Abstract
The learning traditions of Sri Lanka demand the authoritative role of the teachers. As a result, the learners become comfortable in their passive role and depend heavily on their teachers as the sole provider of knowledge and resources. It has been observed that this dependency impedes the learning process and restricts the potential for self-improvement especially in language education. Thus, shifting from traditional teacher dependent learning to autonomous learning is a major challenge for any student gaining entrance to the university who has experienced frontal teaching for over twelve years in school in Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, transformation from the traditional teacher dependent learning to digital language education has resulted in successfully addressing many issues faced by the teachers and students alike in foreign language education at university level. This paper examines the contribution of authentic material available online to the vast improvement of student performance at the University of Kelaniya and how this digital transformation contributed to shifting from teacher dependent learning to learner autonomy through online resources.
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Premawardhena, N.C. (2020). Defying Learning Traditions: From Teacher-Centred to Student-Centred Foreign Language Education Through Digital Transformation at Sri Lankan Universities. In: Auer, M., Tsiatsos, T. (eds) The Challenges of the Digital Transformation in Education. ICL 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 916. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11932-4_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11932-4_23
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