Nonformal/Informal ESL Acquisition by Different Age Categories of Ukrainian Adult Learners

Abstract

The problem of acquisition of English as a second language is very challenging for every educated person nowadays, especially in developing countries, Ukraine being one of them. Adults use different ways to get ESL competence; most of them are in non-formal and informal education. The goal of the study was to investigate what ways of non-formal/informal ESL learning are used by adults in Ukraine. Two age groups of adults were chosen to trace the similarities and differences. Younger adults were students at tertiary level and senior adults were scholars at academician institutions. A specially designed questionnaire was given to 50 respondents to find out their background; to identify the most typical ways of learning English; to compare them in the frequency of learning, in importance, personal benefits; to analyze the offered suggestions how to improve the efficiency of ESL learning. The obtained results showed that non-formal ways of ESL learning are popular and widely used by both groups of respondents. However, there are more differences than similarities in their non-formal/informal ways of ESL acquisition which can be explained by different age and experience.

У статті представлено результати дослідження шляхів набуття іншомовної компетентності дорослими двох вікових категорій (студентів вишу та вітчизняних науковців); виявлено найбільш типові способи вивчення англійської мови у неформальному та інформальному навчальному середовищі; здійснено їх порівняльний аналіз; охарактеризовано їх схожі та відмінні риси.