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online forum report

Class-centred teaching

Rose Senior

This is a summary of an online discussion hosted by the IATEFL Teacher Training and Education Special Interest Group (TTEd SIG) in December 2008.

Background It is now generally recognized that a positive classroom climate is beneficialfor language learning—particularly in classrooms where student

participation in communicative tasks is required. Class-centred teaching(CCT) is a new term in language teacher training and education thatprovides a framework for understanding the relationship between thebehaviour of classroom teachers and the establishment of classroomclimates that enhance learning.

Class-centred teachers are alert to clues provided by individual students, bygroups of students, and by the collective behaviour of the whole class. Theythen subtly adjust their teaching and class management practices in linewith their perception of what is best for the class at any given time.Motivated by a desire to encourage their classes to develop and then

maintain an overall spirit of cohesion, class-centred teachers respond inprincipled ways to the myriad unanticipated classroom events andbehaviours that are a natural part of classroom life.

Class-centred teachers recognize the power of the overall class group toinfluence the behaviour of individuals. Once group processes that aresupportive of teaching and learning have been set in motion the need tospend time controlling student behaviour is reduced. Sensing that theirclasses are behind them, teachers find themselves able to teach in morecreative and engaging ways.

The notion of CCTemerged from a grounded theory study of the beliefs andclassroom practices of experienced English language teachers teaching onintensive courses for adults in Australia (Senior 1999). By highlighting thefact that the classroom behaviour of class-centred teachers is governed byboth social and pedagogic imperatives (to encourage their classesto function as groups while at the same time teaching effectively), CCT canbe termed a socio-pedagogic theory of classroom practice (Senior 2006a:279–83).

The discussion The TTEd SIG online forum provided the opportunity for languageteacher trainers and educators from around the world to respond to the

following question: Might the concept of C CT provide a useful frameworkfor language teacher training and/or development?

ELT Journal; doi:10.1093/elt/ccp034 1 of 4ªª The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.

ELT Journal Advance Access published May 25, 2009



An introductory reading on CCT (Senior 2006b) was posted on the websiteand S IG members were invited to respond to the above question. Overa period of eight days, a vibrant discussion ensued, with 120 postingsgenerating approximately 30,000 words coming from one or more teachereducators in the following countries: Argentina, Cyprus, England,Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland,Spain, and Zimbabwe. The discussion covered a range of topics and issues

relating to C CT, with many individuals making multiple postings as theybecame increasingly involved in the collective dialogue. It is only possiblewithin the limits of this report to present a selection of the insights that wereshared and discussed.

Recognition of theconcept of C C T

It was clear from the outset that the term ‘class-centred teaching’ madesense to S IG members, with several contributors pointing out that C CT

reflected what good teaching was all about and what good teachers didanyway. In the words of one contributor:

I have to admit when I first started reading about CCT I thought ‘Oh, here

we go again. Another meaningless term about what we ought to bedoing’.ButthenIrealisedthatitnotonlymadeanawfullotofsense,butitalso gave me words for what I had always failed to describe. . . . It’s sodifficult to define what that je ne sais quoi is that makes a teachersuccessful.

Participants agreed that C CT involved something more profound thansimply creating lively, fun-filled classroom atmospheres and that it was anideal worth working towards. Several participants made the connectionbetween C CT and the creation of learning communities characterized bya generosity of spirit towards others and commitment to the group learningprocess. For one participant, the term class-centred teaching captured theconcept of seeing the class as a culture ‘in and for itself’, while for anotherCCT represented both a philosophy and a set of processes and techniques.

CCT as a frameworkfor teacher training/education

Discussion arose as to whether CCT can be taught, is naturally acquired, oris innate. Participants agreed that it was something that could develop ina variety of ways and that it needed to be both experienced and somehow‘felt’. Participants considered that it took some teachers a long time tobecome class-centred in their approach, while for others the processhappened relatively quickly. Participants agreed that at the in-service level

mentorships, peer observation, and watching D VDs of teachers teachingand managing their classes were the best ways of raising awareness of CCT—plus encouraging teachers to reflect on their own practice.

The topic of classroom dynamics was raised in relation to C CT, withparticipants agreeing that an understanding of the stages of groupdevelopment was useful for language teachers. However, participantsdiffered as to the value of providing input sessions on classroom dynamicsat the pre-service level. Some participants said they did so already, otherswondered whether there would be space in already-crowded introductoryprogrammes suchas the Certificate in EnglishLanguage Teaching to Adults(CELTA) for yet another input session, while others considered thatawareness-raising activities might be wasted on trainees who lacked

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classroom experience. The point was also made that artificially assembled‘practice classes’ were culture free and did not reflect true teachingsituations anyway.

Discussion-group members with teaching and/or teacher trainingexperience in countries with educational systems in which teachers aretraditionally regarded as authority figures and students as passive recipientsof knowledge drew attention to a range of constraints on theimplementation of C CT. They identified not only practical considerationssuch as large classes,restrictedlessontime, andexam-driven syllabuses,butalso strong culturalpressures to teach in line with theprevailingeducationalnormsofthecountryconcerned.Oneparticipantnotedthatwhenagroupof teachers from an African country returned to their classrooms aftersuccessfully completing a training course run by Western educators, theyreverted to behaving in strict and domineering ways, in contradiction toeverything they had seemingly learnt.

Additional points

discussed

During the course of the forum, a range of additional issues related to C CT

was raised.

One participant wondered whether, since similar social processes occur inboth teams and groups, it might be better to conceptualize language classesas teams. The consensus was that language classes share morecharacteristics with groups, in that individuality and being yourself aremore highly valued in groups than in teams. However, it was pointed outthat the value of teams is that they are highly goal-focused: everyone knowsthat all team members need to pull together if the group goal is to beachieved. In view of this point, it might be preferable for teachers workingin exam-focused educational cultures to conceptualize their classes asteams.

The question was also raised as to whether language classrooms shouldfunction as havens in which students were protected from the harshrealitiesof the outside worldor whether they should prepare students forlifeby encouraging competition between individuals within the class. Insupport of C CT, one contributor pointed out that collaboration andteamwork were what was needed for success in the real world, anyway.

Towards theendof the discussion, one participant gave a timelyreminder of the danger of assuming that good practice in one context was readily

transferable to another, saying:

I congratulate you for coining the term and triggering discussion on thisissue. It is what I have been preaching and practising my wholeprofessionallife. However, I am nottoo confident that there areuniversalsin this respect. What may be considered friendlyon the part of a teacher ina certain context may make students feel uncomfortable in others. And,let’s not talk about teachers who do not adhere to a C CT approach, as if they had a disease they need to get over as soon as possible!

Concluding remarks It was clear from the extent of the discussion that the topic of CCTresonated

with participants. However, it also became evident that, for C CT to gainwider acceptance as an additional framework for teacher training and

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education, a set of guiding principles that reflect the key precepts of C CT

needs to be developed.

References

Senior, R. 1999. ‘The good language class: teacherperceptions’. PhD thesis, Edith Cowan University.Available from http://adt.ecu.edu.au/adt-public/

adt-ECU2006.0002.htmlSenior, R. 2006a. The Experience of Language Teaching . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Senior, R. 2006b. ‘Class-centred teachingis successful teaching’. English Teaching Professional 46: 71.

The author

Rose Senior is a senior honorary research fellow atthe University of Western Australia. She presents atnational and international conferences, gives

seminars on C CT, and has a regular column inEnglish Teaching Professional .Email: [email protected]

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