Closing the Gap between Learning and Instruction

In this paper, I explore the mismatch between the pedagogical intentions and plans of the educational institution, curriculum, teacher, and textbook, and the outcomes as realized through the skills and knowledge that learners take away from instructional encounters. Although there will never be a one-to-one relationship between teaching and learning, there are ways in which teachers and learners and teaching and learning can be brought closer together. In this article, I look at ways of closing the gap in relation to experiential content, learning process, and language content. The theme holding these three disparate domains together is that of learner centredness, and it is this concept which I take as my point of departure.