Student-Centered Learning in Foreign Language Education

Posted on Feb 9, 2025 in Primary Education

Student-Centered Teaching and Learning in Foreign Language Education

Foundation

The focus on student-centered teaching and learning is a relatively recent development, stemming from the cognitive paradigm, a reaction to the behaviorist approach.

  • Behaviorist Paradigm: Also known as the behaviorist paradigm, it understands learning as a process of acquiring and modifying habits. Its object of study is conduct or behavior, observed and verified independently of the subject’s internal processes. In foreign language education, this is achieved through repetition of models and control of form.
  • Cognitive Paradigm:
    • Theories on N. Chomsky’s generative and transformational linguistics shifted focus away from structuralism.
    • The fundamental change involved attention to internal mental processes, observing that language acquisition involves the subject constructing their own grammar.
    • A distinction was made between competence (a subject’s linguistic competence) and performance (the practical realization of that competence).
    • Constructivism, especially Ausubel’s significant learning theory, views learning as a process of knowledge construction where new information is integrated into the subject’s cognitive structure. The subject elaborates on external information, providing a creative and personal response, adapting and readjusting their schemas to that information.
    • The student is not simply a receiver but an active subject and constructor of knowledge.

Applications

Several general didactic principles are derived from the above:

  1. The Autonomous Principle
  2. The Negotiation Principle
  3. The Effectiveness Principle
  4. The Diversity Principle

Student-Centered Foreign Language Curriculum

Student-centered teaching aims to maximize each student’s potential and increase their motivation.

In the language classroom, it is advisable to consider the language needed to express what students already know, enabling them to express themselves in another language.

We should respect a progressive process that requires the student to begin with a basic level of responsibility.

The first step is to analyze the needs to be addressed.

During this information gathering, the difference between real needs and perceived needs must be considered.

In a student-centered approach, any decision may be modifiable.

Stating and Prioritizing Objectives

When stating an objective, we should gather information from the following sources: Educational outcomes, Stage curricular plans, area analysis of specific needs and objectives.

Student participation may involve prioritizing objectives, reformulation, specification, amplification, and even elimination.

Selection and Organization of Content

The legal framework for Primary stage teaching and the foreign language area (RD 1513-Annex II) distinguishes four significant content sections:

  • Oral language – Listening and Speaking
  • Written communication – Reading and Writing
  • Knowledge about language
  • Socio-cultural aspects and Intercultural awareness