Learner-centred instruction in English as a foreign language: The Bangladesh context

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: A, Jahangirnagar University (Department of English), course: Applied Linguistics and ELT, language: English, abstract: Learner-centred instruction in a second/foreign language fosters learner autonomy, enhances metacognitive skills, and develops learners' communicative competence, and is in consonance with the communicative language teaching approach to teaching English as a foreign language in Bangladesh. However, the current scenario of English education in the Bangladesh setting shaped by the age-old practice of the grammar-translation method and teacher-domination hardly exhibits learner-centredness. This paper then firstly tries to explicate learner autonomy, metacognition, and learner-centred second/foreign language classrooms, and secondly explores the Bangladesh context.

M. Maniruzzaman, former Chairman of and current Professor in the Department of English at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh, Vice President of English Teachers' Association of Bangladesh (ETAB), Global Professional Member of TESOL International Association, and Associate Member of IATEFL, obtained MA in English Language and PhD in Applied Linguistics & ELT from the University of Dhaka, completed e-Teacher Methodology for TESOL at the University of Maryland BC, e-Teacher Assessment at the University of Oregon, e-Teacher Educational Technology at Iowa State University and ELT-LMCP offered by TESOL International Association, and attended PDW-2013 at the University of Oregon, USA. His core interests cover TESOL methodology, curriculum and syllabus design, materials development, assessment and testing, educational technology, L2 teacher education, ELT leadership and management, and literatures in English. He has 30 years teaching and research experience and a large number of indexed and international publications including research papers, translations, book reviews, book chapters and books. His recent publications are 'The postmethod pedagogy: Critical reviews and contextual reflections', The Postmethod Pedagogy: Issues of Learning and Teaching, 1.1, 2020; 'English Phonetics and Phonology: A Blended Learning Design Plan', Academia Letters, Article 1313, 2021; 'Technology in Teaching ESL/EFL: Integration, Application, Tools and Resources', in Arvind Nawale, M. Maniruzzaman, Amar Singh and Saumya Priya (Eds.), New Trends and Digital Adoption: A Paradigm Shift in Higher Education, New Delhi: Authors Press, 2022; and 'Teachers' narratives from initial virtual classrooms and professional development during the COVID-19 pandemic in developing Bangladesh' (co-author), Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 23 (3), 2022.