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Language Teaching Research
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Learners’ evaluations of teacher-fronted and student-centred classroom activities

Peter Garrett

Cardiff University, garrettp{at}cardiff.ac.uk

Terry Shortall

University of Birmingham

Various claims have been made in the educational literature about the relative merits of pair and group activities in classrooms. With the shift in language teaching towards a more learner-centred approach, however, there is now a stronger emphasis on the views of learners themselves. One hundred and three Brazilian EFL students (beginners, elementary, intermediate) completed and then evaluated different types of learning activities: teacher-fronted grammar (TFG), student-centred grammar (SCG), teacher-fronted fluency (TFF) and student-centred fluency (SCF). They were asked to evaluate these in terms of affective reactions (enjoyment, anxiety) and perceived learning value, by completing 5-point scales and writing reasons for their ratings. There were some significant differences among the different levels of students. Beginners saw TFG as better for learning than SCG. Intermediates saw TFG as less fun. The same groups also viewed SCF as more fun and more relaxing than TFF, though neither of them perceived any difference in learning outcomes. Elementary learners felt TFF was better for learning than SCF, but saw no difference between them when it came to enjoyment and relaxation. These findings are discussed alongside the reasons the learners gave for their ratings.

Language Teaching Research, Vol. 6, No. 1, 25-57 (2002)
DOI: 10.1191/1362168802lr096oa
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