A Personal Framework of Adult Language instruction

This article discusses the lack of a unified framework of adult education and of adult language learning and instruction specifically. Despite this current state of affairs in the fields of education and adult language instruction, it is possible to derive context-specific frameworks for divergent adult educational needs. The article first distinguishes younger learners from adult learners then proposes Malcolm Knowles’ six assumptions of adult learning as a foundation for formulating context-specific frameworks of adult instruction. Inspired by Knowles’ six assumptions, the author articulates his own framework of adult learning specific to language instruction. This framework is a result of synthesizing both past professional experience as well as extensive reading into applied linguistics and adult education theory.