Learner-Centered Methods

Newman (1966) argued that language –centered pedagogy with its emphasis
on sequential presentation, practice, and production of linguistic items
“constitutes a serious interference with the language learning process.”

- The underpinnings of learner-centered pedagogy are truly multi-

disciplinary

Theory of Language (Learner-Centered Methods / Communicative

Approach)
- Learner-Centered draws from :
a. Chomskyan formal linguistics - Chomsky pointed out that language
is not constituted by hierarchal structures of structure as viewed by
the structuralists but as a network of transformations.
-Chomsky countered the structuralists ‘surface’ features of
phonology and morphology and examined the ‘deep’ structures that
enables the formation of sentences

b. Hallidayan functional linguistics – Halliday emphasized the three

functions of language – textual, ideational and interpersonal.

Textual Function – focuses on phonological, syntactic and

semantic signals that enable language users to understand and
transmit messages.

Interpersonal Function – It deals with sociolinguistic feature of

language required to establish roles, relationships and
responsibilities in a communicative situation.

Ideational Function – concepts and processes underlying natural,

physical, and social phenomena.

c. Hymsian sociolinguistics – Hymes focused on the ‘real’ speaker-

hearer who operates in the concrete world of interpersonal
communication in contrast to the idea of Chomsky which is the
‘ideal’ native speaker –hearer and an abstract body of syntactic
structures.

“ In order to operate successfully within a speech community, a person has to

be not just grammatically correct but communicatively appropriate also, that
is, a person has to learn what to say, how to say it, when to say it, and to
whom to say it.”
Hymes

d. Austinian Speech Act theory- looked at language as a series of

speech acts we perform rather than as a collection of linguistic
items we accumulate.
“We use language to perform a number of speech acts: to command, to
describe, to agree, to inform, to instruct and so forth. The function of a speech
act can be understand only when the utterance is placed in a communicative
context governed by commonly shared norms of interpretation.”

PRINCIPLES OF LEARNER-CENTERED PEDAGOGY

A. Language is a system for expressing meaning.
B. The linguistic structures of language reflect its functional as well as
communicative import.
C. Basic units of language are not merely grammatical and structural, but
also notional and functional.
D. The central purpose of language is communication
E. Communication is based on sociocultural norms of interpretation
shared by a speech community