The Future of Education
Preparıng Student Teachers For Teaching Adult Learners
Vildan Özdemir, Mersin UniversityFaculty of EducationDepartment of English Language Teaching (Turkey)
Abstract
Globalization has brought new dimensions to adult education (Celce-Murcia & McIntosh, 2001; Cameron, 2002; Kubota, 2002 among others) whose roots dated back to the beginning of the twentieth century. In today’s rapidly changing world, considerable number of adults continue their education and with the impact of globalization more and more adults need to learn a foreign language.Teaching English to adults requires a specific preparation as adult learners are different from young learners and teenagers. The student teachers need to equip themselves with the essential knowledge and skills to address the learning needs of adult learners. It has been emphasized that teachers preconceptions need to be taken into consideration (Wubbels, 1992). Therefore, this study aims to describe the steps that can be followed in ITE (Initial Teacher Education) for effective lessons for adult learners of English. As for the first step, the theories on adult education and adult language learning are discussed to highlight the characteristics of adult learners. The second step is to examine and review the lesson plans particularly made for adults by using ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). After sharing the theoretical and practical insights, the student teachers work in collaboration to prepare effective lesson plans for adult learners. Taking interest areas of adults into consideration, they are expected to design their lessons around topics which can be relevant to adults’ life experiences. The final step which takes place after teaching sessions is devoted to evaluation.
References
Cameron, D. (2002). Globalization and the teaching of ‘communication skills’.Globalization and language teaching, 67-82.
Celce-Murcia, M., & McIntosh, L. (1991). Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp. 279-295). Newbury House.
Kubota, R. (2002). 1 The impact of globalization onlanguageteachingin Japan.Globalization and language teaching, 13.
Wubbels, T. (1992). Taking account of student teachers' preconceptions.Teaching and Teacher education, 8(2), 137-149.
