An Encounter of English Learners’ Self— identity and the Learner—centered Curric

Abstract：This paper focus on English learners’ Self- identity and learner-centeredness of the learner-centered curriculum， considering the content， influences， types and confidence of English learners’ Self- identity and locating them in a learner-centered curriculum context. In English teaching with the learner-centered approach， English learners’ Self- identity is a extraordinary important element to the teachers. English teachers should pay more attention on it.
　　Key words： self-identity；confidence； learner-centered； curriculum
　　

1 Introduction

　　Identity is an important concept of western culture research. Its basic meaning is the identification between an individual and specific social culture. Identity covers the following meanings： who am I？ Where I come from and where I am going？ Identity is associated with a series of theoretical issues， such as subject， language， psychology， ideology， power， class， sex and race （Tao， 2004）. People establish self-identity to understand individual characteristics， potential， character， interest， hobby and social requirements and seek for binding points between an individual and the society， so as to identify their own status （Gao， Li & Li， 2003）.
　　2 Development of learners’ self-identity
　　Generally speaking， according to current identity research， identity can be divided into 4 kinds， namely individual identity， collective identity， self-identity and social identity. Individual identity is the identity between an individual and specific culture， while collective identity means that cultural subject conducts selection between two different cultural groups or minor-cultural groups. Due to the impact of different cultures， the culture subject needs to regard one culture as the self of collective culture and another culture as the autrui. Social identity lays emphasis on social attributes and is the object for sociology， cultural anthropology and other research （Tao， 2004）. Self-identity stresses self-experience in body and mind centering on oneself and is the object attracting the attention of enlightenment philosophy， phenomenology and existentiali. Here， self-identity of learners means learners’ recognition on “who am I”， covering individual ability， communication mode， values， group belonging and other aspects. Self-identity is a psychological concept.
　　3 Learner-centered curriculum
　　3.

1 Definition

　　Barbara L.Mccombs and Whisler define “learner-centeredness” as the following： learner-centered means teaching is focused on learner individual （such as their experiences， ideas， background， competence， interests and needs）， studies （the best study method is to know how study comes into being）， and teaching practice that can enable learners to he the most powerful learning motive （Dou， 2008）. Hence， learners’ self-awareness is vitally importance in this kind of teaching idea， and their confidence， learning motive and self-assesent are the key factors for study.