The Importance Of Constructivism In Language Teaching

Nowadays, constructivism is considered as a vital issue in various disciplines, especially instructional design (Can, 2009; Powell & Kalina, 2009). This theory is contrasted with behaviorism and cognitivism (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). Vygotsky supported Piaget’s work about learners’ activities in the cognitive development. However, he did not agree that maturation itself enough of a way to allow learners to achieve higher knowledge and skills in their cognitive development. According to Vygotsky’s theory, learners’ knowledge is socially constructed through language (Powell & Kalina, 2009; Zhou & Brown, 2014). Language is a useful tool to transmit information from the social environment to the mind in the internalization process of human

It means that a learner-centered approach is a useful way in language teaching. When teachers utilise this way, they can assist their students to improve and develop many skills, including communication, autonomy and interaction in their own learning (Wintek, 2012). In the Vietnamese context, to change this passive learning, from contructivist theory, I strongly argue that teachers should apply learner-centered approach in their teaching. Teachers should give their guidance in a necessary way to students as well as give students more chances to manage their own learning. Besides, teachers should not only permit students to work on their own well-balanced learning process but put pressure on students to ensure that they still will work hard. For example, I will recommend some reference books related to the lessons I teach in class to my students. Students can read them at home and prepare their lessons before they go to school. To check their work, I can give them some accidental tests and give them scores. By this way, students can be free to study under soft force of