Introduction

Learning and teaching English as a foreign language can be quite difficult,

therefore learners need high motivation. Motivation results from interactions, both
conscious and unconscious factors such as the intensity of wants or needs, the
value of incentives or appreciation for goals, and the expectations of individuals
and their peers. These factors are the reasons that influence someone to behave.
For example, a child will continually learn when he wants to get the best grades in
his class.

In teaching English as a foreign language, we must consider the age of the

learner, because the need to obtain language from each age level is different.
Children have their own way of learning a new language, even with adults and
adolescents, they also have different ways.

Children's attention is shorter than adults and adolescents. However,

adolescent attention will be disturbed when they are facing a problem, both
internal and external problems. As teachers we must know their psychological
state. So, the teacher's job is how to motivate them and teach them in a positive
learning environment, and a pleasant learning environment.

In this paper we will try to recognize and differentiate between learners

and instructors, things that need to be considered before starting learning, find out
what factors motivate learners to learn a new language or a foreign language.

This paper also discusses the differences between learners, what they need,
at which level of language they are and so on.

EFL Learners

English as Foreign Language Learners are people who learn English,

while their mother tongue and second language are not English. EFL Learners is
divided into several categories based on age, learner differences, language level,
motivation, and so on.
 Knowing our students age is something important for us as a teacher to
know, it will be the major factor for our decision how to teach and what should
we give for them. Students with the different age have different needs, skills, and
competences. It is impossible to use same approach when dealing with young
children, adolescents, and adults.

Young children are more able to understand meaning than single words.
Then, the will learn inderectly through pictures, songs, games, and other
interesting things. Children like to express through physical movement or do
something, imagine something, perform roles and talk about themselves. They
show enthusiasm for learning and seek attention from the teacher. They have very
little attention span. Jeremy Harmer argued that “ We can also draw some
conclusions about what a classroom for young children should look like and what
might be going on in it. First of all, we will want the classroom to be bright and
colourful, with windows the children can see out of, and with enough room for
different activities to be taking place. We might expect the students to be working
in groups in different parts of the classroom, changing their activity every ten
minutes or so.” (2007: 83)

Adolescents, on the other hand, are very different from children. The do
not have good attention on learning. The more concerned about problems
experienced by themselves. We can ask teenagers to address learning issues
directly in a way that younger learners might not appreciate. We are able to
discuss abstract issues with them. Indeed, part of our job is to provoke intellectual
for themselves –through still with our guidance. (Harmer, 2007: 84)

Adult learners, they like to learn consciously that the are doing intellectual
activities. They realize the are in class because they want to learn and they have to
do their best to get it. They like to apply their own experiences in the learning
process. Thus, it means that they use their own learning pattern. Adults are more
disciplined so they are able to deal with long learning activities.
 Then, we will realize that our classroom is composed by indiciduals, we
have to think how to interact with these students individually. This section we will
know various ways that researchers have tried to identify individuals needs and
behaviours.

It all starts with a talent for learning new languages. There are some
learners who are better at this than others. In the 1950s aptitude tests proved that a
learners could learn a new language efficiently. However, it was soon shown that
the tests did not say much about language learning and vice versa; Failure in the
exam will trigger frustration with learners.

Then, many researchers gave us the characteristics of good learners and

they agreed that most of them were based on culture. Different cultures value
different learning behaviours, however. Our insistence upon one kind of 'good
learner' profile may encourage us to demand that students should act in class in
certain ways, whatever their learning background. (Harmer, 2007: 87)

Keith Willing explains four more types: convergent, conformist, concrete

learner, and communicative learner. Convergers: these are students who are by
nature solitary, prefer to avoid groups, and who are independent and confident in
their own abilities. Most importantly they are analytic and can impose their own
structures on learning. They tend to be cool and pragmatic.

Conformists: these are students who prefer to emphasize learning about

language over learning to use it. They tend to be dependent on those In authority
and are perfectly happy to work in non-communicative classrooms, doing what
they are told. A classroom of conformists is one which prefers to see well-
organized teachers.

Concrete learners: though they are like conformists, they also enjoy the
social aspects of learning and like to learn from direct experience. They are
interested in language use and language as communication rather than language as
a system. They enjoy games and group work in class. Communicative learners:
these are language use oriented. They are comfortable out of class and show a
degree of confidence and a willingness to take risks which their colleagues may
lack They are much more interested in social interaction with other speakers of the
language than they are with analysis of how the language works. They are
perfectly happy to operate without the guidance of a teacher. (Harmer, 2007: 88)

In this way we can find several types of learning with different learners
characteristics before preparing activities for the class.