TEACHING ADULTS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AS PART OF LIFELONG LEARNING

 

Anna Filatova

Assoc. Prof. Dr., Mari State University, Russia, annvit@rambler.ru

 

 

Abstract

The article examines the issue of adult education as an important area of pedagogical activity in many countries in the modern world. The development of adult education is caused by rapid changes in technological processes that require highly developed professional knowledge and the ideas of constant personal development.

The article also reveals the features of adult learning. Most adults start learning to solve a problem, not just for fun. This situation is also typical for adults learning a foreign language who begin to master it when they feel the need to do so in order to be more competitive, mobile, flexible and feel comfortable in another country.

The author describes the content, forms and means of teaching a foreign language to adults. Adult learners can be taught a foreign language both in groups and individually. However, adults prefer individual forms of learning a foreign language. The pedagogical value of an individual form lies in the fact that it provides each student with active learning and allows adults to work at their own pace. A teacher gets the opportunity to give adult learners tasks taking into account their individual characteristics, abilities and interests. The opportunity to implement an individual approach to teaching English is provided by Internet resources. Today, teaching foreign languages is impossible without using Internet resources, since they provide us with authentic material and modern study aid for teaching and learning foreign languages. The possibilities of using the Internet resources are multifaceted. The Internet provides adult learners and teachers with all necessary information in a foreign language: country studies, the latest news, articles, necessary educational and fiction literature, reference material, lexical and grammatical exercises on various topics, tests of different levels.

Thus, adult education is practice-oriented; adults prefer individual forms of learning a foreign language using Internet resources.

Keywords:adult education, personal development, lifelong learning, foreign languages.