Teacher-student Power Relationships in Language Classrooms

A Comparative Case Study in ESL and EFL Contexts

Aspects of teacher-student power relationship (TSPR) were studied in an Australian ESL (English as a second language) study centre and an Indonesian EFL (English as a foreign language) counterpart to investigate the relevance of the power sharing concept in different contexts of second language learning. The study employed non-experimental methodology in collecting data using interviews, questionnaires and classroom observation. The findings contribute insight into the contextual factors worthy of consideration in applying modern approaches to ELT in different settings of teaching and learning, and support the establishment of student autonomy as the central goal in learning and communicative competence in L2 pedagogy.

Aspects of teacher-student power relationship (TSPR) were studied in an Australian ESL (English as a second language) study centre and an Indonesian EFL (English as a foreign language) counterpart to investigate the relevance of the power ...