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Comparing Adult and Teenage Language-Learners

Most EFL teachers are trained to teach adults, not children, so it can be a shock the first time you have to teach younger learners, especially the very small ones, or younger teenagers who may be going through those "difficult years". This table deals with the second group and aims to highlight the differences you can expect to encounter when teaching young teenagers rather than adults.

	ADULT LEARNERS	TEENAGE LEARNERS
Language learning experience	May have studied English previously, may have studied other similar languages. This should help a lot.	Language learning experience may be limited, or may be negative – previous poor learning experience can de-motivate.
Aptitude	Probably “self-selected” i.e. those not having aptitude won’t sign up for a course	Aptitude may vary a lot, even with students of the same age.
Motivation	Probably motivated – they may have an immediate need for English for their job, university or travel	May be motivated, but may not be. It certainly can’t be assumed. In any case, initial motivation may not last..
Use of L2 (English) in class	Students usually willing to communicate in English as much as they can	Don’t usually see the point, and in any case rarely have the linguistic resources to say what they would wish to, so quickly resort to L1
Homework	They will usually do it if they have time – adults may however have other, more important, priorities	They expect to be given it but will only do it if motivated to do so (i.e. if they expect the teacher to check it, or if it’s something particularly interesting)
Classroom management	As long as activities are perceived to be useful, students will usually cooperate	External factors (long day at school, things to gossip about) can distract students.
Attention span	As long as the teacher’s..	Gets longer with age but never as long as an adult’s because of motivational factors.
Lesson content and structure	Room for flexibility here, sometimes lesson aims can be adapted to reflect student queries or mood	Teacher should have a clear idea of aims and structure. While lessons should be adapted to student needs, resist pressure to vary from desired goals if students seem not to be in the mood.
Tests	Useful for self-evaluation, but often feared.	Expected due to experience at school.
Other activities (video, computer, etc).	Usually popular, if seen as valid	Usually popular, but might be requested as a way of avoiding “harder” activities.
“Buying decision”	The student is the client, and needs to be convinced of value of course in order to re-enroll	Parents make the decision to re-enroll. Students may influence the decision. Re-enrollment rates are higher than for adults.

Considering these differences may help you plan suitable lessons for young teenagers, rather than expecting to be able to transfer your teaching style from your adult classes. See the links page for other online resources which may help.