Adults are people who have the status of maturity in their own and other people´s eyes, but in the teaching process they come in the subordinate position of the learners. It could be very difficult at the beginning, and it depends on individuals how to deal with this situation. A lot of adults can become anxious from being at school and are afraid of their failure and may believe that they are unable to learn.
According to Jenny Rogers, “The conflict is that as adults we already have certain well-developed ideas about life along with our own system of ideas and beliefs. To admit that we need to learn something new is to admit that there is something wrong with our present system.”
On the other hand, they have an expectation about the learning process and they are able to accept responsibility for the learning. They are self – directed; they are not dependent on other people for direction. Adults as learners are goal-oriented and results-oriented. They know what they want to achieve, and they also have specific results in mind for education. They must see a reason why to learn something. Learning has to be valuable for them; it should be related to their needs and finally fit to their work. In other words, adults seek education which is appropriate for their current lives. They are practical and are focused on the aspects of the lessons; it means they want to know how the lessons will be useful to them on the job. We must not forget that adults have a lot of experience and a wealth of knowledge, and they expect to be treated accordingly. They require learning that makes sense and is connected to their knowledge and experience. They can be also critical of teaching methods.
Furthermore, we can expect that adults are more disciplined that some children and teenagers and are able to sustain a level of motivation. Adults have more developed abstract thought than children; it means we have to choose appropriate activities adapted to use their intellects to learn consciously.
To sum it up, there are a lot of specific features of adult learners which we have to bear in mind in the process of teaching. Compared to children and teenagers, adults have special needs and requirements as learners. Of course, these are generalizations, and there can appear some exceptions in each group of learners.