigned listening or reading task, and then complete related exercises individually
However, under the influence of the communicative competence objective, language teaching professionals have come to recognize that this traditional model has two serious drawbacks:
- It views the teacher as active and the learner as fundamentally passive. The teacher is responsible for transmitting all of the information to the learners. The teacher talks; the learners listen and absorb (or take a nap). By not seeking to engage all learners actively, the traditional model involves only a minority of learners in actual language learning.
- It views language as a subject to be studied and language learning as the gradual mastery of the language’s grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. It gives learners knowledge about the language, but does not necessarily enable them to use it in real-life situations for purposes that interest or are meaningful to them.
To address these drawbacks and shift the focus to communicative competence, many language teaching professionals have adopted a different model of teaching and learning.
Contemporary model: The contemporary model views language learning as a process of discovery. The learner develops the ability to use the language for specific communication purposes. The teacher models language use and facilitates the learners’ development of language skills that can be applied in real-life situations.
In this model, both learner and teacher are active participants who share responsibility for the learner’s language proficiency development. Teacher and learners work together to identify how learners expect or want to use the language. The teacher models language use, and learners then use the language themselves in activities that simulate—or are—meaning-making communication situations.
Because the focus is on how language is used to convey meaning, in this model the teaching of grammar forms and structures is only one part of a larger whole that also includes cultural knowledge and ability to use the language to acquire information and participate in the communities where the language is spoken.
Comparing the Two Models
The traditional model is often described as teacher centered and classroom oriented, while the contemporary model may be described as learner centered and community (or real world) oriented. The differences between the traditional model and the contemporary model are summarized in the following table.
| TRADITIONAL MODEL | CURRENT MODEL |
| Focus is on teacher | Focus is on both learners and teacher |
| Focus is on language forms and structures (what the teacher knows about the language) | Focus is on language use in typical situations (how learners will use the language to convey meaning) |
| Learning materials are made for the classroom | Learning materials are drawn from real life |
| Teacher talks; learners listen | Teacher models; learners interact with teacher and one another |
| Learners work alone for the most part | Students work in pairs, in groups, or alone depending on the purpose of the activity |
| Teacher monitors and corrects every learner utterance | Learners talk without constant teacher monitoring; teacher provides feedback/correction when questions arise |
| Teacher answers learners’ questions about language | Learners answer each other’s questions, using teacher as an information resource |
| Teacher chooses topics | Learners have some choice of topics |
| Teacher evaluates learning | Learners evaluate their own learning; teacher also evaluates |
| Classroom is quiet | Classroom is often noisy and busy |
Language teachers who are new to the contemporary model may find it daunting in several ways.
- It conflicts with tradition: Many cultures have longstanding traditions about how the language should be taught, especially to school children. These approaches are often teacher centered, and they often focus on literature rather than interpersonal communication.
- It requires more preparation time: Teachers must consider learners’ language learning goals, identify classroom activities that will help learners develop the language skills they need to reach those goals, and find appropriate real-world materials to accompany the activities.
- It is mysterious: It’s not clear what, exactly, a teacher does to make a classroom learner centered.
- It feels like it isn’t going to work: When learners first move into small groups, they may be slow to get started as they assess the assigned task and figure out group dynamics.
- It feels chaotic: Once learners start working in their groups, the classroom becomes noisy and the teacher must be comfortable with the idea that learners may make mistakes that are not heard and corrected.
- It sounds like a bad idea: The phrase “learner centered” makes it sound as though the teacher is not in control of the classroom.
The material presented in this website is designed to help teachers address these concerns. It explains why learner-centered instruction is effective and supports teachers in discovering ways of using it in their own teaching contexts. A set of techniques for employing learner-centered instruction appears in the section on learner-centered instruction, and the learner-centered model underlies all of the guidance provided in the sections on teaching practice. In addition, throughout the site learner-centered instruction is presented as fundamental to the larger context of standards-based language teaching.
The Essentials of Language Teaching 