Andragogical Principles and Adult Learners in the Teaching of English

for Specic Purposes (ESP)

Randall Esteban Blanco Navarro Manuel Antonio Navarro Godínez Milady Liseth Esquivel Ibarra

InterSedes, Revista electrónica de las sedes regionales de la Universidad de Costa Rica,

ISSN 2215-2458, Volumen XXV, Número 51, Enero-Junio, 2024.

10.15517/isucr.v25i51 | intersedes.ucr.ac.cr | intersedes@ucr.ac.cr

A: Certain particularities should be considered for the teachers of English for Specic Purposes

(ESP) when they instruct adult learnes is in light of adult learning theories that ESP practitioners could

strategically devise lessons for adult learners. rough the years, English language teachers of diverse

students may have disregarded the age factor. Minors and adults internalize knowledge and develop

language skills at dierent paces regardless of similar teaching conditions. is bibliographic review

aims at discussing andragogical principles and ways of approaching and tailoring adult English language

learners during the instructional or curriculum design in ESP contexts. A brief comparison of pedagogy

and andragogy yields some insightful dierences between teaching minors and instructing adults. It

is commendable for ESP practitioners to consider that adult learners respond dierently to academic

endeavors and require curricular accommodations to eectively learn this target language. us,

devising lesson plans and classroom instruction for adult language learners compel scrutiny of some

andragogy principles, and this paper summarized some of the latest research ndings to tackle English

language instruction for this population.

R: Este artículo se enfoca en algunas particularidades que docentes de inglés con Propósitos

Especícos (IPE) debería considerar mientras instruyen estudiantes adultos. Las personas docentes de

IPE pueden estratégicamente diseñar lecciones para discentes adultos a la luz de teorías de aprendizaje en

adultos. A través de los años, las personas docentes de inglés que atienden diversos estudiantes podrían

haber ignorado el factor de la edad. Personas menores de edad y adultos internalizan el conocimiento

y desarrollan habilidades lingüísticas a ritmos distintos a pesar de condiciones de enseñanza similares.

Esta revisión bibliográca tiene como objetivo discutir principios andragógicos y maneras de abordar

y adaptar a estudiantes del inglés adultos durante el diseño instruccional o curricular en contextos

IPE. Una breve comparación entre la pedagogía y la andragogía arroja algunas diferencias perspicaces

entre enseñar a menores e instruir a adultos. Es recomendable que las personas docentes de inglés para

propósitos especícos consideren que el alumnado adulto responde diferente a los esfuerzos académicos

y requieren adecuaciones para aprender este lenguaje meta efectivamente. Así pues, tanto la elaboración

del plan de lección como la instrucción para el alumnado adulto requieren de un escrutinio cuidadoso de

los principios andragógicos y los más recientes resultados de investigaciones resumidos en este artículo

para abordar la instrucción del inglés para esta población.

Universidad de Costa Rica. Golto

randal.blanco@ucr.ac.cr

Universidad de Costa Rica.

San Isidro del General, Pérez Zeledón

mangodi1@yahoo.com

Universidad de Costa Rica.

Heredia

milady.esquivel.ibarra@est.una.ac.cr

Publicado por la Editorial Sede del Pacíco, Universidad de Costa Rica

P : Inglés con Propósitos Especícos, Andragogía, aprendiz adulto, enseñanza del inglés,

diseño instruccional, modelo ABBIE, aprendizaje experiencial, aprendizaje auto direccionado

K: English for Specic Purposes, Andragogy, adult learner, English language teaching,

instructional design, ADDIE model, experiential learning, self-directed learning

Principios Andragógicos y Aprendices Adultos en la Enseñanza del Inglés con Propósitos

Especícos (ipe)

Recibido: 9-5-23 | Aceptado: 5-7-23

C  (APA): Blanco Navarro, R., Navarro Godínez, M.A., Esquivel Ibarra, M.L. (2024). Andragogical principles

and adult learners within the teaching of english for specic purposes (ESP). InterSedes, 25 (51), 1-30 . DOI 10.15517/

isucr.v25i51.54709

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Introduction

Most theoretical considerations for teaching English as a Foreign

Language (EFL) or as a Second Language (ESL) have been oriented

to young children and adolescents. As a result, English language

(EL) teachers who attempt to follow the methodological tenets

of English for Specic Purposes (ESP) may have been devising

their lesson plans, techniques, activities, and didactic materials

for diverse learners, but with limited considerations about the way

adults learn. Notwithstanding, there is no single approach for ESP

practitioners to teach adults beyond tertiary levels; e existence

of adult learning principles could guide EL instructors into the

teaching context for their English students over twenty-ve years

old. Although not conclusive, this bibliographic review oers ESP

professionals some principles that they might consider with adult

English language learners.

ESP has been gaining more attention in Costa Rica (Blanco-

Navarro, 2021; Chevez, 2009; Córdoba-Cubillo & Navas-Brenes,

2012; Quesada-Pacheco et al., 2020; Yeraldín et al., 2015), but an

overview of the ESP literature signals that practitioners could be

disregarding their learners’ age and what it means to study this

target language at an older stage. Even though adult language

learners already hold jobs as doctors, engineers, accountants,

secretaries, and others, Purwati et al. (2022) suggested EFL

teachers follow a set of adult learning principles. In their attempt

to handle professional registers or jargon in the target language

(Evans, 2004), adult language learners could encounter learning

diculties, anxiety, frustration, and fears of failure or ridicule

(Castañeda, 2017). eir cognitive and aective needs vary

greatly due to the age factor (Araujo, 2018), and ESP practitioners

should address this issue under the herein tenets of adult learning

principles.

ESP practitioners seek to empower their students to

ccomplishing specic occupational or academic communicative

tasks (Basturkmen, 2010). rough a needs analysis, these

facilitators start uncovering communicative tasks, discourse

communities, the participants’ wants and needs, the stakeholders’

expectations, and many more aspects that would shape the design

of an ESP course (Brown, 2016). Nonetheless, the age factor

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BLANCO ET AL. | Andragogical Principles and Adult Learners

deserves more attention in ESP settings where learners tend to

be older (Cozma, 2015) and in the need of handling professional

registers or jargon to gain involvement in target communities

(Evans, 2010). How andragogical principles could strategically suit

adult learners in ESP contexts pends exploration.

Younger students from tertiary education or graduate programs

may respond more eectively to pedagogical principles, but ESP

practitioners could have avoided exploring and implementing

adult learning theories among participants with ages over 25

(Bocanegra-Valle & Basturkmen, 2019). Clearly, this overlook of

adult learners reects what Kakoulli Constantinou and Papadima-

Sophocleous (2021) armed: “the eld of ESP Teacher Education

(TE) remains neglected” (p. 89). e age factor (Hashim & Othman,

2006) has played a key role in second language acquisition studies,

but its inuence on ESP adult learners lingers further investigation.

A narrowed perspective over adult learners may have prevailed

in ESP. In fact, Schwarzer (2009) suggested “look[ing] at adult

learners as whole persons rather than just ESL learners… as

parents, spouses, employees or business owners, neighbors,

churchgoers, and members of various communities” (p. 28). is

broader view of the adult learner embraces more personal factors

like family life and job responsibilities worth deserving more of

the ESP instructors’ attention. While arguing for this notion of

ESL adults as “whole learners”, Schwarzer (2009) also pointed out

seven fundamentals to support a holistic approach: “constructivist

teaching, authentic learning, inquiry-based lessons, language

learning, a developmental process, alternative assessment, and

community of learners” (p. 28). Even though these key concepts

are highly applicable in ESP, they should be interpreted under the

main principles of adult education theories.

erefore, this paper aims at reviewing andragogical principles

and ways of tailoring adult language learners during instructional

or curriculum design in ESP contexts. As EL teachers attempt to

implement ESP tenets, their lesson plans and classes could most

likely resemble GE and English teaching methodologies that have

been developed with children and teenagers in mind, without fully

addressing adult language learners’ needs and expectations.

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Dening Adult Learners

Clarifying the concept of adultness represents a challenge.

e concept might be conceptualized lawfully or biologically, yet

turning into a grown up goes way beyond voting or reproducing.

e majority of short or long-time studies as to age in L2 acquisition

are far more oriented towards little kids, toddlers, and teens.

Despite the established concepts of a critical period and ultimate

attainment, Larsen-Freeman and Long (2014) armed that “a

good deal of controversy has been generated around whether the

age at which someone is rst exposed to a SL… aects acquisition

of that language in any way” (p. 274). Most SLA researchers hardly

ever clarify about the exact age and the prole of an adult learner.

Regardless of compiling age dierences in L2 acquisition, Saville-

Troike and Barto (2016) certainly abstained from dening an

accurate age for a learner to be regarded as an adult.

is bibliographic report verbalizes the diculty of dening the

concept of an adult learner, but the establishment of age categories

would oer some guidance. First, the United Nations conrmed in

the 1985 General Assembly that young adults range ages between

15 and 24 years. Such description mirrors Arnett’s (2000) proposal

regarding the concept of emerging adults for people whose age

falls into that span. Second, Costa Rican citizens over 65 years are

declared senior citizens, so plenty of discussion is likely to happen

as to dening the age for a person to ocially be considered an

adult, both in and out SLA investigation. Tracing an age scope is

an estimate since the social notion of adultness involves aspects

related to economic autonomy, conjugality, parenting, and so forth

(SNTCWebinars, 2019). In this literature review, L2 adult learners

are those individuals whose ages range between 25 and 64 years

at the time of attending ESP lessons. eir exact age of onset of

acquisition (AoA) (Herschensohn, 2013) is omitted.

Adult Learning Theoretical Considerations

Research over the ways adults learn began over a hundred years

ago. Knowles et al. (2005) stated that Harry Overstreet’s publication,

e Mature Mind, in 1949 represents the earliest integrated

framework in adult learning. One of Knowles’ rst contributions

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BLANCO ET AL. | Andragogical Principles and Adult Learners

entitled Informal Adult Education in 1950 highlighted that adults

would welcome informality and exibility while studying. en,

the term andragogy was introduced by Dusan Savicevic in 1967,

and just a year later Knowles published Andragogy, Not Pedagogy.

e study of the unique characteristics of adult learners has gone

steady progress for several decades, but their repercussion in ESP

deserves more attention.

Much controversy has risen over the issue of whether andragogy

should be labeled as a theory of adult education or not. e fact is

that this term has been employed to refer to the teaching adults as

to their preferences and encouragement to internalize knowledge.

In sharp contrast, andragogy’s tenets dier notoriously from

pedagogy. Knowles et al. (2005) explained that the andragogical

model is grounded in six didactic notions: the need to know,

the learners’ self-concept, the role of the learners’ experiences,

readiness to learn, orientation to learning, and motivation (pp. 64-

68). Indeed, the implications of these characteristics of andragogy

in EFL were already analyzed by Purwati et al. (2022), for adult EL

learners need an adaptable teaching-learning environment guided

by self-direction whereby relating personal experiences with new

pieces of knowledge. How to implement, adjust, or reconsider

andragogical principles in ESP remains relatively unexplored.

ese postulates of andragogy vary as to the tenets addressed

to children or adolescents whereby conventional pedagogy is

claimed. Hägg and Kurczewska (2019) recommended that a dual

notion of both pedagogy and andragogy be required for novice

adult learners whose ages range from 18 to 29, as determined by

Arnett (2000). However, this paper focuses on adult learners (25

to 64 years old) because Bocianu and Radler (2018) highlighted

“the importance of making the dierence between pedagogy and

andragogy in the instruction process for adult education in general

and ESP in our case… to meet both their needs and those of

national and international labour markets (p. 70)”. A comparison

of pedagogy and andragogy led Knowles et al. (2005) to emphasize

dierences in terms of eight process elements. By reviewing these

dierences, ESP practitioners would comprehend the importance

of restraining from pedagogical and teacher-centered mindsets

when working with adults. Younger learners ponder very little about

tracing instructional objectives, contributing to lesson planning,

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targeting specic language needs, or becoming passive recipients

of what knowledgeable teachers signal as worthy of learning. On

the other hand, adult learners resent not being involved in those

processes and encountering formal, authoritarian, and teacher-

centered class environments.

Table 1:

C  P  A L T

Particularity Pedagogy Andragogy Instructional

Design

Experiential

Learning

Departure A stablished

curriculum

Conducting a

needs analysis

Conducting a

needs analysis

e adults’

experiences

Curriculum

Design

Forward

process

Backwards

process

Backward

process

Either forward

or backward

process

Learner’s role Passive as a

recipient of

knowledge

Active, oen

self-directed

Active, oen

self-directed

Active, oen

self-directed

Learner’s

duties outside

class

Very few to

none

Many (full or

part-time job,

parenting,

marriage, etc.)

Many as an

active worker

Not applicable

Source: Own elaboration

One of the main dierences between pedagogy and andragogy

is what triggers the process of instructional or curriculum design:

the diagnosis of needs. In andragogy and ESP contexts, a Needs

Analysis (NA) oen takes place before curriculum design and

classroom instruction, and the adult learners and their stakeholders

play an active role in determining what their needs are. Whereas

pedagogy places the entire responsibility of diagnosing needs on

the teacher, andragogy and ESP welcome the involvement of adults

in assessing their needs, arranging the curriculum, negotiating the

objectives, consulting with subject matter experts (SMEs) (Ghafar,

2022) or specialists (Woodrow, 2018), collaboratively overcoming

in-class subject knowledge dilemmas (ISKDs) (Anthony, 2018),

among other issues. ESP holds a quite close learner-instructor

anity named shared expertise since “learners are likely to

have more experience than the teacher in the specic area being

targeted” (Hall, 2012). Such shared knowledge allows ESP scholar

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BLANCO ET AL. | Andragogical Principles and Adult Learners

instructors to conquer burdens during language instruction

(Bocanegra-Valle & Basturkmen, 2019, p. 137).

Needs of Analysis in ESP and Adult Education

EFL classroom environments in K-12 or tertiary education are

adhered to a rigid standard course of study. However, a similarity

between andragogy and ESP is the concern over the diagnosis

of students’ needs that would shape the curriculum. In fact, the

eld of Instructional Design (ID) also addresses the participants’

needs from the very beginning (Seel et al., 2017). When ESP

practitioners conduct an NA, they follow a backward-design

process or ecological approach to curriculum design (Richards,

2017) that clearly resembles both an andragogical principle and a

step in ID. Lindenman and Dewel (1926) armed,

In conventional education the student is required to adjust

himself to an established curriculum; in adult education

the curriculum is built around the students’ needs and

interests. Every adult person nds himself in specic

situations with respect to his work, his recreation, his family

life, his community life, and other situations which call for

adjustments. (as cited in Knowles et al., 2020, p. 37)

While conducting the NA, ESP practitioners would gather as

many insights as possible about the participants and their language

needs.

e NA is also a strategic occasion to discover other details

about the adult learners, their motivations, life experiences,

agendas, academic backgrounds, etcetera (Anthony, 2018; Brown,

2016; Woodrow, 2018). Even with this initial consideration of the

participants’ needs, wants, lacks, and target communicative tasks,

the following stages of instructional design and implementation

can defy ESP teachers who fail to acknowledge andragogical

principles with their adult learners. us, the NA should also be

conducted with a set of theoretical considerations on how pedagogy

diers from andragogy to embrace the dimension of principles in

Macalister and Nation’s (2019) model of language curriculum.

eir model accounts for needs analysis, environmental analysis,

and principles as outer circles that inuence the inner sphere

traditionally viewed as the language syllabus.

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When ESP teachers carry out a NA, design a highly tailored

course, and approach the beginning of classroom instruction,

they may encounter the following challenges. First, precise need

identication varies while conducting a NA in an adult education

context, for needs could be labeled as latent, manifest, intrinsic,

and extrinsic. Second, some ESP practitioners may inaccurately

regard some needs as “urgent” (Guerid & Mami, 2017, p. 775). As

a third challenge, Sava (2012) warms on “determining the right

dimension of a need in a given context” (p. 17) because contextual

factors do inuence what is perceived as a need. A fourth peculiarity

is that “ESP language classes are usually mixed-level classes, where

some students might be le behind” (Benmassoud & Bouchara,

2021, p. 177). Fih, other individual dierences (Brown & Lee,

2015) ought to shape the strategic stages of an NA, instructional

or curriculum design, and lesson planning (Damayanti, 2020). A

sixth challenge is that the expectations about instructional tasks

and course arrangements dier among participants with dierent

ages greatly (Cozma, 2015). Indeed, a thoughtful NA could be

the main departure to embrace adult learning principles in ESP

despite the numerous challenges to conduct it.

Although andragogical principles may have already been

implemented in ESP through a NA, further educational research

is needed on how andragogy can explicitly nurture the ESP eld.

Indeed, the age factor in Second Language Acquisition (Saville-

Troike & Barto, 2016) could lead to diverse research initiatives in

ESP. anks to an NA, adult learning and andragogy principles

are implemented in ESP contexts by placing participants’ needs

as top priorities in a model of language curriculum (Macalister &

Nation’s, 2019). However, this literature review indicates that clear

guidelines on how to conduct an NA in ESP with a full reference

to adult learning principles are pending.

More Elaboration on Adult Learning Principles

Andragogical tenets also dier from the pedagogical model in

terms of how learning occurs and what the students’ and teachers’

roles are. ESP practitioners seem to have followed unconsciously

andragogical principles by considering participants’ needs and

motivations, but further scrutiny is needed to gain insights on

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BLANCO ET AL. | Andragogical Principles and Adult Learners

how adult learners respond and make progress in their L2 skills

(Manangsa et al., 2020) while independently handling their

employment, nances, marriage, parenting, and studying all

at once. Although ESP diers from GE because of the careful

consideration of students’ needs and motivations to “determine the

curriculum” (Kakoulli Constantinou & Papadima-Sophocleous,

2021, p. 94), a full consideration of adult learning principles implies

more than an NA. For instance, Holton et al. (2008) paraphrased

the six assumptions or principles of andragogy into the following

statements:

1) “Adults need to know why they need to learn something before

learning it”.

ESP practitioners should expect their adult learners to

question or doubt whether the instructional activities are worth

doing. Unless clear explanations are oered about the relevance

of their EL teachers’ assignments and tasks, adults may remain

unmotivated or disinterested in their ESP class because they “need

to understand the rationale for each activity” (Jense, 2001, p. 406).

Taking time and precaution to clarify lesson plans and mediation

procedures would increase adults’ understanding of the reasons

behind such arrangements, and this accommodation is likely to

address this rst andragogical principle.

2) “e self-concept of adults is heavily dependent upon a move

toward self-direction”.

Being in control of their learning signals a main trait of adult

learners’ agency, and this has led to the establishment of the adult

learning principle of self-direction. Disregarding this principle

could hurt the participants’ sense of ownership and involvement

in the learning process. To surface and polish learning-to-learn

skills go hand in hand with adult self-direction because “these

skills include determining a personal need to know more, knowing

whom to ask or where to seek information, determining when

a need is met, and development of self-awareness of one’s own

learning abilities” (Blumberg, 2009, p. 133). e participation of

the adults starts even in the NA, way prior classroom instruction.

Meriam et. al. (2006) indicated that “self-directing means that

adult students can [and must] participate in the diagnosis of their

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learning needs, the planning and implementation of the learning

experiences, and the evaluation of those experiences” (p. 85). Even

though ESP practitioners may not have realized it before, they

could have been unconsciously following the andragogy principle

of self-direction.

3) “Prior experiences of the learner provide a rich resource for

learning”.

Adult learners should become the protagonists of the learning

process by contributing with their real-life experiences (Peterson

and Kolb, 2018). As a result, problem-solution and task-centered

methodologies suit adult learners who tend to be highly aware

of their communicative gaps “aer they experience a need in

their life situation” (Knowles et al., 2005, p. 294). When adults

realize the relevance and occupational applicability of what they

are experiencing in the ESP class and relate it to their prior life

experiences, they would invest more attention and studying time

because “interactions refer to the degree to which an experience

related to the goals of an individual. In experiential education,

students’ personal experiences come to the forefront” (Manolis et

al., 2013, p. 45). Isolated and job-detached instructional activities

lower adult motivation.

Feelings of acceptance and empowerment could emerge

among adult learners every time ESP practitioners draw on the

participants’ experiences. Quynh-Na (2007) agreed with focusing

on “a certain topic in daily lives, rather than focusing on language

skills” (p. 311). In this regard, Hashim and Othman (2006)

recommended incorporating learners’ daily routines and tasks into

content curricula, discussing core topics with learners, building

empathy, and leading ongoing assessment.

4) “Adults typically become ready to learn when they experience a

need to cope with a life situation or perform a task”.

Adult learners can spot their gaps and areas for improvement

while kids may not realize what contents and skills they need to

learn and develop. is adult learning trait allows these older

learners to focus on communicating their perceived needs and

studying mainly what they decide to prioritize, so “their readiness

to learn may be stimulated by helping them to assess the gaps

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BLANCO ET AL. | Andragogical Principles and Adult Learners

between where they are now and where they want or need to be”

(Knowles, 2005, p. 294). A team partnership between the ESP

practitioner and the adult learner becomes strategic as long as they

understand and embrace the principle that the adult readiness

to learn redirects the teaching and learning process to certain

priorities set during the NA, but which undergo constant revision.

5) “Adults’ orientation to learning is life-centered, and they see

education as a process of developing increased competency levels to

achieve their full potential”.

Certainly, adult students’ learning contexts and situations

should be considered when devising ESP instruction. Anticipatedly,

Lyndenmman (1926) pointed that “adult orientation to learning

is life-centered, and adult learners are motivated to learn as they

experience needs and interests that learning will satisfy” (as cited

in Knowles et al., 2014, p. 40). Schwarzer (2009) recommended

establishing a “Community of Learners” to boost student

investment and commitment “when they feel welcome and part

of a caring learning community” (p. 26). Having adult learners

share their culture can make them feel at home based on their

participation in the classroom. is aids adult students to control

their didactic context.

On the contrary, Dufour et. al. (2010) stated that “the very essence

of a learning community is a focus on and a commitment to the

learning of each student” (p. 11). is integration-collaboration-

based perspective can create more signicant expertise within the

ESP curriculum, further enhancing the motivation and language

prociency of adult learners (Pontón & Fernández, 2014). Zeivots

(2016) portrayed “emotional highs as inner deep satisfaction

learner experiences when they have absorbed something

meaningful” (p. 368). Even in distance learning, ESP practitioners

can create digital niches and oer new chances for creating a sense

of togetherness. With respect to a contextualized-Chinese case,

Yao (2017) asserted that mixed learning environments can reduce

anxiety and promote self-dependence in adult learners.

6) “e motivation for adult learners is internal rather than external”

(p.120).

For most adult learners, the likelihood of an employment

opportunity or salary raise triggers their motivation to learn

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or polish their English language skills. Within an instructional

environment, how adults feel and what they experience can also

boost learning as Dirkx (2001) explained:

Recognition and involvement of emotional experiences are

commonly used to engage learners in adult experiential lear-

ning. ese experiences are not only considered as crucial

for the learning process, but emotions always refer to the

self-being in the world, providing a means for developing

self-knowledge. Emotions are an integral part of how we in-

terpret and make sense of events in our lives. (as cited in

Zeivots 2016, p. 356)

Overlooking the role of emotions and motivations would harm

adult learning. Even when ESP practitioners face hectic agendas

conducting a NA, designing a syllabus, preparing instructional

materials, and other duties, adult motivation should be a guiding

principle. Besides current job opportunities and possible salary

raises, adults would also feel more motivated to learn once their

life and professional achievements gain attention and recognition

because “it is not experience, but experiencing that is the source of

learning… rough a Gestalt perspective, we accept that learning

and change can only occur when the individual perception and

meaning-making are interrupted” (Peterson & Kolb, 2018, p. 228).

Rather than uttering the adult’s weaknesses and setbacks with L2,

the ESP practitioners should draw on these andragogy principles,

foster self-direction, and guard what adults experience and how

they feel along the learning processes.

Self-Directed Learning and Experiential Learning

Theories

Aer listing some andragogical principles, this bibliographic

review now briey addresses two learning theories that would oer

ESP practitioners a better understanding of adult learning: self-

directed learning and experiential learning. First, self-direction

is fundamental in adult education because “self-directed learning

entails individuals taking initiative and responsibility for their

own learning” (Loeng, 2020, p. 2). If adults became self-driven in

their studies, their growth and progress would have higher chances

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to be notorious and meaningful. One of the main dierences

between pedagogy and andragogy is the learners’ role, for younger

students oen remain more passive and dependent upon their

teachers. Adult students could be far more independent, while

young learners rely on their target language instructor “to take

full responsibility for making the decisions about what is to be

learned” (Knowles et al., 2005, p. 61). is fact reects the adults’

deep sense of self-direction despite “a number of factors aecting

the propensity and ability to self-direct” (Loeng, 2020, p. 10). Self-

directed learning is a key goal in ESP settings where the EL teachers

are mainly facilitators. Self-directed learning is intrinsically linked

to the second principle of andragogy.

Second, what adults experience and how they feel during

mediation determine the extent to which meaningful learning

occurs. us, ESP teachers should be meticulous when designing

instruction, selecting learning tasks, and devising adult-oriented

lesson plans. Experiential learning became “a stand-alone

theory referring to a particular relationship between cognitive

and emotional processes, action-reection cycles, and ideas of

personal transformation” (Seaman et al., p. 15). Out of the six

propositions listed by Kolbe and Kolbe (2005) about experiential

learning, three key implications in ESP include the focus on the

process instead of the outcomes, learning as relearning, and an

adaptation to the world (p. 194). erefore, adults could fulll their

specic communicative needs in the target language if their ESP

teachers enrich the learning experiences, include the participants’

previous life situations, acknowledge their diverse learning styles,

target specic needs, and oer problem-solving tasks. Within EFL

settings, Purwati et al. (2022) claimed that “teachers should explore

and understand adults’ experiences as this information plays

an essential role in assisting adult learners to meet their needs”

(p.3). In short, motivation towards language learning in the ESP

niche may be further enhanced if adult learners adopt a dynamic

position when introspecting and sharing their life experiences and

professional expertise.

Self-directed learning, experiential learning, and andragogy

incorporate various recurring steps, and ESP practitioners should

follow these cyclical processes. Knowles et al. (2005) stated that an

andragogical practice involves the following procedures

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preparing the learners, considering the physical and psycho-

logical climate setting, involving the learners in planning for

their learning, involving their learners in diagnosing their

own needs for learning, involving the learners in formula-

ting their own learning objectives, involving the learners in

designing learning plans, helping the learners to carry out

their learning plans, and involving the learners in evaluating

their own learning outcomes. (p. 295)

In such manner, ESP instructors ought to consider grown-

up learners’ life adventures, preferences, and necessities. Such

elements certainly center on devising, assessing, and evaluating the

ESP curriculum and lesson plans through interdisciplinarity and

collaboration since both teachers, adult learners, and SMEs openly

contribute to the instructional design and lesson planning. In fact,

this cooperative work is fundamental in ESP because the parties

can discuss mediation activities, elaborate on didactic material,

promote a productive classroom environment, and evaluate the

entire process while “construct[ing] social roles and identities in

relation to one another through active participation in particular

communities of practice” (Warriner, 2010, p. 23). In that regard,

ESP practitioners, ESP customer populations, and SMEs display

a clear example of what an andragogical process looks like when

they collaborate as a community of learners.

Instructional Design (ID): Devising Lessons for

Adults

Both andragogy and ID contain tenets that are compatible

with ESP. ID also favors a needs analysis before designing any

instructional or curriculum proposal (Seel et al., 2017). For example,

some researchers have already explored the implementation

of the ADDIE model in diverse ESP elds and contexts such as

aeronautical English training in Korea (Park & Human, 2020)

and business college courses in Indonesia (Iswati, 2019). Although

ID embraces several models, Molenda (2015) concluded that there

is “a tendency to accept the ADDIE term as an umbrella term”

within ID (p. 41). e ve processes this acronym stands for are the

following: [needs] analysis, design, development, implementation,

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and evaluation. e ADDIE model clearly suits ESP projects with

adults because practitioners oen follow these ve processes.

e ID of ESP courses should appeal to the adult participants’

skills, motivations, behaviors, and “[language learning] strategies”

to plan instruction that can contribute to task operationalization

within their daily life duties (Hashim et al., 2018, p. 40). However,

a challenge ESP practitioners may encounter is that “adult learners

come to the English lesson with lots of expectations about the

learning procedures, and in the case these expectations are

not accomplished, they may become critical towards the new

environment of instruction” (Cozma, 2015, p. 1211). is type of

student rejection must be avoided at all costs because adults are

prone to drop out and stop attending classes.

Adult learning

in English for

Specic Purposes

(ESP)

Andragogy

Experiential

learning

Instructional

Design (ID)

& e ADDIE

Model

Self-directed

learning

Table 2:

F S A L

Source: Own elaboration

is bibliographic review has identied four elds that ESP

practitioners can draw from while catering adult learners. ESP

settings tend to be adult-oriented, so ESP instructors should deeply

regard andragogy, experiential learning, instructional design,

and self-directed learning in the work with adult. Clearly, other

teaching methodologies and principles can be added to this list.

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Other Cognition, Aection, Attitude and Behavior

Distinctions

is last section of the bibliographic review explores some

dierences among toddlers, teenagers, and adults that Cozma

(2015) sorted them into three groups: cognitive, attitudinal, and

behavioral characteristics. Park and Reuter-Lorenz (2009) and

Reuter-Lorenz and Cappell (2008) recommended the scaolding

theory of aging and cognition as “a process present across the

lifespan that involves the use and development of complementary,

alternative neural circuits to achieve a particular cognitive goal”

(as cited in Castañeda, 2017, p. 318). Both attitude and cognition

matters are clearly linked and overlapped which makes the STAC

method have a strong inuence on adult learners’ motivation and

predisposition to learn. Leuner and Gould (2010) advised how

structural ductility makes modications in the brain with the pass

of time and recalled that as people age, their capacity to produce

new brain cells decreases. is means that ESP teachers need to

regard such brain distinctions between young and old learners in

their teaching situations.

Adult learners most likely restart English classes to fulll the

emerging professional requirements and employment options.

Because younger learners are also applying for such jobs, older

applicants should polish their English skills. As a result, their

ESP instructors ought to acknowledge the “growing motivational,

personal or aective diculties that unemployed adult learners are

currently facing in the English subject when they decide to retake

their studies” (Castañeda, 2017, p. 136). Most adult learners seem

aware of the relevance of upgrading the communicative skills in

this foreign language as a way to meet the high expectations of

a competitive labor market. Certainly, the challenges go beyond

the educational contexts as Schwarzer (2009) warns that adults’

“motivation to learn ESL [ESP] also transforms and evolves with

the changes they face in their lives outside classroom” (p. 27). ere

is a clear connection between employment, learning English, and

adults’ personal lives.

Besides the challenge of learning English as technological

nomads, there are other demands that include accounting for

and handling personal issues. ese aspects clearly interfere and

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make adult learners’ “study time fragmented” (Yao, 2019, p. 120).

Tarnopolsky (2016) proposes three assumptions to teach English

to adults: considering learner’s attitudes to the methods of teaching

English, limited intensiveness of the teaching/learning process,

and avoiding home tasks (pp. 10-12). ESP practitioners could plan

their lessons following these principles because adults have limited

time to study, so there should be fewer classroom and home tasks.

Mixed-level classroom settings tend to be the norm in ESP

instruction for adult learners (Benmassoud & Bouchara, 2021).

When adults embark again on formal English classes aer some

years, they could have either gained or lost speaking uency,

vocabulary domain, and language accuracy in L2. eir diverse

features go beyond language prociency and include learning

styles, paces, strategies, expectations, and previous experiences

(Quynh-Na, 2007), so several teaching adjustments should be

made, like oering instructional “materials [that] are adapted to

their language level” (Marcu, 2020, p. 309). Another consideration

to suit adult learners is that instructional exercises and tasks require

careful consideration of the diculty and “sequencing variables”

(Malicka et al., 2019, p. 78). Indeed, Kurbanova and Ataeva (2020)

list some of these accommodations: “e methodological basis of

multilevel training [for adults] is individualization, a dierentiated

level of requirements, a high level of the proposed material, a

multilevel system for testing” (p. 721). A way to adjust teaching

materials and worksheets for students with multi-level prociency

levels includes “tiered tasks” (Bowler and Parminter, 2016, p. 59),

but adults may benet more from teamwork or projects in which

they are given a customized or tailored task “that is appropriate

for their [English prociency] level” (Quynh-Na, 2007, p. 311).

Overcoming the challenge of multi-level and heterogenous classes

is part of the ESP teacher’s agenda.

A well-known fact is that adults learning a foreign language

may be irritated if they experience some kind of obstruction of

their aective lter (Krashen, 1982). ESP instructors are to devise

and develop lesson plans considering both aective and cognitive

elements that contribute to decrease the manifestations of stress

such as anxiety, fear, insecurity, or low self-esteem. Even in a mixed

learning environment, adult learners can tend to overcome their

fear of learning, develop autonomous learning skills, and develop

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the ability to choose individual learning strategies. To further

reduce these negative feelings, it is very important to consider

their learning style. Regarding experiential learning theory (ELT),

Kolb and Kolb (2005) state that “learning styles are inuenced by

personality type, educational specialization, career choice, and

current job roles and tasks” (p. 195). For this reason, instructors

who pay attention to the styles and characteristics of adult learners

will incorporate these aspects into their lesson plans.

As to language learning, working memory (WM) and short-

term phonological memory (PSTM) may help young students

to cognitively process information faster and become better

at pronunciation than adults (Mackey & Sachs, 2012, p. 709).

erefore, Araujo (2018) recommended that “novice adult

learners be encouraged not to do the following: write every

idea down before expressing it aloud and analyze every single

language component” (p. 66). Furthermore, this author advised

that language teachers avoid distressing their adult students with

content and information. Adult education can be more eective

when classroom activities encourage question-and-answer,

problem-nding, and problem-solving (Hashim & Othman 2006,

p. 11). Vocabulary memorization tasks and pronunciation drills

can quickly bore adults.

Nevertheless, various scholars argue that adult learners are

well-equipped to reach competitive levels of target language

mastery. Initially, Shevchenko (2015) concluded that “there

is no tough connection between age and success in acquiring a

foreign language intonation” (p. 612). Adult learners demand

“more repetitive and slow learning” but tend to adopt more steady

knowledge (Castañeda, 2019, p. 319). Cozma (2015) explained

that adults are more cooperative learners despite their hectic job

and personal agendas. Last, Tripathy (2019) argued that there is

a “distaste of adult learners toward English sounds”, but eective

ESP instruction would “boost their condence in carrying out

daily conversations” (p. 103). Despite their age and multiple

responsibilities, adults could still polish their English language

skills.

e obstacles adults face cannot block completely these

participants from learning this foreign language. Younger learners

benet from formal educational settings while adults have more

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experience and skills within academic contexts. For this reason,

Herschensohn (2012) argued that:

Unlike naturalistic exposure, instructed exposure to an L2

does not show a clear advantage for earlier learners; there is

oen an advantage for a higher AoA, (Age of Onset of Ac-

quisition), for the older learner has more developed cogniti-

ve skills and academic strategies that furnish an advantage in

instructed language learning. (p. 323)

ESP teachers should understand that older students are

ahead of younger students in terms of previous instructional

experiences, higher cognition, self-direction, and studying habits

and techniques.

When adult learners make mistakes and even risk fossilization,

they tend to encounter emotional or cognitive diculties

reaching language accuracy. eir inaccuracy in L2 aects them

emotionally. Castañeda (2017) highlighted that “this limitation

leads to fears of ridicule when speaking in public and a sharp

decrease in condence and self-esteem, which aects the possible

satisfactory outcome of any communicative learning strategy” (p.

140). e way ESP practitioners oer adults feedback and work

on language accuracy could either harm or boost the emotional

well-being. Monitoring language production and accuracy can

serve as an informal assessment tool instead of traditional testing

(Macalister & Nation, 2020) that adults may feel more afraid or

uncomfortable. Recasts and other feedback techniques can be

employed to foster a safe and encouraging classroom atmosphere

in case reaching language accuracy has been established as a need

and a component of the ESP course.

Positive emotional experiences enhance experiential learning.

For instance, Zeivots (2016) studied how lived experiences of

emotional highs shape adult experiential learning. Among the

discoveries, it was determined as fundamental to oer adults

experiences to face the unknown, generate a sense of change,

guide them through rst-time experiences, lead to unexpected

discoveries, and embark adults into the never-ending journey

of learning. Certainly, these are valuable considerations that

ESP practitioners should examine at any ADDIE model stage.

Facing the unknown while learning a foreign language may

turn troublesome at rst, but proper guidance and planning can

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ensure adults unexpectedly discovering more insights into their

professional or occupational elds.

e emotional factor with adult learners deserves more

attention and consideration from how it is approached with

younger students (Ni, 2012) in terms of teaching materials. To

promote language accuracy and lower the chances of fossilization,

ESP practitioners should invest on material adaptation or

elaboration that strategically addresses the participants’ target

needs, displays accurate language usage, and eases negative

emotions (Bocanegra-Valle & Basturkmen, 2019). Developing ESP

materials is closely linked to motivation and emotional aspects.

Adults expect that instructional materials and tasks clearly aim for

their needs, “otherwise they can easily get demotivated” (Marcu,

2020, p. 309). Proper materials lead to meaningful interaction

with the target language within the specic contexts where adults

seek to eectively participate. Motivation and self-direction are

more likely to increase with catered materials. Crawford (2002)

indicated that:

Materials must contextualize the language they present. Wi-

thout knowledge of what is going on, who the participants

are, and their social and psychological distance in time and

space from the events referred to, it is impossible to unders-

tand the real meaning of an interaction. (p. 84)

ESP course design under the ADDIE model requires careful

selection, adaptation, and elaboration of pertinent, genuine, and

appealing materials and tasks (Iswati, 2019). Adult learners would

gain more exposure to accurate language usage in materials taken

from authentic contexts, contributing to error correction, leading

to higher self-direction, and handling emotional overload during

the learning experiences.

Conclusion

is bibliographic review sheds light on some andragogical

principles that ESP teachers could bear in mind when working

with adult learners. ESP teachers will encounter a wide range of

factors with adult learners, so adult teaching principles should

be intrinsic components of their teacher education (Papadima-

Sophocleous et al., 2019). Adults and younger learners oen have

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dierent goals, expectations, needs, and personal issues. Explicit

implementation of andragogical principles in ESP becomes a

priority when teaching adult learners. Certainly, the eectiveness

of andragogy principles in ESP settings still needs to be tested and

studied because EL adult learners and their contexts oen vary.

In fact, other aspects worth examination and reection, besides

andragogical principles, instructional design, the ADDIE model,

and experiential learning for adult learners in ESP contexts, include

the teachers’ methodological choices (Richards & Rodgers, 2014),

traits of eclectic methodology (Mwanza, 2019), the incorporation

of the six components of assessment (Gallavan, 2009), learning-

oriented assessment (Jones & Saville, 2016), and eventually the

“special focus on [productive skills] based on the specicity of each

ESP class” (Benmassoud & Bouchara, 2021, p. 177). Curriculum

design and implementation are components within a wider model

of language curriculum design (Macalister & Nation, 2019), so ESP

teachers could boost their professional development by reecting

on their teaching practices (Farrell, 2018) and their eectiveness

with adult learners.

Most EFL programs oen group their students based on

their language prociency levels although the age factor plays a

key role in how teachers should approach class planning and

delivery. is age precaution becomes even more fundamental

when teaching English for specic purposes, for adults are the

ones who nd themselves in urgent need of mastering specic

professional registers or jargon to apply for jobs or keep the one

they have. Once a person reaches or passes the age of 25, other

duties and responsibilities besides studying a foreign language

overtake the learners’ time, attention, and energies. is is when

ESP practitioners, professional development initiatives, and ESP

teacher training programs may overlook the relevance that adult

learning theories have with EL learners over the age of 25. It is time

to clearly set this age boundary to avoid setting classrooms that

would be suitable for younger learners but not adults.

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