Post-modern language education CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS

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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses the concepts and their relations which are relevant to the study. These will be used to answer the research questions theoretically. The first part deals with clarification of theoretical concepts, which help the writer to develop a theoretical model in the second part. The second part presents the theoretical framework, which contains the writer’s theoretical arguments and ends with a theoretical model that will be validated and used as a guide to the development of the actual model of self-actualization post-modern language learning.

A. CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS

The following reviews deal with clarification of several concepts which directly or indirectly influence the development of a model of post-modern learning design. The reviews which will be discussed include post-modern language education, learning design models, and English Language Education.

1. Post-modern language education

In this part the writer presents a short review of post-modernism, its influence on education and language education, a consequence of the post-modern influence on teaching methods, that is, post-methods era principles, and basic consequences of post- modernism in education, that is, learner-centeredness. 12 a. Post-modernism Post-modernism is not easy to define. When now defined, it may be contradictory to previous definitions. Finch calls it as having changing definitions Finch, 2010, pp.1-2 and mentions several different definitions. In all of these post- modernism has the initial purpose of “de-naturalizing some of the dominant features of our way of life” including capitalism, patriarchy, and liberal humanism, which seem natural, but which are in fact cultural. There may be terms associated with postmodernism but there is no one definition. It is in fact a reaction against modernism and the term modern itself is used to contrast contemporary modern with traditional ways. Modernism refers to both movements in arts, music, and literature and philosophical ideas. The European Enlightenment in the middle of the 18th century is considered as the beginning of modernism Fahim and Pishghadam, 2009, pp. 29-30. Modernism is founded on “scientific knowledge of the world and rational knowledge of value.” It emphasizes scientific, objective, rational endeavors and avoids subjective, irrational ones. As a reaction against modernism, post-modernism appeared in the middle of the 20th century. This was a reaction against too much emphasis on “rational enquiry into truth” in modernism and as a response to the decline of grand theories, which included Fascism and Marxism after World War II. Opposing grand theories, Lyotard as cited in Fahim and Pishghadam, 2009, p. 32 states there is no credible grand theory and reality has fragmentary, plural characteristics. Post-modernism is, in fact, much more than what is found in Lyotard’s statements. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss post-modernism thoroughly. However, we can state the following: Post-modernism is 13 physiologically for modernism with regard to positivistic science and technology, but culturally against modernism with regard to colonialism, domination and marginalization J. Bismoko, personal communication, May 2011. Although there are a lot of different usages of the term, some common characteristics of post-modernism are mentioned in Fahim and Pishghadam 2009. Those writers emphasize that a post-modern proponent is basically a “constructivist,” someone who supports creativity and ingenuity. He or she values “relativism,” meaning that since the world is full of uncertainties, it is not wise for us to become zealots . The better stand, consequently, is that we anticipate probabilities rather than complete certainties, judge a certain concept to be better than others rather than judge it to be the best when dealing with knowledge. Besides, a post-modern proponent values “dialog.” One side should not dominate the other. Both sides should be on a par with each other. Transmission of knowledge from only one side to the other is not recommended. Similarly, it is a fact is that the world contains diverse entities, such as a country, which contains different ethnic groups and languages. Therefore, cultural “diversity” of a country should be welcomed. One community with a certain ethnic background should not dominate those with different ethnic backgrounds. In addition, a post-modern proponent should be critical when reading texts that have been traditionally recognized as the classics or the truths. He or she should dig up the hidden and marginalized meanings out of them and show to the world that unfairness and unjust propositions exist in those texts Fahim Pishgadham, 2009, pp. 34-36. From the short review above, the writer takes the following perspective. First, it is important that the claim of absolute truth with regard to knowledge be questioned. In 14 education, for example, a teaching method that claims to be true for any context should be given critical evaluation. Second, the improvement of poor human conditions caused by too much exploitation and domination, which modernism has failed to address, should be emphasized. In education, for example, programs that can potentially create injustice and domination of the strong and the wealthy over the less fortunate should be critically evaluated. Third, as a consequence of the previous stand, equitable relations among human beings should be encouraged. In education, for example, educational authorities should not dictate what and how schools and teachers should do with no compromise. b. Influence of Post-modernism on Education Our focus in this chapter is on the influence of post-modernism on education, especially language education. Since education is part of a nation’s culture, it is important to discuss how education has so far been affected by post-modern movements and ideas. This will eventually be useful in justifying the application of post-modern educational principles in learning design development. Education in modern times plays a major role in making students become autonomous, that is, in making them bring out their potential to become self-motivated and self-directing Cobussen, 2011, section 1. Education makes us become free human beings. However, besides this positive side, education is also “an instrument of power, control, and legitimization.” Those who have knowledge tell others what to do and how to behave. Education has the major aim to shape the life conduct of the students. Education is not neutral. It is owned by those who have knowledge and hence power, and, therefore, its purpose is to reproduce the values of the dominant society Usher 15 Edwards, as cited in Cobussen, 2011, section 1. Furthermore, education is considered as “a manifestation of violence” because it reduces difference to sameness and various meanings to a single meaning. In general, a post-modern perspective is against the reduction of education to the reproduction of the values of the dominant society. Post-modern education supports change instead of reproduction, and the possibility of different perspectives instead of the definitive or the certain. As a consequence, in organizing teaching and learning there will be “no new definitive perspective that generates a set of prescriptions and techniques.” The view taken by those writers is that education is neither considered as “inherently transformative” nor “inherently oppressive.” It has both potentials. The important thing here is questioning the major assumptions and structures of the modern education practices, not rejecting them. The current practices, however, are still dominated by “pedagogical pose of mastery,” which is questioned by post-modern educators. According to Usher and Edwards as cited in Cobussen, 2011, section 4, education should be “more diverse in terms of goals and process.” Education should become “the vehicle for the celebration of diversity” or plurality. According to Aronowitz and Giraux as cited in Cobussen, 2011, section 5 we have to listen to “the voices of others. ” This means that the dominant models of Western culture are not the only basis of education. One important view taken by post-modernists is that past and present events are closely related. We have to look at human past and present events in trying to understand where truth could have started. The past and present events influence outcomes, including ones in social, political, and educational context; hence, the 16 significance of constructivism as the basic learning theory in post-modern education. Knowledge is not discovered; it is constructed in the learner’s minds based on the patterns or knowledge she constructed in the past. According to Breen 2011, pp. 49-52, students are nowadays living under uncertain conditions. They are facing rapid changes and living in a world of “fragmenting structures and identities.” Education through the instrument of assessment selects students who succeed and ones who fail and gives them different life chances. This usually reflects the dominant values of global capitalism, in which education is considered as an instrument to produce people with high competencies who occupy good positions in companies. Those who do not have high competencies are marginalised. Grand theories like Capitalism itself and Marxism have been questioned. Alternative theories and voices including from the powerless are struggling to be heard. In education, the concept of method has also been questioned. A method that is supposed to be effectively used in any country and condition may now be replaced by local learning material, activities, and techniques. Because of technological advance, reality may be seen as a relative concept. Multi-media are quickly replacing our direct physical experiences. People do not have to meet face to face; long distance meetings are now possible. Education has been much influenced by these simulations of reality. Competency in dealing with the use of multi- media becomes essential. Competencies in general become the key criterion of educational success. By having good competence a person will become a good, efficient worker. Efficiency is 17 essentially the major goal of modern education, which is part of the goals of Capitalism. Breen considers all of the changes above as educatioal challenges to embrace uncertainty because there is a transition from modernism to the post-modern condition, which contains contradictions and paradoxes p. 50 p. 52. The following are some values of post-modernism that education may take adapted from Finch, 2010, pp. 4-8. First, post-modern education should promote equality . This means that power relationships should be equal or, better, equitable; students should not become individuals who are inferior while the teacher in the class should not become superior. This relationship is also true among students; nobody in the class should dominate the others. Second, it is a fact that in a class there are students from various backgrounds ethnic, religious, socio-economic, and academic, and this kind of diversity should be welcomed. It is an educator’s duty to guard the values of each subculture in our society. Third, since constructivism is the basic theory in post- modernism, creativity should be encouraged. This goes hand in hand with the promotion of diversity and learner-centeredness in education. To be able to show creativity, students’ different backgrounds should be recognized and appreciated, and individual peculiarity and ability should be taken into account. Fourth, education should not negate oppressed groups. There are certainly some marginalised groups of people or communities in our society, and it is education that should free them from powerlessness and give them opportunity to express themselves; hence, tolerance and freedom should be promoted in education. Finally, since post-modernism promotes the come-back of the importance of someone’s emotions, children’s emotions should be rightly developed. Education should give children and learners a lot of opportunities to 18 develop their emotional sides so that their intellectually academic development will benefit from and go hand in hand with their emotional development. From Cobussen, Breen and Finch above it is clear that there are several goals of post-modern education that the writer would like to emphasize. First, education has the goal of celebrating diversity or plurality – the diversity of educational processes and probably educational goals. Second, another major goal is that post-modern education has to take care of the marginalized people or those who are considered ‘fail’ failure from the modern perspective by promoting freedom from marginalization. Third, since power relationships should be equitable and superior teachers and inferior students should not be found, another related major goal of post-modern education is to promote equity or equitable relationships among students and between teachers and students. Fourth, students ’ creativity should be encouraged. Creativity, not merely reproduction, is a consequence of constructivism, a philosophical orientation adopted in post-modern education. c. Self-Actualization as the Goal of Education in Indonesia From these major goals of post-modern education, in fact, there must be one major goal that becomes “the umbrella” of the other goals. Bismoko 2011, p. 8 in his paper states that the ultimate goal is for the graduate “to participate in improving self- actualization, personal and social. ” He furthers states that “to become self-actualizing is to become excellent, excellent in one’s own right.” Since every person is a social being, personal excellence should be “an integral part of group excellence.” The term self-actualization cannot be separated from Abraham Maslow’s and Carl Rogers’ theories of self-actualization in humanistic psychology. For them self- 19 actualization represents “the optimal psychological condition for all humankind” and the goal of psychotherapy is to “help people to develop their own potential for self- actualization ” Chang, 1991, p. 1. They assumed that we all have “an actualizing tend ency that promotes growth, direction, and productivity.” The self-actualized person feels close to nature, heshe is independent, and heshe is involved in “caring and responsible interpersonal relationships ” Chang, 1991, p. 6. McLeod 2007 summarizes what Rogers wrote in relation to self-actualization theory. Rogers believed that to achieve self-actualization a person must be in a state of congruence hisher ideal self is congruent with hisher actual behavior. Five characteristics of the fully functioning person the one who is able to self-actualize were identified by Rogers. First, the person is “open to experience.” Both positive and negative emotions are accepted. Negative feelings are faced and overcome. Second, heshe avoids prejudging and preconceptions. Heshe lives for the moment and appre ciate what is being experienced; hishers is “existential living.” Third, heshe pays attention to and “trusts hisher feelings” and instincts. Heshe trusts himselfherself to make right choices. Fourth , “creativity” plays a major role in a person’s life. The person is able to change adjust and find new experiences. Finally, hisher life is a “fulfilled life.” In spite of problems and threats the self-actualized person is happy. New challenges and experiences are faced by himher with confidence pp. 2-3. In fact, the goals of post-modern education are in line with the current trends in education in Indonesia, especially in character building. Character building has been re- emphasized recently. Ministerial Regulation No. 232006 on competence standard of school graduates is closely related to character building. Through this regulation the 20 National Education Minister urged all schools to build their students’ character more seriously. School graduates should show self-confidence, adhere to social norms, appreciate diversity in terms of religion, culture, race, and socio-economic group. In the past, character building in schools was introduced to students with little effort to integrate it into the whole curriculum. Now it is expected that character building is integrated into each school subject and into co-curricular and extra-curricular activities . The school management should be involved in the planning, implementation, and control of character building programs. Some aspects of the character that should be developed include independence, self-confidence, tolerance, social sensitivity, democratic spirit, and responsibility as they are contained in Government Regulation No 172010 on education management Kementerian Pendidikan Nasional, 2010. To respond to this nationwide move the university where the writer teaches Sanata Dharma UniversitySDU has been developing a model of character building. The model is in line with the 2010-2014 Strategic Plan of the National Education Ministry and is based on the Ignatian pedagogy Kuntoro Adi, et al, 2010, pp. 6-19. Referring to the Ministry’s Strategic Plan, two educational viewpoints related to character building that SDU tries to develop involve the empowerment of the human being as a whole and learning for life which centers on the learner. The Strategic Plan of the National Education Ministry mentions four aspects of the idealized intelligent Indonesian: spiritually intelligent, emotionally and socially intelligent, intellectually intelligent, and kinesthetically intelligent. While the goals above are recognized by SDU, the model of character building that SDU has tried to develop is based on the Ignatian Spirituality. The implementation 21 of the spirituality is called Ignatian pedagogy, which can be stated as the following summarized from Kuntoro Adi, et al, 2010, pp. 28-29. a. The teacher serves hisher students and helps them individually develop their internal ability. b. The students should be active in their studies in which discovery and creativity are given priority. c. The relationship between the teacher and hisher students is personal and continuing. d. The syllabus and teaching-learning activities should be in accordance with the students’ ability levels, and the material contents are logically sequenced. e. Previews and reviews are regularly done for better mastery and assimilation, and deeper viewpoints. This implementation of Ignatian pedagogy surely contains some major attitude components, such as helping students develop their internal ability, being active so that discovery and creativity emerge, personal continuing relationship between the teacher and students, and adapting contents to the students’ ability levels, which implies the teacher’s recognition of learners’ differences. Character building developed at SDU makes use of the three major components of its educational process: curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities. Through these activities students are expected to have whole, strong character in the three domains: competence, conscience, and compassion. Each of the activities is implemented using five stages characteristic of Ignatian pedagogy: context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation. 22 A conclusion that can be drawn is that education should go back to its right track, that is, being responsible for the students’ character building; and another is that the goal of postmodern education can be integrated and elaborated into the general goals of education from the primary to tertiary levels. Although formal education in Indonesia does not explicitly claim to make a learner become fully self-actualized, which is really hard to achieve, characteristics that describe a self-actualized person such as being independent, creative, caring, open to experience, and able to adjust are in line with characteristics that are emphasized and developed in character building of formal education. Therefore, seen from postmodern views, self-actualization can sum up the goal of education in Indonesia. The goal of language education should then be derived from it. Postmodern views are in line with and enrich the goals and basic concepts of formal education in Indonesia. d. Influence of Post-modernism on Language Education The concept of method was criticized in the 1990’s. The criticism is considered as the influence of post-modernism on language teaching Fahim and Pishghadam, 2009, pp. 37-39. All methods claimed as the best and prescribed procedures that could be applied to all learners around the world. Post-modernism is against such general, global claims. A method is a prescriptive concept which reflects a particular view of the world. Bes ides, all methods assume that teachers should follow experts’ teaching formulae. This is against the post- modernists’ belief that diversity, locality, and creativity should be respected. The interest of the dominant class is apparent when methods were “exported” to the third world, whose teachers just received and had to use the teaching formulae given by “the experts” from Europe and the United States. 23 What is needed in this “post-method” era is an alternative to method, not another method Kumaravadivelu, as cited by Fahim Pishghadam, 2009, p. 41. The tendency now is on the development of classroom tasks and activities in accordance with our knowledge of second language acquisition. The following are some trends in ELT English Language Teaching that are influenced by post-modernism Fahim Pishghadam, 2009, pp. 42-44: First, language teachers may become researchers themselves, involved in classroom action research. Experts’ roles are not as dominant as in the past when they became gurus and told what and how teachers had to teach. Second, the diversity of learners is recognized. There is no super-method that can be used to teach all learners effectively. Classroom tasks and activities should be based on the teacher’s or local decisions. They may become pragmatic by using any theory that is suitable for a certain class. Third, classroom practices empower the teacher and learners. Social inequalities and marginalized classroom participants are not recommended. Fourth, the learning philosophy is constructivism, which encourages the learners to be active and to construct their own knowledge from what they already know based on their own perspectives. The philosophy goes hand in hand with learner- centeredness and tends to develop learner-centered tasks and activities. The teacher should not be somebody who teaches, but somebody who facilitates learning. The following are Finch’s examples of how changes have taken place in language education due to this new cultural and scientific orientation Finch, 2010, pp. 6-7. Testing is being replaced by classroom-based assessment using portfolios, journals, formative self- and peer-assessment. In this type of assessment each learner ’s progress and process can be considered and this avoids the “pass or fail” punishment 24 given in a product-oriented summative test. This also reduces competition, which is avoided in post-modern education, and encourages collaboration and team work. In a post-modern class studying English should not be equated with studying great classic English literature. Students in a post-modern English class learn English through the use of comics, the internet, and other “pop-culture” media; “elitist English literature” is not the one and only source of studying English in general. This is expected to make English learning more contextual for the young. Besides, the term ‘native speaker of English’ is avoided; English as a lingua franca in fact consists of many regional “Englishes” and different pronunciations. It is not just BBC English or Standard American English. Finch also mentions that structural syllabi “totalization” are old-fashioned and now teachers prefer process syllabi and task-based project-based learning. An English teacher should now be ready with the changing dynamic development of hisher class, which is often different from what has been planned before and from that of hisher other class. Hisher language learning theoretical orientation should also be changed. The predictable behaviorist view of learning is replaced by a language learning view which is more social, emotional, and unpredictable. Group work is more important than individual work; and, of course, this is in line with communicative language teaching CLT. The goal of CLT is the learner’s acquisition of communicative competence and this is in line with post-modern langauge learning, which emphasizes learner- centeredness , with the aim of achieving the learner’s ability to communicate with others. There is a strong trend away from teacher-centered classes and toward learner- centered classes. “Self-directed learning” is beginning to appear. As a consequence of 25 learner-centeredness, the teacher is also expected to have the role of a researcher. However, instead of doing quantitative, ‘objective’ research in language education, many teachers are expected to use qualitative, subjective, action research. The presentation of post-modern ideas and principles in language education above may sound exaggerated, but it is important that teachers and course designers of English become aware of them because the trend towards post-modern education is strong. Teachers should be familiar with terms, concepts, and practice such as local decisions , action research, learner-centeredness, facilitators, collaboration, task-based learning , and classroom-based assessment. The following is a frame which attempts to translate post-modern goals and concepts into essential principles of English language learningeducation in a more systematic way. e. Significance of Post-methods Era in Post-modern Language Learning A method, according to Richards and Rodgers 2001, p. 245, refers to “a specific learning design or system based on a particular theory of language and of language learning.” In a method we find “detailed specifications of content, roles of teachers and learners, and teaching procedures and techniques.” A method contains language learning principles based on a language learning theory which, together with a language theory, makes up the approach used in the method. Language teaching methods come and go. In fact, English teachers rarely practice a certain method consistently. Many consider that the approach behind a certain method usually counts. English teachers do not forget general principles of language and language learning. A learning material developer applies these principles to hisher design. In this “post- 26 methods era” a term found in Richards and Rodgers, 2001, p. 16 broader, general principles of language and language learning and an educational-cultural view are of greater significance in language teachinglearning and in developing learning materials. The post-method era, which can be considered as the influence of post- modernism on language education Fahim and Pishghadam, 2009, p. 37, indicates that different teaching methods which had to be followed by generations of language teachers up to the 1980’s are now considered old-fashioned. A lot of teachers in the past in fact did not subscribe to a certain method consistently. What happened was that usually a teacher had to modify hisher teaching to suit the learner types, learner needs, classroom condition and some other aspects that influenced the teaching-learning process. However, language teachers usually kept and remembered the beliefs and basic theories underlying the method they tried to use; hence, the relevance of language learning principles as the more operational theories to teaching. Richards and Rodgers state that in the 1990’s there was a strong belief that “newer and better approaches and methods are not the solution to problems in language teaching.” Now we have newer ways of understanding what language teaching is. These newer ways characterize the “post-methods era” language teaching 2001, p. 16. The post-methods era language teaching, as the phrase indicates, is not an established, all-purpose language teaching method. It is in fact based on existing language and language learning theories derived from language teaching methods which are in line with current educational-cultural viewpoints. The following deduced from Richards and Rodgers, 2001, pp. 251-254 are some characteristics that may belong to the post-methods era practices: 27 First, teachers tend to use language learning principles, which may be derived from different past methods, such as, make learners the focus of the lesson, develop learners’ confidence, and promote cooperation among learners. These learning principles may be applied by each teacher differently according to hisher style and learner needs. Second, the wider belief system possessed by a teacher about human nature, culture, education, society, etc. plays a major role in hisher teaching. This will give a teacher a wider context in deciding learning materials and in using learning techniques. It is unlikely for a post-methods era teacher, for example, to always use a drilling technique while hisher wider belief system does not recommend drilling as the main technique because of its lack of communication or socialization involvement. Third, a teacher’s “core” beliefs which are the product of hisher own education in schools as a young student is important in hisher teaching. Local wisdom is contextual and contributes much to the success of the learner. When teaching, the teacher tends to imitate what was done by hisher teacher in the past; yet heshe is also able to identify hisher teacher’s past weaknesses and correct past mistakes and improve hisher own teaching. Fourth, within the teaching profession including teachers, theoreticians, and researchers will appear newer programs and pedagogy. For example, more and more teaching-learning programs appear in CD- ROM’s and on the Internet, which gives more variation, flexibility, opportunity, and challenge. The characteristics of the post-methods era above may be considered as examples. The conclusion that can be drawn is that we need to convert those characteristics into language learning principles which may characterize the post- methods era principles and which are in line with post-modern views of language 28 education. For example, one of the teacher’s core beliefs that can become a learning principle is that material and activities that are directly related to the class’ context will be learned and retained better. The principle is then called “meaningful learning” Brown, 2001, p. 56: The learner will experience meaningful learning when the material and activities are directly related to hisher existing knowledge, background, interests, and goals. A short presentation of language learning principles from Brown can be seen in 2.c below. f. Significance of Learner-Centeredness in Post-modern Language Learning It was stated before that constructivism was considered as the underlying theory in post-modern education. Knowledge is human construction, that is, all reality does not exist outside the mind; it is created in the mind. There are no absolute objectivity and authority. Therefore, the teache r’s authority may be challenged and the learner should develop and construct hisher own knowledge. As a big consequence of this view, a teacher-centered classroom is not relevant anymore; a learner-centered environment becomes the consequence of this view. A learner-centered environment requires a learner-centered curriculum which reflects learner-centeredness. A move towards a learner-centered curriculum appeared in the 1980’s influenced by the strong movement of the communicative approach to language teaching and as a reaction against the subject-centered view of language teaching the structural approach. Nunan 1988 developed a curriculum which is basically learner-centered. It combines the product-oriented model and the process- oriented one. A learner-centered curriculum must contain both product and process. A curriculum is defective if it contains only product or only process. The “ballistic” model 29 planning → course delivery → evaluation is rejected because it disregards process p. 179. What should be developed is a curriculum within the general learner-centered philosophy. There is a big consequence of the philosophy. The classroom teacherpractitioner should be able to develop a learner-centered curriculum This is very demanding for the majority of language teachers, especially in developing countries like Indonesia. Nunan suggests that the teacher should be familiar with small empirical classroom-centered studies before heshe becomes a curriculum developer; hence, an invitation to do more empirical research into language learning and teaching. A learner-centered curriculum model which the language teacher is expected to develop should include principles and procedures for planning, implementing, and evaluating curriculum elements. The essential curriculum elements are Nunan, 1988, p. 179: initial and ongoing needs analysis, content selection and gradation including goal and objective setting, methodology including selection and gradation of learning activities and materials, and monitoring, assessment, and evaluation. Finney in Richards and Renandya, 2002, p. 70 mentions a mixed-focus curriculum and considers the interaction between different aspects of a curriculum design and its implementation process very important. She proposes curriculum policy before needs analysis as the first step in the curriculum model. Curriculum policy establishes and expresses broad principles and major purposes of the curriculum. It gives guidance to the other decisions and is itself open to modification. In fact, one of the major theoretical bases for learner-centered curricula is from the theory of adult learning and the practice of language teaching influenced by adult 30 learning theory. Brundage and MacKeracher as quoted by Nunan state that past learning experiences influence adult learners and that immediate goals interest them more than distant life goals. However, it is admitted that adult learners vary in their learning attitudes and styles Nunan, 1988, p. 23. An important conclusion from Brindley in Nunan, p. 24 is that adult learners are not passive learners who just receive subject matter from above from the teacher, the textbook’s writer, etc.. They have their own experience of life that can be useful for the learning process. All of these suggest directly or indirectly that a learner-centered approach is more suitable than a subject- centered one in adult learning. As mentioned previously, another driving force for the development of learner- centered teaching was the development of communicative language teaching. Language learners must be able to use language to get things done. Language knowledge is important but mastering grammar and vocabulary does not mean that they have attained communicative competence. There are more variables than just grammar and vocabulary Nunan, 1988, p. 25: the topic and purpose of conversation, the relationship between the speaker and the hearer, and the situationcontext. Class time should be spent on activities in which learners are trying to get things done; hence, the importance of learner-centered teaching and curriculum in order to attain one’s communicative competence. Besides the development of language skills as a major goal of the learner- centered curriculum, due to the inclusion of process in the curriculum, the development of learning skills such as efficient leaning strategies, preferred ways of learning, negotiating the curriculum, and setting objectives should also be an important major 31 goal also Nunan, 1988, p. 3. This second major goal is related to the development of learner autonomy and independent learning skills; hence, the relevance of the learner- centered curriculum and the learner-centered philosophy to post-modern education and language learning. The conclusion that can be drawn is that learner-centeredness is a big, natural consequence of language teaching that emphasizes the development of the learner’s and the teacher’s potential in getting things done with the new language and the development of learning skills to attain learner autonomy or independence. Realizing hisher important position, the teacher should step by step try to become a local learning designer himselfherself in order to practice learner centeredness in hisher job.

2. Language Learning Design Models