Age in language learning
What are the characteristics of children/teenagers/adults as language learners?
All age groups are different and learn differently as well.
Young learners respond to meaning even if they don't understand all words, they are enthusiastic for learning new things among others language, they learn indirectly so they learn from everything around them, they want to experience things different ways by seeing, hearing, touching and interacting with things, they have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher, they like to talk about themselves and bring their personal topics to the class, they have a limited attention span, and they easily get bored ( after 10 min) so they have to be engaged in extremely involving activities.
Adolescent students who are the best language learners, usually cause many problems with their behaviour. It happens mainly because of the search for the individual identity, they also look for peer approval which is vital for them, they want to show their boredom, and sometimes they bring problems from the outside of the classroom. They like however teachers who can deal with their misbehaviour, and manages to control it but in a constructive way without shouting but rather tries to help them. They are less motivated than the young children, and they are less humorous
Adult learners can deal with abstract thought, they have many life s\experiences to lean at, they expect that learning gives them certain benefits, they are more disciplined than adolescence students, they are prepared to struggle with boredom, they have some own learning ways and patterns, they may be taught with the use of various types of activities because they have a lot of knowledge about the world, they are usually motivated.
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