In determining reasons for learning Finnish as a foreign language, the participants were able to reflect on both the internal motivating factors (e.g. guilt or desire to learn the language), as well as the external motivating factors (e.g. adaptation into the local society or job expectations). The results show that primarily, external factors were the foremost reasons for learning Finnish as a foreign language and it was determined that the primary reason for foreigners to learn the language is to better adapt within the society and culture, closely followed by employment expectations. Additionally, the support offered within the household had an impact on the adults’ learning; it was not necessarily having someone else in the household who was fluent in the language that was the support that was needed, although helpful, it was additional support from spouses and family members to allow for additional study time out of the classroom that the participants sought. It was also discovered that despite many of the
participants having a Finnish spouse or other family members, these family members were not entirely willing to assist in the learning that the participants were doing due to lack of interest, comfort in assisting or understanding what the participant needed. These findings show that the lack of support at home resulted in a somewhat lesser learning experience, but it is unclear if this impacted their overall grades negatively since the adult learners were not asked to share their final grade results with the researcher as this was deemed unnecessary. It was when the participants were discussing the feelings they had experienced during the learning process, that understanding how support at home impacted the language learning experience.
The learners expressed many negative emotions when learning Finnish as a foreign language, including ‘anger’, feeling ‘overwhelmed’ and ‘frustration’. These emotions were targeted towards the oral aspect of the language, the grammar component and also in regards to a sometimes lack of support from family members, as indicated above. The results indicate that adult learners desire more speaking or ‘output’ opportunities both in and out of the classroom.
Furthermore, they found the process of learning Finnish very slow due to the overwhelming amount of new rules and vocabulary being taught during each class. Despite feeling negatively towards the language learning process, some of the participants found these negativities to be learning motivators, enabling them to work harder both in the classroom and independently.
Adults are typically viewed as independent or self-reliant learners, and most teachers are able to respect this. However, it was determined that the adults of this study are more self-labeled as a combination of both self-reliant and teacher-reliant learners which contradicts Knowles’ theory that although adults need some guidance in regards to their learning they are mostly self-reliant in how they learn. The results from this study illustrate that the adult learners
required teacher guidance and thorough instruction within the classroom, followed by necessary independent study following the class session.
When learning a new language, the participants expressed many ways on how they planned on learning the language and assisting their learning, including the use of visual aids such as television and reading material, aural aids such as music, radio and other fluent speakers or through logistical aids such as memorization and repetition. By understanding their own limitations and learning abilities, they were able to utilize whichever strategies they believed would be most optimal for their individual learning. The results indicate that the most common learning strategy was verbal aids; almost all of the adult learners determined that in order to succeed in the language course, practicing their oral skills as frequently as possible, in a number of settings would be essential to their overall learning, which coincides with Krashen’s output hypothesis, in which the learner is able to monitor their own learning in order to correct or modify themselves when it is necessary.
Overall, learners from both the Suomi 2 and the Palapeli2 project groups showed many similar adult learner characteristics when it came to learning Finnish as a new language.
However, a major difference that was predominant was the length of time the participants have been in Finland, with Palapeli2 project students being in Finland for a much shorter period of time, resulting in much different reasons for learning the language. At this stage, those from the Palapeli2 project were mainly concerned with employment and cultural expectations, whereas those who were participating in the Suomi 2 program demonstrated different needs for learning the language such as familial reasons and emotional reasons such as guilt. Additionally, familial differences are indicative of differences between the groups of learners; some of the participants have young families at home (Participant 3, for example), whereas others either live on their own
or are recently married without any children. It can be determined that this influenced the learning process, especially in terms of support at home. As was already briefly mentioned above, both groups of adult learners demonstrated similar strategies for learning the language including speaking and listening to Finnish as much as possible. They also exhibited a strong individualized understanding of their own learning needs and what ways would best assist their language learning.
6 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this thesis sought to study adults learning Finnish as a foreign language. It aimed to answer the questions surrounding why they were learning the language, how they planned to learn the language, the emotions they experienced during the learning process, the support offered to them during their learning of a foreign language and understanding whether or not they labeled themselves as self-reliant or teacher-reliant learners, and why.
The results showed that many of the adult learners relied on external motivators as cause for learning Finnish as a foreign language, primarily the need to adapt within the community and job expectations. In addition, the participants’ at home support impacted their learning both in a negative and positive way, since it was determined that some desired more in home support beyond assistance with learning the language, but rather more assistance to allow for study time and whether or not there was support offered at home, this was seen as a motivator to continue working to learn the language. It was also determined that the participants of this study often felt over-whelmed, frustrated or angry at some point during the language learning process, primarily with the oral and grammatical aspects of the language. Also, despite Malcolm Knowles’ theories surrounding adults being self-reliant learners, the adults of this study were individually labelled primarily as a combination of self-reliant and teacher-reliant learners, therefore depending on both themselves and the teacher equally when it came to their overall language learning.
Prior to completing the first interview, the researcher believed that the adults due to their different age, familial situations, life experiences and overall expectations of the course would without a doubt all be self-reliant learners. It was interesting to find that the only participants of this study to self-label themselves as self-reliant learners were the native English speakers (although, the second participant switched their choice to a combination of both self and
teacher-reliant during the second interview). Upon completing this study, it is easy to determine that adults definitively do learn differently than children but in counterintuitive ways. Some participants had to put the needs of their children or spouses first, above their language studies, therefore only finding adequate study time either late at night or only during the class session.
Furthermore, to take notice of the need to learn the language in order to adapt within the culture or the guilt that one participant felt due to having lived in Finland for such a long time and not knowing the language, definitely coincides with Knowles’ theory regarding adults questioning both internal and external motivators as reasons to learn or acquire a new skill, unlike children who typically learn what they are told and when they are told.