Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition

Suggestion for further reading
The best general and detailed account of the secondary school (in a second
language situation) is:
J.A.Bright and G.P.McGregor, Teaching English as a Second Language,
Longman, 1970.
 

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Chapter 13  
Teaching English
to Adults
Adults learning English bring to the task a mature personality,
many years of educational training, a developed intelligence, a
determination to get what they want, fairly clear aims, and
above all strong motivation to make as rapid progress as
possible. These are formidable qualifications which far
outweigh any disadvantages, and make teaching adults a
challenging and satisfying experience.
An adult is no longer constrained by the educational
system or parental pressure to learn English, so the problems
of dealing with conscripts do not exist. Since people choose
to be present in an English class, the opposite is more the
case—the tertiary teacher’s task is to utilise and channel his
student’s motivation so that his specific needs and aims are
optimally fulfilled. There is considerable diversity in the
tertiary sector and the rest of this chapter looks at some of
the important areas and their problems.