Selective learning

The difference between children and adults is that children want to absorb everything they learn, but adults may not. They often take the attitude of what I call selective learning. So for instance, in a business English class, you introduce the expression of, “Mr. A is not in the office. May I take a message for you?” and a student whose job is to monitor the merchandise inventory of a warehouse may encounter a few chances to use the sentences.

Intuitively, selective learning takes a learning curb that is skewed to right. It means there is a heavier knowledge concentration towards zero. As the level of knowledge advances the volume of people who know the knowledge decreases.

By the way, it may not be the purpose of the teacher to require students to reproduce exactly what is taught. Yes, this statement is a challenge to TESOL because it implies “not to expect students to reproduce what they learn exactly in the way they learn.” Adult students are free to build on what they learn. In fact, such attitudes are recommended. A question is, “How will the teacher know students have learned?” An answer to this question is that there is more than one way to assess how knowledge is acquired. In fact, the discussion is a Second Language Assessment topic of assessing learning in qualitative ways. Qualitative ways mean assessing in writing and quantitative ways mean assessing with grades. 

My question is, “Do adult learners study English to get good grades or to use knowledge in their work?” To me, the answer is the latter, and if so, you should aim for a class where students can build on what they learn and express how they are going to use the knowledge.