A New Learner-centered Lesson Plan in Teaching Grammar to Esl-efl Learners

April 1, 2007 3:33 Research Publishing : IJAS Volume 4: Issue 10: Year 2011: ONT253

International Journal of Arts & Sciences,CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 :: 4(10):922 (2011)

Copyright c 2011 by InternationalJournal.org

A NEW LEARNER-CENTERED LESSON PLAN IN TEACHING GRAMMAR TO ESL/EFL LEARNERS

Afsaneh Amini

Dar Al-Hekma College, Saudi Arabia

Teaching English to ESL/EFL learners is not only teaching the linguistic aspect of language, but it is also teaching discourse and communicative aspects of language. Focusing on these multi-aspects, this paper introduces a new learner-centered lesson plan in teaching and learning grammar. No matter if the instructor is teaching grammar to ESL or EFL learners, s/he starts with Pre-phase including two sub-phases of warming up and reviewing. In any developmental order that best matches his/her students needs, s/he then proceeds with Phase I: Linguistic Competence, Phase II: Discourse Competence, Phase III: Communicative Competence, and Phase IV: Feedback and Evaluation. Each phase comprises diverse activities, strategies, techniques, and/or methods varying in cognitive complexity. The developmental progress of phases, degree of emphasis in each phase, and selection of the methodology and resources depend mainly on the needs analysis of learners and their preferences. Finally, concluding remarks and implications are presented.

Keywords: ESL, EFL, Teaching grammar, Learner-centered approach.

INTRODUCTION

The learner-centered approach is a new approach in teaching and learning advocated in higher education since three decades ago (Blumberg, 2004, 2008; Felder & Brent, 1996; McCombs & Whistler, 1997; Nunan, 1988a; Pillay, 2002; Weimer, 2002). The approach is rooted in the learning theories of constructivism which is based on the perception that learners have the ability to construct knowledge and generate meaning for themselves (e.g., Glasersfeld, 1989).To social constructivists, students are active constructors and architects of their own building ideas and knowledge and, thus, not only does the ownership of learning reside with them, but also sustaining motivation depend on how much they are confident in using their potential to learn (Glasersfeld, 1989). To this end, the instructor has to let learners be in charge of their own learning, as his/her role has changed from an instructor to a facilitator (e.g., Bausersfeld, 1995; Dwyer, Ringstaff, & Sandholtz, 1991; Tuder, 1996; Weimer, 2002).

In the learner-centered approach, no matter if the instructor is teaching a content course, a research course, a writing course, a vocabulary course, a grammar course, or other courses, s/he mainly acts as a facilitator. Being a facilitator and not a teacher requires a totally different set of skills and responsibilities on the part of both the teacher and students (e.g., Cano, 2003; Weimer, 2002). As cases to the point are: a facilitator supports while a teacher lectures, a facilitator provides guidelines while a teacher provides answers, and a facilitator orients a dialogue while a teacher presents a monologue (e.g., see Cano, 2003; Rhodes, 1999). In a similar line of thoughts,

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Weimer (2002) indicates that the job of a teacher is to create a dynamic learning environment with available options to increase students engagement and motivation.

The gap between theory and practice as one of the main problems of the teacher-centered system addressed by Lawton (1973:7-8, quoted in Nunan 1988a): Students leaving college and entering schools are sometimes advised by practicing teachers to forget all that theory and get on with the real teaching... In the Middle East and Asia, the author has also experienced that in the instructor-centered approach to teaching and learning, university education loads students with a lot of information, policies, and rules and prepare them little for life. When university students graduate, they have gained little experience of life, interpersonal skills, social skills, time management skills, job management skills, etc. This may be due to the fact that students are given few meaningful opportunities to practice and experience what they need most while they are spending the best years of their life in university. In addition, research shows that not necessarily students always learn what teachers teach (Allwright, 1986; Burton & Nunan, 1986; references cited in Nunan, 1988a). Obviously, the content of a course needs to be tailored to student needs. As Weimer (2002) indicates, the relevance of content to the needs of learners is important to be considered to produce intrinsically motivated learners. Weimer further states that various policies that we establish in our classes do not bring about learners who are motivated, responsible, and intellectually grown-up, as these policies foster extrinsic motivation in students rather than intrinsic one. To efficiently manage the learning situation, she proposes to have additional approaches besides rules and policies.

In the learner-centered approach to teaching and learning, it is a necessity to equip the learning process with meaningful activities, strategies, techniques, and/or methods so that the ground for intrinsic motivation and motivators is created, and learners are encouraged to practice what they need for their current and future endeavors. This is in line with Weimers (2002) thoughts that there is a shift of focus in the function of content from covering content to using content in the sense that the content of the course needs to be linked to meaningful skills, strategies, techniques, and approaches to foster the meta-cognitive ability of learners, among others.

INITIAL SETUPS FOR THE LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH

The initial setups for a learner-centered class consist of: (a) holding an introductory training, (b) knowing learners, (c) grouping of students, and (d) establishing negotiating rules and policies.

INTRODUCTORY TRAINING

In a learner-centered class, students need to take responsibility not only for their own learning but also for their peers (e.g., see Cano, 2003; Tuder, 1996; Weimer, 2002). Thus, the students need to involve actively in the learning process: raise a question, solve a problem, think analytically, and learn cooperatively. This is in a sharp contrast with the instructor-centered approach where students have a passive role. This shift in the responsibility requires that students take an introductory training in the form of a workshop, a short training course, or a long training course depending on the cognitive and meta-cognitive abilities of students and their level of functioning, among others.

The introductory training to the learner-centered approach should encompass the following topics: (a) collaborative learning, (b) observation skills, (c) analytical skills, (d) problem solving


A New Learner-Centered Lesson Plan in Teaching Grammar to ESL/EFL Learners 11

skills, (e) decision making skills, (f) negotiating skills (g) interpersonal skills, (h) evaluating self, (i) evaluating peers, (j) listening attentively, (k) speaking understandably, (l) speaking appropriately, (m) behaving appropriately, (n) thinking positively, (o) controlling emotions, (p) responsibility in learning, (q) responsibility in life, (r) life-long learning, (s) updating self-knowledge, (t) updating self in using technology, and so on (see Amini, in progress; Cooper, 1990; Rau & Heyl, 1990; Slavin, 1980).

KNOWING LEARNERS

In the student-centered approach, the instructor needs to know his/her students in all aspects of their realization as much as possible. The instructor acts as a facilitator, an advisor, a consultant,a mentor, a supporter, a contributor, and/or a negotiator, but certainly not as an instructor in the traditional meaning of it. Knowing students means knowing them not only in their language skills but also in their brain dominance (for the brain dominance see, e.g., Allmen, 2009; Hannaford, 1997; Sperry, 1984; Vitale, 1982, 1986), attitude (e.g., see Smith, 1971), aptitude, intelligence (e.g., see Sattler, 1982), personality, dreams, goals, hobbies, interests, style of learning (e.g., see Honey & Mumford, 2006; Lawarence, 1997), educational background, family background, ethnic background, health status, etc. This links up with social constructivism that considers each learner as a unique and multidimensional individual, in addition to the importance given to his/her culture and background in the learning process (e.g., see Stahl, 1992; Wertsch, 1998). No doubt, the more the instructor knows his/her students, the better s/he is in a position to tailor a variety of activities, strategies, and techniques to suit them best.

GROUPING OF LEARNERS

The traditional sitting in rows no longer exists in the learner-centered approach. It is very important to group students based on certain criteria and assign each group a name to facilitate communication. For example, a class of 30 students can be divided into 5 groups, each of which is allocated a name while considering students preferences, in the first place. To facilitate further the communication, the individual students in each group can be assigned a numerical ID, starting with 1 as the ID for the head of the group and continuing to other numbers up to 6, as there are six students in each group. The identical IDs are differentiated by adding their groups name to the ID number.

The grouping of students can be managed based on: (a) friendship, (b) academic skills, (c) cognitive skills, (d) meta-cognitive skills, (e) other skills, (f) field of study, (g) style of learning, (h) brain dominance, (i) cultural background, and/or (i) a hybrid combination of two or more features/characteristics. In choosing the grouping criteria, the students preferences are important to be considered (see also Collier, 1980; Connery, 1988; Fiechtner & Davis, 1992; Smith, 1986).

ESTABLISHING NEGOTIATING RULES AND POLICIES

Unlike the teacher-centered approach, in the learner-centered approach, rules and policies are negotiated with students and finalized according to their preferences. These negotiating rules and policies include but not limited to: (a) self-working rules, (b) pair-working rules, (c) group-working rules, (d) assessment rules, and (e) class management rules. As an illustration, after negotiation among students as well as dialogue between students and the facilitator, the deadline


12 Afsaneh Amini

for group project is determined; it is also specified what action should be taken if the deadline is not met. Once the decisions have negotiated and made, the instructor needs to be consistent in the administration of rules and policies (Weimer, 2002).

GRAMMAR TEACHING: A BLENDED MODEL

The situation of grammar teaching often follows two extremes: overt teaching of grammar and no overt teaching of grammar at all (For the history and current grammar instruction, see, e.g., Ellis, 2002; Hinkel & Fotos, 2002). The overt-grammar teaching focuses on grammar as a set of forms and rules. The underlying idea is that communicative language teaching is inadequate in developing in learners high levels of accuracy and proficiency (See, e.g., Celce-Murcia, Drnyei, & Thurrell, 1997; Ellis, 1966, 1997, 2002), and it may result in the production of fossilized and/or pidginized forms of language (See, e.g., Celce-Muricia & Hilles, 1988; Skehan, 1996). On the other hand, the no-overt teaching of grammar ignores the formal teaching of grammar. The underlying notion is that L2 learning is similar to L1 acquisition and, thus, learners do not need the formal instruction of grammar, as they learn it naturally based on exposure to and experience with L2 (Krashen, 1981, 1993; Schwartz, 1993). However, a number of professionals (e.g., Ellis, 1996, 1997) point out that grammar learning enhances communication, and an advanced level of language competence is required for spoken and written academic and professional communications.

The model of teaching grammar that the author proposes here is a blended model merging the above extremes; it mainly has two versions: Bottom-up Processing Model and Top-down Processing Model. In the bottom-up processing model, the linguistic competence is developed into discourse competence and communicative competence (See the lesson plan that follows.). This model would be appropriate, e.g., for rule-based learners (See, e.g., Amini, in progress Dunn & Dunn (1978); Sprenger (2003). On the other hand, the top-down processing model begins with communicative competence and is followed by discourse and linguistic competences. Holistic learners (among others) would benefit from this model (ibid.). It should be noted that the selection of the model does not depend on the program itself, that is, if it is an ESL or EFL program; it is mainly dependant on the learner needs and their preferences.

LEARNER-CENTERED LESSON PLAN FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING GRAMMAR

In the learner-centered approach to teaching and learning grammar, the lesson plan consists of a set of recursive phases through which students not only gain linguistic competence but also discourse and communicative competences through useful activities pertinent to their life, interest, as well as current and future endeavors.

In each phase of the grammar acquisition process, students generate and/or the facilitator introduces a series of activities, strategies, techniques, and/or methods. The facilitator does not go closely through these pedagogical resources; it is the responsibility of students to internalize them and connect them to other meaningful experiences. The students are in charge of their own learning and the facilitator guide them throughout the grammar learning process. Before going through the phases of the grammar lesson plan, the objectives of grammar pedagogy need to be specified.



OBJECTIVES

The first essential in designing a lesson plan is to specify objectives, that is, measurably observable learning outcomes that students should achieve by the end of the grammar competency process. Students make significant decisions about what learning outcomes should be attained. As Nunan (1988a:5) indicates, in a learner-centered curriculum, the selection of content and objectives is something which is shaped and refined during the initial stages of a learning arrangement rather than being completely pre-determined. For example, depending on their needs and preferences, students may accomplish the following objectives. It should be noted that, the degree of emphasis on each objective is different from a learner to another. This is especially true in non-homogeneous classes including students with mixed skills, abilities, and characteristics.

a) To know the form of the grammar point b) To know the meaning of the grammar point c) To apply the grammar point in text d) To use the grammar point in communication

In what follows, we go through phases of a learner-centered lesson plan for developing grammar, commencing with the pre-phase and proceeding with other phases including linguistic competence, discourse competence, communicative competence, as well as feedback and evaluation. As mentioned before, the phases of the lesson plan do not have a fixed order: the learner needs and preferences are main decisive factors in the logical development of phases.

PRE-PHASE: WARMING UP AND REVIEWING

The pre-phase consists of two sub-phases: warming up and reviewing of prior knowledge and experience. The purpose of warming up is to generate a feeling of being at home in students so that they absorb the input more efficiently and participate in class more willingly. Generating such a feeling is not difficult. It can be initiated with warm greetings and go forward with such activities as poetry, drama, games, jokes, some chunks of L1, etc. depending, e.g., on the age of students and their interests (See Rickey, 2011 for other techniques in creating a warm class atmosphere.) After warming up, students are called for incorporating their past lesson, knowledge, and experience into the present lesson, knowledge, and experience.

PHASE I: LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE: SENTENTIAL CONTEXT

This phase comprises two sub-phases: syntactic focus and semantic focus. The syntactic focus concerns the form of grammar including the spelling, pronunciation, and pattern of the grammar point in question. The product of this phase is parallel to consciousness raising of some researchers (e.g., Schmidt, 1990, 1993; Sharwood Smith 1981, 1993) ) in that grammar knowledge is developed in learners. However, as learners are in charge of their own learning, the traditional instruction is reduced to mini-instruction, that is, a short introduction or presentation by the facilitator.

The techniques, strategies, and activities used in this phase include but not limited to the following resources generated by students and/or introduced by the facilitator (For exemplification, e.g., see Amini, in progress; Bluedorn, 2004; Celce-Murcia, Brinton, &


14 Afsaneh Amini

Goodwin, 1996; Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1988; Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999; Ripple, 2009; Timberlake, n.d.). It should be noted that the pedagogical resources a-d can be used for teaching spelling, pronunciation, and the rule while the resources e-j, k-l, and m-p are applied for practicing spelling, pronunciation, and the rule, respectively.

a) Facilitators mini- presentation/mini-lecture b) Students (mini-) presentations/lectures c) Invited speakers (mini-) presentation/lecture d) Using a video clip/an audio clip e) Dictation f) Phonic strategy g) Phonological strategy h) Phonemic strategy i) Phoneme-grapheme strategy j) Phoneme-grapheme strategy k) Grapheme-phoneme strategy l) Repetition m) Mechanical drills n) Sentence editing o) Sentence completion for grammar p) Sentence grammaticality Judgment: Correct/Incorrect

The semantic focus concerns the meaning of the grammar point in question. How do students internalize the meaning of grammar point? Below are some pedagogical techniques and resources (For illustration, e.g., see Amini, in progress; Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1988; Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999; Timberlake, n.d.):

a) Facilitator mini-presentation/mini-lecture b) Students (mini-) presentations/lectures c) Invited speakers (mini-) lecture/presentation d) Using a video and/or an audio clip e) Using L1 f) Meaningful drills g) Sentence completion for meaning h) Using realia i) Using pictures j) Using objects k) Listen and draw l) Listen and physically respond m) Listen and color n) Listen and manipulate o) Yes/No questions: Listen and say yes/No p) WH questions: Listen and answer in a single word



PHASE II: DISCOURSE COMPETENCE: WRITTEN LANGUAGE IN TEXT

In this phase, students apply the grammar point beyond the sentence level in meaningful text of their interests. More specifically, discourse competence examines the grammar point in the comprehension and production of a written text of one paragraph or more, as well those of different genres. Using grammar in discourse allows learners to test, modify, and establish their linguistic knowledge gained in Phase I. It should be noted that the notion of discourse competence only applies to written discourse and, thus, is different from the available literature (e.g., Biber, 1988; Carter & McCarthy , 1997; Celce Murcia & Olshtain, 2000, Halliday, 1973; McCarthy, 1991) in which both spoken and written discourse are referred to as discourse analysis. It should be noted that spoken discourse is included in the next phase, i.e., communicative competence.

The methods, techniques, strategies, and/or activities used in this phase include but not limited to the following pedagogical resources introduced by the facilitator or generated by learners (for exemplification, e.g., see Amini, in progress; Allen & Mascolini, 1997; Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1988, Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999; Gillett, Hammond, & Martala, 2009; Langan, 2007)

a) Free writing b) Text completion (cloze) c) Text editing d) Solving/constructing a puzzle e) Reading/constructing a game f) Reading/writing a poem g) Reading/writing a conversation/dialogue h) Reading/writing a story, fiction, or narrative i) Reading/composing a paragraph/an essay j) Reading/writing a piece of newspaper k) Reading/writing a journal l) Reading/writing a CV m) Reading/writing a recipe n) Reading/composing a graph, chart, table, or schedule o) Summarizing/paraphrasing a text

PHASE III: COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE: SPOKEN LANGUAGE

In this phase, students use the grammar points in verbal communications. Using grammar in the spoken form of language provides the students with meaningful opportunities to establish further their linguistic and discourse knowledge gained in Phases I and II. Depending on the learning situation, the grammar point may be used first in communicative drills; it may then be applied in spoken discourse, meaningful communicative tasks, as well as socio-cultural situations related to the student life, culture, current study, future endeavor, etc. Randomly selected communicative drills, pieces of spoken discourse, tasks, and situations for the purpose of just exposure are not encouraged; they need to be carefully designed and proposed mainly based on the learner needs


16 Afsaneh Amini

and preferences. As Richards (2002) points out, communicative tasks need to be focused in order to lead to effective grammar acquisition.

The following are some examples of communicative resources varying in cognitive complexity. They are generated by students and/or introduced by the facilitator (For illustration, e.g., see Amini, in progress; Biber, 1988; Carter & McCarthy, 1997; Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1988; Chesler and Fox, 1966; Courtney, 1980; De Beer, 1991; Halliday, 1973; Liu, 2007; Stowe, 2004; McCarthy, 1991).

a) Using communicative drills b) Holding an interview/a conversation c) Describing a game verbally d) Solving a problem e) Playing a game f) Playing a skit g) Playing a drama h) Playing a role i) Singing a song j) Operating an equipment k) Cooking based on a recipe l) Reserving a hotel by phone m) Reserving a ticket on-line n) Applying for a job o) Telling a joke, story, anecdote, event, etc. p) Saying a poem, proverb, surprising fact, etc. q) Summarizing/paraphrasing a text verbally r) Group/class discussion: Arguing against/in favor ofs) Consulting: Giving advice: Using advantages, disadvantages, etc. t) Analysing/Comparing/Contrasting: Using different views, opinions, perspectives, etc.

PHASE IV: FEEDBACK AND EVALUATION

Obviously, changing in the practice of teaching requires changing in the evaluation and vice versa. According to Shawa and Dawsett (1986, cited in Nunan, 1988a:7), traditionally, evaluation occurs at the final stage in the curriculum process. In the model proposed here [learner-centered curriculum], however, evaluation is parallel with other curriculum activities and may occur at various times during the planning and implementation phases, as well as during a specified evaluation phase ... In a similar line, Walvoord (2004) indicates that student learning is affected by changes in assessment methods.

The feedback and evaluation phase consist of two sub-phases: bidirectional feedback and evaluation.



BIDIRECTIONAL FEEDBACK

Throughout the grammar acquisition process, the facilitator should provide students with continuous feedback on their language together with positive reinforcement. She also needs to be the recipient of students on-going feedbacks not only on efficiency of his/her guiding role but also on that of different activities, strategies, techniques, and methods used in the classroom.

EVALUATION

The evaluation comprises: (a) type of evaluation, (b) evaluation techniques, and (c) process evaluation, final evaluation, and scoring techniques.

TYPE OF EVALUATION

The evaluation can be directed by the student, peer, facilitator and/or joint participants. Depending on who is in charge, the evaluation is called differently as: student self evaluation, peer evaluation, facilitator evaluation, hybrid evaluation of the self and peer, hybrid evaluation of the self and facilitator, hybrid evaluation of the peer and facilitator, and hybrid evaluation of the self, peer, and facilitator (see also Tuder, 1996; Weimer, 2002).

EVALUATION TECHNIQUES There are two types of evaluation techniques matching the grammar learning process: normal reflective techniques and authentic techniques. The reflective techniques include syntactic, semantic, and discourse techniques assessing the form, meaning, and discourse aspects of grammar point, respectively. The authentic techniques comprise pieces of spoken discourse, meaningful communications, task-based activities, and socio-cultural situations to assess the learners communicative skills.

PROCESS EVALUATION, FINAL EVALUATION, AND SCORING TECHNIQUES In learner-centered grammar pedagogy, evaluation should happen in every stage of the learning process and should not be left for the final stage. As Lawton (1973:14, quoted in Nunan 1988a:12) indicates, leaving evaluation until the final stage of curriculum process is rather like doing military intelligence after the war is over: in other words, evaluation should occur at every stage. This would make the curriculum model a cyclical one rather than a linear model.

In the grammar learning process, the competence and performance of students can be measured by two scoring techniques: normal scorning and formative scoring. In normal scoring, the student work is given a numerical grade. The formative technique is applied when the student is not assigned a numerical grade, but a value grade such as excellent, very good, good, etc. may be attributed to her work. Similarly, the final evaluation of grammar acquisition can be measured numerically and/or valuably. In both techniques, scoring can be managed by the student, peer, facilitator, and/or joint participants (See also Tuder, 1996; Weimer, 2002). Certainly, in each phase of the grammar acquisition process, students can be assigned numerical and/or value grades. However, value grading may not be satisfactory by itself. As the author has


18 Afsaneh Amini

experienced, there exist some learners who are extrinsically motivated. For these learners assigning a grade is the best motivation to inspire them to work. On the other hand, intrinsically-motivated learners are truly workaholics; they love to learn and work hard regardless of the type of reward they get. Thus considering the above learners, in the process of grammar evaluation, both numerical scoring and value scoring should be applied (See also Weimer, 2002 for intrinsically and extrinsically motivated learners.).

CONCLUDING REMARKS AND IMPLICATIONS

The new learner-centered lesson plan in teaching and learning grammar consists of a series of recursive phases ordered based on the needs of students. The lesson plan may include the bottom-up processing model in which the phases are sequentially ordered as: Pre-phase: Warming up and reviewing, Phase I: Linguistic Competence, Phase II: Discourse Competence, Phase III: Communicative Competence, and Phase IV: Feedback and evaluation. The bottom-up processing model would be a better choice for rule-based learners, among others. However, depending on the needs of learners, the lesson plan may include the top-down processing model in which the phases are progressed as Pre-phase: Warming up and reviewing, Phase I: Communicative Competence, Phase II: Discourse Competence, Phase III: Linguistic Competence, and Phase IV: Feedback and evaluation. The top-down processing model would be suitable for holistic learners, among others.

Each phase of the lesson plan comprises diverse activities, strategies, techniques, and/or methods generated by students and/or introduced by the facilitator to suit different types of learners. Students selectively utilize them, as they are in charge of their own learning.

Finally pertinent questions are: Is the learner-centered approach for teaching English in general and teaching grammar in particular appropriate in EFL/ESL contexts? Apparently, the learner-centered approach is tailored to students needs analysis and associated with meaningful experiences related to their life, culture, society, as well as their current and future endeavors. More importantly, students are closely involved in all dimensions of a course such as content, instruction, and evaluation. Thus, such learner-centered pedagogy should be more appropriate than the instructor-centered approach. In addition, some studies indicate advantages of the learner-centered approach over the teacher-centered approach (See, e.g., Barraket, 2005.).

However, it is far from practice to assure that the learner-centered approach is more advantageous than the instructor-learner approach in the educational context of countries in which there is no reported study. Thus, the author would like to propose that in such countries the safest pedagogical transition would be a bottom-up process planning.

The bottom-up process planning requires several steps to follow in a process going from bottom up. In this journey of transitional planning from the teacher-centered curriculum to the learner-centered curriculum, the initial step is to have a learner-centered committee. Second, it is important to have control groups and experimental groups for some courses serving as pilot studies to assess learning outcomes with regard to such variables as the number of students in class, undergraduate students, graduate students, low-level students, advanced-level students, young learners, old learners, etc. Third, there is a strong need to change the course syllabus from content to process (See, e.g., Kerr, 1968; Nunan, 1988b; Taba, 1962; Tyler, 1949). Moreover, the professional development for faculty members in the learner-centered approach to teaching and learning is highly recommended. Ultimately, learner-centered pedagogy should play a vital role in the faculty evaluation.



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