Image-based Basic Verb Learning through Learner-centred and Teacher-centred Approaches —A Case Study on Japanese EFL Junior High School Students

Abstract

This pilot study made comparisons on image-based basic verb learning through learner and teacher-centred approaches. To this purpose, 121 Japanese EFL junior high school students participated. In a learner-centred activity, they just engaged in a card game in which they were able to pay attention to relationships between situational images and forms of the targeted basic verbs. In a teacher-centred instruction, the participants were explicitly taught how given definitions of another basic verb were motivated semantically from situational-images. Immediately after each treatment, post-tests were administered. A week after each immediate post-test, delayed post-tests were given. Analysis of the results found that only high proficiency learners were capable of image-based basic verb learning through either the card game activity or the explicit instruction alone. Considering the results and a SLA model, the authors concluded that image-based basic verb learning should be implemented through learner-centred activity first, followed by teacher-centred explicit instruction.