HASALD Tuesday 26 October Is the role of the advisor in self-access centres essentially any different from that of the classroom teacher and do advisors require any training or skills different from those of a classroom teacher?

A teacher has many roles. A teacher can be father, mother, judge, salesman, technician, librarian and more… Barnes, D. (1976). From Communication to Curriculum. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

…it boils down to responding to students’ in- built needs as language users and language learners. Tudor, I. (1993). Teacher roles in the learner-centred classroom. ELT Journal, 47, 1.

Harmer (1983) Controller Assessor Organiser Resource Participant Prompter Tudor (1993) Goal-setting Methodology ref. learners’ prefs Involving learners Helping learners be > aware of LL Needs analysis & goal-setting Learner responsibility for learning Harmer, J. (1983)The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Pearson. Tudor, I Teacher roles in the learner-centred classroom. English Language.Teaching Journal, 47, 1, pp

Resource material creator Teaching role model Lecturer Student at a distance Teaching expertise Content expertise Student contact Curriculum planner Learning facilitator Mentor Student assessor Course organiser Curriculum evaluator Facilitator Role model Information provider Resource developer Planner Assessor Harden, R.M. & Crosby, J.R. (2000). An extended summary of AMEE Medical Education Guide No. 20. Medical Teacher, 22, 4,

Thoughts… A good teacher is a good teacher in all contexts? The TEFL teacher versus the university teacher? The 90s constructivist versus the direct method dinosaur? The encourager versus the assessor? Reciprocity versus transmission?

Skill requirements Listening / eliciting skills – e.g. need to elicit student beliefs about how they learn, their needs Ability to set manageable goals with students Avoiding imposing or prescribing solutions Avoiding giving students short-term solutions

Knowledge requirements Language learning strategies Manageable goals Needs analysis Self-access resources and how to use them

Training Schemes – Mia Victori (2006) Reading – seminal texts on self-access Role of counselor and counseling skills Self and peer observations Learner-training seminars Regular meetings with counselors

References Mozzon-McPherson, M. (2007) Supporting independent Learning environments: An analysis of structures and roles of language learning advisors. ScienceDirect System 35 (2007) Victori, M. (2007) The development of learners’ support mechanisms in a self-access center and their implementation in a credit-based self-directed learning program. ScienceDirect System 35 (2007) 10-31