Adulthood and motivation: an approach to foreign language learning

Abstract

In this project I am going to present the different aspects we have to bear in mind whwn teaching a doreign language (in this case English). Thus, it is essential to know the different characteristics of our students as we should focus our teaching plan in a different way depending on their age and the teaching context. The purpose of this paper is to analyse students’ behaviour and reactions to finally determine that it is also posible for an adult to acquire a proficiency level of a foreign language. Results show the most convenient steps to follow when teaching adults. An example of those results is that teachers need to design specific daily lesson plans being flexible with the activities and giving motivating feedback to highlight lesson deficiencies. Materials for the present study include an example of three conscious raising activities for the students to fulfil and a survey and an interview in which the current teaching methodology is subjected to analysis and common discussion. Finally, the results of the study are discussed. Moreover, an evaluation of the study, pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are also given. This is a guided paper, that is, all the sections are linked and readers can select any headline by following the arrows in each section or by clicking directly in the titles inside the table of contents.