Student-Centered Language Appropriation: A Study of Classroom Practices in the Adult ESL Classroom at the University of California, San Diego

Abstract

This study discusses research which was undertaken in the author’s country of residence, San Diego. CA. it was conducted because the researcher saw a need to better define the concept of ‘student-centered learning’ in the ESL teaching profession in an effort to help both new teachers to the field, and experienced teachers, make their teaching practices more student-centered. In this study, two adult ESL classes were asked to give their opinions on two specific classroom practices, The first practice involved the students discussing and negotiating the course content with the teacher. The second practice involved the students discussing and negotiating the course evaluative criteria with the teacher. The advantage of performing this research is to find out if students prefer to have the opportunity to give their input on such areas as course content and evaluative criteria. Discovering that they do prefer these practices demonstrates the need for more student control in an ESL classroom and leads us to adapting these practices with more confidence in the hopes of encouraging more meaningful learning experiences for our adult ESL learners and promote student-centered language appropriation.