Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is a very varied field, which many people don’t realise. When prospective teachers think about teaching English as a foreign language, they imagine being in a foreign country where nobody speaks English. They imagine teaching children. 

This is very common and probably does account for a large portion of TEFL situations, but it most certainly isn’t the only one. In fact, many TEFL jobs can be found in English-speaking countries. These, for the most part, involve teaching adults.

Read more: 6 Differences between Teaching Adults and Young Learners

Your students could be preparing to study at an English-medium university. They could be immigrants who have come to the country to work. They could be businesspeople who have been sent abroad to study English for their work.

 As you can imagine, this is a massive market and with countries becoming more diverse and business becoming more global, this is only set to expand even more.

Teaching adults can be a bit difficult to get your head around. So let’s look at learning a language as an adult in more detail.

Learning a new language as an adult

Learning your first language is not a conscious decision.

As a baby, you’re exposed to language from all different sources. You’re able to acquire language skills in your mother tongue without much effort on your part – you’re too busy learning to walk!

As an adult, learning a language requires a lot of thought, attention and dedication.

If you’ve ever tried to learn a foreign language after the age of 16, you’ll know what we are talking about when we say it’s not as easy as it looks.

While by no means impossible to learn another language when you are older, it doesn’t mean that the learning process is more difficult and requires more effort.

As a baby, the part of your brain involved with learning language is the same which is used for motor control. But adults use the part of the brain in charge of higher cognitive functioning when dealing with a foreign language.  

In other words, as a baby learning a language is a natural process but as an adult it is an intellectual quest which requires conscious thought.

But what exactly is it that makes learning a language as an adult more difficult?

Challenges of learning a language as an adult

Our brains are different

Our brains are more developed. While that may sound like it should benefit adults, surprisingly it doesn’t. 

When you are younger, you learn languages naturally, without much effort. As adults, we focus on the nitty gritty of the language so it can be more difficult for us to put the rules of the language into practice. 

Adults are naturally problem-solvers. We try to learn a language like a jigsaw puzzle. Adult brains use more complex problem-solving methods to learn. But children pick up language without thinking too much about the details. Children are happy to play with language.

We treat language as an object rather than a skill

Another difference is how we approach learning languages. 

As adults, we treat languages as subjects, like History or Geography. We try to learn them like we would a bunch of facts or statistics. This may help you learn vocabulary. But it won’t help you speak fluently because you’ll spend a lot of time trying to think about rules rather than just getting used to using them naturally.

We have more interference

On a more general level, adults have more to deal with in their minds than children do. 

As adults we have learned more than children have simply because we have been alive longer. There is always some knowledge trying to interfere with learning new information. 

Adults already speak a language

Speaking one language can actually be a hindrance to learning another language. As adults, our brains naturally translate what we don’t understand into our first language. This takes time for our brains to process. 

Children can learn a foreign language without the need for this translation. They learn subconsciously by forming direct links between concepts and words without having to use their first language.

Adults have to adult

Adults have more on their minds than children. 

Adults likely have jobs or studies, as well as families and responsibilities to think about. Adults are often physically, mentally or emotionally tired when they are tackling language learning. Sometimes adults just don’t have the energy to learn.

Adults have forgotten about the classroom 

It might have been a while since your adult learner was in the classroom. Studying is a skill. Without practice, we lose this skill. Adults who have just graduated will find being in the classroom easier than, say, a 45-year old who graduated 20 years ago.

These difficulties adults have in learning a new language become challenges in our foreign language classes for adults. 

But there are many benefits to teaching adults.

Benefits to teaching English to adults

• Adults can participate in class. They have ideas and opinions and are usually not shy to share them.
•  They bring their life experiences with them. They usually have lots to say no matter what the topic!
• Adults enjoy having conversations with each other, making it easy to build rapport in the classroom.
• They can handle complex activities in the classroom.
• They have longer concentration spans than children.
• Teachers can let their adult students take control of the lessons and their learning. 
• Teachers can connect with their students on a cognitive level.
• Adults can express their needs, wants and concerns. 
• It’s possible to make genuine friendship connections with your adult students.

Teaching English to adults

Now let’s get down to business.

What are the best ways to learn a language as an adult? What are good language learning tips for adults? And how can we use that to help us teach English to adults?

How to teach English to adults: Be authentic

Always be yourself.

Teaching adults is teaching your peers. It doesn’t make sense to be anyone other than yourself. You don’t need to pretend to know everything and your students certainly won’t expect you to. Your learners will appreciate your authenticity. Once everyone gets to know one another, your lessons can become much more relaxed, personal and enjoyable.

Rapport is a vital part of the learning environment. Create and maintain good rapport between not only you and your students but also between your students.

How to teach English to adults: Use their world knowledge

Adult learners bring a wealth of knowledge into the classroom. Use this knowledge to make your lessons more interesting and enjoyable. 

Adults have a natural curiosity which means they are interested in finding out about their classmates and they enjoy sharing knowledge and experiences.

Again, consider yourself. 

If you are open to connecting with people and finding out about their lives, it’s likely your students are too. As the EFL teacher you have knowledge of the English language and the skill to teach it. Your learners could be bankers, philosophers, artists, writers, plumbers – who knows? They might just be able to teach you a thing or two about a thing or two.

How to teach English to adults: Respect their experience

Especially if teaching Beginners, it can be difficult not to treat your students like children. Remember that even though they may not be able to communicate in English, for all you know they have a PhD in aeronautical engineering. In other words, make sure the content and activities of your lesson are aimed at adults and not younger learners.

Yes, this is a fine line to judge, so consider these top tips for how to teach adult Beginners:

• Grade the language, not the task. You can ask your learners to do complicated cognitive tasks, but the English involved needs to be simple.
• Don’t forget to scaffold. Take it step by step. Make sure everyone is on the same page before moving on.
• Give them thinking space. Allow time for the language to be processed. This might mean repeating yourself or your isntructions, but this is to be expected.

The bottom line for teaching adults is simple: would I enjoy this? If you would, chances are your students would too. If you wouldn’t, maybe you need to rethink your strategy for teaching adults.

But before you go, here are a few links to some useful resources for teaching English to adults:

TEFL Warm Up Activities For Adults

Materials To Use When Teaching English To Adults

Conversation Ides For Your EFL Adults