Arab World English Journal, August 2015 Bejaia University, International Conference Proceedings – 2015 Pp. 25 – 41
Student-Centered Teaching Practices: Focus on The Project-Based Model to Teaching in the Algerian High-School Contexts
Nacera Boudersa
Department of English at University of Constantine 1
Algeria
Hacene Hamada
Department of English at Ecole Normale Supérieure of Constantine
Algeria
Abstract:
During the last few decades, many teaching philosophies and approaches began to surface and take shape in education. The principles and assumptions underlying these philosophies gained prominence, and started to be adopted and implemented in educational programs and curricula at different learning stages (secondary and tertiary education). The overall aim of these changes is to find better ways (models, approaches) to improve students’ learning. Today, in the Algerian educational context, there is an increase demand for more efficient and beneficial teaching approaches. Call for change to take place in teaching has always been raised. Accordingly, there has been a shift of focus in teaching and a tendency on the part of many researchers and educators to advance more innovative, beneficial and student-centered models and approaches to be adopted and implemented in educational programs. Project-Based Teaching is one of these suggested and advocated teaching models. It addresses important concerns and goals in education, and it is characterized by being student-centered. A radical change in the role of teachers and students in the teaching/learning process takes place. The adoption/implementation of such a teaching model is supported by research and is claimed to help develop the students’ intrinsic interest in the subject matter, emphasize learning not recall, promote group-work and help students become active, self-directed and independent learners. The main aim of the present paper is to give a compendium of the theory that demonstrates the importance of Project-Based Teaching alongside the different types of learning that can be incorporated in project work (experiential-learning and active-learning). The discussion is also based upon a questionnaire which has been administered to high-school teachers of English, Science, History and Technology in Mohamed Larbi Tlilani high-school (Constantine) in order to explore the efficiency of that model in practice.
Keywords: Active learning, experiential-learning, learning improvement, project-based teaching, student-centered teaching.