This is an analysis of theory and research in applied linguistics about classroom processes, and in particular about the active role of the learner in learning. It focuses firstly on factors that affect learning-teaching events from outside the classroom: participants’ beliefs, participants’ intentions and participants’ resources, learning and teaching curricula and materials, the political and institutional context, socio-cultural factors and issues of inequality. It then analyses research on the nature of learning-teaching events themselves: characteristics of context, approaches to teaching, social interaction and the construction of social identities. Recognition of the complexity of the relationship between learning and teaching leads to a conceptualisation of teaching as the ‘creation of learning opportunities’, in which the management of learning, and engagement in learning are crucial factors. This analysis identifies six different types of potential outcome from learning-teaching events: learning about content, learning how to learn, learning about language, learning about social relations, re-constructing identities and wider benefits of learning such as increased confidence. The analysis emphasises throughout the implications for teaching of viewing learning from the perspective of the learner. The analysis was undertaken as part of the Adult Learners’ Lives research project as part of the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy’s (NRDC) work in support of Skills for Life.
Understanding the relationships between learning and teaching: an analysis of the contribution of applied linguistics
