Teen Learners, Good Learners

By:Virginia Espino

Teaching teenagers is perhaps the most complex, interesting and challenging endeavor a teacher has to perform.
Teenagers seem to be the special age-group that some teachers would reject teaching, and others simply “love” to
teach.
We all know that the learner’s age is one of the key factors that influence our decision about what and how to
teach. A very common belief about age and language learning is that children are better language learners than any
other age-group, including adults, but this belief according to recent research, may be something of a myth.
It is a fact that children who learn a new language early will have better pronunciation than older learners, but
according to research-based evidence (Patsy Lightbown and Nina Spada, 2006: 67-74) older children (adolescents)
make more progress than younger learners.
In the same trend of thought, Gaas, Selinker (2001: 336) states that in
general, adult learners are much better at the initial learning stages of
language (due to their conscious meta-linguistic skills), but children
outperform them in the later stages of language acquisition (developing
native-like accent, obtaining vocabulary and identifying patterns).
It is not being suggested that young learners are not able to successfully
acquire a second language “but in learning situations, teenagers are
frequently more effective learners” (Harmer, 2008). It might seem out of
the ordinary that despite being more successful language learners,
adolescents are frequently perceived as “problem students”.

The Subjects

Adolescents seem to be the “in between” age-group because they are

not children and they are not adults either. According to Harmer, one of the features that distinguish adolescents from
younger learners “may have something to do with their increased cognitive abilities, which allow them to benefit from
more abstract approaches to language teaching”.(2008)

Similarities
Teenagers bring to the classroom and learning situation an exceptional combination of social, emotional and cognitive
factors. Perhaps we should get rid of our pre-conceptions and stop for a moment to analyze the reasons for teen
“apathy” and examine how teachers can modify and adapt their pedagogy to meet the needs of this special group.

Teenagers share general characteristics with any other language learner, we will name just a few:
 They respond to different forms of motivation
 They struggle with pronunciation and vocabulary
 They “receive” language and try to decode meaning

Differences
On the other hand, they also have their own special set of characteristics, we will just name some:
 They are ego-driven
 They have greater ability for abstract thought than younger learners (Harmer, 2008)
 They have a very flexible and still under development cognitive network
 Their brain is wired differently, images seem to be the “driving force” for learning and text only supports
(Prensky 2001).
 They are developing the need to take responsibility for their own learning (Anderson, 2008)

Pedagogy

In spite of all contradictions and research based evidence, our job as second
language teachers is to be able to provoke and engage teenage learners with material
and activities which are relevant to them, so they acquire the necessary
communication skills in a second or foreign language.
Here are some suggestions (Harmer, 2003)
 Choose appropriate course book
 Motivate your learners
 Give ownership
 Use internet
 Build good rapport
1. Choose appropriate course book

For many years methodologists have been debating about what is best: to use or not to use a book. Many of them are
“pro” using a book (O’Neill 1982); others are against their use (Allwright 1981). Sometimes teachers are free to use
the book of their preference but other times the book has been selected by others. Choosing a book is not an easy
task, here are some suggestions to take into account when choosing one:
 Make a list in terms of what the book should look like, what components should it have? (Student book,
workbook, video, etc.)
 Taking into consideration the characteristics of your students, think about how the book should treat grammar,
topics, etc.
 When you have your list, turn it into statements of “the perfect book”.
 Measure all the books you check against this list.

2. Motivate your learners

It was mentioned before that the teenager’s brain is wired differently, images seem to be the “driving force” for
learning and text only supports (Prensky 2001). Here are some useful suggestions to motivate the “digital Natives”:
 Incorporate more media and visual content to assist learning.
 Instructions need to provide rich content: Use a combination of text, speech, video/music to help teenagers
learn effectively.
 Provide a time frame for each activity
 Use games and fun activities

3. Give ownership
It was stated earlier that teenagers are developing the need to take responsibility for their own learning (Anderson,
2008). In other words: teenagers need to have more choice and begin to take responsibility and be the owner of their
individual learning, this will give them the sense of ownership. Harmer makes the following suggestions:
 Let them loose in any topic of the course book, ask them questions they “wonder about”
 Encourage them to write their own questions and figure out the grammar patterns.
 Have them develop their own grammar exercises
 Encourage them to react to the text

4. Use internet
Recent efforts in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research may shed light into how teenagers use their brain and
learn language. It is a fact that the majority of the students have keen internet skills but few others are not computer
gifted. As teachers we must differentiate our instruction in order to provide the opportunities for both groups to develop
or improve computer skills accordingly. Fortunately, there are more than enough internet resources available for
classroom use.

5. Build good rapport

Teenagers respond to “humanistic” learning environment because emotions seem to dominate their character. Waqui
(2000, p.3) suggests that a successful language teacher needs to be a good empathetic role model, in other words:
teachers have the responsibility of creating a good controlled environment that fosters learning.
The topic of motivation is very interesting and one can never say enough about it. This article highlighted some
important factors to take into consideration when working with teenagers but the true value of all this information
remains uncertain until caring teachers put it into practice with real teenage students.

Virginia Espino
Academic Consultant
Pearson México

References:

 Harmer, Jeremy, (2006).The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition, Essex, Pearson Longman.
 Duncan, Raymond, “Teenage Second Language Learning – Why are they different and why that matters”, August, 2010.
http://www.doxtop.com/browse/7b155600/teenage-second-language-learners.aspx
 Jeremy Harmer, “Teaching Teenagers”, ELT Forum, Sept. 2003. Retrieved August 01, 2008 from
http://www.eltforum.com/articles/free/transcripts/23.pdf

Retrieved from Internet in May, 2015 from: http://pearsonclassroomlink.com/articles/0411/0411_0202.htm