Decentralization – A Fundamental Principle of the Action-Based Perspective on Foreign Language Teaching

The present study brings to the foreground the role of the foreign language teacher in the micro-society of the classroom. Decentralization, a principle promoted by didactics today, represents the shift of the teacher’s role from a central to a marginal position or to a similar position to that of students. In the first part of the article we will follow the evolution of the teacher’s role, through a history of the discipline, emphasizing the relation of different epistemological contexts, methodologies proposed across time and the hierarchical position of the teacher in relation to the students. The purpose of this diachronic overview is to show that decentralization is the fundamental and absolutely necessary principle in the present didactics of foreign languages, a principle adapted to the learning philosophy promoted by the CEFRL. In the second part, we will analyse some of the techniques used to decentralize the process of teaching-learning foreign languages. Moreover, we will illustrate the changes brought about by decentralization, as well as the connecting points between them and the action-based perspective, a theoretical vision promoted by the CEFRL.

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