The Significance of Theoretical Foundations in Enhancing Teaching Practices: Teachers’ Perceptions and Use of Learner-centered Approach in EFL Classrooms
Undeniably, the realm of teaching English as a foreign language still embraces active research that continuously looks for approaches and methods which may contribute to a more efficient instruction of the target language. These theoretical foundations enable the instructor to appropriately implement the outlined approach along its salient features to achieve the desired outcomes. Despite this tight rapport, teachers of English at the University of Mostaganem tend to rely on their common-sense teaching practices that are mainly informed by their experience of teaching EFL. The gap between the two extremes theory and practice, the premise of this paper, may be widened as teachers do not develop accurate and scientific understandings of certain pedagogical concepts, in this case, learner-centeredness as agreed on by professional academics, let alone to apply it along its proper standards. The pedagogical sequel of such misunderstanding mainly relate to random references to both teacher and learner-centered approaches in classroom teaching practices. The study via a detailed teachers’ questionnaire revealed that teachers of English, in addition to the cursory understandings they develop in relation to the very meaning of a learner-centered approach, tend to eschew developing learners’ metacognitive skills in their teaching practices. Most importantly, they are likely to rely on traditional ways of assessment instead of authentic frameworks, a cardinal feature within the current paradigm.