A REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS OF LEARNER CENTRED APPROACH FOR BUSINESS COURSES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Learner Centred approach is a well-established method of teaching that has been used in higher education and has proven to harvest the intellectual needs of students by developing independent thinking, self-directed studying, and problem-solving skills (Stage, 1998; Cheng and Cheung, 2003; Thompson et al., 2005; Sahney et al., 2008). The approach, while provided in the literature as generic, has to be customized for the needs subject instructors and cultural context of the delivery. In this paper, the authors conduct a reflective analysis on the learner centred approach when applying such method for Business courses in the Middle East. The study provides insights and practical applications that have been successfully implemented and tested in this context. By applying the five phases of Weimer (2002) framework for Learner centred approach for a Business courses, the authors suggest having clear concept mapping, special attention to the linguistic needs of the students, and the instructor’s critical role in clarifying the objectives and directing the learners centred approach to simulate an organizational environment that encourages critical, independent thinking, and creative problem-solving skills. This includes practical recommendations such as encouraging book reading in the class to overcome linguistic barriers and self-evaluation of work to be graded to encourage self-reflection on work developed. Ultimately developing a classroom management structure that is balances instructors’ and students’ powers in such a way that encourages students to take more proactive approach to their studies under the framework of the Learner centred approach.