CHALLENGES OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO ADULTS
CHALLENGES OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO ADULTS
Nurbolat Ulshat
student, Astana International University,
Kazakhstan, Astana
Aizhan Kapanova
Master of Foreign Languages, Astana International University
Kazakhstan, Astana
ABSTRACT
This research paper analyzes the problems of teaching English to adults. To answer this question I created online-survey with the familiar questions about teaching English. Results showed that speaking is the best way to learn English for adults, which means they should speak most of the time in English. Also, the results revealed that learning English individually gives more high results than learning in group, for adults. The implications of this study could be used to make teaching English to adults.
Introduction:
English is one of the most commonly used languages in business. Indeed, the worldwide business sector frequently uses it for communication and transaction, particularly among those who do not share the same native language. Knowing other languages is essential in today's world. Adults, like children and adolescents, want to learn new things. Today, teaching adults foreign languages requires more time and responsibility, and the teacher bears a great deal of responsibility. The aim of this research is done to identify the problems of teaching English to adults and make it better. This research is done to identify the problems of teaching English to adults and to analyze the sources of information, also to find suitable teaching methods
Theories:
As Matsko, claimed in his article “Teaching English grammar to correspondence students of non-linguistic specialties”, based on his experience of teaching English to students from non-linguistic specialties, he can divide the difficulties students face with English language instruction into two categories: Objective problems and Subjective problems. Furthermore, he claims that objective difficulties include: a) a limited amount of time allotted in the classroom for foreign language instruction; b) the lack of an aspect-based method for learning English. The following are Subjective concerns: a) psychological barriers such as "status," or the fear of making a mistake, and "previous negative experience," which refers to the majority of part-time students' negative experiences with English learning; b) individual student characteristics (such as the type of memory, leading channel of information perception, etc.)
According to Svetlana E. Kaplina’s article “Innovative Methods in Teaching English to Adults”, teaching adults can be a very beneficial and awesome experience. The best approaches for teaching English to adults should focus primarily on adult characteristics. In other words, adults' own modes of thought, memory capacity, imitative ability, strengths and weaknesses, and so on are fully developed. Teaching adults English in today's world requires the use of cutting-edge technologies and methods. In the context of education, innovation is defined as the result of introduced innovation, manifesting itself in the form of novel educational content, approaches, and organizational structures, advanced technical training tools used in practice, or a novel approach to educational social services. Among the benefits of cutting-edge teaching methods and technologies today are the establishments of interpersonal interaction through external dialogue in the process of assimilation of educational material, as well as the application of the principle of continuity in knowledge transfer, the formation of competencies, personal qualities, and meta-professional ones.
As Vakhrusheva Daria Aleksandrovna mentioned in her article “Issues of teaching English language to adults”, it's crucial to consider the psychological traits of the students, their previous knowledge of both linguistic and nonlinguistic topics, and their goals, which are to achieve a particular outcome, when teaching adults the English language. Therefore, carefully chosen tasks that will help adults visualize how and under what circumstances the learned knowledge can be applied in practice should be made, sometimes even during the lesson.
Muzaffarovna, Y. G. announced in her article “Challenges in Teaching English as a Second Language to Adults, Multilingual Settings and Teaching Methods” English vocabulary is particularly challenging since many terms have many meanings that might be confusing. After all, remembering various definitions for each word is difficult. To determine which definition of an obscure word is acceptable in this context, consider the surrounding words and phrases. Contextual hints will help you grasp a tough term even if you don't know what it means! Also, the teacher's activities include the conventional but critical components of creating the grammatical basis of pronunciation and removing psychological and linguistic obstacles that impede communication.
Methodology
A total of 60 interviewees responded to this survey. The respondents were divided into two halves so that 49 were female and the remaining 9 were male, and other 2 participants preferred not to tell their gender. For each gender, the number of respondents enrolled in students were 78,3 percent of the total number of respondents. The number of respondents enrolled in parents were 11,7 percent of the total number of respondents. The other 10 percent were teachers.
Results
The results of this survey show that almost everyone is interested in learning English. In particular, more than half of participants are learning English (70%). Moreover, to the question “What problems did you have while learning English?” 16% of participants answered that they had problems with speaking and listening. Also, there were answers: problems with grammar, misunderstanding and lack of time, laziness, and not good teacher. Since learning English is one of the serious topics today, based on the results of the survey, we should pay more attention to the teachers and their methods of teaching, and to the education of the whole generation.
More than half of participants responded to the question: “In your opinion, what age is more suitable to learn English?”, that older than 10 years is the most convenient age to learn English. Also according to the answers, the oldest age to learn English is 70. In addition, 87,9% of participants responded that learning English is easier for children and the other 12,1% do not agree with that.
Almost half of participants (42,1%) are convinced that speaking is the best way for adults to learn English, second place belongs to the listening methods (24,6%). Based on the results of the survey, every method is good to learn English, of course it depends on how the teacher teaches and can the teacher attract and motivate the student. Also, more than half of participants (61,4%) are convinced that it is necessary to teach adults with activities (like games, etc), and other 38,6% do not agree with that.
In addition, more than half of participants agree that to adults, learning English individually give more effective results (73,7%), and the other 26,3% do not agree with that. However, for adults it’s more convenient to learn English individually, since adults are not good at working in groups. Also, almost all participants (89,5%) are convinced that talking to native speakers helps to learn English faster, and the other 10,5% do not agree with that. Based on the results of the survey, talking to a native speaker gives more effective results, and makes feel more bravely and not to be afraid of speaking in English in public.
Limitations:
The selection of discussion questions was one of the survey's challenges. I wanted to address each of the numerous issues associated with the topic. Also some respondents were either too young or too old, some of the questions were quite challenging and unclear to them. Also the survey was conducted in Kazakh and English, some Russian-speaking respondents were unable to precisely respond. As a result, sixty people responded to the survey. When the percentage ratio for each person is less than one percent, it would be more reliable. Additionally, some respondents were too busy to complete the survey.
Recommendations:
The survey results show that despite their age, everyone has problems while learning English, and most of the problems are related to teachers and methods of teaching. Also there were problems related to speaking and listening skills and grammar. In order to improve the quality of teaching English to all, we should pay more attention to teaching methods and the ways of how teachers teach. Also, according to the results of the survey, everyone from 10 to 70 is capable to learn English, the important thing is you need great motivation and a good mentor. Also, as the results show, problems that may adults face while learning English is-lack of time, problems with memory and misunderstanding. What’s more important is to avoid these problems you should plan everything well. The survey results show that, according to almost half (42.1%) of respondents, speaking is the best way to learn English and it is good finding. Furthermore, practice makes perfect. Also, more than half of participants (61,4%) are convinced that it is necessary to teach adults with activities (like games, etc), but it may give no best results, because adults are no children and they will be bored. In addition, more than half of participants agree that to adults, learning English individually give more effective results (73,7%), and the other 26,3% do not agree with that. However, for adults it’s more convenient to learn English individually, since adults are not good at working in groups.
Conclusion:
English is the most commonly spoken language in the world. One out of five people can speak or at least understand English! This study was aimed to find and analyze the problems of teaching English to adults, with the help of opinions of people like parents, teachers and students. He also tried to gather information about their opinions and experiences regarded to learning English. These goals were generally achieved, and recommendations were made on how to help to teach English to adults. Moreover, participants believe that learning English is a very important topic to pay attention, so they want to improve quality of teaching English to all. At the same time, most participants convinced that learning English to adults would be a bit complicated and they should pay more attention and plan everything well.
References:
- Matsko D.S. (2022). Features of teaching English grammar to part-time students of non-linguistic specialties.
- Kaplina S.E. (2015). Innovative methods in teaching English to adults.
- Vakhrusheva D.A. (2020). Problems of teaching English for adults. Society: Sociology, Psychology, Pedagogy, (11), 142-145.
- Muzaffarovna Y.G. (2022). Challenges in Teaching English as a Second Language to Adults, Multilingual Settings and Teaching Methods. Eurasian Journal of Learning and Academic Teaching, 12, 17-22.