BLOG
OTHER ARTICLES
How is adult learning different?
A recent request from a potential client gave me the idea to write about this topic. The person wanted a semi-private English lesson for his wife and eight-year-old son. At first glance, his logic was good; get his son and his wife to study together. This would motivate both of them and they could practice with one another.
But the reality is somewhat different. As we will demonstrate here, language learning for adults and children is not one and the same.
Certainly, there are language schools that can offer this type of training; they offer courses for both children and adults. We recommended this potential client to another school.
But at Langage d'ici, we specialize in adult training exclusively and our teachers are recruited with this goal in mind.
But what are the differences between children and adult learning? And why is it important for you?
First of all, are we talking about andragogy here? Yes and no. This relatively recent discipline continues to develop and although certain concepts are taken from this approach. we use a combination of pedagogy and andragogy for our group lessons. Our private lessons are possibly closer to andragogy, but we still preserve certain aspects of pedagogy.
Motivation
An adult's motivation to learn is very different from that of a child. An adult will usually have intrinsic motivation. In our specific field, generally the learner wants to communicate better with his colleagues, customers, employees of other branches, and - in the case of a move - his environment. This dimension must be "directed" and "fed" by the trainer, but generally, he will not have to create it. For the child, motivation is usually extrinsic. Sometimes it will come from outside the classroom: usually, with social, school, and parental pressures. But also, it will be created by the teacher who will organize activities having various rewards (grades, rankings, honors, etc.). This dynamic is very different.
But, we sometimes see adults in need of extrinsic motivation. This is the case of adults who feel obliged to learn a language to access a career move or because they have moved to an area that speaks a language different from the language used in their field. This is sometimes the case for people in IT. They may have less motivation to learn French since the language used in computers is English. It is not always easy to be motivated to learn the language of Molière. They may seek the practical application. So, it is up to the teacher to point out the cultural benefits, put it all in context, and instill a love of the language.
For some children, there will be those who will find their passion. For them, the motivation will be intrinsic. These young people will have a strong interest in specific science, sport, music, theater at a young age, and will make the necessary sacrifices to become good at this activity. They will need orientation, not motivation. They may have seen parents or loved ones having success in an activity and they may even have felt a positive feedback loop themselves. For example, they may have experienced success quickly playing the piano, playing basketball, or grasping a set of mathematical problems. These are rare cases, but they do exist.
Attention span and stimulation
A child's attention span progresses rapidly to reach 16 to 24 minutes by the age of 8. This is similar to what seems to be recognized as the optimal time for an adult, although there does not seem to be a consensus. Some studies point to a duration of 10 minutes, others put the time around 50 min (see this article for a description of the different approaches and parameters that influence the attention of an adult). But what will greatly influence attention span is the type of activity. The child will tend to be more engaged when they are physically active while performing an activity. While the adult can maintain his attention while being more passive (reading, online courses, etc.). For both groups, the level of interest in the subject matter will be a key factor in keeping the attention. The quality of the trainers is also paramount. For optimal learning with children, splitting lessons into smaller activities or making a change will give better results. The same goes for adults, but this change can be less important: another slide, show a graph, ask questions, etc. So, when we talk about class dynamics regarding adults and children, we see differences emerge.
The immediate transfer
Adults will generally have an interest in seeing that what they learn has a direct impact on their immediate environment. If we talk about language courses, they want to see an improvement in communications with their colleagues, they want to understand the words they use, they want to participate in meetings, etc. This is one of the reasons why we do workplace-specific vocabulary and our conversational activities go in the same direction. Of course, some compromises have to be made even with groups of the same company, from the mining sector for example, because a company will have Human Resources, Finance, Operations, Marketing, etc. The "mining" language would be used only a few times. And the specific vocabulary of Human Resources is different from that of finance, but we try to include all these realities. For learners from another country, the vocabulary that will be important is that for getting by in everyday life. So, the "specific" dimension is determined according to the needs, priorities, and learning objectives of the participants.
For children, the cause-and-effect relationship is generally more distant. They can learn mathematics but only use it during lessons or tests, especially for more advanced mathematics. So, there may be a lapse between learning and application. However, a music lesson for a student practicing for the end-of-year concert will be of greater immediate interest. So, the psychology is similar, but the goals are different. For adults, we want to offer tools that allow them to perform better in their daily lives. For children, we want to give them basic knowledge so that they can function in today's world and explore their abilities.
Flexibility
Flexibility is possibly the most important pillar of our approach. While our educational grid determines all the objectives to be learned at each level, our teachers have the opportunity to adapt to the needs, challenges, and learning paces of the learners. They can vary the order of the objectives, can go forward and back and above all, they can design a personalized lesson plan. It is our strength.
For some adults, going beyond pedagogical rigor can be a source of confusion. Especially for professionals who have spent years studying more traditionally. To help with this 'loss of landmarks', we have certain techniques that we use.
For some children who have moved with their parents to settle in an area that speaks another language, the need exists. But generally, these children will learn the language at school, with peers, and in specialty classes. At this age, they are sponges and learn very quickly, and will rarely require private language schools. For others, a needs-based approach is unrealistic, because only rarely will they have special targeted needs. They speak with their parents, friends, and classmates in the appropriate language. Learning another language opens doors, but they do not see the point in the short term. The language training must therefore take into consideration this reality - and in this context, our approach may likely not be the most suitable.
There are of course other factors not put forward in this article, but in my opinion, we have touched on the important points.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate.