Knowledge and Practice of Learner-Centered Technique: A Case of Novice Teachers

Abstract

The present research study entitled“Knowledge and Practice of Learner-Centered Technique: A Case of Novice Teachers” aimed to explore the novice teachers’ knowledge and their practice on learner-centered techniques based on learners’ individual differences, teaching context, instruction and evaluation technique and warming up activities used in the classroom. To meet the objectives of this research study, I purposively selected 20 secondary level novice English teachers from 20 schools of Kathmandu valley. Twenty secondary level schools were selected as sample for this study. One novice teacher from each school was selected for this study. Novice teachers’theoretical knowledge on learner-centered techniques based on learners’individual differences, teaching context, instruction and evaluation technique and warm up activities were explored through the help of open-ended andclosed-ended questions and in order to find out their procedural or practical knowledge teachers were observed in their classroom. For this purpose questionnaire and classroom observation checklist were used as research tools.Findings of the study showed that there wasnot coordination between novice teacher’s theoretical knowledge on learner-centered techniques and classroom performance. I found contradiction between the data collected from questionnaire and classroom observation checklist. This thesis is organized into five chapters. The first chapter deals with the background of the topic, statement of the problem, objectives of the study,research questions, significance of the study, delimitations of the study and operational definition of the key terms. The second chapter includes review of related theoretical literature, review of related empirical literature, implication of the review for the study and conceptual framework. The third chapter covers all the areas of methodology. Likewise, the fourth chapter presents the analysis and interpretation of results and the fifth chapter includes conclusions and recommendations followed by references and appendices.