The positive impact of a learner-centered approach on learner motivation in the EFL classroom

Abstract

National Reform in education in Armenia has targeted innovative teaching approaches and methodologies as an educational need that must be met to satisfy the new societal needs of the country. One of the requirements of the new national curriculum is a major shift in the classroom context with notable focus on the affective domain of the learner. Fully acknowledging the impact of affective factors on learning, the researcher attempts to show that motivation as an element of the effective domain has a strong positive influence on learning process and it may be enhanced in classroom contexts where learner-centered principles of teaching are practiced. The study is designed as a case study. It is conducted in one of the classes at the Extension Program of the American University of Armenia (EP AUA), which offers students a one-year intensive English language program. Each proficiency level of the overall course, from the beginner to advanced, lasts nine weeks. The subjects of the study, all of whom are students at the AUA Extension Program, Included 15 learners of English as a foreign language. They are students at the advanced proficiency level. The data analyses resulting from class observations, student, the course instructor interviews, and questionnaires confirmed the benefits of learner-centered approach to TEFL, which creates a positive context for increasing and sustaining learner motivation.