Teaching a child to read and write is the same process as teaching adults; the only difference is the learner.

Children and adults have different awareness levels and adults have more concrete learning priorities than children.

To understand deeply the nature of adult learners, we should take into consideration their characteristics:

1.      Adult learners are more independent. Children would just sit and rely on what the teacher would teach them but adults tend to be more involved in the learning process. They just can’t sit there the whole day and listen. Interaction is important to know the scope of an adult’s level of understanding. Adults digest things faster than children. That’s why it may not be relevant to continue discussing things that they may understand on their own.

2.      Adult learners are focused on their goals.  They must attain higher education to better their lives. An adult’s goal may be as simple as that but when you are young and there’s so much distraction around, the motivation to attain that simple goal may be cold. But when you are already an adult with lots of circumstances and responsibilities to face the motivation to learn and be education is the strongest.

3.      They want to learn practical things. Learning complex theories won’t be practical for the adults. They want to see the relevance of the lessons taught to their day to day living. They want to learn about applied principles and proficiencies rather than of theories.

How to Motivate an Adult Learner

  • Emphasize the value of self-respect. It is very degrading for an adult to be a liability to his family. It had always been a core value in many cultures that the elders in the family should guide and teach the younger ones. An adult could feel down when he can’t even help his children in their school work or if he needs to depend on his children that are literate.
  •  Make them feel that they are not alone. Illiteracy is a stigma for some. Assure them that there’s nothing shameful about yearning for education. Having people from their social circles at the same class won’t make an adult so embarrassed about his illiteracy.
  • Appreciate their improvement. A small stride could be a big achievement for an adult learner. Take note of their improvements and motivate them to do better.

Give value to community service. An adult learner should be aware of the service that he could give to the community while enriching his self. This will boost his self-esteem and would make him strive more.

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