Eltam journal no 2 8th eltam iatefl tesol international biannual conference managing teaching and learning

DEVELOPING LANGUAGE SKILLS THROUGH CASE STUDIES 
Ivana Trajanoska 
Jovanka Jovanchevska-Milenkoska 
ELTAM 
Abstract 
Adults learn differently from children and generally have different motivation for learning. 
Typically, they identify the need to learn and they usually need or want to apply their newfound 
knowledge soon after the acquisition. This means that a teacher can get the best results with 
adults when they are fully involved in the learning process. Consequently, adult language 
learning should be meaningful and in context and based on developing other skills along with 
the language skills in other to make it meaningful, applicable, measurable, long-lasting, and 
“real”. It should provide additional information besides language principles and concepts, and 
develop language skills along with analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. 
Case studies are a great way to improve language learning since they provide learners with an 
opportunity to solve a problem by applying what they know and are definitely something to 
consider adding to language teaching. In this paper, we outline the general characteristics of 
adult learning and case studies as a type of problem-solving learning and its advantages 
applicable in the EFL classroom. Moreover, we provide short class delivery guidelines and a 
lesson plan to additionally encourage EFL teachers to use case studies for language learning.
Adults have a general tendency to learn differently from children. They also have different 
motivation for learning. Most often, adults learn new skills because they want to or they need 
to and have to apply the newly acquired knowledge shortly after the leaning process. Malcolm 
Knowles, practitioner and theorist of adult education considered to be the father of andragogy, 
based adult learning on four key observations of adult learners suggesting four basic principles 
that can be applied to adult learning (Knowles, 1984): Adults learn best if they know the reason 
why they are learning something and if they are involved in the planning and evaluation of their 
instruction; Adults learn best through experience; Adults tend to view learning as an 
opportunity to solve problems thus adult learning should be problem-centered rather than 
content-oriented; Adults learn best when the topic is relevant to them and immediately 
applicable (Kearsley, 2010). 
This means that a teacher can get the best results with adults when they are fully involved in 
the learning experience. If a teacher gives an adult an opportunity to practice and work with a 
new skill or newfound knowledge, a solid foundation for high-quality learning is most probably 
made. Moreover, in this way the adult learner is more likely to retain over time the new skill or 
newfound knowledge.

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Consequently, adult language learning should be meaningful and in context as well. It should 
be based on developing other skills along with the language skills in other to make language 
learning meaningful, applicable, measurable, long-
lasting, and “real”. It should provide 
additional information or content besides language principles and concepts; it should develop 
learning and language skills along with analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. 
This approach in language teaching has been suggested by several theoreticians and 
practitioners of language teaching. Context and meaningfulness is at the center of several 
approaches and methods of language education, for example: the Language Immersion, a 
method of teaching a foreign language (developed in Canada in 1960s) in which the 
foreign/second language (L2) is the medium of classroom instruction which enables studying 
other subjects in the L2 (Anderson & Rhodes, 1983); Content-Based Instruction or CBI 
(Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1989) which provides second-language learners instruction in 
content and language; Content and Language Integrated Learning or CLIL (Marsh & Maljers 
in 1994)
1
, a methodology similar to CBI which implies learning content through a foreign 
language; English for Specific Purposes (ESP) which implies teaching English for vocational 
or occupational needs.
This article suggests one possible way to make adult language learning meaningful and in 
context and that is through the use of case studies. The use of case studies in the EFL classroom 
not only provides context and meaningfulness, enables developing language and other 
indispensable skills like analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills, it also gives 
language learners an opportunity to practice transfer of knowledge from other subjects or other 
related or non-related fields of study. Furthermore, case studies are student-centered thus stress 
the importance of sharing the responsibility of learning, acquiring, and application of 
knowledge and skills between the teacher and the learner. Finally, case studies provide an 
opportunity for meeting the different needs of the learners connected to the various learning 
styles they have.