TEACHING ADULT LANGUAGE LEARNERS-Enhancing Personal Methodologies 2

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.
net/publication/355203284
Teaching Adult Learner Groups and Principles of Foreign Language Education

Design
Chapter · October 2021
CITATIONS READS
0 180
1 author:
Ervin Kovacevic
International University of Sarajevo
21 PUBLICATIONS 22 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
Learner corpus View project
All content following this page was uploaded by Ervin Kovacevic on 14 October 2021.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Published by:
International University of Sarajevo
Hrasnička cesta 15
71210 Ilidža, Sarajevo
Bosnia and Herezegovina
Edition:
University Textbook
Editor in Chief:
Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yıldırım
Reviewers:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Radmila Bodrič
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tatjana Glušac
Cover Design by:

Kenan Zekić
Interior Design by:

Emir Hambo
www.ius.edu.ba
Copyright © 2021 by International University of Sarajevo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means without permission in writing from the publisher.
CIP - Katalogizacija u publikaciji

Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka
Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo
81’243:37.02-053.8(075.8)
KOVAČEVIĆ, Ervin
Teaching adult language learners : enhancing personal methodologies / Ervin
Kovačević. - Sarajevo : International University of Sarajevo, 2021. - 211 str. : graf. prikazi ; 25 cm
Bibliografija: str. 196-211.
ISBN 978-9958-896-52-1
COBISS.BH-ID 43997446
Ervin Kovačević
Enhancing Personal Methodologies
Sarajevo, 2021
CONTENTS
PREFACE..............................................................................................iv
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1
Seven Dominant Perspectives on the Learning Process.................................5
Behaviorist Perspectives.........................................................................................8
Cognitivist Perspectives........................................................................................11
Constructivist Perspectives..................................................................................22
Social Constructivist Perspectives.....................................................................26
Humanistic Perspectives......................................................................................30
Experientialist Perspectives..................................................................................35
Neuronalist Perspectives......................................................................................40
Epilogue to Chapter One.......................................................................................43
Questions for Reflections and Discussions......................................................45
CHAPTER 2
Six Theoretical Models of Adult Learning..........................................................47
Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory.....................................................51
Jarvis’ Learning Process.......................................................................................53
Cross’ CAL (Characteristics of Adults as Learners) Model...........................55
McClusky’s Theory of Margin..............................................................................56
Knox’s Proficiency Theory.....................................................................................58
Knowles’ Andragogical Model..............................................................................59
Epilogue to Chapter Two.......................................................................................62
CHAPTER 3
The Adult Across the Stages of Adulthood.......................................................65
The Stages of Adulthood......................................................................................68
Young Adulthood....................................................................................................69
Midlife.......................................................................................................................70
Late life/Old age.....................................................................................................72
Epilogue to Chapter Three....................................................................................75
i
CHAPTER 4
Adult Learners’ Physiological and Psychosocial Characteristics................79
Physiological Variables.........................................................................................81
Psychosocial Variables.........................................................................................86
Epilogue to Chapter Four....................................................................................102
Questions for Reflection and Discussion........................................................103
CHAPTER 5
Personal Philosophies, Styles, and Perspectives in Adult Education........105
Personal Philosophies in Adult Education......................................................109
Teaching Styles in Adult Education..................................................................116
Personal Perspectives in Adult Education......................................................120
Epilogue to Chapter Five....................................................................................126
Questions for Reflections and Discussions...................................................127
CHAPTER 6
Teaching Adult Learner Groups and Principles of Foreign
Language Education Design..............................................................................129
Teaching Adult Learner Groups.........................................................................132
Classical EFL Models as Sources of Teaching Principles...........................144
Recent Studies of Adult Language Learning and Teaching
Patterns as Sources of FLE Principles.............................................................155
The Teaching Climate, 21st Century Classroom, and
Foreign Language Instruction...........................................................................159
Epilogue to Chapter Six......................................................................................165
Questions for Reflections and Discussions....................................................167
CHAPTER 7
Developing a Personal Model for Teaching Adults
a Foreign Language.............................................................................................169
Building Teaching Repertoires..........................................................................171
The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth......................................171
The Multi-Dynamic Model of Teacher Training and Development............173
Epilogue to Chapter Seven.................................................................................192
Questions for Reflections and Discussions....................................................193
SOME FINAL REMARKS......................................................................194

REFERENCES.....................................................................................196
ii
iii
CHAPTER 6
Teaching Adult Learner Groups and

Principles of Foreign Language
Education Design
If teaching an adult learner is as challenging as it has been concluded,

then teaching adult learner groups effectively is a truly demanding task.
The first half of this chapter analyzes issues in the management of adult
learner groups. It presents why and how educators can enhance adult
groups’ learning potential, the quality of their learning environment,
and the continuity of their learning pursuit. The analysis also shows
how educators can compromise learning processes, especially in
non-compulsory programs. The field of foreign language education
abounds in teaching solutions. Partly overwhelmed with options, foreign
language educators have to choose wisely. The second half of this
chapter suggests a few guidelines for making such choices. It is argued
that personal eclecticism has to be informed. It can rely on both classic
and innovative techniques, but it has to grow and evolve in a parallel
manner with social and technological progress. While the dynamics of
professional development is extensively reviewed in Chapter Seven, this
chapter is meant to encourage foreign language teachers to develop
their own adult learner-friendly models.
This chapter explores the following questions:
1. What are the potential benefits and risks of learning in an adult group?
2. Which teacher roles does the literature on teaching adults propose?
3. Which teacher roles do traditional classifications of approaches and
methods of foreign language instruction view as legitimate and effective?
4. What do recent findings about teaching adults foreign languages imply?
5. What are the minimum conditions in the traditional foreign language
learning classroom?
6. How is the 21st century classroom envisioned?
TEACHING ADULT LANGUAGE LEARNERS: Enhancing Personal Methodologies
The lexical entry for the verb to teach in Oxford (2000, p. 673) encompasses
the three following definitions:
1. To give somebody lessons or instructions so that he/she knows how

to do something: My mother taught me to play the piano. Jeremy is
teaching us how to use the computer. He teaches English to foreign
students. I teach in a primary school.
2. To make somebody believe something or behave in a certain way:
The story teaches us that history often repeats itself. My parents
taught me always to tell the truth.
3. To make somebody have a bad experience so that he/she is careful
not to do the thing that caused it again: A week in prison? That’ll
teach him to drink and drive.
Apparently, there are at least three underlying factors in the verb to teach:
a) somebody or something that teaches; b) somebody who is taught; c)
and something that is taught. Heimlich and Norland (2002, p. 17) draw
attention to two other factors in the system of teaching-learning exchange:
In any educational event, several elements are constant: there is an educator

who conveys or facilitates the content to each learner and the group of learners
within a situation that is both physical and the affective reaction to the physical
environment. These five elements—teacher, learner, group, content, and
environment—comprise a model of the teaching-learning exchange. All elements
are present in every teaching-learning event or exchange, but the relationships
and the importance of each component vary.
Teaching adults a foreign language in a formal setting requires that the

instructor at least analyzes the dynamics of each of the five elements in
the system of teaching-learning exchange and defines the relationships
between them. The following segments of this chapter present a useful
lens for contemplating on the elements which have not been addressed in
this textbook so far. As the notion of the adult learner has been extensively
analyzed in Chapters Three and Four, the elements of the teaching-learning
exchange which need to be discussed here are the following:
1. Teaching Adult Learning Groups

2. Roles of Adult Educators
3. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teaching Approaches and
131
Ervin Kovačević
Methods as Sources of Adult Learner-Friendly Principles

4. Studies of Adult Language Learning and Teaching Patterns as
Sources of Foreign Language Education (FLE) Principles
5. Designing Effective EFL Teaching Environments
Teaching Adult Learner Groups

A number of adult learner characteristics have been explored and defined
in Chapters Two, Three, and Four. The importance of individual experiences
and abilities has been emphasized on a large number of occasions.
However, many adult learners are taught in a class or other group forms.
While describing the dynamics of adult learning groups, Rogers (1996, pp.
141-146) starts with justifying the reasons of why a group should not be
perceived just as a collection of individuals. According to Rogers (1996)
the main two components which form a group are common identity and
interaction. Common identity can be understood as a common purpose
of the members of the group, such as learning a foreign language, and
interaction between them “allows for the development of shared attitudes
and feelings, some emotional involvement, [and] a minimum set of agreed
values or standards” (p. 143). Although groups are of an unpredictable nature,
and although they grow and develop, Rogers (1996, p. 146) suggests that
the number of group members should be kept between 10 and 25. While
larger groups could hinder the interaction, the smaller groups’ continuity in
terms of the growth of coherence and performance could be questioned by
its members’ absence or sickness.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Learning in Groups
Rogers (1996, pp. 148-150; see also Rogers & Horrocks, 2010, pp. 196-198)
provides a useful list of advantages and disadvantages of group experience
for learning outcomes. The four agents he recognizes both as potential
promoters and obstacles in the process of group learning experience are
environment, challenge, complex structures, and dynamic.
Some of the advantages of group learning (Rogers 1996; Rogers & Horrocks,
2010) are the following:
132
a. The group provides a supportive environment by means of

collective encouragement, facilitation of endorsement of one’s
worth, acknowledgement of one’s potential, and recognition one’s
role within a group. Also, the members of the group tend to be
empathetic about each other. They encourage fellow members
to experiment. They evaluate and reinforce independent of the
instructor. Therefore, the group gives confidence.
b. Taking part in a group experience provides a challenge to the learner.

The new experiences of joining the group or accepting the new
members to the group calls for novelty in relationships among the
members. Consequently, group effects generate opportunities for
new learning forms and widening horizons through new experiences,
views, and prejudices. As an individual learner resolves the faced
challenges, there is an opportunity for the accumulation of others’
perspectives.
c. Complex structures that are built by merging the variety of group

members’ experiences offer a spectrum of possible solutions to
learning problems and provide other perspective(s) beside the
teacher’s one. The perspectives which every individual holds can
blend into newly emerging perspectives which are shared and
acquired within the group. In other words, resources are expanded
by means of group learning experience.
d. The group’s dynamic is the one that sets the pace of the process
and helps the instructor in meeting instructional objectives. It may
provide motivation and a momentum by means of joint goals. It may
require a sense of group loyalty which may inspire learning efforts.
Some of the disadvantages of group learning (Rogers 1996; Rogers &

Horrocks, 2010) are as follows:
a. Learning environment may put too much pressure on the individual

to conform to its dominant views. While the views which are shared
by some members may be challenged and strengthened, they may
clash with the views of the majority. The role or the status offered by
the group may limit the individual and her or his way of expressing
133
Ervin Kovačević
personally endorsed views and conclusions. The group may also

create a sense of dependency in a learner whose learning process
may stop when the group experience is over.
b. Challenge can appear itself by means of a threat which more

individualistic learners may sense in the closeness of the group.
The perceived threat may be so strong that less confident learners
give up experimenting in the context of new learning activities.
c. Complex structures which are produced by the collective efforts

and through the prism of varying individual types and levels of
knowledge may confuse the learners who lack in quality and quantity
of similar knowledge. Directions suggested by the group may not
be clearly perceived by those who lack the necessary foundations
for comprehension. Such learners may rather prefer the instructor’s
perspectives.
d. The Dynamic of the group may not be the one that the individual
learner would find most appropriate for personal learning capacities
and pace. For example, the group progress may be too fast or
too slow compared to personal preferences. The opposite is also
probable; a group may not tolerate unusually fast or slow learners.
What should an educator do with the advantages and disadvantages

presented above? An easy way out is that the educator reflects on these
advantages and disadvantages and figures out how to benefit from this
knowledge about adult learning groups. A perhaps more useful answer has
been formulated in a brief summary (see Highlight 31).
134
Highlight 31
Utilizing knowledge about adult learning groups in educational settings
1. Instructors can share the task of introducing new knowledge with learners
by utilizing the groups’ collective efforts as a resource.
2. Instructors need to help new or less confident group members to rely on
the group’s support.
3. New learning objectives may emerge within group interactions. Instructors
need to allocate teaching resources for meeting these learning objectives.
4. Instructors need to monitor how individuals cope within group interactions
and create opportunities for strengthening the group’s cohesiveness.
5. Unusually slow or fast learners need a greater degree of the instructor’s
commitment if the group’s joint goals are to be met. In such circumstances,
instructors need to act as personal assistants and partners in learning.
Building and Maintaining Group Cohesiveness
Burden (1995, p. 232) advises teachers to “build and maintain group

cohesiveness” defining group cohesiveness as “the extent to which the
group has a sense of identity and oneness”. The author suggests nine
ways of doing it:
1. Encourage a sense of togetherness;

2. Identify the purpose of class activities;
3. Highlight group achievements;
4. Provide public recognition;
5. Stress the satisfaction the group offers;
6. Increase the person’s prestige within the group;
7. Engage students in cooperative activities;
8. Increase the frequency of interaction;
9. Provide activities that help create cohesive groups.
The rest of the implications for the teachers may be derived from the part of
Reid’s (1969) work Groups Alive – Church Alive: The Effective Use of Small
Groups in the Local Church (as cited in Rogers, 1996, pp. 155-156) under
the title Note: Killing the group. For the sake of the originality and humor
135
Ervin Kovačević
some of the tips are presented here in their ironic but shortened form, and
the reader is advised to read them wisely.
Highlight 32
The Fine Art of Squelching Small Groups by Reid (1969; as cited in Rogers, 1996,
pp. 155-156)
1. Keep the small group too large for the members to really get to know
each other.
2. Complain at every meeting about how few people have turned out.
3. Arrange the seats in formal rows like a classroom.
4. Include a long business meeting with each group session and bore
everyone to tears.
5. Dominate the group from the beginning.
6. If possible, establish yourself as the teacher of the group and deliver a
learned lecture at each meeting.
7. Pay no attention to the needs and interests of the group members.
8. Answer all questions yourself.
9. Don’t permit the fiction to arise that group members should take turns
leading the discussion.
10. Never allow group members to share anything personal.
11. By all means, don’t encourage members of the group to express themselves.
12. Keep the discussion on a theoretical plane, preferably in the realm of
theology and philosophy.
13. Allow one or two persons to dominate the discussion.
14. Don’t urge the silent members of the group to speak up.
15. By all means don’t let the group members express any hostility towards
each other.
Reid’s ironic advises (see Highlight 32) can be read simply as what an
educator interested in continuity, cohesiveness, and well-being of an
adult learner group should avoid doing. Taken together with advices on
how group dynamics could be facilitated (e.g. Burden 1995), an adult
educator has significant potential to improve or undermine group learning
experiences which can foster or hinder individual learning progress within
the group. It is up to the wit, training, experiences, and commitment of the
136
adult instructor to make the most and the best out of the group of learners.
Any deliberate avoidance of such a responsibility puts both collective and
individual learning results at risk.
The Roles of Teachers of Adult Groups
Rogers and Horrocks (2010, p. 220; Rogers, 1996) view a teacher of adults
in at least four different roles:
1. As an acknowledged leader of the group;

2. As a teacher;
3. As a member of the group;
4. And as an audience.
It may be argued that the role of group leader is automatically assigned to

teachers because of their formal authority and superior level of expertise in
subject, content, or skill. Assuming that the premise is true, adult educators
may enhance, compromise, or fail to exercise their acknowledged
leadership traits during the teaching process. In order to be perceived
and acknowledged as a group leader, the educator is advised to act in the
domains of tasks, interaction, and maintenance (Rogers and Horrocks,
2010, pp. 220-222). The following are a few of the recommendations:
a. [keep] the worthwhileness of the whole enterprise constantly before the group;
b. [evaluate] with the group, as the learning process goes on, what progress
towards achieving the goals has been made and is being made;
c. [seek] to assert that all the individual members of the group count;
d. [act] as arbiter if necessary so as to ensure that monopolies or persecutions
do not arise;
e. [assist] the group to identify the resources available to them and the
constraints under which they operate.
137
Ervin Kovačević
Personal Note 16
Socializing with the class
When I started working as a language instructor in non-compulsory adult
education settings in Istanbul, my students would often invite me to join
them for their after class activities. Whenever I accepted their invitation, I
somehow felt uncomfortable. I was not really sure whether I was violating
any of the professional principles associated with the teacher-student
relationship. I did not want to lose my job and compromise my authority.
And worst of all, I was not really sure what roles I had to exercise when
conversing in coffee shops and restaurants. If I just had read some of
Roger’s publications, I would probably have felt very comfortable in
exercising my acknowledged authority for the purposes of maintaining
and enhancing the well-being of each of my students and their ongoing
collective learning experiences. I would have had a self-assuring argument
not to turn down their kind invitations. If anyone of them is reading these
lines, I would like to use this opportunity to apologize for my stretched
attempts of preserving my self-indulged mysticism.
In the role of a teacher, Rogers (1996, p. 163) sees the teacher operating
in two different ways; as a manager of the learning process and as an
instructor. As a manager of the learning process, the teacher is expected
to plan, organize, lead, and control (see Rogers & Horrocks, 2010, pp. 222-
223). These responsibilities may imply that the instructor has to embrace
the traditional framework of education. However, the ways in which
teachers plan, organize, lead, and control may display varying degrees of
traditional or progressive philosophies. The question of how educators
can enact their roles of as instructors can be analyzed across at least
three continua (see Figure 11).
Figure 11
Three continua of approaches to teaching (Adopted from Rogers & Horrocks, 2010, p. 224)
It also appears that teachers’ characteristics such as egocentric, friendly,

dull, imaginative, evasive or responsible may well describe the modes through
which instructors can choose how to exercises their roles of the learning process
managers and instructors (Rogers, 1996, p. 164).
138
Highlight 33
Results of a study on university students’ preferences of teachers’ characteristics
(Kovačević, 2013):
Survey Results (n=164)
The effective teacher Participants’ The effective teacher Participants’

is + descriptor Agreement in % is + descriptor Agreement in %
Descriptors of Descriptors of
Intellectual Behavior Interpersonal Rapport
Enthusiastic 96.34 Concerned 95.12
Knowledgeable 96.34 Caring 94.51
Inspiring 95.73 Available 96.95
Humorous 95.12 Friendly 96.34
Interesting 93.90 Accessible 96.34
Clear 93.90 Approachable 96.34
Organized 94.51 Interested 96.34
Creative 95.12 Respectful 98.17
Exciting 92.07 Understanding 97.56
Engaging 94.51 Attractive 82.35
Prepared 97.56 Helpful 98.78
Energetic 93.29 Encouraging 95.73
Fun 94.51 Challenging 93.90
Stimulating 93.90 Fair 96.95
Eloquent 95.12 Demanding 93.90
Communicative 95.12 Patient 95.12
Motivating 96.34
The highlighted results (Kovačević, 2013, p. 65) show a very high level
of agreement with 33 characteristics associated with effective college
teachers (Lowman, 1994; Grasha, 2002). Instructors who do not reveal
traits or behaviors which reflect the above characteristics are not
perceived as effective instructors by college students. It can be assumed
that idiosyncratic sets of personal characteristics reveal highly unique
139
Ervin Kovačević
combinations of varying levels of features that can be summarized as

not at all + adjective, somehow + adjective, and very + adjective. Although
this may sound oversimplified, the adult educator’s dilemmas about their
own personal characteristics can be partly resolved by self-reflections,
counseling, and professional development opportunities.
Personal Note 17
Classroom times and personality in-action
I noticed at different times of my teaching career that many of my adult
students (definitely not all of them) were positively affected by some of
my personality features. For example, I like to bring humor to my teaching
activities. Even when my jokes do not work, the teaching atmosphere
seems to be elevated. There were times when I struggled with my energy
levels, commitment to my humor goals, and dedication to our instructional
objectives. During those periods the classroom routine would always go
down a few notches in terms of the levels of my students’ enthusiasm. I
wonder whether we should anticipate and be fine with teachers’ occasional
less enthusiastic performances. As long as there is an active dosage
of self-criticism, it may be expected that the teacher will strive towards
subsequent recuperation.
The teacher as a group member can plan break times between lessons to
promote autonomous learning or reinforce the learning done in class. Figure
12 shows how a break used for reinforcing activities may be followed with
an evaluation of the activities in the following lesson. Figure 13 shows how
a task introduced during class time may be followed with active learning
during breaks. In both cases the instructor is expected to be at full service
to the group. However, it needs to be emphasized that the break-time used
in both ways cannot easily stimulate the learner’s independence in the
learning process if the teacher is always at hand. So, the teacher should
be aware that autonomous learning needs to be promoted and ensure that
continued learning occurs outside of the educational setting.
140
Figure 12
Break-time used for reinforcing the learning done in class (Rogers & Horrocks, 2010, p. 229)
Figure 13
Break-time used for learning (Rogers & Horrocks, 2010, p. 229)
The proposed models can also alternate during lessons in which periodic
breaks are deliberately used for reenergizing and transitioning to new
activities. To illustrate, an in-class break time can be a whole-class learning
time for activities such as sharing subject-relevant examples, discussing,
answering questions, and telling anecdotes or personal experiences. Such
planned breaks can be used for evaluating learning progress, building group
cohesiveness, and allowing the teacher to develop stronger relationships
with the students by sharing some aspects of their personal life, asking
personal questions, or seeking or giving advice. These have been identified
as the three techniques which can build relationships (Kaplan, 2013). On
141
Ervin Kovačević
the other hand, such breaks may serve for wrap- or warm-up purposes. If
the teacher is trying to facilitate the storing of new information or activate
a synaptic network (see Cognitivist and Neuronalist Perspectives, Chapter
One), it may be wise to slow down and consciously let the learner’s cognitive
processes benefit from a transitional activity.
When the teacher allows students to demonstrate what they have learned,
the teacher takes on the role of audience (Rogers & Horrocks, 2010, p. 230).
The role of audience requires that the teacher reacts to the demonstrations
with feedback. The feedback may or may be based on predetermined
norms. Yet it has a powerful role in encouraging or discouraging students’
displayed forms of targeted or acquired levels of skills or knowledge as the
teacher is the one who evaluates the students’ learning efforts by certain
criteria. The feedback forms may be based on the types of performed tasks
or other demands based on subjects or skills. Unfortunately, the teacher
may be influenced by various biases when assessing the results of learning
(Rogers, 1996, p. 170).
It is very important that the teacher does not discriminate learners

and their efforts during formative and summative evaluations. The
preferences resulting from personal educational philosophies and resting
on acknowledged theoretical or practical arguments may come across
as subjective. For example, if a teacher insists that some rule, principle,
or aspect of a skill or knowledge is mastered, but her or his student does
not perceive that particular unit as relevant, the teacher’s persistence may
appear as subjective behavior. In this particular example, the teacher may
be pursuing a humanistic, radical, traditional, or developmental goal (see
Chapter Five), which is backed up by an educational canon. So there is a
form of bias, but it is based on an educational or professional requirement.
Needless to say, a bias towards gender, age, race, or personal image is the
kind of bias adult educator must avoid.
142
Highlight 34
The fifteen roles adult educators need to embrace
This review of the relationship between instructors and their adult groups of
learners, disregarding subject, content or skill taught, implies that an adult educator
has to embrace the fifteen following roles at least:
1. Learning partner
2. Group facilitator
3. Impromptu planner
4. Helper
5. Personal assistant in learning
6. Group leader
7. Group member
8. Instructor
9. Audience
10. Arbiter
11. Feedback provider
12. Manager
13. Designer
14. Learning coordinator
15. Motivator
The discussed and proposed teacher roles stem from a perspective

on learning and teaching which requires recognition of adult learners’
accumulated experiences, available knowledge, and their physical,
psychological, and social capacities and needs. This perspective is
considered to be advantageous over the perspectives which disregard
individual adult characteristics (see Chapters One and Two). Embracing a
learner-centered position requires that the teacher learns to switch roles
between a person in charge and member of the learning process. The
following segment presents the potential of partly demoted methodological
solutions in the field of foreign language education.
143
Ervin Kovačević
Classical EFL Models as Sources of Teaching Principles
The English language teaching market is gigantic and keeps expanding.

Technavio, a market research company, predicts that Global Digital English
Language Learning as an industry will increase by almost 15 billion US
dollars until 2024 (Businesswire, 2020). English is the unofficial language of
the internet, global business, finance, technology, diplomacy, aviation, and
many other international domains. It can be argued that the global need
for effective English as a Foreign/Second Language (EFL/ESL) teaching
practice is self-evident.
The global market is highly competitive in promoting EFL learning and

teaching materials, tools, ways, and opportunities (Tomlinson, 2008). In
order to be able to make the right choices and keep up with rapid changes,
contemporary EFL teachers need to exercise a decision-making approach
which cannot be fully predetermined. They have been reported to have to
plan while involved in teaching action and utilize eclectic, i.e. synthesized
personal efforts, to cope with contextual factors (Tomlinson & Masuhara,
2008, p. 162).
The triumph of eclectic practices in foreign language education (FLE) may

be linked to the end of the method era. When the method era ended exactly
is hard to answer. Some arguments presented in FLE literature suggest
that there never was one. Method seems to be a construct which has been
defined, analyzed, and rather inconsistently presented by leading (and
emerging) scholars/authors in the field. What teachers did in the classroom
may be speculated to have always been a practice that more or less
generally deviated from a conformed or aspired method (Kumaravadivelu,
2006, p. 84). Kumaravadivelu (2006) refers to experts’ conceptualizations
about teaching practices with the word method and refers to what teachers
do in the classroom with the word methodology.
Personal Note 18
My impressions about Kumaravadivelu’s classification labels
Kumaravadivelu’s work appeared very fresh and as something that I
needed at the beginning of my PhD journey. His ideas explicitly encourage
young scholars, who are interested in experience-based, bottom-up, and
autonomous theorizing, to trust their own reflections about teaching.
They are encouraged to dare to make sense of their personally developed
144
principles as these principles can be considered fully legitimate guidelines

in educational practices. However, I have found Kumaravadivelu’s category
labels, which have been proposed in three of his classifications of pathways
for evaluating and discovering such principles, very confusing.
For example, the classification of methods (Kumaravadivelu, 2006) has

the three following categories: language-centered, learner-centered, and
learning-centered. Although his explanations have a strong argumentative
framework, the three labels on their own do not communicate an aspect
of categorical novelty. To make it worse, two of their names share the root
learn and make one think of the two following questions: Don’t learners
learn languages? How can the three Ls (i.e. learner, learning, and language)
evade each other in a description of method or set of teaching principles?
A similar example can be found in his categorization of the operating

principles which can lead foreign language teachers and their trainers
through the era of eclecticism, or as Kumaravadivelu (2012) puts it, the
period of post-method pedagogy. The three operating principles are the
principles of particularity, practicality, and possibility (Kumaravadivelu,
2012; 2001). Of course, as we read their descriptions, we start seeing the
differences, but on their own the labels rhyme and confuse. Something that
is particular, practical, and possible may or may not belong to one set of
ideas, values, or practices. I wonder whether the three beginning /p/s (like
the three beginning /l/s in the previous example) were really necessary.
I must admit that Kumaravadivelu’s (2012) KARDS abbreviation used for

the proposed model of teacher education asserted a degree of clarity.
Unfortunately, what it stands for (and it stands for Knowing, Analyzing,
Recognizing, Doing, and Seeing) reveals the persistence in the author’s
style to utilize multi-layered notions which have overlapping denotations
and connotations. Perhaps, it is just me who finds the labels confusing
and doing harm to the valuable ideas presented in Kumaravadivelu’s work
which I still, and regardless of the labeling style, find very inspiring.
Having noticed that the EFL domain had accumulated “a bewildering number
of terms”, Anthony (1963, p. 63) proposed “a filing system” comprised of
approaches (assumptions about the nature of language, language learning
and teaching), methods (plans for the delivery of language material), and
techniques (classroom-related ways of meeting an instructional objective)
(cf. Anthony, 1963, pp. 63-66). An intact arrangement is supposed to be
hierarchical; “…techniques carry out a method which is consistent with
an approach” (Anthony, 1963, p. 63). The classification has been found
inadequate as it did not fully embed some of the elements associated with
classroom routines, such as learner needs, resources, or characteristics
145
Ervin Kovačević
of societal contexts (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). Richards and Rodgers

(1986) argued that the classification is useful for various descriptions and
categorizations of language teaching proposals, but they identified a few
shortcomings in the originally proposed model. For example, they found
that the nature of method has been neglected (e.g. the roles of teachers and
learners have been overlooked) and that the relationship between the three
terms has not been sufficiently explored. They decided to revise and extend
Anthony’s model. Their intention has been summarized in the following:
The primary areas needing further clarification are, using Anthony’s terms,
method and technique. We see approach and method treated at the level of
design, that level in which objectives, syllabus, and content are determined, and
in which the roles of teachers, learners, and instructional materials are specified.
The implementation phase (the level of technique in Anthony’s model) we
refer to by the slightly more comprehensive term procedure. Thus, a method is
theoretically related to an approach, is organizationally determined by a design,
and is practically realized in procedure. (Richards and Rodgers, 1999, p. 16; 1986)
Richards and Rodgers’ (1986) textbook Approaches and Methods in

Language Teaching may be argued to be a major publishing success.
Its fifteenth printing was published in 1999. The textbook’s significantly
extended version was published two years later. The first edition presents
eight approaches/methods and the second edition presents sixteen of
them (this count excludes introductory discussions of the history of foreign
language teaching which describe the Grammar-Translation Method, and
the Direct Method). The approaches/methods which have been addressed
in independent chapters in Richards and Rodgers (2001) are the following:
1. The Oral Approach/Situational Language Teaching

2. The Audiolingual Method
3. Total Physical Response
4. The Silent Way
5. Community Language Learning
6. Suggestopedia
7. Whole Language
8. Multiple Intelligences
9. Neurolinguistic Programming
10. The Lexical Approach
11. Competency-Based Language Teaching
146
12. Communicative Language Teaching

13. The Natural Approach
14. Cooperative Language Learning
15. Content-Based Instruction
16. Task-Based Language Teaching
Short descriptions of the Approaches and Methods documented in

Richards and Rodgers (2001)
The descriptions presented here provide just a minor insight into the
principles associated with the listed approaches and methods.
Grammar-Translation Method. Language learners are taught to read and

write in a foreign language, or to translate to or from a foreign language. The
primary focus is on the rules of grammar and lexicon. An example principle:
The foreign language can be taught by means of the mother language.
The Direct Method. The label incorporates several methods which have a
strong emphasis on the spoken language and incorporation of naturalistic
principles (e.g. The Reform Methods, the Natural Method, and the Berlitz
Method). An example principle: Grammar can be taught with an inductive
approach. It needs to be noted that the methods associated with the direct
methodology differ across many principles; for example, some of them
allow the mother tongue to be utilized in the instruction and others do not.
The Oral Approach/Situational Language Teaching. The focus is on

scientifically graded textual materials and their contextual presentations.
The evolution of this approach can be traced across several attempts to build
on the direct methodology in accord with the scientific and technological
progress of the first half of the 20th century. An example principle: Simple
linguistic forms need to be taught before complex ones.
The Audiolingual Method. The beginning of language learning process is

recognized in the structure. Speech is prioritized and pronunciation is very
important. The sought mastery requires drilling. Learning objectives are
partly pursued by contrasting the target and mother language elements.
An example principle: Intensive practice makes perfect.
147
Ervin Kovačević
Total Physical Response. By intertwining listening and physical actions

while delaying speech production, the learner is supposed to follow the
natural mother language learning route from which speech is anticipated to
emerge naturally. The teacher dominates the instructional process through
selection and presentation of the linguistic input, but the learner’s pace is
dictating the progress from the receptive to productive language learning
tasks. An example principle: The learner should listen and perform.
The Silent Way. The teacher in a silent mode can direct learners’ attention,
language production, self-monitoring, and retention. A provided stimulus is
supposed to trigger understanding and problem solutions whose pathways
may be enhanced by peer support. An example principle: The learner should
be expected to develop autonomy.
Community Language Learning. Language is viewed as a system for

communication including whole person, cultural, educational, and
developmental communicative processes. There is no set syllabus.
Course progression is topic-based and learners provide the topics. In the
classroom, innovative and conventional activities are combined: translation,
group work, recording, transcription, reflection and observation, listening
and free conversation are practiced. An example principle: Learning is a
social process.
Suggestopedia. The central notion is that relaxation, precipitated by

combining force of Baroque music, reclining chairs arranged in circles,
supporting material and teacher’s authority can generate right conditions
for learning during which human brain can process great quantities of
material. Vocabulary, reading, dialogues, role-plays, drama, and a variety
of other typical classroom activities are presented when learners are in
a deeply relaxed state. An example principle: A suggestible state of mind
should be sought.
Whole Language. Language should be taught as a whole. Authentic language

use, such as reading for pleasure, writing for an authentic audience, or
using real-world daily materials, is advantageous. Literary works are a
great source of authentic language. An example principle: Teachers and
students are creators of knowledge.
148
Multiple Intelligences. Intelligence is not a single capacity; it has multiple

forms. Linguistic intelligence is intertwined with other types of intelligences
such as music, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences. Therefore,
meeting linguistic objectives may benefit from higher levels of available
personal intelligence systems. An example principle: Teaching activities
need to be designed with and for available learners’ intelligences.
Neurolinguistic Programming. The mind works in certain ways which

inform thoughts and behaviors. The language has a capacity to change the
way we experience the world and live in it. It is a mean to self-actualization
which needs to be sought and facilitated. An example principle: Student-
teacher rapport needs to be established and maintained.
The Lexical Approach. Lexis is the crucial building component in language

learning. Therefore careful organization of lexical focus is mandatory.
Repeated encountering of the same lexical item may trigger its retention.
In this regard, extensive reading activities can help. An example principle:
Teacher talk is a source of lexical input.
Competency-Based Language Teaching. The focus is on what learner can or

should do with the target language. A thorough analysis of the competency
goals will inform the teaching process which may divide the sought goals
into a series of competency-relevant steps. An example principle: The
learner’s goals and abilities have to define the instructional objectives.
Communicative Language Teaching. Communication is both the medium

and target. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills are equally
important and may be integrated. Content related aspects may be
prioritized over linguistic objectives. Learners have to be active and willing
to experiment with the target language. An example principle: Experiential
and meaningful learning should be prioritized.
The Natural Approach. The processes of language learning and acquisition

take different forms and develop different capacities. The input which is
slightly beyond the current level of mastery (i+1) plays facilitative learning
roles (cf. Social Constructivist Perspectives and Vygotsky’s principles of
ZPD; see Chapter One). Lower personal anxiety levels and higher confidence
are sought in language performances. An example principle: A classroom
atmosphere should not threaten the learner’s confidence.
149
Ervin Kovačević
Cooperative Language Learning. Human beings learn by conversing to each

other. Therefore group learning experiences in which individuals enhance
their individual responsibilities towards the group are prioritized. Born to
communicate, individuals learn the language rules in action. An example
principle: Learners need to exercise their conversation strategies.
Content-Based Instruction. Inspired by the principles of communicative

language teaching, this approach organizes its curricula primarily around
content. It is based on the assumption that language is learned best when
it is utilized as a tool for receiving and generating information. However, the
focus on linguistic aspects may vary across instructional objectives and
learner needs. An example principle: Some types of content may be more
effective in facilitating the language acquisition process.
Task-Based Language Teaching. This approach rests on the assumption

that various tasks, such as writing a letter or solving a puzzle, provide
effective contexts for communication and meaningful learning. Task
characteristics can significantly vary in terms of complexity and the
language utilization opportunities. An example principle: The central focus
of language is conversation.
Crossing the Method Boundaries
Kumaravadivelu (2006) refers to a number of methods presented in

Richards and Rodgers (1986) as designer non-methods. According to him,
Total Physical Response, Community Language Learning, Suggestopedia,
and the Silent Way are “classroom procedures that are consistent with the
theoretical underpinnings of a learner-centered pedagogy” (Kumaravadivelu,
2006, p. 94). Perhaps the same could be claimed about the characteristics
of Whole Language, Multiple Intelligences, Neurolinguistic Programming,
Competency-Based Language Teaching, Cooperative Learning, and other
more recent foreign language teaching models. If Anthony’s (1963, pp. 63-
65) definitions of methods as “plans” and approaches as “assumptions”
are used as a reference point, then all of the models which somehow found
a way into the mainstream literature on foreign language education may
actually be referred to as methods or approaches. Perhaps the notion of
model can indeed serve as an umbrella term for the above listed systems of
references about foreign language teaching theory and practice. It should
150
be noted that Anthony (1963) attempted to simplify the terminology that

classifies assumptions, plans, and ways of foreign language teaching,
stating that “modifications and refinements are desirable” (p. 63). Meticulous
distinctions between approaches, designs, and procedures (e.g. Richards &
Rodgers, 1986; 2001), or principles and procedures (Kumaravadivelu, 2006)
can indeed confuse foreign language teachers and their trainers.
The number of available models of FLE which received some attention

is hard to estimate. Those which received a significant portion of
academic attention deserve the status of classical models. New models
keep emerging as human civilization makes progress in the domains of
technology, science, and collective/individual reasoning. Many of the new
models will go unnoticed and others will enjoy their deserved moments of
fame. However, if any of the classical or new models can offer a few original
or even rebranded insights on foreign language learning processes, they
all may be utilized as sources on which an eclectic or highly idiosyncratic
personal foreign language teaching philosophy can rest.
The teachers are nowadays supposed to go far beyond assumptions of a

single model. Kumaravadivelu (2006, p. 161) argues:
Within the confines of the concept of method, what perhaps remain for further
manipulation and management are different permutations and combinations of
the familiar principles and procedures. This does not mean that the profession
has a reached a dead end; rather, it means that the profession has completed
yet another phase in its long, cyclical history of methods, and has just set sail in
uncharted waters.
His argument describes a perhaps desired state of language teaching

methodology. The awareness of the uniqueness of every learner, every group
of learners, and every teaching situation inhibits any blind-folded loyalty to
any teaching method or approach and forces language instructors to dwell
more on the notion of personal language teaching methodology rather than
on the notion of a single common method or approach.
However, believing that a sum of the best pieces of every approach or

method is the safest way to match the requirements of any teaching context
is misconception. Such an eclectic approach is based on the false idea that
the unknown does not need to be analyzed in advance and the solution to
151
Ervin Kovačević
the yet-to-be-experienced can be preset. These so-called one size fits all
solutions best summarize the teacher-centered reasoning that could be
blamed for teachers’ inability to meet every learner’s potential, together
with its accompanying techniques. Long (2004, pp. 24-25) describes how
such reasoning manifests itself.
For example, a research report may state the mean income level of a particular
population segment as being $15,333. In reality it is possible that no individual
actually has such an income. The mean fails to communicate either the modal,
or most frequent income, or the income range in the population. For example,
given a sample of six individuals whose incomes are as follows: $25,000,
$24,000, $21,000, $10,000, $6,000, $6,000. The total income of the six individuals
is $92,000. The range is from $6,000 to $25,000. The mean is $15,333 and the
modal income is $6,000. This reveals how the $15,333 mean income is rather
low when compared with the three highest incomes and is equally high compared
with the three lowest incomes.
Apparently, the intended teaching goals, ways, or procedures may not

be reaching all the learners unless those learners’ individual profiles
are fully taken into account during educational planning, delivery, and
assessment. Full adherence to any predetermined, inflexible model in any
foreign language teaching context may indeed be described as a solution
intended to solve a problem that has not been analyzed yet. Alternatively,
studying the contextual variables helps maximizing the overlap between
teacher’s intentions, students’ expectations, and the instructional
process. Kumaravadivelu (2012, p.15) invites instructors to dwell on “the
particular, the practical, and the possible” summarizing the philosophy
of learner-centered instruction which rejects pre-packaged solutions for
novel problems. However, as Dörnyei and Skehan (2003, p. 593) pointed
out the pressure of “a mismatch between the actual learner variation in
real classrooms, and the homogeneity implied by most coursebooks (a
mismatch which it has been the teacher’s lot to cope with, as best she or
he can)” is tremendous. Therefore, the teacher’s coping strategies seem to
depend more on a personal educational philosophy and teaching style than
on an instructional approach, method, or model.
152
Personal Note 19
Non-certified EFL teachers’ learner-centered pedagogies
In my MA graduation project (Kovačević, 2007), I surveyed 70 EFL teachers
(59 with and 11 without a teaching degree) who worked for different
language schools in Istanbul. I utilized Conti’s (2004) PALS (see Teaching
Styles in Adult Education; Chapter Five). The results showed that 3 of them
were identified as having extreme teacher-centered oriented teaching
styles, 26 of the respondents were found as having strong teacher-centered
teaching styles, 31 of the teachers were identified as tending towards the
teacher-centered practice, 10 of them were found as tending towards the
learner-centered practice, and none of them were found as strong learner-
centered or extreme learner-centered oriented. The general tendency
towards the teacher-centered pole did not surprise me. What actually
shocked me as a very young researcher in foreign language education
was the finding that 6 of the 11 teachers, whose styles were partly aligned
with the collaborative principles promoted in adult education literature, had
no teaching degrees. To rephrase, out of 59 EFL teachers with a teaching
degree only 4 teachers had more obvious tendencies towards the learner-
centered pedagogy, and 6 out of 11 teachers without a teaching degree
shared the learner-centered tendencies in their practice. These findings
initially discouraged my enthusiasm for the field of foreign language
education. I was truly disappointed that foreign language teacher training
programs were in some ways doing more harm to the teaching styles
exercised in adult teaching settings than contributing to their qualities.
Later I decided to embrace the realities and do something about them with
my own capacities. I must admit that I truly hope that this textbook will be
helpful to everyone who strives for more effective methodologies in adult
education and foreign language teacher training. If it produces no results, I
will rewrite it. The previous sentence was supposed to entertain the reader.
The short descriptions of approaches and methods presented in the

previous section integrated the following 18 example principles:
1. The foreign language can be taught by means of the mother language.

2. Grammar can be taught with an inductive approach.
3. Simple linguistic forms need to be taught before complex ones.
4. Intensive practice makes perfect.
5. The learner should listen and perform.
6. The learner should be expected to develop autonomy.
7. Learning is a social process.
8. A suggestible state of mind should be sought.
9. Teachers and students are creators of knowledge.
153
Ervin Kovačević
10. Teaching activities need to be designed with and for available

intelligences.
11. Student-teacher rapport needs to established and maintained.
12. Teacher talk is a source of lexical input.
13. The learner’s goals and abilities have to define the instructional
objectives.
14. Experiential and meaningful learning should be prioritized.
15. A classroom atmosphere should not threaten the learner’s confidence.
16. Learners need to exercise their conversation strategies.
17. Some types of content may be more effective in facilitating the
language acquisition process.
18. The central focus of language is conversation.
The above presented principles are just a selective example of the available
explicitly and implicitly promoted premises in various approaches and
methods. On the one hand, some of the principles can be associated
with one another. For example, the principles 7, 9, 11, 16, and 18 may be
motivating references for a teamwork-oriented speaking activity or task.
The principles 2 and 12 can justify a teacher-centered activity, such as a
short presentation or mini-lecture. On the other hand, the principles can
also contradict each other. For example, 13 and 18 may not always align; if a
learner is trying to develop a writing skill or is getting ready for a proficiency
exam without a speaking or conversational component, the class time
allocated to conversation should be significantly limited.
The principles presented here are meant to illustrate that classical EFL
models generally promote adult learner friendly methodology. Actually,
many of the classical models have been primarily developed for the needs
of adolescent and adult learners (Howatt & Smith, 2014). Any of the models,
which take into account adult learners’ characteristics (including their L1
as a resource), foster active learners’ participation and promote flexible
instructional solutions, can indeed help the adult educator. The following
segment reviews five recent studies whose results support the premise
that the narrowly predetermined models may not match adult language
learners’ needs unless they are built on context-sensitive learner-centered
methodological foundations.
154
Recent Studies of Adult Language Learning and

Teaching Patterns as Sources of FLE Principles
Studies about teaching and learning patterns in adult FLE settings may be
inspiring sources of effective teaching principles. A review of a few recent
studies suggests dozens of L2 teaching principles. Highlight 35 lists five
principles whose background studies are briefly reviewed in the following
sections. It should be noted that cultural elements which characterize our
classrooms are very important. These five principles can take different
forms in different cultures.
Highlight 35
Five teaching principles in recent studies
1. Anticipate and respond to emerging learners’ needs.

2. Adult learners’ self-directing capacities and autonomous behaviors need
to be enhanced.
3. Adult L2 learners’ varying motivational patterns require an appropriated set
of teacher’s strategic behaviors.
4. Adult learners’ foreign language speaking anxieties need to be countered
with appropriate teaching actions.
5. The foreign language teacher cannot always rely on the teaching solutions
suggested in language textbooks.
Anticipate and respond to various emerging learners’ needs
Colliander et al.’s (2018) results are based on a number of selected

observations in the context of teaching Swedish as a foreign language (SFL)
to immigrant adult learners in Sweden. The context was particularly worth
studying as it mainly involved emergent readers. It offered an insight into
the practices of teachers who taught both literacy and SFL simultaneously.
The observations revealed that standardized materials were not utilized.
Instead the teachers used other sources of information (e.g. photos or
maps). The sources, which sometimes involved teachers’ and students’
personal lives, were meant to trigger practice and information exchange.
155
Ervin Kovačević
Their lessons integrated whole class and individual activities, often

initiated by the teachers. However, the students also actively participated in
planning and prioritizing topics. Sometimes the teaching-learning exchange
was less important than students’ personal issues namely being recent
immigrants struggling with accommodation, health, and social integration.
So the teachers were not only SFL and literacy instructors, but they were also
advisors, supporters, and facilitators of the integration process. The teachers
who could speak their students’ L1 used it to present information and clarify
understanding. Overall, the teachers seemed to take into account their own
as well as students’ identities, capacities, abilities, and emerging needs.
Interestingly, they often used repetition due to desired reinforcement and the
fact that some new learners would often join the learning program late.
Adult learners’ self-directing capacities and autonomous behaviors need

to be enhanced
Koirala (2019) explores the relationship between Bhutanese refugee

students’ previous schooling experiences and their autonomous learning
behaviors in an adult migrant English program in Australia. The data was
collected in one beginner and one intermediate class of 20 and 17 students
respectively. The classes were taught by two different teachers who were
found to approach the tasks of scaffolding, inviting students’ participation,
and fostering the development of their autonomy differently. The teacher
of the intermediate class anticipated that the students would self-direct
and be actively in charge of their learning process. The teacher of the
beginner class made her students leave their comfort zone and closely
supervised and scaffolded her students’ participation in the class activities.
The findings revealed that the students did not appreciate and respond
to the intermediate class instructor’s expectations. On the other hand,
the beginner class teacher managed to encourage the students’ active
behaviors. The positive feedback was motivated by the students’ need to
meet her teaching expectations and build on their emerging confidence.
Koirala (2019, p. 12) concludes that “teachers should cultivate [quieter
students’] confidence and ability in autonomous learning by using more
scaffolded tasks initially and then gradually train students in the skills and
knowledge they need in order to take control of their own learning”.
156
Adult L2 learners’ varying motivational patterns require an appropriated

set of teacher’s strategic behaviors
Henry and Davydenko (2020) explore whether a group of Swedish as a

Foreign Language (SFL) learners regulate their motivation by the approach
pattern (with a focus on future personal opportunities and possibilities) or
by the avoidance pattern (with a focus on implications of possible future
personal failures or opportunity deprivations). The interviewed group of
international participants at the time of data collection was taking fast-
track SFL courses at three universities in Sweden. They had different
occupations and prospective plans. The findings reveal that five of them
were identified as approach-oriented, another five of them as avoidance-
oriented, and six of them were classified as of the mixed motivational
orientation (both approach- and avoidance-oriented). The authors suggest
the following implications for practice (Henry & Davydenko, 2020, p. 16):
1. Since avoidance-oriented motivational patterns are common

but emotionally and cognitively draining, a teacher may need to
prevent these possible detrimental effects.
2. Avoidance-oriented learners may significantly benefit from
stress-free and structured activities including periodic breaks.
3. The teacher can promote approach-oriented patterns by
periodically highlighting opportunities and possibilities. This can
divert the learners’ focus away from fears and worries and partly
free them from material contingencies.
Therefore, it needs to be noted that adult learners join L2 settings with

different motivational orientations. The variety of patterns requires that
the L2 instructor responds to the varying patterns accordingly in order to
maximize learning opportunities. Regardless of the nature of motivated L2
learning behaviors, the adult learners will learn the language if they persist in
their efforts. At the end, the interviewed participants of all three motivational
patterns were fluent in Swedish (Henry & Davydenko, 2020, p. 5).
157
Ervin Kovačević
Adult learners’ foreign language speaking anxieties need to be met with

appropriate teaching actions
Dewaele (2007) explores relationships between multilingual adults’ levels

of communicative anxiety (CA), foreign language anxiety (FLA), and a few
of their ID variables (i.e. gender, age, and number of languages known). The
study also examines how speaking with friends, strangers, and in public
contexts accounts for the levels of the two anxieties. The findings have
significant implications for foreign language teaching methodologies.
For example, the multilingual speakers (trilinguals and quadrilinguals)
were found to experience lower levels of FLA than bilingual speakers. All
three groups seem to experience the lowest FLA levels when speaking to
friends, gradually higher levels when speaking to strangers, and the highest
level of FLA when they speak in public. If a foreign language learning
classroom setting can integrate all of the three contexts (e.g. learners may
attend the setting with their friends, work in groups with strangers, and
have to address the whole class when actively participating), Dewaele’s
(2007) findings imply that the more experienced language learners will
have more confidence during speaking activities. The teacher may lower
anxiety triggers by building a friendly atmosphere and delaying whole class
activities at the beginning of the learning and group formation process.
It could be falsely assumed that older age is an advantage in coping with

speaking anxieties. This study reports no statistically significant differences
between older and younger adult learners across the three contexts and
four languages (L1-L4). Therefore, it cautions language teachers not to
anticipate lower speaking anxiety levels from the older learners. It needs to
be recalled that ID features and personal characteristics, such as levels of
formal schooling, foreign language using and learning experiences, or job
histories, may facilitate psychosocial dynamics (see Chapter Four).
The foreign language teacher cannot always rely on the language

textbook solutions
Prodromou and Mishan (2008) address a number of aspects of

globally marketed teaching materials in which the aspirations towards
methodological correctness laid a number of traps for both language
teachers and their learners. For example, predetermined levels of cognitive
158
challenges, affective and personal involvement, and necessary self-directed

learning tend to overlook particularities of individual backgrounds and create
gaps between the textbook content and students’ interests and needs. The
study offers a review of practices in Western Europe and ends with a call
for locally sensitive publishing and teachers’ systematic contributions in
the material development. The study was published 12 years ago but its
message keeps echoing as the contemporary teacher starts relying more
on digitally available sets of teaching materials. While a textbook may offer
a tangible structure which instills a degree of security in methodological
solutions, the new language teacher, the one who has managed to escape
the barriers developed by various approaches and methods, has to dare
to build her or his own methodological pathways. The so far reviewed and
developed principles in adult education do not allow tightly controlled global
textbook solutions which are often claimed to provide desperately sought
methodological answers. Colliander et al.’s (2018) study bluntly supports
this principle as it shows how text-based materials cannot be the right
solution at all when learners are barely literate or even illiterate.
The Teaching Climate, 21st Century Classroom, and

Foreign Language Instruction
The teaching climate is an overall class dynamic which is shaped by

teacher’s, her or his learners’, instructional objectives’, and their meeting
environments’ characteristics. It can be argued that many external forces,
such as the instruction’s being mandatory or voluntarily, being closely or
distantly supervised by third parties, and having rich or limited teaching/
learning resources, can also significantly affect classroom activities. Since the
previous sections of this chapter reviewed the nature of adult learner groups,
roles of adult learners’ teachers, and a number of foreign language instruction
principles, the characteristics of learning environments need to be addressed
so that the key elements of the teaching-learning process (i.e. learner, group of
learners, content, teacher, and environment; see the introduction to this section)
are all discussed and taken into consideration. The following paragraphs will
present a few reminders about the traditionally desired learning environment,
introduce the 21st century classroom’s characteristics, and explore how some
of their principles can be channeled to improve virtual learning environments.
159
Ervin Kovačević
Minimum Conditions in the Traditional Foreign Language Learning Classroom
The textbooks written before the internet and digital media expansions
offer valuable frameworks for designing a traditional classroom setting.
The word traditional is used here to draw a line between today’s learning
environment design possibilities (the example of which are so-called 21st
century classroom solutions) and earlier frameworks which were more or
less trapped in teacher-centered methodologies. Although the teacher-
centered approach has been challenged for a long time, the teacher still
remains the central figure in most formal learning environments. For
example, the alternatives to classical seating solutions where everyone
faces the teacher had been challenged for the purposes of pair or group
work’s communicative benefit. However, teachers managed to preserve
their rights to show, tell, demonstrate, coordinate, and come up with any
other way of focusing the learners’ attention on what they want. Figure
14 (Underwood, 1987) portrays the revolution in seating arrangement, yet
the promoted solutions preserve the teacher’s frontal role. The desk has
a practical purpose, but it also symbolizes the distance in status between
teachers and their learners. It is worth asking whether this emphasis on
symbolic distance is necessary in adult learning settings where teachers
may often be younger than their students.
Figure 14
The layout of the desks (adapted from Underwood, 1987, p. 46)
160
The traditional setting needs the following to facilitate the right language
learning climate (Underwood, 1987):
1. Enough light;
2. Reasonable temperature;
3. Good acoustics;
4. Fresh air;
5. Happy and supportive vibes;
6. Enough language practice opportunities;
7. A fair and devoted teacher.
While the first four elements depend on the quality of the setting, the
other three are conditioned by the learners’ and teachers’ characteristics,
teaching methodology, and classroom management solutions.
Personal Note 20
The minimum learning/teaching conditions may not be met
You may find the presentation of the basic setting elements in this section
unnecessary, for example rooms with enough light, reasonable temperature,
good acoustics, and enough fresh air. These may be considered the
minimum of required conditions which are usually provided by institutional
bodies. Unfortunately, these prerequisites are not always met. I have taught
English as a Foreign Language in rooms with no windows, poor heating,
and awful acoustics (after the year 2006). If you are not sure what the right
teaching climate should be like, imagine some of these rooms in which I
had to teach and make your own conclusions about the teaching climate. I
remember the gloomy lights, annoying echoes, and drowsiness caused by
the lack of fresh air (and probably bad echoes, and gloomy lights). I tried
to compensate for the conditions with extra efforts such as unreal levels
of enthusiasm, shorter lessons, group- and pair-work, and pressuring the
schools’ administrators to relocate us. The students and their teachers
are sometimes unsung heroes and often victims in the cultures which
underestimate their needs for proper learning and teaching conditions.
Visions of the 21st Century Classroom
The University of Hawai’i is just of one of the educational institutions

which had 21st century classroom spaces designed and put into active use
(University of Hawai‘i News, 2014; see also Edutopia, 2017; or, ABC Stories,
2019). Their new learning spaces do not resemble a traditional classroom
161
Ervin Kovačević
design at all. They have easy to move, flexible, and comfortable furniture
that prevents students to participate in lessons in uniformed or fixed ways.
There are multiple options for active learning in both standing and sitting
modes. Seating arrangements offer a nook-design inspired solutions and
there are multiple whiteboards and plexiglass surfaces which can be used in
individual, pair, or group activities. The rooms also have alternative options
and devices for e-content use. This kind of design provides a powerful
learner-friendly environment; different needs, capacities, interests, or
priorities can be met in different ways during the same class session.
In a 21st century classroom, students can work independently or together with

e-devices, textbooks, worksheets, while sitting on mobile chairs, beanbags,
sofas, or rugs. When desks, boards, or digital screens are on wheels, the
number of alternative seating solutions is very high. The students can also
join the instructor for a mini-lecture or discussion. Groups can switch their
classroom participation ways according to their preferences or pursued
goals. The rotation can also be predetermined and structured according
to the instructor’s plans or instructional objectives. Taylor, one of the 21st
century classroom students, says that “when the classroom is flexible, we
can learn a lot more from each other, and it forms a better bond with the
students within the school, and also with the staff members” (Edutopia,
2017). So, the right to choose facilitates the student’s engagement.
The principles of 21st century classroom environment may be summarized

in the following:
1. Learners’ active participation can be fostered by encouraging flexible

and multiple seating arrangements during classroom meetings.
2. The flexibility in seating arrangements may be enhanced by designing
alternative learning zones which may be appropriated for individual,
pair, or group activities.
3. The teacher is expected to coordinate classroom dynamics and
facilitate all the agreed types of classroom activities. The teacher
may supervise, assist, participate in pair and group work, or deliver
mini-lectures and presentations to the ones who choose to depend
more on the teacher’s input.
162
Personal Note 21
An example of 21st century classroom design in-progress.
A year ago my colleague Prof. Muhammed Yasir Göz and I agreed to arrange
a 21st century classroom for our students. We decided to experiment
without a big budget. He knew about the dispersed and unused furniture
in some parts of our facilities and we joined our visions. Unfortunately, the
COVID-19 outbreak delayed our little project. The photos below may give
you a hint of how the idea started unfolding.
Figure 15
A minor step towards 21st century classroom; Sample I
Figure 16
A minor step towards 21st century classroom; Sample II
163
Ervin Kovačević
Traditional and 21 st Century Classroom Principles in Virtual

Learning Environments
Virtual learning environments (VLE) can inspire foreign language instructors

to develop novel ways when they are backed up by effective platform
designs. Romero Forteza and Carrió Pastor (2014) propose forty criteria
for evaluating the quality of language learning platforms. The following are
ten of the proposed checkpoints (see the full list in Romero Forteza & Carrió
Pastor, 2014, pp. 144 -145):
1. The interface is available in the target language being learnt.

2. The homepage clearly presents the sections and resources of the VLE.
3. The structure of the website is logical and easy to use.
4. Students can surf from one section to another of the website and bookmark
different parts of the site.
5. Learners know exactly where they are at all times and can surf through the
sections and resources without feeling disoriented.
6. The arrangement of on-screen elements is consistent from one section to
another.
7. The icons and graphical metaphors are intuitive.
8. The display is appropriately readable.
9. Instructions or a usage guide exists.
10. The functions and activities of the site are self-explanatory or provide the
information necessary to execute them. (Romero Forteza & Carrió Pastor
2014, p. 144).
However, as is the case with global publishing efforts to create textbooks

solutions for every possible foreign language learner, language learning
and general learning platforms run the risk of limiting the instructor’s
creative solutions. The platforms can also be based on false predictions
of the learners’ needs.
Virtual learning environments need to be user-friendly, well-organized,

and functional. Yet, the environment on its own does not necessarily
encourage the learners to utilize alternative resources, change the
routines, or digress from a planned content. Therefore, the instructor
should try to channel some of the principles of the 21st century classroom
to the immediate virtual setting. Here are a few suggestions of how it can
be done:
164
1. The learner can be encouraged to look for and use any suggested
resources which are relevant to the goals of virtual environment
meetings.
2. Virtual meetings may integrate printed books, traditional whiteboards
and markers as alternatives to e-boards and e-markers, real objects,
such as clothing items, music instruments, or souvenirs, and other
supplementing materials collected or developed either by instructors
or by learners for particular instructional objectives.
3. The instructor can use the virtual environment for the traditional
show and tell purposes if learners request so.
4. Not all learners present in the same virtual meeting have to do the
same activity.
5. Pair and group work may be organized inside or outside the particular
virtual learning environment.
Epilogue to Chapter Six

This chapter reviewed ground principles of classroom management,
adult learner profile accommodation, group maintenance, and foreign
language teaching and learning environment design. The review showed
that the educator is anticipated to embrace a number of roles and tasks
in order to efficiently plan, deliver, coordinate, maintain, monitor, and
evaluate the instructional process. Predetermined and inflexible curricula,
teaching materials, personal teaching methodologies, and teaching/
learning environment designs may often neglect the learner’s and group’s
immediate and distant contexts’ characteristics. Therefore, the teacher is
anticipated to observe, identify, and plan along explicit and implicit factors
which emerge as the instructional process unfolds.
There is a huge pressure on foreign language instructors to navigate

successfully among teaching design options. The recent history of foreign
language teaching methodology freed this discipline of narrowly regulated
teaching procedures and recognized that instructors have to decode
teaching situations and meet them through personal foreign language
teaching methodologies and philosophies. However, the global need to
teach and learn languages as fast and well as possible motivates reputable
and emerging FLE experts to point to the right ways of contemplating about
165
Ervin Kovačević
language teaching methodologies. The results are never ending discontent

and disappointment with the current situation in foreign language education
which seem to hover above the discipline. Deprived of fresh, context-
sensitive, and highly inclusive foreign language education theory, both
novice and experienced practitioners are left to make final conclusions
with their own capacities and choose from the full array of approaches,
procedures, and techniques (to borrow from Anthony’s [1963] terms) based
on features of their students and learning settings. These circumstances
require that foreign language instructors are trained within programs
providing not only the theoretical and practical knowledge of linguistic,
social, psychological, and communication systems but also the skills of
design thinking and plenty of real teaching experience. The instructors
trained in such a way may dare to follow non-linear pathways, embrace
novel challenges, redefine problems, abandon old solutions, and evolve
professionally. This is exhausting due to obstacles described but rewarding
for both teachers and students. The following chapter offers a model for
facilitating a personal foreign language methodology development. It tries
to add a concluding perspective to the textbook’s goal which is simply to
inspire foreign language teaching practitioners to continuously grow and
excel in their profession.
166
Questions for Reflections and Discussions
1. Which of the nine ways proposed in Burden (1995) (see Building

Group Cohesiveness) may be particularly challenging for a novice
instructor?
2. Which of the reviewed roles of adult group educators would be a
natural match for your personal characteristics?
3. If you agree that teachers of adult groups should socialize with their
students outside the teaching/learning premises, how would you
prefer to spend time with your students? What are challenges if you
decide to do so?
4. Which of the classical EFL principles do you find effective and
relevant to adult learners’ needs? Why?
5. If you have read any recent studies about the adult language learner,
what innovative principles do they propose? Can they be combined
with some of the classical principles?
6. What should a 21st century classroom look like in order to meet the
needs of adult learners?
7. Do you agree with the conclusion that there is some “discontent
and disappointment with the current situation in foreign language
education which seem to hover above the discipline”? If you agree,
what actions should applied linguistics societies, ministries of
education, or teacher training programs systematically take in order
to tackle the discontent and disappointment?
167
View publication stats

TEACHING ADULT LANGUAGE LEARNERS-Enhancing Personal Methodologies 2

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

TEACHING ADULT LANGUAGE LEARNERS-Enhancing Personal Methodologies 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

Teaching Adult Learner Groups and Principles of Foreign Language Education

Chapter · October 2021

Learner corpus View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Cover Design by:

Interior Design by:

Copyright © 2021 by International University of Sarajevo

CIP - Katalogizacija u publikaciji

Bibliografija: str. 196-211.

Enhancing Personal Methodologies

SOME FINAL REMARKS......................................................................194

Teaching Adult Learner Groups and

If teaching an adult learner is as challenging as it has been concluded,

This chapter explores the following questions:

1. To give somebody lessons or instructions so that he/she knows how

In any educational event, several elements are constant: there is an educator

Teaching adults a foreign language in a formal setting requires that the

1. Teaching Adult Learning Groups

Methods as Sources of Adult Learner-Friendly Principles

Teaching Adult Learner Groups

Advantages and Disadvantages of Learning in Groups

a. The group provides a supportive environment by means of

b. Taking part in a group experience provides a challenge to the learner.

c. Complex structures that are built by merging the variety of group

Some of the disadvantages of group learning (Rogers 1996; Rogers &

a. Learning environment may put too much pressure on the individual

personally endorsed views and conclusions. The group may also

b. Challenge can appear itself by means of a threat which more

c. Complex structures which are produced by the collective efforts

What should an educator do with the advantages and disadvantages

Building and Maintaining Group Cohesiveness

Burden (1995, p. 232) advises teachers to “build and maintain group

1. Encourage a sense of togetherness;

The Roles of Teachers of Adult Groups

1. As an acknowledged leader of the group;

It may be argued that the role of group leader is automatically assigned to

It also appears that teachers’ characteristics such as egocentric, friendly,

Survey Results (n=164)

The effective teacher Participants’ The effective teacher Participants’

combinations of varying levels of features that can be summarized as

It is very important that the teacher does not discriminate learners

The discussed and proposed teacher roles stem from a perspective

Classical EFL Models as Sources of Teaching Principles

The English language teaching market is gigantic and keeps expanding.

The global market is highly competitive in promoting EFL learning and

The triumph of eclectic practices in foreign language education (FLE) may

principles as these principles can be considered fully legitimate guidelines

For example, the classification of methods (Kumaravadivelu, 2006) has

A similar example can be found in his categorization of the operating

I must admit that Kumaravadivelu’s (2012) KARDS abbreviation used for

of societal contexts (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). Richards and Rodgers

Richards and Rodgers’ (1986) textbook Approaches and Methods in

1. The Oral Approach/Situational Language Teaching

12. Communicative Language Teaching

Short descriptions of the Approaches and Methods documented in

Grammar-Translation Method. Language learners are taught to read and

The Oral Approach/Situational Language Teaching. The focus is on

The Audiolingual Method. The beginning of language learning process is

Total Physical Response. By intertwining listening and physical actions

Community Language Learning. Language is viewed as a system for

Suggestopedia. The central notion is that relaxation, precipitated by

Whole Language. Language should be taught as a whole. Authentic language

Multiple Intelligences. Intelligence is not a single capacity; it has multiple