Learner-based Teaching
By Colin Campbell & Hanna Kryszewska
(Oxford University Press, 2001, R195)
By way of introduction to this valuable resource, authors Campbell and Kryszewska explain that it was developed in response to teaching conditions in Poland in the early 1990s. Many language teachers complained about outdated textbooks, and their students were dissatisfied with repetitive course material.
As their Polish counterparts have done, South African writers and teachers are busy rewriting our textbooks to make them more relevant, in part, to an OBE context.
Learner-Based Teaching is an excellent example of a relevant textbook based on OBE principles.
It provides numerous activities with a guide to key aspects of language teaching. It is designed to get students of all ages out from behind their desks to discover that learning about language can be an enjoyable, relevant exercise. As Campbell and Kryszewska explain, the key OBE principle underpinning this guide is a radical alternative. It involves reviewing the traditional roles of educator and learner. Quite simply, activities are designed to allow teachers to relinquish authority, and to help their students to teach themselves about English.
This method is steadily gaining international currency as researchers and teachers establish that students achieve more success by pooling their different strengths and skills.
Readers who have not encountered the concept of learner-based teaching before should not, however, imagine that the teacher has been banished from the classroom. As Campbell and Kryszewska point out, the teacher is still a crucial component and determines the success of the activities as he/she moves in and out of the roles of facilitator, monitor, guide, active participant and additional resource.
Teachers who might find the idea of learner-based teaching daunting will appreciate that Campbell and Kryszewska have also detailed other advantages of this method.
While developing and testing the activities in the book at the English Language Centre at the University of Gdansk, Poland, the authors discovered, for example, that in learner-based classrooms, students felt freer to express themselves in English and to experiment with fluency. This allowed teachers to undertake a constant needs analysis to determine where students were not yet proficient in English.
This kind of latitude also allowed students to appreciate each other’s skills and to work together instead of in competition with each other. Furthermore, learners experienced ownership of the learning experience.
Campbell and Kryszewska do acknowledge that many teachers may find letting go of traditional teaching methods and texts a scary thought. Some might also fail initially to persuade learners to shift their own preconceptions about learning.
Teachers may also be put off by the amount of rigorous preparation and administration that learner-based teaching requires.
But teachers can achieve success by integrating learner-based activities gradually until everyone feels more confident.
Above all, the authors maintain that learner-based teaching should be stimulating and fun.
I certainly found the variety and creative nature of the activities enjoyable and would suggest that language educators mix and match the activities to vary the pace of the lesson and degree of difficulty of the various activities. With thorough planning, one could produce a series of lessons drawn from all sections of the book, starting with one of the warm-up games, and then moving on to activities that deal with grammar, vocabulary, integrated language skills and writing.
Each activity is clearly explained, and graded according to time and target age group, so teachers can easily adapt an activity to suit a particular outcome. Teachers will find the last two sections particularly stimulating. In ‘Exam Preparation” learners will be given insight into how language examinations are constructed.
Finally, there is a special section designed to help the teacher think about learner-based teaching and about how to plan an authentically learner-based lesson.
When they have read this book, teachers will undoubtedly feel rejuvenated. They will also be reminded that language practice is at the heart of all teaching, and that all teachers must do their best to make language learning fun.