A learner-centred approach: perspectives of the secondary school teachers in Bangladesh

Abstract

The study explored secondary school teachers‘ perceptions, classroom practices, and challenges they faced in implementing Learner-Centred Approach (LCA) in Bangladesh. Teaching techniques have an impact on students' learning, especially the use of learner-centred teaching strategies helps the students to achieve success in academies as well as develops other skills including communication and leadership skills. A qualitative approach was adopted to examine teachers‘ attitude and how it has impacted their English classes. Data were collected from 10 secondary school teachers who teach different schools in Dhaka. The findings suggest that teachers hold a positive perception about this approach because students remain active and their concentration, engagement, collaboration, and communication skills develop, which are related to their academic excellence, lifelong learning and developing humane qualities. However, classroom practices of the teachers remain different depending on the institution and context. A lack of training on LCA, lack of preparedness of the students, lack of classroom facilities, imbalanced teacher- student ratio, and long-term socio-cultural impacts of teacher centred practices are some of the constraints to implementing this approach. Findings and implications of this research may help the teachers and policy makers in reforming the policy and practices for acquiring a smooth transition to LCA as well as establishing sustainable education in Bangladesh. These implications extend to learners' long term retention of many skills and thus offer a foundation for further exploration like how this approach can be systematically applied in the English language teaching.