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The plausible myth of learner-centredness: or the importance of doing ordinary things well
the author of many textbooks. These include the Kernel series, Third Dimension, Fourth Dimension, Success at First Certificate, and The Lost Secret. He has lectured and taught in many European countries as well as in Turkey, the United States, Latin America, and Japan. He is ‘Profesor Invitado’ at the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences in Santiago de Cuba, where he has recently been involved in the teaching of English to doctors and nurses. Previous articles by him have appeared in the ELT Journal, Modern English Teacher, Cross Currents, and Zielsprache Englisch.
It is widely accepted by many teacher-trainers and theorists that ‘student-centred’ methods are superior to ‘teacher-centred’ approaches. This article questions this orthodox wisdom. The author uses research by Lily Wong-Fillmore which suggests that lessons that can be jargonistically described as ‘teacher-centred’ or ‘teacher-fronted’ are far more effective than ‘student-centred’ ones. The aim of the article, however, is not to attack ‘student-centredness’ and praise ‘teacher-centredness’, but rather to suggest that the distinction between the two is often simplistic and misleading. Most of all, the author is concerned with the problem of accurately describing ‘good lessons’, and with the importance of doing ‘ordinary things extraordinarily well’.
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