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.

Second Language Educational Experiences for Adult Learners provides an up-to-date review of the theory and practice of adult second language education. The primary objective is to introduce core ideas that should inform the design, development, and delivery of language learning experiences that take the typical forms of materials, courses, teaching, and assessment. Divided into three sections, the book first addresses what we know about adult second language acquisition and how individuals may acquire languages differently from each other. In the second section, key educational design elements—from pedagogical methods to curriculum to assessment—are then introduced from the perspective of research-based understandings about effective practices. Rounding out the volume is an overview of critical issues for language educational innovation, including supporting teachers, localizing materials and instruction, evaluating and improving education, and working with technology. Each chapter concludes with a set of recommended “design principles” that should guide readers toward high-quality, valuable, and empirically supported language educational experiences. This volume will be of interest to researchers and students investigating instructed language learning, designers creating useful language learning materials, and language teaching innovators seeking to improve outcomes in diverse instructional settings around the world.

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 University of Modern Languages Islamabad .For assessing adult learners proficiency in the class, questionnaires will be distributed among the participants. Classroom observation are also contributing factor in determining the learning process of adult learners so these tools will be used to find the role and behavior pattern of adult learners .Further it would help language teachers to understand that experience of adult learner is a living text book, and teachers can go through the language programme by cooperating with adult learners.

Adult language learners have specific learning goals that reflect their lives within a global society, and adults negotiate multiple and changing identities throughout their personal, academic, and professional lives. Chapters in Authenticity in the Language Classroom and Beyond: Adult Learners highlight how teachers have the ability to transform language instruction from a mechanical learning experience to a dynamic interaction to assist learners in reaching real-world goals. Rather than focus only on native-speaker norms of language production, English language instruction can provide adult learners with opportunities to create and act on their own texts, engage meaningfully with audiences, and develop interactions that mirror their purpose for learning. The chapters in this volume demonstrate how language teaching practices engage learners' inauthentic experiences, using and producing texts to meet international and localized communication needs. All the chapters in this volume demonstrate that authenticity is more than just the materials we use. Authenticity also means using language for real purposes. It means engaging students in collaborative learning, involving discussions, negotiations, and decision making. Authenticity is creating real uses for English, not just modeling native-speaker language and culture. With English increasingly being used as a lingua franca to connect second language speakers, authenticity takes on new meanings as we seek to develop learners who can face the challenge of communicating effectively in an increasingly globalized world.

How do you tailor education to the learning needs of adults? Do they learn differently from children? How does their life experience inform their learning processes? These were the questions at the heart of Malcolm Knowles’ pioneering theory of andragogy which transformed education theory in the 1970s. The resulting principles of a self-directed, experiential, problem-centred approach to learning have been hugely influential and are still the basis of the learning practices we use today. Understanding these principles is the cornerstone of increasing motivation and enabling adult learners to achieve. The 9th edition of The Adult Learner has been revised to include: Updates to the book to reflect the very latest advancements in the field. The addition of two new chapters on diversity and inclusion in adult learning, and andragogy and the online adult learner. An updated supporting website. This website for the 9th edition of The Adult Learner will provide basic instructor aids including a PowerPoint presentation for each chapter. Revisions throughout to make it more readable and relevant to your practices. If you are a researcher, practitioner, or student in education, an adult learning practitioner, training manager, or involved in human resource development, this is the definitive book in adult learning you should not be without.

This Handbook, with 45 chapters written by the world’s leading scholars in second language acquisition (SLA) and language testing, dives into the important interface between SLA and language testing: shared ground where researchers seek to measure second language performance to better understand how people learn their second languages. The Handbook also reviews how to best measure and evaluate the second language (L2) learners’ personal characteristics, backgrounds, and learning contexts to better understand their L2 learning trajectories. Taking a transdisciplinary approach to research, the book builds upon recent theorizing and measurement principles from the fields of applied linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, psycholinguistics, psychometrics, educational measurement, and social psychology. The Handbook is divided into six key sections: (1) Assessment concepts for SLA researchers, (2) Building instruments for SLA research, (3) Measuring individual differences, (4) Measuring language development, (5) Testing specific populations, and (6) Measurement principles for SLA researchers.

This book brings together the voices of teacher educators working in different national and educational settings. It Covers themes such as change in teacher education practices, the influences of context on practice, and of interculturality, to provide rich insights into the processes and effects of second language teacher education.