The Change Roles of Teachers and Students in Language Class

【Abstract】To answer the questions of what roles does a teacher play and what roles do students play in traditional language classroom and in communicative classroom？ What are the theories behind？ This paper will explain these two answers from three parts， among which are the introduction of constructivist teaching theory and humanism teaching theory， then I will explain these two answers in detail under the basic theories of teaching reform， constructivism and humanism.

【Key words】teachers role； students role； traditional teaching theory； constructivist teaching theory； humanistic teaching theory； student-centered education

With the development of society and reform of Chinese education， people transfer from traditional teaching theory to the other side. The application of humanism and constructivism， especially constructivism， in teaching and learning is noticed by increasing number of people. The aim of this paper is to analyze teachers roles and students roles in the contemporary era.

1. Constructivist Teaching Theory

In the 21st century， Chinese Higher Education is transformed from knowledge-centered education to cultivating students creative ability and improving students comprehensive quality. Constructivist teaching theory believes that learning is an active process in which learner construct new ideas or concepts based upon their past knowledge and experience， （張海榮. 2003） which is suitable for the situations in Chinese education reform. The constructivist teaching theory also believes that knowledge is not a correct expression to reality and it is not the final answer to question.

2. Humanistic Teaching Theory

Humanistic teaching theory is also called person-centered education based on the work of humanistic psychologists.（何志武. 2010）Although different humanist have different opinions toward person-centered education， all of them focus on some same points， among which are cultivating students social capacities， developing students practical skills， improving students self-esteem， whole person education， promoting their abilities to set and achieve proper goals， and finally achieving to their fully autonomy. Humanistic teaching theory focuses on whole person development， especially the development of students emotion， spirit and value.

3. Conclusion

Because of the development of society， college education reform and the changes of peoples views toward education， teachers role and students role should also be changed in college language class depending on the advantages of constructivist theory and humanistic theory. While， it is not totally deny the functions of traditional teaching theory based on behaviorism. Although seldom people advocate mechanical learning nowadays， because of its effective and time-saving， but the theory of traditional class about teachers role and students role is not suitable nowadays. Thus， teachers role should be transformed into a collector， analyzer， supplier， manager and developer. Teacher should collect and analyze effective information which can attract students attention and suitable for students background information and cognitive mind on the internet to help his or her teaching. Besides， teacher should organize the whole class and guide students to achieve aims rather than to control the whole class tightly and restrain students thoughts. In addition， nowadays， teacher and student should be a lifelong learner and research rather than learning for examination and grade. For adapting to this new world， they need to be a researcher to research their own major or even what they want and like.

Therefore， facing with new word and society， students creative mind， initiative learning， various abilities can benefit from teachers role transformation. Teachers quantity of knowledge， teaching abilities， educational skills， values of students and works can be improved and enhanced by students role transformation. Thus both of them need to try hard to make a great transformation depending on constructivist teaching theory and humanistic teaching theory.

References：

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作者簡(jiǎn)介：于子幀（1993.3.10-），女，滿族，河北保定人，研一學(xué)生，研究方向：課程與教學(xué)論。