THE LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH TO DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS: A THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL REVIEW
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20372961Keywords:
learner-centered approach, speaking skills, communicative competence, second language acquisition, English language teaching.Abstract
Speaking remains one of the most difficult skills for foreign-language learners to master, and traditional teacher-centered instruction often provides too few opportunities for genuine oral practice. This article reviews the theoretical and methodological foundations of the learner-centered approach and examines why it is particularly suited to the development of speaking skills. Drawing on established work in second language acquisition and language pedagogy — including communicative competence theory (Canale & Swain, 1980), sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978), the Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1996), the Output Hypothesis (Swain, 1985) and learner-centred curriculum theory (Nunan, 1988) — it argues that speaking proficiency develops most effectively through meaningful, collaborative communication in low-anxiety environments. The article also considers affective factors such as motivation and language anxiety, and discusses implications for English language teaching in Uzbekistan. It is conceptual in nature and does not report new empirical data.References
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