Adult and Second Language Learning

Adult and Second Language Learning
Author:
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2020-05-21
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0128203773

The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Volume 72 in this preeminent series, features empirical and theoretical contributions in cognitive and experimental psychology, ranging from classical and instrumental conditioning, to complex learning and problem-solving. Chapters in this new release cover Statistical learning predicts literacy acquisition of a foreign alphabetic and logographic language, An Investigation into Virtual Immersion Mandarin Chinese Writing Instruction with Students with Autism, Child and adult classroom L2 learners: uniqueness and similarities, and implications for cognitive models, Current Trends in Second Sign Language Research: Acquisition, Teaching and Assessment, Language Experiences and Cognitive Control: A Dynamic Perspective, and much more.

Becoming Fluent

Becoming Fluent
Author: Richard Roberts
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2017-02-03
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0262529807

Forget everything you’ve heard about adult language learning: evidence from cognitive science and psychology prove we can learn foreign languages just as easily as children. An eye-opening study on how adult learners can master a foreign lanugage by drawing on skills and knowledge honed over a lifetime. Adults who want to learn a foreign language are often discouraged because they believe they cannot acquire a language as easily as children. Once they begin to learn a language, adults may be further discouraged when they find the methods used to teach children don't seem to work for them. What is an adult language learner to do? In this book, Richard Roberts and Roger Kreuz draw on insights from psychology and cognitive science to show that adults can master a foreign language if they bring to bear the skills and knowledge they have honed over a lifetime. Adults shouldn't try to learn as children do; they should learn like adults. Roberts and Kreuz report evidence that adults can learn new languages even more easily than children. Children appear to have only two advantages over adults in learning a language: they acquire a native accent more easily, and they do not suffer from self-defeating anxiety about learning a language. Adults, on the other hand, have the greater advantages—gained from experience—of an understanding of their own mental processes and knowing how to use language to do things. Adults have an especially advantageous grasp of pragmatics, the social use of language, and Roberts and Kreuz show how to leverage this metalinguistic ability in learning a new language. Learning a language takes effort. But if adult learners apply the tools acquired over a lifetime, it can be enjoyable and rewarding.

Research Anthology on Adult Education and the Development of Lifelong Learners

Research Anthology on Adult Education and the Development of Lifelong Learners
Author: Management Association, Information Resources
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 1551
Release: 2021-03-19
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1799887340

Whether it is earning a GED, a particular skill, or technical topic for a career, taking classes of interest, or even returning to begin a degree program or completing it, adult learning encompasses those beyond the traditional university age seeking out education. This type of education could be considered non-traditional as it goes beyond the typical educational path and develops learners that are self-initiated and focused on personal development in the form of gaining some sort of education. Essentially, it is a voluntary choice of learning throughout life for personal and professional development. While there is often a large focus towards K-12 and higher education, it is important that research also focuses on the developing trends, technologies, and techniques for providing adult education along with understanding lifelong learners’ choices, developments, and needs. The Research Anthology on Adult Education and the Development of Lifelong Learners focuses specifically on adult education and the best practices, services, and educational environments and methods for both the teaching and learning of adults. This spans further into the understanding of what it means to be a lifelong learner and how to develop adults who want to voluntarily contribute to their own development by enhancing their education level or knowledge of certain topics. This book is essential for teachers and professors, course instructors, business professionals, school administrators, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the latest advancements in adult education and lifelong learning.

The Way of the Linguist

The Way of the Linguist
Author: Steve Kaufmann
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2005-11
Genre: Linguistics
ISBN: 1420873296

The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey. It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.

Handbook of Research on Adult Learning in Higher Education

Handbook of Research on Adult Learning in Higher Education
Author: Okojie, Mabel C.P.O.
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 756
Release: 2020-02-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 179981307X

In today’s globalized world, professional fields are continually transforming to keep pace with advancing methods of practice. The theory of adult learning, specifically, is a subject that has seen new innovations and insights with the advancement of online and blended learning. Examining new principles and characteristics in adult learning is imperative, as emerging technologies are rapidly shifting the standards of higher education. The Handbook of Research on Adult Learning in Higher Education is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of adult education in residential, online, and blended course delivery formats. This book will focus on the impact that culture, globalization, and emerging technology currently has on adult education. While highlighting topics including andragogical principles, professional development, and artificial intelligence, this book is ideally designed for teachers, program developers, instructional designers, technologists, educational practitioners, deans, researchers, higher education faculty, and students seeking current research on new methodologies in adult education.

How People Learn II

How People Learn II
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2018-09-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309459672

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has important implications for individual learning, schooling, workforce training, and policy. In 2000, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition was published and its influence has been wide and deep. The report summarized insights on the nature of learning in school-aged children; described principles for the design of effective learning environments; and provided examples of how that could be implemented in the classroom. Since then, researchers have continued to investigate the nature of learning and have generated new findings related to the neurological processes involved in learning, individual and cultural variability related to learning, and educational technologies. In addition to expanding scientific understanding of the mechanisms of learning and how the brain adapts throughout the lifespan, there have been important discoveries about influences on learning, particularly sociocultural factors and the structure of learning environments. How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures provides a much-needed update incorporating insights gained from this research over the past decade. The book expands on the foundation laid out in the 2000 report and takes an in-depth look at the constellation of influences that affect individual learning. How People Learn II will become an indispensable resource to understand learning throughout the lifespan for educators of students and adults.

Bringing Literacy to Life

Bringing Literacy to Life
Author: Heide Spruck Wrigley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 300
Release: 1992
Genre: Adult education
ISBN: 9780963370204

The result of a 2-year research study funded under the National English Literacy Demonstration Program for Adults of Limited English Proficiency, this handbook on adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) literacy education represents a synthesis of ideas derived from various sources. It is meant as a resource for teachers who have some experience in teaching but are new to ESL literacy. It contains the following nine chapters: (1) "Adult ESL Literacy: State of the Art," which discusses some of the special features of adult ESL literacy; (2) "Approaches and Materials," which maintains that meaning-based approaches show the greatest promise in helping adults develop full literacy; (3) "Teaching Adult ESL Literacy in the Multilevel Classroom," which shows that group work is the most effective strategy for dealing with multilevel classrooms; (4) "Using Computer and Video Technology in Adult ESL Literacy," which discusses the pros and cons of using technology in ESL literacy teaching; (5) "Native Language Literacy," which demonstrates that using the native language of the learners is a viable approach to introducing literacy to adults who are not literate in their first language; (6) "Learner Assessment," which shows that program-based assessments are superior to standardized tests; (7) "Curriculum," which demonstrates that curriculum decisions are value decisions that mirror a program's philosophy; (8) "Staff Development and Program Issues," which holds that effective staff development should focus on the social context, adult learning, second language acquisition, literacy development, and effective teaching processes; and (9) "Curriculum Modules," which presents 10 teaching units that demonstrate meaning-based teaching. (LB) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education)

Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English

Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2017-08-25
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309455405

Educating dual language learners (DLLs) and English learners (ELs) effectively is a national challenge with consequences both for individuals and for American society. Despite their linguistic, cognitive, and social potential, many ELsâ€"who account for more than 9 percent of enrollment in grades K-12 in U.S. schoolsâ€"are struggling to meet the requirements for academic success, and their prospects for success in postsecondary education and in the workforce are jeopardized as a result. Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures examines how evidence based on research relevant to the development of DLLs/ELs from birth to age 21 can inform education and health policies and related practices that can result in better educational outcomes. This report makes recommendations for policy, practice, and research and data collection focused on addressing the challenges in caring for and educating DLLs/ELs from birth to grade 12.

Migration, Adult Language Learning and Multilingualism

Migration, Adult Language Learning and Multilingualism
Author: Anna-Elisabeth Holm
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2023-11-23
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1000989402

This book extends lines of inquiry at the nexus of migration, adult language learning, and multilingualism, illuminating the lived experiences of migrants in the Faroe Islands and critical new insights into sociolinguistics from the periphery. Building on recent epistemological shifts in research on minoritized languages, this volume integrates threads from scholarship on migration studies, new speakers, and critical sociolinguistics in examining blue-collar workplaces in the Faroe Islands. In bringing greater attention to these contexts, Holm showcases how these sites, when analyzed via an ethnographic lens, reflect both the changing sociolinguistic landscape at the periphery in light of globalization and adult language learners’ commitment to language learning as a form of personal and social investment. In shedding light on the specific case of Faroese, the volume critically reflects on the specific challenges involved in acquiring a small language in a bilingual context and on those impacting the sustainability of minoritized languages, including the increasing use of English, and the opportunities for stakeholders in language policy and planning to promote greater social inclusion for adult migrants. This volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars in critical sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, language education, migration studies, and applied linguistics.