Teaching Adults: andragogy, negotiation and valid assessment
What this specialism tests
The Adults option requires you to build a course around adults' self-concept, prior experience, time constraints and reasons for learning, and to show that you negotiate with learners rather than impose on them. The assignment is judged on whether your syllabus, scheme of work and assessment follow from that analysis, and whether you can distinguish a group of adults from a set of individual adults with different histories.
Core rules and concepts
- Andragogy, used critically. Knowles' principles - self-directedness, experience as a resource, problem-centred orientation, internal motivation - are a starting point, not a description of every adult. Adults with poor prior schooling may expect and want direction.
- Needs analysis. Combine a placement test, a questionnaire, a short interview and, where relevant, the sponsor's view. Separate wants (what learners ask for) from needs (what the target situation demands) and justify any decision to favour one.
- Affect and face. Adults carry histories of success or failure in language classrooms; tasks should let them save face - pair work before whole class, preparation time, no public correction of error.
- Syllabus. A negotiated or task-based syllabus mapped to CEFR can-do statements gives visible progress; make the link between lesson tasks and real use explicit.
- Assessment. Placement, progress and achievement serve different purposes - say which you are designing. Portfolios and recorded performance tasks suit adults who dislike tests.
Worked example
Twelve employees, mixed A2–B1, one 90-minute evening class per week for ten weeks; the stated goal is 'meetings and emails'. Placement plus a ten-item questionnaire plus the line manager's input show strong reading, weak listening, high anxiety about speaking in front of colleagues, and irregular attendance due to shift work. The syllabus is negotiated: units are built around meeting functions (giving an update, interrupting, checking understanding) and email genres (request, confirmation), with a recorded task every fortnight that learners may redo. Assessment combines those recordings with an email portfolio. The attendance risk is met with a shared online folder so missed input is recoverable.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating 'adults' as a needs profile; a mixed company class varies as much as any other.
- Assuming self-direction, then blaming learners for not doing homework.
- Ignoring the sponsor's requirements, or letting them override learners' wants without justification.
- Choosing a general coursebook and retro-fitting the rationale.
- Designing a formal written test for learners whose goal is spoken interaction.