HASALD Tuesday 26 October

Is the role of the advisor in self-access centres essentially any different from that of the classroom teacher and do advisors require any training or skills different from those of a classroom teacher?

A teacher has many roles. A teacher can be father, mother, judge, salesman, technician, librarian and more…

Barnes, D. (1976). From Communication to Curriculum. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

…it boils down to responding to students’ in-built needs as language users and language learners.

Tudor, I. (1993). Teacher roles in the learner-centred classroom. ELT Journal , 47, 1.

Harmer (1983)

Controller

Assessor

Organiser

Resource

Participant

Prompter

Tudor (1993)

Goal-setting

Methodology ref. learners’ prefs

Involving learners

Helping learners be > aware of LL

Needs analysis & goal-setting

Learner responsibility for learning

Harmer, J. (1983)The Practice of English Language Teaching.London: Pearson.

Tudor, I. 1993. Teacher roles in the learner-centred classroom. English Language.Teaching Journal, 47, 1, pp. 22 31.

Resource material creator

Teaching role model

Lecturer

Student at a distance

Teaching expertise

Content expertise

Student contact

Curriculum planner

Learning facilitator

Mentor

Student assessor

Course organiser

Curriculum evaluator

Facilitator

Role model

Information provider

Resource developer

Planner

Assessor

Harden, R.M. & Crosby, J.R. (2000). An extended summary of AMEE Medical Education Guide No. 20. Medical Teacher, 22, 4, 334-347.

Thoughts…

A good teacher is a good teacher in all contexts?

The TEFL teacher versus the university teacher?

The 90s constructivist versus the direct method dinosaur?

The encourager versus the assessor?

Reciprocity versus transmission?

Skill requirements

• Listening / eliciting skills – e.g. need to elicit student beliefs about how they learn, their needs

• Ability to set manageable goals with students• Avoiding imposing or prescribing solutions• Avoiding giving students short-term solutions

Knowledge requirements

• Language learning strategies• Manageable goals• Needs analysis• Self-access resources and how to use them

Training Schemes – Mia Victori (2006)

• Reading – seminal texts on self-access• Role of counselor and counseling skills• Self and peer observations• Learner-training seminars• Regular meetings with counselors

References

• Mozzon-McPherson, M. (2007) Supporting independent Learning environments: An analysis of structures and roles of language learning advisors. ScienceDirect System 35 (2007) 66-92

• Victori, M. (2007) The development of learners’ support mechanisms in a self-access center and their implementation in a credit-based self-directed learning program. ScienceDirect System 35 (2007) 10-31