Cynthia Rolón Cañete

Ignacio Giménez Núñez

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch37  

ABSTRACT

When adults enroll in an English class, they usually do so with a high level of motivation. Yet despite their positive intentions, adult students can sometimes seem bored or disinterested. In such cases, we might try to keep adult learners interested in a specific lesson by replacing its repetitive parts with other activities. However, such on-the-spot adjustments do not usually produce desired results. Instead, we can proactively meet the needs of our adult learners by using the Engage-Study-Activate (ESA) framework to design our lessons. With its inherent structure to create different types of lessons, ESA can help adult students keep focused on learning and, by doing so, helps us meet our lesson objectives. In this chapter, you will learn about the different stages in ESA and explore how these stages can be realigned to better meet your learners’ needs. You will also learn how to effectively implement ESA when teaching adult learners. 

Keywords: engage-study-activate, adult language learners, learners’ needs, motivation

How to cite this chapter: 

Rolón Cañete, C. & Giménez Núñez, I. (2023). Engage-Study-Activate With Adult Learners. In V. Canese & S. Spezzini (Eds.), Teaching English in Global Contexts, Language, Learners and Learning (pp. 443-451). Editorial Facultad de Filosofía, UNA. https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch37

INTRODUCTION

Effective planning and preparing are of utmost importance in creating productive learning opportunities for students learning English as an additional language. One way you can plan and prepare meaningful English lessons for your students, especially if they are adults, is by using the Engage-Study-Activate (ESA) framework (Harmer, 2007). Each letter in the acronym (ESA) represents a different stage in this framework. These three stages can be easily re-arranged based on what you consider to be most important for a specific lesson. By re-arranging these stages, you can also maintain your students’ interest and, thus, reinforce their learning. These three ESA stages are as follows:

• Engage—In the engage stage, prepare students through music, discussions, or short video clips for learning the targeted topic and language structures. The engage stage usually occurs before teaching new information.

• Study—In the study stage, present new information through different techniques for students to learn English. 

• Activate—In the activate stage, guide students in using new skills and knowledge through dialogues and other activities. 

This chapter will help you use this ESA framework when designing and delivering English lessons for adult learners. By learning to implement these three ESA stages, you can better meet your teaching objectives and your students’ academic needs (Harmer, 2007). Your ESA lessons can also serve in keeping most students eager to learn and motivated to learn more.   

BACKGROUND

Although our chapter focuses primarily on supporting adults in learning a second language, we find it useful to examine how children might learn second languages differently from adults (Lightbown & Spada, 2021). When in positive supportive environments, young children can usually acquire a new language by using it without conscious effort (Krashen, 1981). However, adult learners have life experiences, career expectations, and a fully developed first language as well as a need for independence and an expectation of structured lessons (Knowles et al., 2015). Consequently, these aspects lead to most adults learning English consciously rather than acquiring it such as Krashen (1981) hypothesized with young children. Krashen also hypothesized that the affective filter needs to be lowered for making learners receptive to learning language and, also, that language learners of all ages need comprehensible input, which is providing language just beyond what they already know. 

For students to learn English, instruction needs to be approached efficiently and effectively, and it also needs to focus on the learning needs for a targeted age group (e.g., children or adults). Based on Krashen’s (1981) learning/acquisition theory, we might try to support our students in progressing from learning English consciously to acquiring English unconsciously. However, for this to occur, students need to experience Krashen’s Natural Approach. In other words, they would need a predictable pattern of acquisition that occurs consistently over time (similar to acquiring the first language). Though it is highly unusual for adults to be afforded this type of learning environment across many years, we should nonetheless design well-structured lessons with topics that interest our adult learners, thus allowing them to engage as fully as possible in the learning process (Knowles et al., 2015). 

To design lessons that are relevant and suitable for diverse learners at varying English levels, we need to consider their multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1999). For Gardner, intelligence is “a biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture” (pp. 33-34). If instructional methods and settings are appropriately matched with student needs and interests, students are better able to utilize their respective intelligences for understanding new information. Because everyone has a different combination of multiple intelligences, no two individuals share the same intelligence profile (Gardner, 2011). For instance, what is easy for one student to understand might be difficult for another to understand. Similarly, an activity that is interesting and engaging for one student might be boring and unattractive for another. Thus, to ensure that all students are effectively engaged, we need to recognize differences (including disabilities) among our students and plan accordingly. To address the learning needs of all students, we need to include varied strategies in each lesson. Above all, we need to ensure that all students feel safe and that all feel included in the lesson.

Presentation-Practice-Production was originally introduced to the English language teaching field in the 1960s. Following a resurgence in the 1990s, Presentation-Practice-Production became a preferred approach studied in teacher preparation programs such as the Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, also known as CELTA (Anderson, 2017). At first glance, the three Presentation-Practice-Production stages might resemble the three ESA stages (Harmer, 2015). However, ESA differs because it encourages teachers to re-sequence these three stages for meeting the learning goals established for a given lesson, with each stage needing to occur at least once. In other words, ESA offers adaptability regarding the order in which these three stages occur in a lesson and, also, the number of times each stage occurs.

MAJOR DIMENSIONS

To prepare for teaching ESA lessons, design your lesson plans around clear goals, prepare varied activities, and gather needed material. Also anticipate potential challenges that might occur when implementing these lessons. Be sure to start each lesson by greeting students, reviewing previous content, and going over assigned homework. Routinely explain the purpose and importance of each lesson in a way that attracts your students’ attention. When designing your ESA lessons, always take the following aspects into consideration.

Increasing Student Participation

The purpose of ESA (engage-study-activate) is to improve students’ language skills by increasing their participation in language-based activities. To meet that goal, plan activities that compel students to think and use the new language. During the engage stage, teachers encourage students to ask questions and invite unplanned interaction. During the study stage, teachers ensure that the planned content is as accurate, unique, and straightforward as possible. They also focus on the best use of words and sentences for each lesson. During the activate stage, teachers use activities that allow students to practice independently with peers. Such activities can be evaluated by teachers to measure students’ ability by having them demonstrate what they have learned during the lesson.

Sequencing the ESA Stages

The three ESA stages (engage-study-activate) can be implemented in different sequences (Harmer, 2015). The most common sequences are the straight procedure, the boomerang procedure, and the patchwork procedure, which are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

ESA’s Straight Procedure, Boomerang Procedure, and Patchwork Procedure

The three procedures illustrated in Figure 1 are as follows: 

• The straight procedure follows the ESA path described earlier in the chapter. This ESA path starts with the engage stage, continues with the study stage, and ends with the activate stage. 

• The boomerang procedure follows an EAS path that consists of engage-activate-study. Here, teachers implement the activate stage earlier to identify gaps in student skills and knowledge and, by doing so, can adjust the study stage and thus achieve better outcomes. After this study stage, teachers may choose to again activate knowledge to determine whether the identified gaps were filled. 

The patchwork procedure follows an ESEASA path with the goal of providing flexibility to the learning process. After engaging students and activating to determine gaps, teachers can introduce the study stage to explain and practice new content. During any point in this patchwork procedure, teachers might determine that students need additional instruction and, therefore, repeat the study stage. Similarly, if teachers feel that students have lost focus or are bored, they can immediately introduce a new engage stage to regain student interest 

PEDAGOGICAL APPLICATIONS

The three words in ESA (engage-study-activate) guide us with knowing which activities are suitable for each stage of a lesson (Harmer, 2015). When designing and delivering an ESA lesson, select activities such as those suggested below for each of its three stages and then incorporate these stages into your lesson plan.

Activities for the Engage Stage

The engage stage is for students to feel connected with the lesson and, thus, be ready to focus on learning. During this stage, aim to gain students’ attention by exhibiting visuals, telling tales, having class debates, miming, and acting, as well as by asking questions for learners to reflect on the topic and speak English. Relate the lesson to students’ reality so that they can immediately identify this lesson as being useful for them. For instance, adults might find it interesting to talk about free time activities or useful expressions for daily conversations.

Activities for the Study Stage

The study stage is for the teacher to implement activities to assist students in understanding the relevant points of the lesson. Because this stage strongly emphasizes language development, choose activities that support language development based on texts, conversations, gap-filling exercises, crossword puzzles, word searches, and matching games. At this stage and only if needed, correct student errors when implementing new language features. Also in the study stage, enhance the learning process by introducing online activities that promote interaction, especially the digital tools that are part of our students’ daily lives.

Activities for the Activate Stage

The activate stage consists of activities that serve to involve students with speaking English as openly and communicatively as possible. This can consist of pair and group conversations, roleplays, narrative creations, projects (e.g., posters, commercials), simulations, debates, and writing activities. Ensure collaboration within each pair or group by assigning situations that necessitate using the targeted vocabulary and structures. Towards the end of the lesson, activate student knowledge for assessing the effectiveness of this lesson.

ESA Lesson Plan With Three Stages

The following example of an ESA lesson plan illustrates how to combine all three ESA stages into a single lesson. This specific lesson is structured on ESA’s straight procedure, which is the sequence of stages for first engaging, then studying, and finally activating.

• Level: beginner

• Time: 50 minutes

• Topic: free time activities

• Language focus: vocabulary for free time activities (includes adverbs of frequency)

• Three Stages

Engage Stage (10 minutes)

1. Greet your students with a smile and ask them how they are.

2. Show images about free time activities and ask students: What are these activities? The students name what they know. Model the words and ask students to repeat.

Study Stage (25 minutes)

3. Have your students listen to a conversation about free time activities. Play the audio once. Ask students to identify activities they recognize.

4. Give your students a chart (Figure 2) with free time activities. Students take turns reading the list. Make sure they understand the words and the activity.

Figure 2

Free Time Activities.

5. Explain the adverbs in Figure 2: never, sometimes, often, usually, always. Show how to use these adverbs to answer the question: How often do you ____? 

6. Have students again listen to the audio. This time students identify how often the people in a conversation do each of those activities. Afterwards, each student compares their responses on the chart with those on their classmates’ charts. 

7. Share the conversation script so that students can check their own work. 

Activate Stage (15 minutes)

8. Have your students roleplay a conversation between a TikToker and someone on the street. The TikToker is interviewing people on the street and wants to know what people do in their free time and how often they do it. Students switch roles. After a designated amount of time, each student finds a new partner. Walk around listening to the language being produced by your students.

9. After the activity ends, ask your students about their favorite answer(s).

ESA’s flexibility in designing lessons is very helpful in situations such as the following. Let’s say that, during the activate stage, you identified a need to redo the study stage. In other words, you realized that your students need to review where to place frequency adverbs within a sentence. If enough time is available, start a new study stage by providing additional explanations and having students practice the new language. After that, guide your students with entering a new activate stage in which they use content in real-life situations.

In this chapter, you learned about Harmer’s (2007) ESA framework for keeping your students focused on learning. You also learned that ESA encourages teachers to adjust the sequencing of its three stages (engage-study-activate) to better meet lesson objectives. When teaching your own English classes, consider structuring your lessons on ESA to facilitate meeting your learning objectives while also meeting your students’ needs.

Here are some key concepts about ESA to remember:

• Adults need a reason to learn a new language. Therefore, topics should match their interests and needs. Adults also need a structure to help them understand and learn. 

• Teachers use ESA to meet the learning needs of students who learn differently. Teachers take advantage of these differences to make the class attractive and effective for all students.

• Each of the three ESA stages indicates what is to be done. In the engage stage, students are engaged and ready to learn. In the study stage, students learn and practice new content. In the activate stage, students activate new knowledge by using it in useful, real-life situations.

• After identifying gaps in student knowledge, teachers can implement ESA’s boomerang and patchwork lessons, which introduce stages in different orders with the goal of filling gaps. 

Based on your new knowledge about ESA, answer these questions:

1. Is ESA more effective than Presentation-Practice-Production? Why or why not? Explain.

2. Would you consider using ESA in your own class? Why or why not?

3. Think of a topic that you would like to teach. In which order would you sequence the three ESA stages and why? What activity or activities would you include in each stage and why?

To practice using what you have learned about ESA, do the following:

1. Remember a language lesson that you enjoyed as a student. Think about how that lesson was organized, what your teacher did, and what you (as a learner) did. Based on what you now know about ESA, analyze this language lesson. See if you can match distinct aspects from that lesson with the three ESA stages.

2. Create a lesson plan based on these three ESA stages.

To expand your knowledge and application of ESA, visit these websites:

• English teacher guide. https://englishteacherguide.com/the-engage-study-activate-esa-method-of-teaching/  

• ESA lesson planning. https://esl-lesson-plans.ontesol.com/tesol-speaking-and-vocabulary-lesson-plan-using-esa-format/  

• International training in TEFL and TESOL. https://youtu.be/sLoKPyDCR3s  

• Online professional development for teachers. https://www.pearson.com/english/resources/esap-online-teaching-methodology.html 

Aspects related to ESA are addressed in several chapters of this book: 

Chapter 9 Empowering Adults for Autonomous Learning by M. Zalimben

Chapter 21 Connecting Student Interaction With Classroom Management by G. Mendoza

Chapter 25 Preparing to Teach Through Effective Lesson Planning by H. Lalwani

Chapter 33 Current Approaches in English Language Teaching by N. Dantaz

Chapter 36 Task-Based Approach With Adult Learners by I. Giménez and C. Rolón

Chapter 47 Authentic Assessment of, for, and as Learning by G. Díaz Maggioli

Anderson, J. (2017). A potted history of PPP with the help of ELT journal. ELT Journal, 71(2), 218–227. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccw055  

Gardner, H. E. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century. Basic Books. 

Gardner, H. E. (2011). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books. (Original work published 1983) 

Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. Pearson Longman. 

Harmer, J. (2015). The practice of English language teaching (5th ed.). Pearson. 

Knowles, M. S., Holton III, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2015). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (7th ed.). Routledge. 

Krashen, S. (1981). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon Press.

Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2021). How languages are learned (5th ed.). Oxford University Press 

Cynthia Rolón Cañete is an English language teacher and trainer at the Instituto de Formación Docente Paraguayo-Americano (IFDPA), which is housed at the Centro Cultural Paraguayo-Americano (CCPA), and an adjunct professor of pedagogy at the Instituto Superior de Lenguas (ISL), Universidad Nacional de Asunción. Cynthia received a bachelor's degree in English from the ISL/UNA and a master's degree in advanced studies in social education from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). She is interested in formal and non-formal adult education, instruction in virtual environments, and instructional design.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5058-8925 

Email for correspondence regarding this chapter: isl-crolon@fil.una.py

Ignacio Giménez Núñez is an English teacher and teacher trainer at the IFDPA and a professor and teaching assistant at the ISL. Ignacio received a bachelor’s degree in English from the ISL and a master’s degree in world languages, literatures, and linguistics, with an emphasis in teaching English to speakers of other languages, from West Virginia University (United States). He is interested in materials development, formal and non-formal adult education, and the use of information and communication technologies in the classroom.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3248-6653 

Cover Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash