The Effectiveness of Classroom Activities in EFL Elementary-Level Courses from Adult Learners’ Perspectives

Abstract

This paper aims to identify how adult learners perceive the usefulness of activities implemented in elementary-level courses at the Language Centre of the University of Defence in Brno. The descriptive quantitative research, conducted with 173 military personnel in the form of a questionnaire survey in 2020, concentrated on elucidating which activities employed in classes of adult learners were considered beneficial for improving speaking skills with respect to their age and the type of course attended. The findings underscored the pivotal role of teachers’ corrective feedback in instructor-learner interactions, both dyadic and whole-class, which may enable adult beginner learners to acquire a target language more effectively, subsequently, increasing their motivation to learn. The study also highlighted the importance of using the mother tongue in short-term beginner courses, accentuating the substantial value of oral translation exercises in the process of basic grammar acquisition as well as vocabulary development. Overall, the findings did not reflect considerable differences in the perceived usefulness of instructional activities, either among the age cohorts or particular courses.