Mastering the phonological aspects of a second language (L2) poses significant challenges for adult learners, often affecting their intelligibility in acquiring that language (Derwing, Munro, & Wiebe, 1998). McAllister (1997) has highlighted L2 learners' struggles in perceiving and producing novel segmental features, which is corroborated by…

This article discusses the findings of qualitative case-study research that looks at pedagogical contexts of adult education programs for migrants in Cyprus, Scotland, Malta, and Estonia. The goal of this research is to understand how Learner-Centered Education (LCE) is promoted within a human-rights framework and implemented as an approach to…

Many second language pedagogy experts recommend that curricular and instructional planning should begin with needs analysis. Few, however, recommend assessing students' strengths, and those that do seem not to consider learners' strengths to be integral to planning or instruction. Teacher preparation programs and materials that foreground needs…

For decades, the majority of educational research has been preoccupied with understanding as a "product"--as various "learning achievements" and "subject mastery" to be measured and subsequently represented as statistics or test scores. This preoccupation is also observed in the field of second language education,…

The production-oriented approach (POA) is a nascent language-teaching approach that considers the aptitudes of Chinese learners. This study compared POA with task-based language teaching (TBLT) and presentation-practice-production (PPP) theoretically and empirically. A four-quadrant model and a theoretical comparison table are proposed to clarify…

This article reports a case study of older adults learning English in China. It indicates how, founded on consequentialist ethics, risk analysis, and safeguarding, it was decided to use covert research, drawing on the confluence of risk analysis, risk evaluation, risk management, safeguarding, research ethics, and important contextual and cultural…

Eighteen internationally trained professionals were paired-up with nine English language instructors for this project. Even though the focus was on extensive listening practice, the learners created spoken messages to send a response to their instructors every week. The schedule and deadlines established helped participants to be organized and…

Making adults learn from larger linguistic units can facilitate learning article-noun agreement. Here we ask whether initial exposure to larger units improves learning by increasing the predictive associations between the article and noun. Using an artificial language learning paradigm, we taught 106 Hebrew-speaking participants novel article-noun…

Adult migrants need to attain proficiency in the language of their host society to fully integrate into those communities and lead meaningful lives. The concept of literacy, centred on reading and writing, has evolved to encompass multiliteracies, integrating linguistic, social, and digital aspects. This broader approach acknowledges that learners…

English as an additional language (EAL) adult literacy learners have special needs and unique characteristics. The various challenges they face include decoding, comprehending, and developing basic skills for reading and writing. At the same time, it is extremely important to understand EAL adult literacy programming, as the right approaches for…

Offering a new perspective on adult English language education, this book provides theoretical and practical insights into how digital literacies can be included in the learning programmes for newly arrived adults from migrant and refugee backgrounds. "Enhancing Digital Literacies with Adult English Language Learners" takes readers…

Competent L2 writing has been described in research in terms of an increasing incidence, variety, and length of clauses; a countervailing compactness and tightness with reduced number of clauses even as clause length expands; and various interrelationships between syntactic realizations of texts and the genres they represent. These partly…

This book traces the motivational dynamics embedded within lifelong foreign language learning trajectories, examining the factors which generate and sustain motivation throughout a learner's life. Embracing a complexity approach, it views motivation as a long-term individual process that evolves along a narrative continuum, developing over the…

With the advancement of educational technologies, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) tools, like online dictionaries, are essential for acquiring a second language, especially new vocabulary. There has been no empirical focus on the usage of "Gabra" online dictionary in learning Maltese, with a specific focus on international…

Older adults bring considerable experience and knowledge to the table, and many are already proficient in several languages, they just need to add English to their repertoire. The article describes different challenges that older English learners face and provides examples and ideas for accommodations that ESL instructors can provide to support…