Teaching English speaking to adults: problematic areas and some useful methods

Abstract

Teaching speaking to adult students reveals some problems of internal and external origin. It’s tremendously important to take those problems into account when choosing speaking activities for the class. The article addresses the main problematic areas of teaching speaking to adults and some useful methods. Norman Doidge, a psychiatrist and an author of The Brain That Changes Itself once stated that “Learning a second language, after the critical period for language learning has ended, is more difficult because, as we age, the longer we use our native language, the further it comes to dominating our linguistic map space. Because plasticity is competitive, it is so hard to learn a new language and end the tyranny of the mother tongue”. After analyzing the researched material, the writer managed to find the most frequent problems that adult students faced in speaking English. They are fear of making mistakes, poor pronunciation, lack of understanding simple grammar patterns, limited vocabulary, lack of motivation and interest, mother tongue use, few opportunities to practice daily. From all the problems that students faced, the writer outlined some important factors that students encounter such as a lack of an English-speaking environment that do not support English usage in daily communication.