Recently learner-centered teaching has been in vogue especially in the area of elementary English education. This may be the reason that the 7th National English Curriculum directs considerable attention to learner-centered teaching, and each of the national English textbooks in elementary schools has a variety of learning activities and tasks aimed at two levels: intensive for fast learners and supplementary for slower learners. Thus there seems to be a strong consensus of opinion among ELT researchers and teachers that we should teach English in a learner-centered way, taking the wants and needs of the leaners into account. It must be pointed out, however, that very little attention has been paid to how we educate teachers so that they can teach English in a learner-centered way. Considering this, the aim of this paper is to suggest a model of, and some theoretical basis for learner-centered elementary English teacher education. To this end, the problems our current elementary English teacher education often faces were looked at in terms of learner-centered education. This paper also investigated the TESOL programs offered in the major universities in the USA. |