A didactic proposal for teaching english as a foreing langauje to senior citicen students at univers

TOPIC OF THE THESIS

“A Didactic Proposal for Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Senior Citizen Students at Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador, 2008.”

FINAL DRAFT PRESENTED BY Anayanci Monjarás de Aparicio Cristina Concepción Salmerón Sorto

BACHELLOR OF ARTS, ENGLISH MAJOR

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Objectives

PAGE i iii

CHAPTER I: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 1.1 Background

1

1.2 Justification

9

1.3 Statement of the problem

10

1.4 Findings and Limitations

14

1.5 Concepts and Categories

17

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Theoretical and Methodological Bases

20

2.1.1 Pedagogic Contributions of John Dewey and Malcolm Knowles for Senior Citizen Students

26

2.2 Empirical Framework

30

2.3Theorical and Methodological Formulation of the Research

47

2.4 Development and Theoretical Definition

48

CHAPTER III: OPERATIVE FRAMEWORK 3.1 Description of the Research Subject

49

3.1.1 A Didactic Proposal for Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Senior Citizen Students

51

3.2 Data Gathering Procedure

59

3.3 Timeline

60

3.4 Resources

63

3.5 Preliminary table of contexts on final report

64

Bibliography Attachments

66 71

INTRODUCTION Senior citizen´s education is often referred to as andragogy (to distinguish it from pedagogy). Educating senior citizens differs from educating children in several ways. One of the most important differences is that senior citizens carry with them the baggage of all their previous learning experiences. These experiences could be mixtures of negative and positive aspects. They have a wide range of backgrounds, ages, attitudes, knowledge and experience. These previous knowledge creates prejudices of the subject matter even if they are supposedly complete beginners.

Nevertheless, senior citizen´s education has been long considered a minor force for Salvadorean society. The wealth of knowledge and the capabilities of senior citizens have been taken for granted in helping the development of the Salvadorean society. This research thesis examines aspects of the pilot program named “An Education Program for Seniors Citizens”. This program is collaboration between the Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador (UPES) and the Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social (ISSS). The finding of this research work aims to assist the educators involved in the program.

In general learning a foreign language can be challenging, but for senior citizens it brings other difficulties as memory and phonetic abilities diminish with age. The emphasis of this thesis is on how andragogy as a teaching model could help senior citizen´s educators build more effective teaching programs and overcome any challenges encountered when learning a foreign language.

This thesis is presented in three chapters. Chapter 1, “Conceptual Framework,” provides the justification for the research. The chapter is divided into five sections.

In the background a history of human education is presented. In the justification section it is argued how senior students take advantage all the benefits of education. In the statement of the problem, the research question why are senior citizens interested in continuing their learning is answered. The findings section introduces the different points of view regarding senior citizen´s education. In the limitation section it is argued that there is lack of research on andragogy practices 2

in El Salvador. The final section introduces a review of concepts and categories that will be used in further chapters.

Chapter 2, “Theoretical Framework”, looks at the theories and models applied in this research; it summarizes issues and assumptions about senior citizen teaching practices. In the empirical framework section the key of characteristics of the sample group used in this research are presented. It also provides andragogy methods for teachers to help senior citizens succeed in their learning process.

Chapter 3, “Operative Framework”, deals with the description of the research subjects. The chapter analysis the information gathered from the surveys, check lists and on-site observations. Based on these findings a didactic proposal for teaching English as a Foreign Language to senior citizen students was elaborated.

This didactic may assist educators prepare better teaching methods that can be applied at the Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador. Finally, a human and logistic resource toolkit and a bibliography are presented.

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OBJECTIVES

GENERAL OBJECTIVE



To propose a methodology for Teaching English as a Foreign Language to senior students at Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador, 2008.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE



To determine the factors involved in a methodology for Teaching English as a Foreign Language to senior students at Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador, 2008

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CHAPTER I: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 1.1

Background

Education has its origins in primitive communities, and the reference point is when man passes from being a nomad to becoming sedentary. Before the invention of reading and writing, people lived in an environment in which they struggled to survive against natural forces, animals, and other humans. To survive, preliterate people developed skills that grew into cultural and educational patterns.

The earliest educational processes involved sharing information about gathering food and providing shelter, making weapons and other tools, learning a language, acquiring values, behaviors, and religious rites or practices. Since they lived before the invention of writing, preliterate people used an oral traditions, or story-telling, to pass on their culture and history from one generation to the next.

People learned to create and use symbols, words, or signs to express their ideas.

When these symbols grew into pictographs and letters, human beings created a written language and made the great cultural leap to literacy. As the division of social classes emerged, not everyone had access to education; but there were always a few that had the opportunity to obtain it (Encarta Encyclopedia, 2009).

Throughout human history the first school for boys and girls had been at their home. It was known as informal education, which refers to the general social process of learning. Human beings acquire the knowledge and skills needed to function in their culture from their family and peers. Society exists through a process of transmission as much as biological life. This transmission occurs from older people to younger ones.

[Dewey, (2007)]: Society exists through a process of transmission quite as much as biological life. This transmission occurs by means of communication of habits of doing, thinking and feeling from the older to the younger without this communication of ideals, hopes, expectations, standards, opinions, from those members of society who are passing out of the group life to those who 1

are coming into it, social life could not survive. If the members who compose a society lived on continuously, they might educate the new – born members, but it would be a task directed by personal interest rather than social need. (p.7) According to Dewey, “education as the scientific method by means of which a man studies the world, and acquires cumulatively knowledge of meaning and values.

These outcome, however, are being date for critical study and intelligent living.”1 It was necessary to create a formal education as a second school for the development and acquisition of new knowledge, which impetus to a systematized education. Schools are indeed, one of the most important methods of transmission of learning.

Formal education refers to the process by which teachers instruct students in courses of study within institutions. It is possible to transmit all the resources and achievements of a complex society. It also opens a way to experience the world which would be accessible to the young. The formal education has applied studies and methods of teaching and learning, plus a formal program for the selection and organization of topics.

Dewey, “hence one of the weightiest problems with which the philosophy of education has to cope is the method of keeping a proper balance between the informal and formal education.”2 But social life demands teaching and learning for its own permanence. Education enlarges and enlightens experience; it stimulates an enrich imagination; it creates responsibility for accuracy and vividness of statement and thought.

Zmeyov (1998), “the main goal of education today is to provide individuals with multifaceted training, and principally with knowledge and skills for creating activities for adapting to the changes in the natural and social environment, or “noosphere” (to use the term of the great Russian scientist V. N. Vernadsky), and for lifelong

1 2

Dewey, John, Experience and Education, Firts Edition, New York 1997. Page. 10 Idem. Page. 16

2

learning” (p.104). In other words the main objective of modern education is to offer individuals a kind of education that will allow students to realize themselves. This means that education must offer learners every possibility of meeting their educational needs.

UNESCO (1998) in one of its documents establishes that, “education as a service is committed to satisfying the educational needs of its clients by creating education services required by learners and not constraining them to accept existing educational facilities. Diversified educational provision does not guarantee a high quality of education, but different educational service is in a constant state of competition. There is a price evaluation of educational services” (p.103).

All these changes in the status of education are arising largely out of the rapid and potent development of senior citizen´s education. Nowadays, senior citizens need to constantly raise the levels of their competences in harmony with each person atmosphere. Senior citizen´s education has been developed all over the world.

The practice of senior citizen´s education and the research conducted in different countries demonstrate that senior citizen´s learning requires its own specific principles and technology.

21st Century Science and Technology Magazine. (September 2005) Riana St. Classis: December 18th, 2008. A number of people have contributed to different educational sciences, which are found inside Agogics: Paidagogy, Pedagogy, Hebegogy and Andragogy. Paidagogy studies children education from three to six years old. Paidagogy comes from the Greek term paideia which has a double rootmeaning: learning as playing. That is the playful or exploring nature of learning and finding out was central in the classical education of the Greeks.

Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching children from elementary school. The origin of the word “pedagogy” is the Ancient Greek word paidagogas, which is derived from the word for the slave (pais) who leads (agogas) the children (also called pais) to school and then comes to mean the mode of instruction itself.

3

Hebegogy studies teenagers during their high school education (the term hebegogy is still in its stage of acceptance). The word comes from Greek and it means: Andros (man) and gogos (guide or lead) and the word adult etymologically comes

from

Latin

“adultus”

meaning

to

grow.

http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/Summer03/learning.html Knowles,

“andragogy is the art and science of helping adults learns.”3 The

andragogy is the theory of adult learning. It attempts to explain why adults learn differently than other types of learners. It is based on six crucial assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners that are different from the assumptions about child learners. And also it is a theory of educational practice, referring to the subjects – objects, the media and the construction and deconstruction of learning in humans. It should not be an overstatement to say that the education of senior citizens is an intensely personal activity.

Unfortunately, in Salvadorean society old age is often related with being ill and useless. They are perceived as not having an economic role to play and are socially marginalized. Increasingly, Salvadorean society is starting to disrespect its senior citizens.

There are reports that the elderly are being cheated of their

possessions and then are being left abandoned. Although this is only happens in limited occasions it is an alarming trend. This society ignores that senior citizens have a vast wealth of experience and the potential to acquire knowledge.

According to Baltes, Smith and Others “adults have gotten their wisdom through life experience and this practical knowledge system takes many years to acquire accumulating through intentional, planned experiences and through incidental experiences.”4 Now it is the time to give senior citizens the opportunity to share their knowledge, intelligence and wisdom and be involved in different types of activities. Today they have the time to obtain new skills and participate in new activities, including learning new skills. According to Dixon, “the study of the depth and breadth of 3

Merriam, S.B., Caffarela, R. S., and Baumgartner, L. M., Learning in Adulthood a Comprehensive Guia, Third Edition, San Francisco, 2007. Page. 84 4 Santrock, J. W., Life – Span Development, Fourth Edition, Iowa, 2000. Page. 592

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interest in intellectual changes during adulthood has increased dramatically in recent decades.”5 The fundamental question that researchers have struggled with over the years is: Does intelligence decline with age? Some researchers contend that intelligence functioning is a process of irreversible decline. However, for Thorndike et al., “intelligence either remains relatively stable through the adult years, with substantial intellectual changes occurring only very late in life”, or that “intelligence declines in some respects, remains stable in others, and may even increase in some functions, depending on a person’s educational level, life experience, and overall health.”6 John L. Horn argues that:

“fluid intelligent (one’s ability to reason abstractly)

decline but that crystallized intelligence, (an individual’s accumulated information and verbal skills) increase with age.”7 In addition, for Merriam and others. “A number of variables reducing the risk of intellectual decline in old age have been isolated such as living in favorable circumstances and maintaining substantial involvement in activities.”8 Salvadorean society through some institutions is looking for some solutions for the variety of problems that ageing creates; as a result the Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador and the Instituto Salvadoreño de Seguro Social (ISSS) have created programs for the senior citizens such as computer skills instruction, handcraft design, and English learning. A percent of senior citizens are already taking part of this project.

This is one of the challenges of the XXI century society where different researchers, educators, sociologists, psychologists, andragogies educators and institutions are trying to incorporate senior citizens in a new role in society. For now 5

Jarvis, Pater and Collin Griffin, Adult and Continuing Education: Major Themes in Education Volumen 4.

First Edition, New York, 2003. Page. 366 6 Merriam, S.B., Caffarela, R. S., and Baumgartner, L. M., Learning in Adulthood a Comprehensive Guia, Third Edition, San Francisco, 2007. Page. 366 7 Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., and Cocking, R. R., How People Learn, Expanded Edition, Washington D.C., 2000. Page. 590 8 Idem. Page. 389

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in this Salvadorian society the elderly are still discriminated. Monsignor Fahey director of Fordham University’s Third Age Center (2007) says that, “people in the third age should be the glue of society, not its ashes” (p.357). Senior citizens can be the role model than inspires the young in our society.

Education or formal and informal instruction clearly influences the cognitive development or enhancement of senior citizens. Merriam B. and others say: “cognitive development refers to the change in thinking patterns that occurs as one grows older.” and “Adult stage theories have been plentiful and have contributed to late adulthood development.”9 All of these contributions have been supported by John Dewey and Malcolm Knowles that is why they will be taken into consideration in this project.

Dewey argued that the learning experience must exhibit the two major principles of continuity and interaction. Dewey, “the principle of the continuity of experience means that every experience both takes up something from those which have gone before and modify in some way the quality of those which come after.” And “interaction refers to the situational influence on one’s experience.”10

In other

words, they are not separate from each other. One’s present experience is a function of the interaction between one’s past experiences and the present situation.

Dewey criticizes traditional education for lacking holistic understanding of students and designing curricula overly focused on content rather than content and process which is judged by its contribution to the well-being of individuals and society. On the other hand progressive education is too reactionary and takes a free approach without really knowing how or why freedom can be most useful in education.

Freedom for the sake of freedom is a weak philosophy of education.

Dewey argues that they must move beyond this paradigm war and to do that we need a theory of experience. Thus, he explains that educators must first 9

Merriam, S.B., Caffarela, R. S., and Baumgartner, L. M., Learning in Adulthood a Comprehensive Guia, Third Edition, San Francisco, 2007. Page. 357 10 Dewey, John, Experience and Education, Firts Edition, New York 1997. Page. 44

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understand the nature of human experience. Dewey, hence the central problem of education based upon experience is to select the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequent experiences.”11 Malcolm Knowles spent a career formulating a theory of adult learning based on research and experience related to the characteristics of senior citizen learning.

Knowles worked in a number of theories such as frameworks or models each of them contributed to understanding senior citizens as learners. He introduced the theory of andragogy to American adult educators in 1968. Knowles, promotes, “a new label in and new technology of adult learning.”12 Andragogy is a set of assumptions about how senior citizens learn. This theory of adult learning, attempts to explain why adults learn differently than other types of learners. [Knowles (1968), quoted by Merriam, Cafferella and Baumgartner, (2007)]: First, as a person mature, his or her self-concept moves from that of a dependent personality toward one of a self-directing human being. Second, an adult accumulates a growing reservoir of experience, which is a rich resource for learning. Third, the readiness of an adult to learn is closely related to the developmental tasks of his or her social role. Fourth, there is change in time perspective as a people mature – from future application of knowledge to immediacy of application. Thus, an adult is more problems centered that subject centered in learning. Fifth, the most potent motivations are internal rather than external. Sixth, adults need to know why they need to learn something. (p.84) The assumptions above bring a new way to teach senior citizen learners because this education requires special teachers, special methods, and a special philosophy. The learners are the real subject of this learning process; as they are volunteers, there is no compulsion involved when teaching senior citizens.

Therefore motivation is not usually a problem. They tend to seek out learning opportunities.

11

Dewey, John, Experience and Education, Firts Edition, New York 1997. Pp. 27-28 Merriam, S.B., Caffarela, R. S., and Baumgartner, L. M., Learning in Adulthood a Comprehensive Guia, Third Edition, San Francisco, 2007. Page. 84 12

7

Often, life changes such as marriage, divorce, a job change, termination, retirement or a geographical change serve as the motivation for the adult to seek new learning opportunities. They usually want to learn something that they can use to better their position or make a change for the better. Senior citizens bring a wealth of information and experiences to the learning situation.

They generally want to be treated as equals who are free to direct themselves in the education process. They are not always interested in knowledge for its own sake. Learning is a means to an end, not an end in itself. When senior citizens participate in a positive learning experience that follows the six assumptions of andragogy, they are more likely to retain what they have learned and apply it in their work environment.

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1.2

Justification

A retirement option for older workers is a late twentieth century phenomenon in America and is very slowly coming to countries such as El Salvador. At some point in time, societies must face the issue of how to handle retirement in a work – oriented world. Some senior citizens look forward to retirement and greatly enjoy its freedom. Others do not know what to do with themselves when they retire. They believe that their life satisfaction might be improved if they were to continue working.

In many countries unfortunately the possibilities of continuing to work are scarce because there are cultural and social standards encourage senior citizens marginalization, denying them the opportunity to continue an active and useful life in the society. Senior citizens who adjust best to retirement are individuals who are healthy, have adequate income, are active, are better educated and have an extended social network of friends and family. They usually were satisfied with their lives before they retired.

Nowadays, pedagogy has been the model that educators have used in the process of teaching and learning. Therefore, this research pretends to look ahead at a new alternative model. In order to contribute to the existing needs of the Universidad PedagĂłgica de El Salvador; this research will look at andragogy instead of pedagogy in the process of teaching English as a Foreign Language. This is the ultimate goal of this research: to demonstrate that there is an alternative way of teaching to senior citizens.

As globalization advances, people need to acquire more abilities and skills to contribute and work more efficiently to the development of society. One of the more useful skills for senior citizens is to master a second language.

Thus, it is

imperative to give them the best tools to enable them to learn the English language. This alternative model must be developed adequately if educators want to take advantage of all the benefits that it contains. Fortunately, it is not too late to apply an innovative model such as andragogy to teach English.

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1.3

Statement of the Problem

Why are senior citizens interested in continuing their learning? Nowadays, due to improved living conditions an increasing number of people are living longer.

Gerontological research has identified education as one of the most important factors of stabilizing health. Moody says that, “older learners bring with them special strengths of age and experience.”13 Learning promotes understanding among generations and eases the social generation gap.

The participating institutions of this project have found out that the specific teaching needs of senior citizens have not been sufficiently taken into account by language teachers and trainers. Their teaching methods often disregard the principles and characteristics of senior citizen language acquisition and seem to neglect senior learners´ needs and motivations.

If there is motivation to learn a language, why do only few senior citizens ever set foot in a language classroom? The answer is quite simple: they are not familiar with the environment associated with learning a new language. What they want is to learn alongside their peers, who are also absolute beginners as some of them never had the chance to learn a language in school. Almost all younger people nowadays have some knowledge of a Foreign Language. They are quick to grasp new facts and become impatient with senior citizens who need time to even find the correct page. O’Connor (1986) said. “Education is an essential provision at any age, since the very existence of humankind and its habitat, the earth, is at stake” (p.p. 9 -10).

Senior citizens usually have no background in the English area and paint themselves a terrifying picture of what it must be like. Therefore working as a language teacher for senior citizens put demands on the teacher´s didactical, methodical and social skills. The planned training course is meant to pass over and to enforce knowledge and skills which are needed for successful teaching to take into account andragogy.

13

Berdes, C. M., Zych, Adam and Dawson, G.D., Geragogics: European Research in Gerontological Education and Educational Gerontology. Volumen 13, Portland, Oregon, 1992. Page. 10

10

The qualification of language teachers for senior citizens is of crucial importance for the quality of further education in the context of lifelong learning. Moody (1987) argued that “late – life learning should not be a “frill” or a luxury, but a vehicle for social change” (p.9).

Malcolm Knowles spent a career formulating a theory of adult learning based on research and experience related to the characteristics of senior citizen learning.

Merriam B. Sharan and others (2007) in their book Malcolm Knowles proposes “a new label in and new technology” of senior citizen learning that he called Andragogy (p.84). The andragogy is based on a number of assumptions about the senior citizen learner. There are a number of frameworks or models, each of which contributed something to understand senior citizens as learners.

Andragogy is useful because it is focused on the senior citizen learner and his or her life situation. Andragogy considers the learner as the real subject of his or her learning process. This situation changes the roles and functions of both learner and teacher. But teaching is one of the most important parts for andragogical educators, who have the interest to educate to senior citizens. It could be said to be the theory of senior citizen learning that sets out the scientific fundamentals of the activities of learners and teachers in planning, realizing, evaluating and correcting senior citizen learning.

Perhaps more than in any other professional educational association, prison educators, whose students are very old, have incorporated Knowles’s instruction on senior citizen learning when designing their programs.

Dewey’s philosophy of education rested on the meaning of experience, in his book “Experience and Education” makes some of the most thoughtful observations about the connections between life experience and learning. Dewey postulates that “all genuine education comes about through experience.”14 He also says: “hence the central problem of an education based upon experiences is to select the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequent

14

Dewey, John, Experience and Education, Firts Edition, New York 1997. Page. 25

11

experiences.”15 His purpose was to ascertain how knowledge of the past might be translated into a potent instrumentality for dealing effectively with the future.

Dewey rejected the transmission of knowledge of the past as the endpoint of education and only emphasized its importance. Dewey, (1997) states: “education is a development within, by and for experience” (p.28), meaning that not all of experience is educative, only a portion. Furthermore, it is only by means of experience, by interacting with one’s environment, that a person becomes educated. Also there is an organic connection between education and personal experience.

The true goal of education, in its richer and fuller meaning, is the ever expanding capacity to appreciate more fully the living present. In developing a theory in order that education may be intelligently conducted and built on the basis of experience, Dewey concentrated on two aspects that provided the measure of the educative significance: the principle of continuity and the principle of interaction. According to Dewey, “the two principles are not separate from each other.”16 The principle of continuity is the longitudinal aspect of experience and the principle of interaction is the lateral aspect of experience. Dewey focuses on “growth or growing as developing, not only physically but intellectually and morally.”17 The interaction addresses the situated character of experience. It says that there is always some kind of interchange occurring between organisms and their environment. Moreover, a crucial set of elements within that interactive mix includes all the factors that people bring into their learning in the way of knowledge, needs, purposes, interests, the residue of past experience, their readiness to respond and so forth. According to Dewey, “interaction assigns equal rights to both factors in experience-object and internal conditions.”18 How a didactic for teaching English as a Foreign Language can be achieved in the learning and teaching process to senior citizen students? Hence a didactic 15

Dewey, John, Experience and Education, Firts Edition, New York 1997. Pp. 27-28 Idem. Page.44 17 Idem. Page.36 18 Idem. Page.42 16

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approach may prove very useful, especially if the senior students are encouraged to analyze what is transmitted to them, rather merely reproduce it. That is why didactic conceptions describe the reciprocal effect of teaching and learning in the learning interaction process.

A senior citizen didactic faces the needs to reach concretely usable skills, so it has to start from a reflection on adult age. This means that it is necessary to take in account cultural skills already gained by beneficiaries of the formative path like the population that has taken into account for effect of this research. In other words any didactic will have to adjust itself according to senior citizens’ student; so any further educational program will be connected with the experiences already matured. Any English course offer has to focus on learning willingness of learners; such willingness is influenced by some classic pointers (age, sex, level education, skill) and by various factors connected to life style.

Thereby, senior citizen didactic refers to teaching and learning at the adult age, whereby the concept already clearly states that senior citizens to a large extent learn outside and independently from the institutionalized classroom such as setting in daily life, at the workplace, in a self-guided manner and auto didactically.

However, “it is clear that the teachers of adults, besides having either the relevant knowledge of experience, require certain other characteristics in order to help senior citizens learn, including: Knowledge of the educational process, appropriate philosophy and attitude and teaching a personal skills.”19 Additionally, Amanda Hayes adds that “experience suggests that for students of any age, the most effective strategies are to reinforce learning through a wide range of stimuli and activities and to ensure that we check individual understanding and

competence,

encouragement”

giving

regular

feedback

and

offering

support

and

20

19

Jarvis, Peter, Adult Education and Lifelong learning Theory and Practice, Third Edition, New York, 2004.

Page.142 20 Hayer, Amanda, Teaching Adults, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York, 2006. Page. 4

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1.4 Findings and Limitations Findings A bibliographical research on the different points of view of the most recognized authors on the field of senior citizen education was conducted. This research analyses the information gathered in books, magazines, web pages and many other resources.

The book Experience and Education is a major contribution to educational philosophy, written by John Dewey (1997). In this book Dewey emphasized experience, experiment, purposeful learning, freedom, and other well-known concepts of “progressive education” (p.9). He also interprets education as the scientific method by means of which people study the world, acquire cumulatively knowledge of meanings and values” (p.10).

The book Democracy and Education also written by John Dewey says: “renewal of life by transmission. The most notable distinction between living and inanimate things is that the former maintain themselves by renewal. A stone when struck resists. If its resistance is greater than the force of the blow struck, it remains outwardly unchanged.”21 On the other hand, Dewey adds: “without such formal education, it is not possible to transmit all the resources and achievements of a complex society. It also opens a way to a kind of experience which would not be accessible to the young.”22 “Hence education means the enterprise of supplying the condition which insure growth or adequacy of life, irrespective of age.” Additionally, “the adult formed by such educative methods look back with impatient regret upon childhood and youth as a scene of lost opportunities and wasted powers.”23 The book Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language written by Marianne Celce – Murcia, (2001) explains how Malcolm Knowles in 1975 said “the main 21

Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, First Edition, New York, 2007. Page. 2 Idem. Page. 8 23 Idem. Page. 43 22

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thrust of early adult education was remedial. This began to change in 1919 when adult education was recognized as ‘a permanent national necessity, an inseparable aspect of citizenship’.”24 (p. 385) According to, The book Adult Learners: The definitive classic in Adult Education and Human Resource Development written by Malcolm Knowles, Elwood Holton III, Richard Swanson mentions, “adult learning becomes a powerful organizational improvement strategy when it is embedded in a holistic performance improvement system framework.”25 In addition, they consider that “education of adult has been a concern of the human race for such a long time. Yet, for many years the adult learner was indeed neglected species” (p.35). Malcolm Knowles is the pioneer of the term andragogy in North America. “Andragogy in practice model introduced how to apply it in different settings.” (P.p 3-4) he argues “andragogy is a core set of adult learning principles to different learners.” And “it works best in practice when it is adapted to fit the uniqueness of the learners and the learning situation.”26

Limitations To date there has not been a specific program for teaching English as a Foreign Language at Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador. Furthermore, andragogy as a way of teaching has not been fully developed. As a result there is limited research related to senior citizen’s education in El Salvador. However, the theoretical framework presented here is supported here by work of John Dewey and Malcolm Knowles. They have written different theories and models that bring a new way to develop the process of teaching and learning to senior citizens people.

In all likelihood, John Dewey’s (1997) most enduring influence is in the field of adult education and “he has established the greatest educational theorists most concise statement of his ideas about the needs, the problems, and the possibilities of 24

Murcia, Marianne C., Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, Third Edion, Boston, 2001.

Page. 385 25 Knowles, M. S., Holton III. Elwood F., and Swanson, R. A., Andrágogia. El Aprendizaje de los Adultos, Fourth Edición, México D.F., 2001. Page. 170 26 Idem. Page. 3

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education” (p.7). Also he postulates “all genuine education comes about through experience” (p.25). One the contrary Sharan B. Merriam and others, questioned that “adults have lived longer that children and thus have a quantity of experiences greater that children does no necessarily translate into quality experience that can become a result for learning; indeed, certain life experience can function as barriers to learning.”27 Therefore, “Knowles’s work suggests that is entirely consistent with his views. To the extent that andragogy is the right model of adult learning in a given situation, the andragogy in practice framework should improve its application” also “himself acknowledged in his autobiography that he no longer viewed andragogy as a complete theory.”

Some critics have pointed out, Merriam and others , “Andragogy has not been well tested empirically. However, reality is that none of the prominent theories or models of adult learning have been well tested empirically and all including andragogy, are in need of more research.” But Knowles answered to these critics: “I prefer to think of it as a model of assumptions about adult learning or a conceptual framework that serves as a basic for emerging theory.” 28

27

Merriam, S.B., Caffarela, R. S., and Baumgartner, L. M., Learning in Adulthood a Comprehensive Guia, Third Edition, San Francisco, 2007. Page. 86 28 Idem. Page. 163

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1.5

Concepts and Categories

This research is focused on different definitions of senior citizen education, senior citizen development, senior citizen learning, and qualitative research methods. The concepts presented in this there were obtained in The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, andragogy books, and others teaching resources.

Malcolm Knowles’s formulation of andragogy was the first major attempt in a comprehensive theory of adult education, andragogy: “the art and science of helping adult learn.”29 For Brookfield, “the concept of andragogy has had an enormous and far-reaching influence on the field of adult education practice.”30 Drapper believes that, “andragogy is integral to understanding the development of adult education as a field of practice.”31 For Paolo Freire, andragogy means conscientization : is deepening of the attitude of awareness characteristic of all emergence ... in contrast with antidialogical and non – communicative ‘deposits’ of the banking method, the programme content of the problem – posing method – dialogical part excellent – is constituted and organized by student’s view of the world, where their on generative themes are found.”32 For Dewey, “Education is thus a fostering, a nurturing, a cultivating, and process.”

And “Etiologically, the word education means just a process of leading or bringing

29

Merriam, S.B., Caffarela, R. S., and Baumgartner, L. M., Learning in Adulthood a Comprehensive Guia, Third Edition, San Francisco, 2007. Page. 84 30 Idem. Page.25 31 Idem. Page.3 32 Idem. Page.115

17

up.”33Also he says “education means the enterprise of supplying the conditions which insure growth, or adequacy of life, irrespective of age.”34 The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language explains that “experience is knowledge of feeling obtained through direct impressitions.”35 According to Dewey “experience has meaning; ‘practical’ indicates that the organism is interacting with events and objects which surround it.”36 For Knowles experience, “is a rich reservoir for future learning.”37 Dewey considered “education as a tool that would enable the citizen to integrate culture and vocation effectively and usefully. (http://www.siuc.edu). For Knowles adult education “is an attempt to discover a new method and create a new incentive for learning; it implications are qualitative, not quantitative.”38 In the Oxford English Dictionary (2009) knowledge is defined as expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/knowledge) The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (1990) defines learning as “a large and well organized body of usually no-scientific ideas, acquired and retained by long and great effort” (p.563). Learn is “to acquire knowledge of or skills in by study, instruction, practice or experience” (p.562). Learner is “a person who attends a university, colleges or school for study” (p. 983).

33

Merriam, S.B., Caffarela, R. S., and Baumgartner, L. M., Learning in Adulthood a Comprehensive Guia, Third Edition, San Francisco, 2007. Page. 10 34 Idem. Page. 43 35 The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, Deluxe Encyclopedic Edition, New York, 1990. Page. 332 36 Dewey, John., Art as Experiences, First Edition, New York, 1980. Page. 57 37 Jarvis, Peter and Collin Griffin, Adult and Continuing Education: Major Themes in Education Volumen 4, First Edition, New York, 2003. Page. 187 38 Knowles, M. S., Holton III. Elwood F., and Swanson, R. A., Andrágogia. El Aprendizaje de los Adultos, Fourth Edición, México D.F., 2001. Page. 38

18

David Kolb defines learning as “the process whereby knowledge is created though transformation of experience.”39 The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (1990) defines Teaching as an activity undertaken jointly by the interaction of 3 elements: a teacher or professor, one or more students or learners and the object of knowledge. (p. 1015) In the New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (1990) methodology is defined as “the analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline” or “the development of methods, to be applied within a discipline” “a particular procedure or set of procedures”. And Method is “a means or manner of procedure, especially a regular and systematic way of accomplishing something” (p.628).

New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (1990) defines retired as “withdrawn from one’s occupation, business, or office; having finished one’s active working life” (p. 849).

In the New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (1990), Senior citizen is “a person of relatively advanced age, especially a person at or over the age of retirement” (p. 907).

According to Jarvis, Didactics is the science of effective learning through teaching or instruction. Etymologically the concept comes from the Greek verb “didaskein”, which means both “to teach, to give lessons” and also “learning, being taught.”40

39

Merriam, S.B., Caffarela, R. S., and Baumgartner, L. M., Learning in Adulthood a Comprehensive Guia, Third Edition, San Francisco, 2007. Page. 146 40 Jarvis, Peter, Adult Education and Lifelong learning Theory and Practice, Third Edition, New York, 2004.

Page.142

19

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1

Theoretical and Methodological Bases

It is very important for teachers to provide a safe learning environment and treat language learning as a social process where comprehensible input is a must.

When it comes to senior students, English Language teachers must provide them with the appropriate instruction and personal treatment to allow for the development of their verbal skills. There is no best way to teach English language; that is why English teachers must find methods that are the most appropriate during the different stages of learning and then design curriculum to meet the learning needs of their students. In many ways, teaching a Foreign Language is a challenge, but it is possible to make the process not only educational but also fun.

The most important thing that can happen in a classroom is learning. Teaching and other factors only promote or assist it. Also, it is worthwhile for teachers to

be

aware

of

theories

of

learning

so

they

can

form

insights

to improve their effectiveness as teachers.

Certainly teaching methodology is very important.

In other words, using the

appropriate method can help senior citizens not only to acquire information, thoughts, and skills, but also to profit from these to develop their social skills and to deepen their understanding of life.

Being different from traditional university

students, they have some characteristics that distinguishing their education from other kinds of education.

Following Dan Landis, Janet Bennett, Milton J. Bennett agree that the term “method” and “methodology” are frequently misused. A methodology is a body of the methods and rules followed in a science or professions, or the study of the principles or procedures in a particular field. A method, on the other hand is defined as a procedures or process achieving an end”41 However, for Lindeman,

41

Landis, Dan, Bennett Janet, Bennett Milton J., Handbook of Intercultural Training, Third Edition, California. 2004. Page.38

20

has a finer point regarding senior adults, when he supports “methodology of adult education should be the analysis of experience.“42 Many of the learning theories described below have contibute to enrich this thesis.

Senior Citizen stage theories have been plentiful and have contributed for the late adulthood development. There are four prominent senior citizen stage theories which were developed by, Lev Vygotsky, John Dewey, Paolo Freire and Malcolm Knowles that will be taken into consideration in this thesis.

The major theme of Vygotsky's theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky states: "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals."43 A second aspect of Vygotsky's theory is the idea that the potential for cognitive development depends upon the "zone of proximal development" (ZPD): a level of development attained when children engage in social behavior. Full development of the ZPD depends upon full social interaction. The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone.

Vygotsky's theory was an attempt to explain consciousness as the end product of socialization. For example, in the learning of language. The first utterances with peers or adults are for the purpose of communication but once mastered they become internalized and allow "inner speech". Vygotsky's theory is complementary to the work of Bandura on social learning and a key component of situated learning theory. Because Vygotsky's focus was on cognitive development.

42

Landis, Dan, Bennett Janet, Bennett Milton J., Handbook of Intercultural Training, Third Edition, California . 2004. Page. 446 43 Vygotky, L. S., Mind in Society, First Edition, Massachesetts, 1978. P.p 56-57

21

This is a general theory of cognitive development. Most of the original work was done in the context of language learning in children although later applications of the framework have been broader.

Vygotsky 1978 provides the example of

pointing a finger. Initially, this behavior begins as a meaningless grasping motion; however, as people react to the gesture, it becomes a movement that has meaning. In particular, the pointing gesture represents an interpersonal connection between individuals. “ An operation that initially represents an external activity is reconstructed and begins to occur internally”, “An interpersonal process is transformed into a intrapersonal one”, “ The transformation of an interpersonal process into an intrapersonal one is the result of a long series of developmental events”44 (p56) The Principles Cognitive development is limited to a certain range at any given age. Full cognitive development requires social interaction.

The social cognition learning model asserts that culture is the prime determinant of individual development. Humans are the only species to have created culture, and every human develops in the context of a culture. Therefore, human learning development is affected in ways large and small by the culture–including the culture of family environment–in which he or she is enmeshed.

According to Vygotsky, knowledge acquisition is equal to internalization of the environment. Social constructivist approaches of this kind have, for sure, difficulty to incorporate individual differences and to account for processes of deviance Vygotsky moreover; the environment remains an objective infrastructure, external and independent of the processes of interiorization. There is however a powerful thread drawing together Vygotsky's diverse and stimulating writings: it is the way in which his mind works. Vygotsky was most interested in “how the social environment around us influenced our intellectual development”45 . John Dewey also shares Vygotsky’s point of view because Dewey’s argumentation enables to take both the subjective (individual) and intersubjective (sociocultural) dimensions

44

Vygotky, L. S., Mind in Society, First Edition, Massachesetts, 1978. P.p 56-57 Bransford, J. D., Brown A. L., and Cocking, R. R. How People Learn, Expanded edition,Washington, 2000.

Page. 80 45

22

of the construction of knowledge into account within the same constructivist framework.

Dewey’s constructivism has neither to recur to an objective world nor postulate an priory equipment of subjects with appropriate structures of knowing. Social interaction enables and forces everyone involved in it to pay attention to the contribution made by the other participants. To be able to continue the social interaction, one has to observe and consider with the objects and inferences which others construct. Dewey (1925) it is in this way that something is "literally made in common in at least two different centers of behavior.” p.141.

Dewey criticizes traditional education for lacking in holistic understanding of students and designing curricula overly focused on content rather than content and process which is judged by its contribution to the well-being of individuals and society. On the other hand, progressive education, he argues, is too reactionary and takes a free approach without really knowing how or why freedom can be most useful in education. Freedom for the sake of freedom is a weak philosophy of education. Dewey argues that we must move beyond this paradigm war, and to do that we need a theory of experience. Thus, Dewey (1997) argues that educators must first understand the nature of human experience “Hence the central problem of education based upon experience is to select the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequence experiences.” p.28.

The best- known socialcultural approach is Freire’s social emancipatory view of transformative learning. Freire’s orientation emerges from a context of poverty, illiteracy and oppression and focus on radical social change. In Freire’s approach, personal empowerment and social transformation are inseparable processes. His conceptions of conscientization and empowerment have contributed significantly to the underlying theorical framework of transformation learning.

Paulo Freire (1970) says that “education is the practice of freedom as opposed to education as the practice of domination.” He denies that man is abstract, isolated, independent, and unattached to the world; it also denies that the world exists as a reality

23

apart from people. Authentic reflection considers neither abstract man nor the world without people, but pea pie in their relations with the world. In these relations consciousness and world are simultaneous: consciousness neither precedes the world nor follows it. p.p. 43-55) Macedo, Donaldo (2000) and Freire Paolo (1970), in problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality but as a reality in process, in transformation. Although the dialectical relations of women and men with the world exist independently of how these relations are perceived or whether or not they are perceived at all, it is also true that the form of action they adopt is to a large extent a function of how they perceive themselves in the world. p.p. 11-26.

Hence, the teacher-student and the students-teachers reflect simultaneously on themselves and the world without dichotomizing this reflection from action, and thus establish an authentic form of thought and action. Freire Paolo, (1970) Problem-posing education, as a humanist and liberating praxis, posits as fundamental that the people subjected to domination must fight for their emancipation. To that end, it enables teachers and students to become subjects of the educational process by overcoming authoritarianism and an alienating intellectualism; it also enables people to overcome their false perception of reality.

The world no longer something to be described with deceptive words becomes the object of that transforming action by men and women which results in their humanization.

According Malcolm Knowles “the pedagogical model assigns the teacher full responsibility for making all decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, when it will be learned, and if it has been learned. The teacher – directed

24

education, leaving to the learner only the submissive role.”46 All this is opposed to how senior learners are set up to learn.

Part of this research is based on the observations carried out in the visits to the classroom where senior retired adults were learning English at the Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador. It was observed that they faced the challenges presented by the teacher with great expectation and motivation. They are a group who really desired to go forward. On the other hand, the teachers developed a traditional curriculum for teaching English as a Foreign Language and they apply pedagogy as a model to teach it.

During the research useful information was found about adult education. For example, John Dewey’s books: Art as Experiences, Democracy and Education, Experience and Education. Also Malcolm Knowles’ studies are used in this research particularly, The Adult Learner: the definitive classic in adult education and human, Andragogy in Action, Modern Practice of Adult Education: Andragogy versus Pedagogy.

Andragogy identifies characteristics of how senior citizens learn. This framework for senior citizen education has been widely used in the general education of senior citizens. It has been analyzed and critiqued. Also it has been alternatively described as a set of guidelines and also as a model.

Finally, these authors establish their theories and models that can contribute to the process of learning and teaching of senior citizen education at the Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador.

46

Knowles, M. S., Holton III. Elwood F., and Swanson, R. A., Andrágogia. El Aprendizaje de los Adultos, Fourth Edición, México D.F., 2001. Page. 62

25

2.1.1 Pedagogic Contributions of John Dewey and Malcolm Knowles for Senior Citizen Students Today in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language, the ideal is for a more democratic,

student-centered

approach,

in

which

the

teacher

facilitates

communicative educational activities with students. This model reflects in part the influence of communication based theories of language acquisition, but it also reflects, in large part, the influence of different pragmatist and progressive education theorists such as John Dewey and Malcolm Knowles.

Dewey’s and Knowles’ emphasis on democratic, student-centered education has ultimately filtered into English language teaching theory. They have similarly been influential in fostering student centered learning approaches in language education.

They criticize the traditional concept of teacher authority because senior students are sometimes left with very limited opportunities for creative expression in the classroom.

For learning to happen through experience, John Dewey (1997) argued that “experience must exhibit the two major principles of continuity and interaction.”47 “The principle of continuity means that the future has to be taken into account at every stage of educational process; whereas the principle of interaction explains how past experience interacts with the present situation to create one’s present experience.”48

In other words, Dewey believes that people’s current experience

can be understood as a function of their past experiences, which interacts with the present to create an individual’s experience. Any situation can be experienced profoundly in different ways because of unique individual differences; e.g., one student loves school, another hates the same school.

For Dewey (2007) adds

“freedom means essentially the part thinking plays in learning: intellectual initiative, independence in observation, judicious invention, foresight of consequences, and ingenuity of adaptation to them” (p. 245). He also says that “social life demands teaching and learning for permanence, and that the very process of living together 47 48

Dewey, John, Experience and Education, Firts Edition, New York 1997. Page. 44 Idem. Page. 47

26

educates,

enlarges

and

enlightens

experience,

stimulates

and

enriches

imagination, and it creates responsibility for accuracy and vividness of statement and thought” (pp. 10-11).

During the twentieth century, the term ‘progressive education´ has been used to describe ideas and practices that aim to make schools more effective agencies of a democratic society. Although there are numerous differences of style and emphasis among progressive educators, they share the conviction that democracy means active participation by all citizens in social, political and economic decisions that will affect their lives.

Dewey’s beliefs establish that the education of engaged citizens involves two essential elements: First, respect for diversity, meaning that each individual should be recognized for his or her own abilities, interests, ideas, needs, and cultural identity; and second, the development of critical, socially engaged intelligence, which enables individuals to understand and participate effectively in the affairs of their community in a collaborative effort to achieve a common good.

In the minds of many around the adult education field, andragogy and the name of Malcolm Knowles have become extremely linked. For Knowles, andragogy is divided on six crucial assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners that are different from the assumptions about child learners on which traditional pedagogy is founded. Malcolm Knowles and his andragogy model became particularly popular in North America and Britain as a way of describing adult learning. Andragogy and other models of adult learning see life experience as both a resource and a stimulus for learning. The method of teaching to senior citizen students’ interests and actively engaging the students in their own discovery; he discovered through his work with senior citizens that educators needed to care about the actual interests of learners instead of focusing on what educators believed were learners’ interests. Malcolm Knowles introduced andragogy based on a number of assumptions about the adult learner. Knowles originally advanced four assumptions, though in later publications, he also refers to a fifth and a sixth

27

assumption” (p.84). In a model of their own, Knowles, Holton and Swanson (2001) introduce how to apply andragogy in different settings.

Malcolm Knowles further stated that “this means in practice that educators now have the responsibility to check out which assumptions are realistic in a given situation.”49

49

Knowles, M. S., Holton III. Elwood F., and Swanson, R. A., Andrágogia. El Aprendizaje de los Adultos, Fourth Edición, México D.F., 2001. Page. 147

28

In the education of senior individuals, these assumptions represent an ideal starting point for teachers to use in their instructional approach. Application of these assumptions with respect to the type of course being taught and individual student needs can help create a learner centered approach to senior citizen education.

Another aspect that is taken in account in Malcolm Knowles model is the motivation to senior individuals. Knowles, Holton and Swanson found that “All normal adults are motivated to keep growing and developing, but this motivation is frequently blocked by such barriers as negative self – concept as a student, inaccessibility of opportunities or resources, time constraints and programs that violate principles of adult learning.”50 Teachers must learn why their students are enrolled (the motivators); they have to discover what is keeping them from learning. Then the teachers must plan their motivating strategies. A successful strategy includes showing senior citizen learners the relationship between training and an expected promotion. The role of the teachers in the andragogical model of pedagogy indicates that seniors should be aware that their role has changed, and that learner-centred classes will stimulate dialogue and knowledge construction. They will benefit from a scaffolding approach to learning where the teacher provides more support in the early stages of the course; this support is gradually faded until learners become self-reliant.

50

Knowles, M. S., Holton III. Elwood F., and Swanson, R. A., Andrágogia. El Aprendizaje de los Adultos, Fourth Edición, México D.F., 2001. Page. 68

29

2.2 EMPIRICAL FRAMEWORK The empirical research for this thesis was carried out at the Universidad PedagĂłgica de El Salvador. The subjects of the study are retired people from the Instituto SalvadoreĂąo del Seguro Social (ISSS). They are part of a new project that intends to help senior citizens to continue learning to enhance their potential. This program for senior people offers different courses suited to their individual needs.

For this research, students undertaking an English language course were observed while attending their lessons. There were 80 senior citizen students in the English class. These people are over the age of 55. They attend English classes twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.)

This study is descriptive as it is mainly based on observation of the subjects. The researchers used surveys, interviews and checklists. These research tools helped to identify the learning needs of senior citizens and the techniques required to better assist them in their learning. Unstructured observation was another strategy used to look into the behavior of both teachers and senior students in the classroom.

Surveys were used to inquire general information. such as: gender, ages, courses taken, and reason for taking this kind of course, benefits, expectations, learning material use in the class, course assessment, language skills, comments and suggestions of the course. The survey had 12 questions and each question sought to collect the essential information for this research. Senior citizen students attempted to answer the survey in 30 minute period.

The checklist was administered in subsequent visits to the classroom.

In the

checklist the most important components that senior citizen students wanted to include in their class were identified. The checklist had thirty three statements; these statements were evaluated with five different scores which are: much, sufficient, indifferent, a few, none.

An interview was conducted with the teacher. It consisted of nine questions about the experience of teaching senior students.

30

During the visits, there were a series of aspects observed and analyzed by the researchers in the class. The first impression was that the senior citizen students seemed very enthusiastic, confident, motivated; also they looked physically, socially, emotionally and creatively active in the classroom.

The classroom environment of senior citizen students was very comfortable. The teachers and students were friendly, they had a good relationship each other, and respect is another thing that is very important in the relationship between them.

And also the communication between teacher and students was clear. Teacher had established a nice and open atmosphere that shows the participants interested to learn. When a class is fun and interesting, they can learn much more and they do not need to try hard to understand the lessons.

According to researchers, the teacher-student relationship is the basis for high quality education. It is important that teachers and students share common vision of this course. Also the purposes of teachers is to develop the four basic skills in the English language, which are speaking, writing, listening, and reading. The students cooperated with their teacher in the class; as they interacted with the teacher and their peers they learned more about the English language. Students observed attitude of the teacher was motivation, as the students showed a desire to study English Language and were interested in their learning process.

31

Esta encuesta busca recoger información sobre el CURSO DE INGLES que ustedes están recibiendo. Les estaríamos muy agradecidos si nos responden el siguiente cuestionario ya que esta será información valiosa para llevar a cabo un trabajo de investigación sobre la pedagogía del idioma ingles y los adultos mayores.

Sexo:

Masculino

Su edad oscila entre:

40- 45

Femenino 46 - 50

51 – 55

56 ó más

1. ¿Ha tomado algún otro curso como este en los últimos 5 años? SI

NO

2. ¿Cuál es la razón principal por la cual usted escogió este curso de inglés?____________________________________________________________

3. ¿En un sentido amplio, de qué manera este curso le beneficiará?________________________________________________________

4. ¿Cuáles son sus expectativas al estudiar este curso de inglés?____________________________________________________________

5. ¿Qué le falta a este curso para que llene mejor sus expectativas?_______________________________________________________ 6. ¿Los materiales de aprendizaje utilizados son adecuados para usted?

SI

NO

7. ¿Qué tipos de recursos didácticos aplican el/la facilitador(a) en las clases de inglés?

Libros

Ejercicios

TV.

Juegos

Internet

Guía positiva

otros

8. ¿Cuál es la valoración general de este curso de inglés? __________________________________________________________________

32

9. ¿Si no ha estudiado ingles antes, le hubiera gustado aprenderlo en otro momento de su vida? Por favor, razone su respuesta._________________________________________________________

10. ¿Cree que han cambiado sus necesidades de aprendizaje? ¿Por qué cree eso?______________________________________________________________

11. Mi interés en el estudio del inglés es:

Aprender a hablarlo

Aprender a escribirlo

Aprender a escucharlo

Aprender a leerlo

12. Cualquier sugerencia o comentarios acerca de este curso podría expresarlo_________________________________________________________

¡Muchas gracias por su ayuda!

33

Frequency Statistics Table 1 Gender

Frequency

Percentage

Women

25

62.50%

Men

15

37.50%

Total

40

100.0%

GENDER 37.50% MEN

62.50%

It was interviewed to a greater percentage of women because the course is constituted by more feminine people than male people, in that sense, it is possible to affirm that women are more interested in learning English as a Foreign Language and possibly interested to take other types of courses that maintain senior citizens active in their daily life. It is to take in account that the population of El Salvador has a 2 to 1 proportion between women and men, which is accomplished in our survey.

34

Table 2 Age

Frequency

Percentage

56+

32

80%

51-55

4

10%

46-50

3

7.5%

40-45

1

2.5%

Total

40

100.0%

AGES 7.50% 2.50% 10% 56+ 51-55 46-50 40-45

80%

The data indicates that a acceptable percentage of people over 56 years old are interested in learning English and personal motivation to advance in it (to communicate with family, work, etc.)51 And their age is not an impediment to continue developing English skills.

51

The main reasons can be observed in the table and graph 4.

35

Table 3

Short term educational activities involved in the last five years

Frequency

Percentage

Yes

21

52.50%

No

19

47.50%

Total

40

100.0%

Short term educational activities involved in the last five years

48% 52.50%

YES NO

Senior citizens motivation is an important value because it shows them how to keep learning constantly. The last 5 years indicate that they have taken some type of course before. 52.50% of the population is taking this course in favor of their continuing education.

36

Table 4 Reasons why the English course is taken

Frequency

Percentage

Update and learning

12

30.0%

Mental Health

10

25.0%

Share with the family in other countries

10

25.0%

General culture

8

20.0%

Total

40

100.0%

Reasons why the English course is taken 20.00% 30.00%

Update and learning Mental Health Share with the family in the other countries

25.00% 25.00%

General Culture

Updating and learning are the main reasons why senior citizens are learning English. 30% of the population believes English is a universal language and they want to get information of the events around the world.

Mental health is the third

reason why senior citizens are studying, it means 25% of the populations are very dynamic people and they want to feel active. Also 25% of the students want to get in touch with their family and friends abroad. Finally, just a few senior citizens are learning for general culture.

37

Table 5

Appropriated material in the course

Frequency

Percentage

Yes

34

85%

No

3

7.50%

N/A

3

7.50%

Total

40

100.0%

Suitable material in the course 7.50% 7.50%

YES NO N/A

85.00%

The most of the population consider that the teaching material used by teachers is the most appropriate for the English classes. 85% of the population values that English books, photocopies and cd’s are given to each student at the beginning of the course. This is a very positive aspect because it helps to facilitate the learning acquisition.

38

Table 6 English skills that they want to develop

Frequency

Percentage

All of them

24

60.0%

Speaking

11

27.5%

Writing

3

7.5%

Listening

2

5.0%

Reading

0

0%

Total

40

100.0%

English skills develop in this course 7.50%

5.00% 0.00%

All of them Speaking Writing

27.50% 60.00%

Listening Reading

For 60% of the population is important and necessary to develop the four English skills to communicate.

This data shows that senior citizens want to finish the

English courses. 27.5% consider that the course should focus mainly on speaking skill because one of the most difficult barriers is the pronunciation fear. Writing and listening skills are the least they want to develop.

39

Table 7 Personal assessment of the English course

Frequency

Percentage

A+

18

45.0%

B+

12

30.0%

N/A

8

20.0%

C+

2

5.0%

Total

40

100.0%

Personal assessment of the English course 5.00% 20.00% 45.00%

A+ B+ N/A C+

30.00%

In general it can conclude that the English course has an excellent acceptance for senior citizen students because almost 50% of the course evaluated the course with A+, they think teachers have used the most appropriate methodology for the learning process.

40

Table 8 Senior citizen students suggestions and comments about the course

Frequency

Percent

Satisfactory program

12

30.0%

N/A

9

22.5%

Continuing of the course

6

15.0%

Extending schedule

5

12.5%

Others

8

20.0%

Total

40

100.0%

Senior citizen students suggestions and comments about the course 20.00% 30.00% Satisfactory program N/A

12.50%

Following of the course Extending schedule Others

15.00%

22.50%

Comparing the pie graph above with pie graph 7, there is a correlation in the percentages obtained, observed specifically between the A+ qualification and satisfaction and continuity of the course, respectively. This pie graph shows the different student made comments from which the general comment which is their desire to continue the course.

41

Esta encuesta busca recoger información sobre el CURSO DE INGLES que ustedes están recibiendo. Les estaríamos muy agradecidos si nos responden el siguiente cuestionario ya que esta será información valiosa para llevar a cabo un trabajo de investigación sobre la pedagogía del idioma ingles y los adultos mayores.

La medida de las cosas que me gustan de este curso son:

Mucho

Bastan

Indife

te

rente

Poco

Nada

1.Escuchar el vocabulario nuevo.

2.Ver por escrito el vocabulario nuevo para aprender.

3.Practicar el vocabulario nuevo para aprenderlo.

4.Que hagamos las actividades de lectura.

5.Que el profesor me haga participar en clases.

6.Que el profesor dedique tiempo a las explicaciones gramaticales.

7.Que me corrijan los errores cuando hablo o escribo inglès 8.Que el profesor nos haga practicar la pronunciacion en voz alta.

9.Practicar el inglès con el profesor.

10.Preguntarle el profesor cuando no entiendo.

11.Que el profesor nos pida que hagamos los ejercicios de Escritura del libro.

12.En mi casa reviso lo que hacemos en clases.

13.En mi casa veo televisiòn/peliculas en inglès.

14.Practico el inglès con mis compañeros fuera de clase.

42

15.En mi casa, leo libros, y publicaciones en inglès.

16.Hacer las actividades en grupo.

17.Trabajar en parejas.

18.Hacer las actividades solo.

19.Que el profesor explique en espaĂąol.

20.Hacer la practica de laboratorio por mi cuenta.

21.Cuanduo estudio en la casa, le doy importancia a la gramatica del libro.

22.Que el profesor nos asigne presentaciones de temas diversos.

23.Escuchar cds con los dialogos y otras cosas del libro.

24.Que el profesor de fotocopias con actividades extra.

25.Que gramaticemos los dialogos del libro.

26.Que el profesor pida que inventemos dialogos.

27.Que preparemos dramatizaciones de obras.

28.Aprender por medio de juegos.

29.Cantar canciones en inglès.

30.Ir al laboratorio a realizar las practicas con mi grupo de clase.

31.Que hagamos todas las actividads del libro.

32.Ver peliculas y videos en clases.

33.Que revisemos los ejercicios del libro de trabajo.

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PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHECKLIST The checklist used to collect the information regarding the teaching/learning preferences of the senior citizens studying English at the Universidad PedagĂłgica in San Salvador was administered twice. The software used to do the analysis was SPSS version 12 and the statistical procedure was Factor Analysis. The processing was done with the purpose of seeking the most important factors involved in a methodology for teaching English as a Foreign Language to senior citizen students.

It was administered in two hours with the development of different activities, such as: the research group presentation to the class, introducing the topic’s research, the explanation of the research, asking for the collaboration to fill out the checklist and then giving the checklist with components that should be applied in an English course. The participants included forty senior citizens who completed the checklist and returned it.

The Factor Analysis using the information of the questionnaires administered identified the most important components that senior citizens want to include and improve in their classes. These components have been taken into account to propose a new teaching program. factors:

As seen below the procedure rendered 3

Factor 1 on column 1 gives the activities that should be part of any

pedagogy to teach English to senior citizens. Factor 2, shown in column 2, includes secondary activities that can complement the activities mentioned in Factor 1.

Factor 3 includes activities that the English teacher to senior citizens can use, but are not mandatory. The mandatory ones, again, should be those in Factor 1.

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Senior Citizen English Teaching/ Leaning Expectations Components Correcting reading and speaking mistakes Practicing the pronunciation aloud Checking homework by the teacher Doing reading activities Asking questions to the teacher Practicing the new vocabulary Explaining grammar structures Practicing English with the teacher Writing the new vocabulary Listening to the new vocabulary Motivating the Ss to participate in the class Checking the books exercises in class Practicing grammar focus at home Listening dialogues and other activities Reviewing the classes at home Giving extra activities to the students Assigning different topic to the students Visiting the lab Performing the dialogues Creating new dialogues Watching movies in class Learning through the play Visiting the lab Working in pairs Singing English songs Working alone Practing in the lab Explaining the class in Spanish Watching English TV at home Working in groups Reading English books and journals, etc Giving performances Practing English with someone else

1

2

3

100.0% 95.0% 95.0% 95.0% 95.0% 92.5% 92.5% 92.5 % 92.0% 90.0% 90.0% 90.0% 85.0% 80.0% 77.5% 77.5% 75.0% 75.0% 72.5% 72.5% 72.5% 70.0% 62.5% 60.0% 60.0% 57.5% 57.5% 57.5% 52.5% 52.5% 37.5% 32.5% 30.0%

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Esta entrevista busca recoger información sobre la enseñanza de los cursos de inglés en los adultos mayores. Les estaríamos muy agradecidos si nos responden el siguiente cuestionario ya que esta será información valiosa para llevar a cabo un trabajo de investigación.

¿Qué experiencia ha obtenido enseñando inglés a los adultos mayores?_________________________________________________________ ¿Cómo se sintió dentro de estos grupos de adultos mayores?_________________ _________________________________________________________________ ¿Considera que hay una diferencia de aprendizaje entre el adulto y el adulto mayor?___________________________________________________________ ¿Cuáles son las ventajas de trabajar con estos estudiantes?__________________ ________________________________________________________________ ¿Cuáles son las desventajas con estos grupos de adultos mayores?___________ _________________________________________________________________ ¿Le gustaría seguir enseñando a los adultos mayores? SI

NO ¿porque?_____

_________________________________________________________________ ¿Cuáles son los métodos que usted aplica para la enseñanza del idioma inglés en los adultos mayores?________________________________________________ ¿Cree usted que los adultos mayores tengan la capacidad para aprender un nuevo idioma?___________________________________________________________ ¿Cree que la experiencia del adulto mayor le facilita el aprendizaje de un nuevo idioma?___________________________________________________________ Muchas gracias por su colaboración

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2.3 Theoretical and Methodological Formulation of the research Some theories of senior citizens learning focus on their characteristics while some others focus on the adult’s life experience. Acoording Malcolm Knowles (2001) “the pedagogical model assigns the teacher full responsability for making all decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, when it will be learned, and if it has been learned. The teacher – directed education, leaving to the learner only the submissive role” (p. 62). All this is opposed to how senior learners are set up to learn.

Part of this research is based on the observations carried out in the visits to the classroom where senior retired adults were learning English at Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador. It was observed that they faced the challenges presented by the teacher with great expectation and motivation. They are a group who really desired to go forward. On the other hand, the teachers developed a traditional curriculum for teaching English as a Foreign Language and they apply pedagogy as a model to teach it.

During the research useful information was found about senior citizen education.

John Dewey in his book Experience and Education makes some of the most thoughtful observations about the connections between life experience and learning. He (1925), postulates that “all genuine education comes about through experience.” p.p. 27-28, 39.

Andragogy identifies characteristics of how senior citizens learn. Some of these characteristics were observed in the population of senior citizen students. This framework for senior citizen education has been widely used in the general education of senior citizens. It has been analyzed and critiqued. Also it has been alternatively described as a set of guidelines and also as a model.

Finally, both authors establish their theories and models that can contribute to the process of learning and teaching of senior citizen education at Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador.

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2.4 Development and Theoretical Definition Pedagogy as a contrasting theory is traditionally an approach for teaching children.

Andragogy, on the other hand is, for teaching adults. Pedagogy is generally teacher-centered, with the teacher deciding who should learn what when and how.

Andragogy is learner-centered, allowing learners to direct how learning occurs.

Andragogy brings with it six assumptions, popularized by Knowles, which point out that adults, unlike children, have much life experience which allows them to more immediately contribute to a discussion, and because of that experience and the busy lives they lead; adults prefer problem-based learning that is applicable to their lives. Following an andragogical approach, a teacher becomes a facilitator of learning, providing materials and resources and keeping discussions in the right direction, but stays out of the way to let learning happen.

Malcolm Knowles in his book “The Modern Practice of Adult Education: Andragogy Versus Pedagogy� (1970), differentiates the two disciplines as follows:

ASSUMPTIONS About:

Pedagogical

Andragogical

Self-concept

Dependent Personality

Increasingly self-directed

Experience

To be built on more than used as a resource

A rich resource for learning by self and others

Readiness

Uniform by age-level an curriculum

Develop from life task and problems

Orientation to learning

Subject-centered

Task or problem-centered

Motivation

By external rewards and punishments

By internal incentives, curiosity

Need to know

what the teacher teaches

why they need to learn something

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CHAPTER III: OPERATIVE FRAMEWORK 3.1 Description of the Research Subjects The research sought to provide senior citizen students who participated in this thesis with a new model for learning English. There were around 80 senior citizen students in the class that consider themselves competent to learn English as a Foreign Language. These people were over the age of 55, male and female, from San Salvador and from professional and semi-professional background.

They

attended English classes at the Universidad Pedagรณgica de El Salvador, twice a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Their course length was 6 months. From this group, a sample of 40 senior citizens participated in the study.

In this work the researchers found many necessities and expectations of the senior citizens about the learning process. During the observations, there was a series of aspects analyzed by the researchers in the class. The researchers observed the senior citizen students very enthusiastic, confident, and motivated. They also looked physically, socially, emotionally and creatively active; when asked, they were able to articulate a vision, and also inspire others to achieve much in the way of learning.

The classroom environment of senior citizen students was very comfortable. The teacher and students are outgoing; they had a good relationship with each other, they respected each other and the communication was clear. Teacher had established a pleasant and open atmosphere in which the participants were able to show their interest in learning.

The descriptions above have helped the researchers look for a better didactic that can help to improve the way of teaching English as a Foreign Language in senior students at the Universidad Pedagรณgica de El Salvador. But this contribution cannot be possible without a thorough examination of the different authors who have included senior citizens in their research. The theories of Malcolm Knowles 49

have been used to develop the andragogy proposal presented here.

The

researchers have also used the theories of John Dewey, whose ideas have also been influential in the understanding of how to teach senior citizens.

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3.1.1 A Didactic Proposal for Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Senior Citizen Students.

This research is based on a didactic proposal for teaching English as a Foreign Language to senior citizen students. It takes as sample senior students who are attending an English course at the Universidad Pedagรณgica de El Salvador. The main core for this didactic is to apply the found components in a structured methodology. This didactic should be applied at the beginning of each course, so the students with teachers can review their needs.

The didactic structure is divided in the following steps: abstract, introduction, methodology and conclusion. It is very important to take into account the new knowledge acquisition of senior citizen students. In addition, they take part of the future and alternative solutions to the society. Thus, this didactic will contribute to know the English skills, but including the senior citizens experiences.

This didactic will be useful to senior citizen students because it will support to get new knowledge. Also it will help to obtain the objectives set at the beginning of this research.

Abstract The objective of this work is to present a didactic for teaching English as a Foreign Language with a focus on how senior citizen students learn and like to be taught.

Studies on aging have demonstrated that learning ability does not decline with age except for minor considerations such as hearing and vision loss, additionally, the age of the senior citizen learner is not a major factor in language acquisition.

Finally, it must go without saying that the context in which senior citizens learn is the major influence on their ability to acquire the new language.

The difficulties senior citizens often experience in the language classroom can be overcome through adjustments in the learning environment, attention to affective factors, and use of effective teaching methods. The greatest obstacle to senior citizen language learning is the doubt in the minds of both learner and teacher that

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senior citizens can learn a new language. The research found out the language activities that the senior citizens studying English at Universidad Pedagรณgica should have in their methodology for more effective learning.

Introduction Many senior citizens, retired people sometimes, feel attracted to English because they are now at a stage when they have more free time to read, enjoy movies, or travel and they know that English is like a lingua franca. The mastery of English is an important skill to assist in understanding new cultures. A language is not just the words spoken; it illustrates how individuals view their culture, history, society and their way of life. Learning foreign language is not longer seen as something, which happens only within a formal school or university curriculum. Nowadays, senior citizens can also study at open learning schools, where they study for the sake of learning and not for obtaining a qualification.

Senior citizens who decide to attend foreign language courses want to be able to develop their communication skills which may be directly linked to their jobs or occupations. For example, they want to be able to make or answer a phone call from a client, write or answer letters or to welcome and exchange with tourists in they work in their tourism sector, explaining a menu if they work as waiters or describe and sell houses to foreigners if they work as real estate agents. From these particular needs universities or colleges can focus their expectations and provide personalized courses directly in relation with theses expressed needs.

The Didactic Proposal The ideas of John Dewey and Malcolm Knowles have been used to put together this didactic for teaching English as a Foreign Language to senior citizen students.

Teaching senior citizens should be a pleasurable experience, as long as teachers design programs that meet the needs of the senior citizen learners. The most important issue in learning languages lies in negotiating and designing an

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individualized language learning path. The main principles about senior citizen’s education are self-concept, experience, readiness, and orientation to learning, motivation and need to know which. Seniors and adults are motivated and more conscious than young people or children and want to be involved and manage their own learning. They want to be empowered regarding their own learning.

Language learning based on real life experience, as expressed by John Dewey, integrates practical aspects, which are of high importance for this target group. A particularly open atmosphere among students allows reflection within the group.

This serves as a basis for making new, positive learning experiences and for the development of a step-by-step teaching system that allows for individual and personal education.

Teaching senior citizens means giving support, help, and guidance to transform them into more autonomous individuals, responsible of their learning more than providing them with knowledge. Effective senior citizen language learning programs are those that use materials that provide an interesting and comprehensible message based in the four English language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Teachers can help senior citizen learners succeed by eliminating affective barriers, making relevant and motivating material and determining the learning strategies of senior learners.

Sometimes some language teaching methods may not be appropriate for senior citizens students. For example, some methods rely primarily on good auditory discrimination for learning; and since hearing often declines with age, this type of technique puts the senior learner at a disadvantage. Exercises such as oral drills and memorization, which rely on short - term memory, also discriminate against the senior citizen learners. The senior citizens learn best not by roteing. Speed is also a factor that works against senior citizens, so fast-paced drills and competitive exercises and activities may not be successful with senior citizen learners.

The Didactic proposal presented here and which is at the core of this research work can be used in educational courses for teaching English as a Foreign

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Language to senior citizen students. The research generated three main groups of activities. When preparing English lessons, teachers have to focus on the factors presented in Group 1 and must be included as mandatory in their methodology.

Group two are important factors but can be dispensed with if needed. Group 3 factors are optional. Of course, the emphasis the teacher makes when designing the lesson plans depends on the context, as there may be situations in which he or she will have to resort to activities from Group 3 as central to reach the course objectives.

The research found that for senior citizens the most important factors to be included when designing classes were: correcting reading and speaking mistakes, practicing, listening and writing the new vocabulary, explaining grammar structures, practicing English with the teacher in class, motivating senior citizens to participate in the class.

The activities that teachers should focus on as generated by the first factor in the statistical analysis: Correcting Reading and Speaking Mistakes The teacher does not need to correct every mistake. More correction does not lead to fewer mistakes. If the teacher corrects too much, it could have a negative influence on the senior citizen’s willingness and motivation to participate in the class. Recent research indicate that correcting errors in students’ speech and writing is less effective in promoting correct language use that is commonly believed.

Instead of correcting mistakes, teachers can encourage senior citizens to correct their own mistakes. Teachers can give a surprised look when he / she hears a mistake, or shake his / her head and wait for the student to try again. Hand gestures can also be effective. At the end of the class, the teacher can write up some mistakes on the board and ask the students to correct them. All of these

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methodologies help senior citizens think about the mistakes they make, and help them remember next time.

Practicing, Listening and Writing Vocabulary Practicing Vocabulary Use of Realia. It is done by bringing real objects into the classroom (like postcard + book + pen + schoolbag + vegetables) and everything that is worth to be brought to the classroom.

Flashcards. This is very effective in the way that it facilitates the process of learning for any age students. Teachers can bring colorful pictures to the classroom and then show senior citizens what the things are.

Mime and Pantomime. It is done through gestures and facial expressions and also via actions.

Listening for Vocabulary Senior citizen learners need to apply the same approach to listening skills.

Encourage them to get a film, or listen to an English radio station, but not to watch an entire film or listen for two hours. They should often listen, but they should listen for short periods - five to ten minutes. This should happen four or five times a week. Even if they don't understand anything, five to ten minutes is a minor investment.

However, for this strategy to work, students must not expect to improve their understanding too quickly. The brain is capable of amazing things if given time; students must have the patience to wait for results. If a senior citizen continues this exercise over two to three months their listening comprehension skills will greatly improve. In addition, is suggested that listening can be improved by practicing listening in a language lab using headphone using audio and video for three months.

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Writing the Vocabulary For this component the researchers suggest to write the vocabulary on the board, on paper and on flashcards. Senior citizen learners like practicing the written ability and this is one of the best suggestions for this target group. This methodology can be used to teach other subjects to senior citizens or adult people.

Explaining Grammar Structures Research in language learning has found that grammar teaching is indispensable for ESL/EFL learners; for this reason, English teachers have to think about the learner needs/purpose and their habits of learning and the learning type in order to decide on a best approach. Even though previously it was thought that grammar teaching was out of date and inappropriate to use in a classroom. Senior citizens suggest to be taught with explicit grammar lessons. The teacher can do controlled grammar and free grammar practice too, so that they can ideally move on to using the structure on their own. Finally, teach the function of the structure such as talking about routine, past events, future activities, etc while practicing or introducing a new grammar structure.

Practicing English with the Teacher in Class An example of how this method can work is the Hot Card. A HOT CARD, it is just a small piece of construction paper with words HOT CARD on one side, and the following instruction written on the other side: "IF YOU HEAR SOMEONE SPEAKING SPANISH, PASS THIS CARD TO HIM / HER. A PERSON WHO HAS THIS CARD AT THE END OF THE LESSON WILL HAVE AN EXTRA TASK. The punishment should be entertaining but educational. Give to the learners a small article to read (something related to their interests; singers, actors, computers etc.)

And retell it in the next lesson. It works with adults and teenagers.

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Motivating the Senior citizens to Participate in the Class Senior citizens are usually in the classroom because they have made the choice to be there and in most cases they have made a financial commitment towards their learning and they know exactly what they want to achieve by improving their language skills. The first step in enhancing motivation is that teachers need to understand and appreciate the role and importance of learning. One of the most successful ways, if the teacher is resourceful and skilful enough, to motivate his/her students to participate in the lesson is to use “pair work” or “group work” appropriately. Here have been included some suggestions which might be effective strategies and guidelines to use with senior citizens learners.

Split materials into “bite-size chunks” which people are able to understand, use the whole-part-whole concept, showing the overall picture followed by the details and then a refresher with the overall picture. It is also important to make the material relevant, as close to the actual requirements of that person’s job, explain why certain assignments are made and their relevance to the overall course or training sessions. Plenty of documentation for the learner should be supplied, usually in the form of hands-on experience and paper documentation. Students should work in groups, since they would rather ask other students for assistance rather than ask the course instructor. Teachers should add a little “spice to their life” by giving student some degree of options and flexibility in their assignments. They should also create a climate of “exploration” rather than one of “prove it.” It should be remembered to keep the course requirements in perspective to the amount of time for the course. Students need to be equipped with enough knowledge and skill to complete the assignment, rather than setting the person up for failure and bend the rules. By being flexible and willing to adapt to the needs of the senior citizen learners, the teacher can be a motivating force in the classroom rather than a hindrance and demotivator.

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Correcting Pronunciation Something which has been proved useful for students of all ages is using a little mirror and looking at themselves while pronouncing difficult sounds. After being corrected by the teacher, they should try to imitate his or her pronunciation as accurately as possible. The mirror is fun and it really makes them aware of the position of their face, jaw and lips. Pronunciation is something physical, like learning to dance or going to the gym and students also look at themselve in the mirror to check that they move correctly.

Also another technique is when the teacher has to help the learners get to know how to use the dictionary more effectively. There comes a challenging task of teaching pronunciation, functional category, distinct layers of meaning, usage and model sentences along with idioms and phrasal verbs.

Conclusion This proposal is ready for implementation and piloting. It has been prepared based on the latest andragogy theories and practices with the hope that University authorities can use these findings to prepare suitable methodologies that serve the needs of senior citizens. Nowadays, if senior adults want to learn English they are mixed together with people of all ages and there is no methodology in practice that targets this group of learners. It is now for the administration of the Universidad Pedagรณgica to evaluation this didactic proposal. It is expected that teachers can implement these findings when designing their courses of English as a Foreign Language.

Teaching Senior citizens implies different methodologies and strategies to those used with children or youth. The processes of learning English as a Foreign Language to senior citizen students at Universidad Pedagรณgica. Let senior citizens know what skills should be able to develop by the end of the English course. Also, if teachers are performing a group dynamics class, the teachers explain what the purpose to achieve. Only then they can evaluate their level of satisfaction. The

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follow steps are: The Didactics, Teaching – Learning, Senior Citizens, Teachers, Andragogy Model, Methodology, Activities and Final Goals.

3.2 Data Gathering Procedure For the gathering of data, surveys, interviews and a checklist were used. The survey, collected general information from the senior citizens being studied.

Teachers were also interviewed to gather their experiences in the process of teaching English as a Foreign Language.

The checklist collected the senior

citizens’ necessities and interests.

Not only these techniques helped to identify the needs of senior citizens, but also observation was an indispensable tool to explain the interaction between teacher and senior citizen students, the classroom environment and other aspects of their learning process.

The survey was used to collect data on the following aspects: gender, ages, courses taken, and reason for taking this kind of course, benefits, expectations, learning material use in the class, course assessment, language skills, comments and suggestions of the course. Teachers were asked nine questions about general and specific information of the development of the English teaching experience with senior citizen students. A checklist was used to measure the most important details for the senior citizen students at the time they were taking English classes.

The checklist had thirty three statements; these statements were evaluated with five different categories, namely; much, sufficient, indifferent, a few, and none.

Statistical analysis was conducted, using SPSS 12.0 computer software (for Windows). The results were entered into tables and graphs. Additionally, an analysis was developed to report the results. The tables summarize the analysis of survey results on each of the eight factors to get a better picture of population surveyed.

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3. 3 Timeline Specialty: English Language Academic Advisor: Licenciado José Israel Oliva Topic: “A Didactic Proposal for Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Senior Citizen Students at Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador, 2008.”

Activities: Documental Research Dic / Field Research 2008

Jan 2009

1 2 3 4 1 2

3

Feb 2009 4

1

2

March 2009 3

4 1

2 3 4

April 2009 1

2

May 2009 3

4

June 2009

July 2009

Agust 2009

Sept 2009

Oct 2009

Nov 2009

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

INVESTIGACIÓN DOCUMENTAL

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Selección de bibliografía Lectura de citas bibliográficas Elaboración y lectura de fichas bibliográficas y de resumen Fichas de conceptos y categorías Redacción teórica Introduction Antecedents of the problem Meeting with the advisor Justification

1.5

Meeting with the advisor

1.6 1.7

Statement of the problem Meeting with the advisor

1.8

Goals and Limitations

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1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13

Concepts and Categories Meeting with the advisor Edition first draft Presentation first draft Meeting with the advisor

Activities: research/ Field

Documental Dic 2008

Jan 2009

Feb 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

Agust 2009

Sept 2009

Oct 2009

nov 2009

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 12 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 2 THEORETILCAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15

Documental research: theoretical methodological bases Meeting with the advisor Empirical framework Instrument design Meeting with the advisor Field attendance: Instruments application Field attendance: observation Organization of the information Meeting with the advisor Theoretical methodological formulation of the research Meeting with the advisor Development and theoretical definition Edition second draft Presentation second draft second draft correction

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Activities: Documental Research Dic / Field Research 2008

Jan 2009

Feb 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

Agust 2009

Sept 2009

Oct 2009

Nov 2009

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 3 OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9

Description of the subjects of the research Meeting with the advisor Data gathering procedure Meeting with the advisor The pilot proof development Meeting with the advisor Chronogram Meeting with the advisor resources

Preliminary table of contents on final report 3.10 Meeting with the advisor 3.11 Bibliography 3.12 Meeting with the advisor 3.13 Edition third draft 3.14 Presentation third draft 3.15 Third draft correction

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3.4 Resources Human Resources Teacher Senior citizen students from the English course The director of the Social Outreach Program Logistic Resource Universidad Pedagogica de El Salvador Surveys Checklist Observations Camera Photocopies Laptop computer Internet Telephone PC Bond paper Flash memory Books Ink Money 63

3.5 Preliminary Table of Contents of the Final Report Conceptual Framework The general and specific objectives are a fundamental part of the development of this research, because they are used to clearly state the results the researchers want to achieve. The background to this study presents some theories and models applied in senior citizens education. The justification section provides the reasons why the research is carried out and clarifies what is the object of the study. The statement of the problem is a clear description about how senior citizens have the capacity to learn a Foreign Language. Among the limitations found in the development of this research was the lack of bibliography related to senior citizen education. The concepts and categories are the keywords that help to understand the process of this research

Theoretical Framework The theoretical framework has been designed to facilitate theoretical contents, for teaching English as a Foreign Language to senior citizen students. This theoretical framework also has the most prominent pedagogic contributions for this research.

This research is based on John Dewey and Malcolm Knowles’ viewpoints. They base their theories and models on senior citizens education. For example John Dewey proposed a philosophy of experience about the nature of how humans get the experiences, in order to design effective education. Inasmuch as, learning and teaching is most effective when it is experience-based. Similarly, Malcolm Knowles argues that a person can accumulate a growing reservoir of experience that respects their maturity and harnesses during their life. John Dewey sets a philosophy of democracy where societies must have a type of education which gives individuals a personal interest in social relationships and control, and the habits of mind which secure social changes without introducing disorder. Parallelly, Malcolm Knowles says that every senior citizen must become a laboratory of democracy, a place where people may have the experience of learning to live co-

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operatively. John Dewey’s model of pprogressive education has been used to describe ideas and practices that aim to make schools more effective agencies of a democratic society. It is a natural development, growth from within the experience.

It offers freedom from the static nature of traditional education and growth through students’ present experience. However, Malcolm Knowles realizes that a key component of senior citizen education is the flexibility of its model. He did this by outlining six assumptions in which andragogy is different from the traditional forms of pedagogy. The empirical framework is included in this chapter. It is based from a sample of senior citizens from the Instituto Salvadoreùo del Seguro Social. It was necessary to elaborate some surveys for gathering of the data. Theoretical and methodological research and the development and theoretical definition consist in the fundamental theoretical aspects that are extracted from the background.

Operative Framework This chapter presents a general framework about gathering, data processing, and analyzing data. This information was obtained from the different visits to the research field during December 2008 and January 2009. The gathering information was collectived using a survey, an interview and a checklist. The results of these instruments reflect that senior citizen students are pleased with the English course.

They look forward the challenges of learning a new language with a great expectation and motivation; they are people who really desired to grow. The pilot test development was done at the beginning of the research. The research presents a didactic proposal for teaching English as a Foreign Language with a focus on how senior citizen students learn and like to be taught. The timeline of activities was the guide followed during the research from September 2008 to December 2009.

The resources were the most important aspects during this

research. In this research were necessary human resources and logistic resources.

These resources helped to elaborate this thesis for teaching English as a Foreign Language.

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Attachments

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Senior citizen students´ photos during an English course

The Didactic proposal is necessary to toward for teaching Senior citizens implies different methodologies and strategies to those used with children or youth. The processes of learning English as a Foreign Language to senior citizen students at Universidad PedagĂłgica. Let senior citizens know what skills should be able to develop by the end of the English course. Also, if teachers are performing a group dynamics class, the teachers explain what the purpose to achieve. Only then they can evaluate their level of satisfaction.

Didactics

Teaching – Learning

Senior Citizens

Teachers

Andragogy Model

Methodology

Activities

Final Goals