"Adult Language Learners: Context and Innovation" presents instructional practices that are particularly successful with adults. Adult language learners are goal oriented and direct their learning to fulfill particular needs or demands: to advance their studies, to progress up the career ladder, to follow business opportunities, to pass a driving test, to assist their children with homework, or simply to be successful users of the language. They usually require immediate value and relevance from their studies, and they often learn best when they are engaged in developing their own learning objectives. The volume examines learning environments as varied as Brazil, China, Iran, Japan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam, always with an emphasis on classroom practice rather than theory. The book is divided into three main areas of education: language teachers as adult learners themselves developing their teaching practice; different means of expanding learner autonomy, an important trait of the adult language learner; and innovative classroom practices. By reading these chapters you will gain an overview of recent developments in adult language learning and of ideas and techniques that can be easily adapted to your own teaching context. This book contains 18 chapters. Chapters include: (1) Adult Language Learners: An Overview (Ann F. V. Smith and Gregory Strong); (2) Thinking Locally, Training Globally: Language Teacher Certification Reappraised (Caroline Brandt); (3) Mind the Gap: Second Language Acquisition Theory Into Practice (Bede McCormack); (4) Podcasting and Online Journals as ESOL Resources (Deoksoon Kim); (5) E-portfolios for Lifelong Teacher Development (Geoff Baker, Emma Crawford, and Martha Jones); (6) Teacher Enthusiasm in Action (Peng Ding); (7) Memorization in Language Teaching: Vietnam and the United States (Duong Thi Hoang Oanh); (8) A Self-Directed Learning Course (Garold Murray); (9) Stepping Into a Participatory Adult ESL Curriculum (Sally Lamping); (10) Learning Teams in Edinburgh (Olwyn Alexander); (11) An Interactive Approach to Book Reports (Melvin R. Andrade); (12) A Web of Controversy: Critical Thinking Online (Joseph V. Dias); (13) Researching Pains: Iranian Students Exploring Medical English (Sue-san Ghahremani-Ghajar, Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini, and Hossein Fattahi); (14) Field Trips With Japanese Student Ethnographers (Gregory Strong); (15) Role-Playing With Fire: Hot Topics and Heated Discussions (Christopher Stillwell); (16) Case for Discussion (Ann F. V. Smith); (17) Motivating Thai University Students With Radio Drama (Magdalena Kubanyiova); (18) Ongoing Needs Analysis: English for Aviation in Brazil (Eliane H. Augusto-Navarro, Denise M. de Abreu-e-Lima, and Luciana C. de Oliveira).