Sounds very similar to learner-centred, doesn’t it? I would say it is more taking over from the learner-centred classroom, though, and that’s not a good thing.

In my version of a learner centred classroom, mainly based on my ESP training and experience, I combine what I know and instinctively sense about the students and their needs with what I know and instinctively feel about the best ways to learn a language. Student feedback can help me with both, and to a certain extent student happiness affects student learning, but the fundamental focus is on them and me doing the things that will lead to the best language learning. This can lead to conflicting ideas, or even actual conflict, when I have listened carefully to their ideas on the best way for them (or us all) to learn a language and still disagree. I have a lot more experience of and have read a lot more about language learning and teaching than almost all of my students, and if they don’t come to class at least partly trusting my expertise on the topic or willing to keep an open mind about what I suggest, there isn’t much point them being in my classroom.

In the worst example of the customer-centred classroom, student feedback is everything and changes are made to everything as quickly as possible in response to questionnaires and/ or student complaints. In another version of it, changes are made to classes generally based on larger decisions about what things will make customers happy and keep them coming through the doors, although sometimes at least based on a profile of the “target market” of students rather than just numbers of bums on seats.

I can understand the appeal of the customer-centred classroom:

– It will probably be more commercially successful, at least in the short term

– It’s easier to discuss and standardize than something that relies on the expertise and negotiating skills of the teachers

– It’s easier to make decisions based on the concrete and easily discussed student feedback, rather than nebulous ideas of really the best ways to teach and learn (even when people can make those ideas conscious and explain them)

– There are still loads of things we don’t know about language learning, so letting the students decide could seem as good as any other way to decide what to do

The arguments against seem even clearer to me:

– I am there to help increase learning, and increased happiness is connected but not central to that

– As most people can attest, happiness about teaching or learning can occur months or years later and/ or be impossible to explain

– More generally, although student feedback seems like a concrete thing that it is easy to base our decisions on, you can argue about each way of collecting it and interpreting it almost as much as you can argue about teaching and language learning

– In fact, the best way to interpret student feedback is through an experienced, qualified and reflective teacher looking at it through the lens of learning always being the priority, as I mentioned above

– If my job is just to react to student feedback rather than to battle with working out (or helping them work out) the best ways to learn, there is no point employing an experienced, qualified and reflective teacher

– Most students expect you to be an expert teacher who is passionate about your ideas of learning and teaching, and might even resent being expected to make all the decisions and judgements about what goes on in the classroom

To put it another way, the choice is between:

– Increasing student learning being seen as one way of making our customers happy

– Happiness being one way of increasing and judging student learning