| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺北科技大學 === 應用英文系碩士班 === 104 === With the growing population of senior citizens and emerging importance of extension education for adult learners after their graduation from schools, it becomes an urgent task for English teachers to re-examine the principles of their curriculum planning and to adjust their syllabus design. This must be done by adjusting learning activities inside the classrooms and after the class, and according to the needs and special circumstances of working adults. It is observed that working adults, ranging from mid-twenties to early sixties, wish to maintain and upgrade their English proficiency levels while fulfilling their job and household duties. They have specific requests. First, they would like to minimize pre-class preparation and post-class homework. Secondly, they prefer “friendly” studying materials that require less memorization and promote more critical thinking based on life experience. Thirdly, they look forward to learning or increasing their English proficiency, yet they must rely on effective means to help achieve their goals. Finally, they have time restraints. They can only manage a short session in between work and family time each week. With these factors taken into consideration, (1) an activity-based syllabus designed according to the aforementioned conditions and (2) a practicum of the syllabi were launched to test the validity and the effect. The practicum was undertaken using an off-work study group composed of ten voluntary colleagues at the same workplace. Their ages range from twenty-five to sixty years old. The study period lasts for eight weeks with a one-hour session per week. The study materials were the 1993 American young adult dystopian novel The Giver by Lois Lowry and its 2014 movie adaptation. After eight sessions, the instructor of the reading club conducted an interview with each of the participants to see how this activity-based syllabus was carried out and to seek suggestions for future syllabus design for working adults.
The conclusions were as follows: First, the activity-based syllabus brings working adults joy and fun from English learning. With its flexible and diverse subject variations, the form of a novel reading club is appropriate for working adults’ English learning. To choose interesting reading materials and to adjust the pre-designed syllabus, the instructor should reserve the first session for understanding the learners’ needs and expectation for English learning. Secondly, at the closing of each session, open questions based on the study material should be offered for the reading club, and the reading material for the next session should be pre-determined and recommended by group members. For future study, the interaction between the instructor and the learners is a point of focus. In-class activities, such as workshop and presentation, should be adopted. Moreover, to help working adults learn English through literature with joy and fun, the instructor can adopt more relaxing teaching activities with the elements of playing and games.
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