The Application Of Humanistic Psychology In Learner-centered Approach To English Language Teaching

This thesis intends to make an attempt to probe into some issues in English language teaching. The author holds that English language teaching has long been associated with a number of language teaching methodologies and with some psychological theories the methologies are based on. In the ELT profession, there seems to have always been a search for the "best method". However, in audio-lingualism and communicative language teaching, too much attention has been paid to the language at the expense of dynamics of learners, and thus the failures of language teaching are inevitable. The author intends to argue that there is no best method, and whether a method is the best or not largely depends on the needs of individual students. In this thesis the author, by following the humanistic approach to education, has ventured to reach a conclusion that the application of a learner-centered approach is central to the effective employment of all teaching methodologies as applied in the classroom.