1. UNDERSTANDING THE LEARNER IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
Shazia Nawaz Awan, Ed.D.
Dalhousie University, Halifax
TESL Nova Scotia-Saturday May 12, 2018

2. TESL Nova Scotia-Saturday May 12, 2018

3. Images retrieved from www.Google.com
Reference
Images retrieved from
TESL Nova Scotia-Saturday May 12, 2018

4. Understanding the learner
Questions to Discuss
What does ‘understanding the learner’ mean to you?
2. Is there a specific strategy or strategies you have used to understand ELLs in your context?
3. What are some of the important challenges ELTs could be faced with in terms of understanding the learner?
TESL Nova Scotia-Saturday May 12, 2018

5. Ways to ‘understand’ the learner
Effective course design
Curriculum that engages learning
“curriculum design should recognise that students have special learning needs by reason of their social, cultural and academic transition” (2014, p.11).
Maximising classroom time in moments of teaching and learning
Questioning why a student is not learning
Reference
Jones, A., Olds, A., & Lisciandro, J. (2016). Understanding the Learner: Effective course design in the changing higher education space. International Studies in Widening Participation, 3(1),
TESL Nova Scotia-Saturday May 12, 2018

6. Student-Centredness Understanding the learner
A student-centred approach encompasses four fundamental features:
active responsibility for learning
proactive management of learning experience
independent knowledge construction
teachers as facilitators
McCabe, A., & O'Connor, U. (2014). Student-centred learning: the role and responsibility of the lecturer. Teaching in Higher Education, 19(4),
TESL Nova Scotia-Saturday May 12, 2018

7. What is the role of the teacher in a student-centred approach?
Questions to Discuss
What as an English language teacher/educator is your understandings of a student-centred approach?
What is the role of the teacher in a student-centred approach?
What strategies work best in engaging and encouraging students in a student centred approach?
TESL Nova Scotia-Saturday May 12, 2018

8. “I cannot teach a [student] I do not know”
"The fact that students differ may be inconvenient, but it is inescapable. Adapting to that diversity is the inevitable price of productivity, high standards, and fairness …." 
It can be done. It is being done, however against the traditional grain.
Reference
Theodore Sizer, ( )
TESL Nova Scotia-Saturday May 12, 2018

9. Some ways to implement Discussing with other teachers
Doing right by the student NOT just by the curriculum
Universal Design of Learning (UDL)
Flexibility to pedagogical maneuverability (FLE)
Reference
1-2. Theodore Sizer, ( )
3. Ronald Mace (1980s)
TESL Nova Scotia-Saturday May 12, 2018