Teaching English to Adults

Mobit W. Atmojo

IN-SERVICE TRAINING FOR TEACHER

JAKARTA, JUNE 22, 2014

Who are Adults?

Young Learners Adults

Pre-primary and primary age

After Pre-primary, primary age and Adolescent

Pre and Elementary School students

Refugees, Un-passed Students, Conversation, Private, ESP Student

Language Acquisition Language Learning

Pedagogy (rigid system)

Andragogy A

DO

LESCEN

T

Understanding Learner

• Life Experience, get shared among student

• Motivation, what motivates learner?

• Immediate Goals, immediate goal i.g. For looking for a job, to study, to perform a profession

• Self Concept, both general and spesific concept

How distinguish Adults from Young Learner?

• Adults are self-directed in their learning.

• Adults have reservoirs of experience that serve as resources as they learn.

• Adults are practical, problem-solving-oriented learners.

• Adults want their learning to be immediately applicable to their lives.

• Adults want to know why something needs to be learned.

Florez & Burt (2001)

How do adults acquire language?

• Young learners acquire language unconsciously (LANGUAGE ACQUISITION)

• Adults acquire consciously (LANGUAGE LEARNING)

What Do Adults Need?

• Adults need assesment (a process of determining of learners’ need to develop the curriculum)

• Adult-appropriate content, materials, and activities that speak to their needs and interests and allow them to demonstrate their knowledge and abilities

• Teaching will be effective when they feel responsive to immediate and long-term needs

• Adults are closed to the andragogy rather than pedagogy

Specific Characteristics

Characteristics Suggestions

To need involvement Learner-centered

To want practical information (useful)

Teacher should know what they need.

To bring a wealth of personal experience

Use it to enrich learning material

To have maturity Let them to be themselves

To understand priority Give what they need

Direct of their own learning agenda

Involve them to create learning agenda

Do Adult learn similar to young one?

• What is Correct English?

• What is appropriate English?

1. The relationship of the speakers.

2. The situation in which the communication takes place.

3. The topic of the communication

Determining the approaches

• Adult suit with LEARNER-CENTERED

• It focuses on the

- Background

- Needs

- Expectation of learners to create more effective, authentic and focused language learning environment

What is the strategy?

• An analysis is done to assess learners’ need.

• Curriculum, lessons, and activities are designed to help learners reach the goals targeted.

• Curriculum, lessons and activities may change throughout the length of the course as learners’ strengths, weaknesses and goals are reevaluated

• At the end of the course may evaluate themselves or each other (or both)

How Come a Multilevel Class Emerge?

• Multilevel class means the class in which the students have various english background.

• It emerges due to “there are frequently not enough students at the branch location to support an entire class at any one level” (Hilles:2001)

• Multilevel class couldn’t be avoided in the context of ESL/ EFL

How to Manage Multilevel Class?

Time Beginner/ Pre Intro 1

Intermediate/ P. Beginner 3

Advanced/ Elementary 2

09.00-09.05 Teacher Directed Teacher Directed Teacher Directed

09.05-09.20 Teacher Directed Desk work Group work

09.20-09.35 Desk work Group work Teacher Directed

09.35-09.50 Group work Teacher Directed Desk work

09.50-10.00 Teacher directed Teacher directed Teacher Directed

Classroom Management Plan for a Multilevel Class

BACKGROUND

1. English as international language needed by some profession

2. ESP Class focuses on both the structure and lexis needed for particular field as well as type of activities that students expected to perform learners’ profession

1. Example of ESP Teaching

2. Example of ESP Teaching

STRATEGY:

1. Need analisys

2. Determine the activities: speech, reading journal, conducting board meeting

3. Make curriculum: vocabulary, structure, spoken discourse, rethorical pattern, and some future task

APPLICATION (Business students)

1. Students are put into groups

2. They decide which small business would like to start.

3. Students decide what need to do to start the business (how to find funding, where to locate, how to advertise, how to design and decorate)

4. Each group presents and the other can respond the business plan presented.

3. Example of ESP Teaching

Teaching Methods

• Teacher-centered

Lecture, explanation, task & presentation, demonstration,

• Learner-centered

Simulation, role-play, game, discovery learning, experiential learning, facilitation, tutorial, brainstorming, snowballing, case study and problem solving, group discussion, seminar, small group, ice-breaker

Tools of evaluation A few common EVALUATION TOOL include: • Written assignments: compositions, reports, narratives, etc.

• Skills checklists: Lists of skills in which the learners indicate the particular skills that they want to work on.

• Picture assessments: circle or point to pictures which show the areas of language on which they wish to work.

• Inventories of language use: learners write about the places and situations where they have trouble with using English.

• Questionnaires

• Sentence starters: students are provided with short prompts, which allow them to write sentences indicating the topics that they wish to work on.

• Interviews: These can be done teacher-student, student-student, or among the whole class as a group discussion.

• Informal Observations

REFERENCES

• Celca Murcia, M. 2001. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, United Stated: Thomson Learning

• Norland, Deborah L. 2006. A Kaleidoscope of Models and Strategies for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language. London: Teacher Idea Press