teacher and learner in humanistic language teaching

since ‘the development of whole person’ was brought to the focus of attention by humanist psychologists as a central concern in educational theory, affective variables have been assumed to have a significant share in the learning process that goes on in a pedagogical setting. meanwhile, the process of second language development, because of the very nature of language as a vehicle for communication, is immensely influenced by socio-affective variables. in an instructional setting, on the other hand, emotional factors are clearly manifested in what goes on between the teacher and learners. as a result, the way the affective dimension of teacher-learner interactions is handled can predict, to a large extent, the effectiveness of interactional activities in second language classes. in this paper, having reviewed the learner-teacher relationship in methodologies that were particularly based on humanistic language teaching, i will argue, following kumaravadivelu’s post-method pedagogy, that humanistic handling of the instructional situation by the teacher, beyond any methodological considerations, pledges a more positive atmosphere and better chances of language acquisition as a consequence. a set of guidelines are proposed to ascertain a humanistic relationship between teacher and learners in a language class.