Unraveling learners’ perception towards the development of language proficiency under a learner-centered approach

Abstract

In recent years, the idea of emphasizing the foreign language as a tool to construct knowledge and not only as a mere metalinguistic entity has gained considerable importance in many parts of Europe (Dalton-Puffer, 2007); however, in most Mexican public universities more traditional perspectives regarding foreign language learning still prevail (Davies, 2009), whereas the idea of less hegemonic learning environments remains mostly an alien concept. This paper is an attempt to address an aspect of learner-centred learning at a public university in central Mexico and presents the analysis of a research that comprises disciplinary English as a foreign language (efl) learning workshop. Its objective is to unravel the perception of two tertiary efl students towards this relatively uncharted approach in Mexico. The students were encouraged to use the target language as both an instrument to improve their language proficiency as well as to socially construct knowledge in disciplinary content.