Adult Language Learners: Context and Innovation

Adult Language Learners: Context and Innovation PDF Author: Ann F. V. Smith
Publisher: Classroom Practice
ISBN: 9781931185615
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Adult Language Learners: Context and Innovation presents instructional practices that are particularly successful with adults. Adult language learners are goal oriented and direct their learning to fulfill particular needs or demands: to advance their studies, to progress up the career ladder, to follow business opportunities, to pass a driving test, to assist their children with homework, or simply to be successful users of the language. They usually require immediate value and relevance from their studies, and they often learn best when they are engaged in developing their own learning objectives. The volume examines learning environments as varied as Brazil, China, Iran, Japan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam, always with an emphasis on classroom practice rather than theory. The book is divided into three main areas of education: language teachers as adult learners themselves developing their teaching practice; different means of expanding learner autonomy, an important trait of the adult language learner; and innovative classroom practices. By reading these chapters you will gain an overview of recent developments in adult language learning and of ideas and techniques that can be easily adapted to your own teaching context.

Second Language Educational Experiences for Adult Learners

Second Language Educational Experiences for Adult Learners PDF Author: John M. Norris
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351863169
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 319

Book Description
Second Language Educational Experiences for Adult Learners explains the latest research on adult learning and then applies that work to specifically address second language learning. In the foundational chapters, this book introduces some of the differences between language learning for adults. In the second half of the volume, the authors move to consider educational design in chapters on curriculum, materials, assessment, and technology. This is an essential book for researchers and students interested in the science of language learning or anyone looking to better understand the science of adult education.

Adult Language Learning: Insights, Instructions And Implications

Adult Language Learning: Insights, Instructions And Implications PDF Author: Shamim Ali
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640908805
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 121

Book Description
Master's Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject Pedagogy - Adult Education, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad (English Department), course: Research Project, language: English, abstract: The present study aims to investigate, that age is not a detriment to language learning .As young students are biologically disposed to better second language learning, as well as given certain benefits such as lower self-monitor and affective filter, but at the same time adults are also not at a lower vantage point in L2 learning process. In the language learning program, adult learners bring with them certain advantages. Adults are better at understanding grammatical rules since they are aware of the rules and structures in their own language. [...] Especially in the areas of vocabulary and language structure, adults are actually better language learners than children. Adult learners have more highly developed cognitive systems, are able to make higher order associations and generalizations, and can integrate new language input with their already substantial learning experience. They also rely on long-term memory rather than the short-term memory function used by children and younger learners for rote learning. Adults have already developed learning strategies that have served them well in other contexts. They can use these strategies to their advantage in language learning. This research will suggest ways of dealing better with adult learners in their academic performance in the language class. The researchers' aim will be to investigate that they have potentials to become accomplished language learners with the advantage of more advanced cognitive development in the first language, and they integrate new language input with their already substantial learning experience. To prove her point of view the researcher will involve 10 teachers and 30 students of Diploma, Certificate and Foundation level at the Department of English (functional Courses) at National U

Becoming Fluent

Becoming Fluent PDF Author: Richard Roberts
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262529807
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Book Description
Forget everything you’ve heard about adult language learning: evidence from cognitive science and psychology prove we can learn foreign languages just as easily as children. An eye-opening study on how adult learners can master a foreign lanugage by drawing on skills and knowledge honed over a lifetime. Adults who want to learn a foreign language are often discouraged because they believe they cannot acquire a language as easily as children. Once they begin to learn a language, adults may be further discouraged when they find the methods used to teach children don't seem to work for them. What is an adult language learner to do? In this book, Richard Roberts and Roger Kreuz draw on insights from psychology and cognitive science to show that adults can master a foreign language if they bring to bear the skills and knowledge they have honed over a lifetime. Adults shouldn't try to learn as children do; they should learn like adults. Roberts and Kreuz report evidence that adults can learn new languages even more easily than children. Children appear to have only two advantages over adults in learning a language: they acquire a native accent more easily, and they do not suffer from self-defeating anxiety about learning a language. Adults, on the other hand, have the greater advantages—gained from experience—of an understanding of their own mental processes and knowing how to use language to do things. Adults have an especially advantageous grasp of pragmatics, the social use of language, and Roberts and Kreuz show how to leverage this metalinguistic ability in learning a new language. Learning a language takes effort. But if adult learners apply the tools acquired over a lifetime, it can be enjoyable and rewarding.

Research Anthology on Adult Education and the Development of Lifelong Learners

Research Anthology on Adult Education and the Development of Lifelong Learners PDF Author: Management Association, Information Resources
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799887340
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 1551

Book Description
Whether it is earning a GED, a particular skill, or technical topic for a career, taking classes of interest, or even returning to begin a degree program or completing it, adult learning encompasses those beyond the traditional university age seeking out education. This type of education could be considered non-traditional as it goes beyond the typical educational path and develops learners that are self-initiated and focused on personal development in the form of gaining some sort of education. Essentially, it is a voluntary choice of learning throughout life for personal and professional development. While there is often a large focus towards K-12 and higher education, it is important that research also focuses on the developing trends, technologies, and techniques for providing adult education along with understanding lifelong learners’ choices, developments, and needs. The Research Anthology on Adult Education and the Development of Lifelong Learners focuses specifically on adult education and the best practices, services, and educational environments and methods for both the teaching and learning of adults. This spans further into the understanding of what it means to be a lifelong learner and how to develop adults who want to voluntarily contribute to their own development by enhancing their education level or knowledge of certain topics. This book is essential for teachers and professors, course instructors, business professionals, school administrators, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the latest advancements in adult education and lifelong learning.

Teaching Adult English Language Learners

Teaching Adult English Language Learners PDF Author: Betsy Parrish
Publisher:
ISBN: 1108702848
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 510

Book Description


Adult Learning in the Language Classroom

Adult Learning in the Language Classroom PDF Author: Stacey Margarita Johnson
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1783094168
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 156

Book Description
This book explores connections between the fields of foreign/second language teaching and adult learning through a case study of adult language learners at the college level. The book examines topics such as the value of adult language study, its effect on adult learners, as well as classroom practices that contribute to deeper learning.

The Way of the Linguist

The Way of the Linguist PDF Author: Steve Kaufmann
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1420873296
Category : Linguistics
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Book Description
The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey. It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.

Narratives of Adult English Learners and Teachers

Narratives of Adult English Learners and Teachers PDF Author: Clarena Larrotta
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1788923197
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
This book centralizes the narratives of adult English language learners, teachers, and trainee teachers in the development of a humanistic language pedagogy; their strengths, concerns, and stories inform this practical guide to adult literacy development and English language-culture learning and teaching. The author sets the need to educate the whole person, and to focus on the adult learner’s strengths and assets, against a background of rigorous research and practical experience. This book combines evidence-based pedagogy with a passionate belief in the centrality of the learner and the importance of education and will be invaluable to all those involved in teaching and training related to adult English language learners.

Social Context and Fluency in L2 Learners

Social Context and Fluency in L2 Learners PDF Author: Lynda Pritchard Newcombe
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1853599948
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 154

Book Description
The focus in this book is on learners experiences using Welsh outside class but the issues discussed have implications for a wide range of other situations where the population is bilingual or multilingual and interaction takes place in a language of wider communication.