Читать книгу New Perspectives on Older Language Learners - Miriam Neigert - Страница 15

The psychological dimension of ageing looks at how our personality, our mental functions (e.g. our memory or intelligence), and sensory and perceptual processes change as we get older (Phillips et al. 2010: 12f.; Lehr 2007). In particular, how old age and ageing are perceived in society and by the young-old themselves is interesting for this study. This will also be discussed with regard to language learning in greater detail and from a more temporal perspective (i.e. in terms of past, present, future/ideal possible selves) and in the following chapter.

Regarding the perception and self-perception of the young-old, we can see how the components of the term – ‘young’ and ‘old’ – come into play in this and other dimensions; biological ageing, or the aforementioned bio markers such as wrinkles, grey hair, or sensory impairments indicate the ageing process and mark someone as ‘old’ (Karl 2009: 23). The chronological dimension together with the sociological dimension also denote a traditionally constructed old age by setting a point in time when a person moves from working and thus contributing to the economy, to a phase in life when a person withdraws from the workforce and receives a pension. From the sociological discussion of age, we can see how the interplay of these dimensions and developments define when a society regards an individual as old. These rules or perceptions that are established on a societal level also trickle down to the level of the individual’s perception of his or her age and the ageing process, making it a more internal dimension of the construction of age (compared to the sociological dimension of ageing).

The psychological dimension of ageing takes a closer look at how individuals perceive and cope with the ageing process (Mlinac et al. 2011; Brandstädter et al. 1993; Ammon & Maehr 2008; Kotter-Grühn & Hess 2012). Several studies have indicated, for example, that older study participants usually feel younger than their actual chronological age (Smith & Ryan 2015: 311; Kade 2007: 14). With regard to resilience and coping with the ageing process, Mlinac et al. (2011: 4f.) report that older people tend to rate others of the same age more poorly in terms of negative ageing stereotypes while perceptions of themselves improved thereby indicating a coping strategy: “This mechanism can be seen as a protective factor; older adults reject negative information about aging rather than allowing it to harm their self-perceptions.” (2011: 5) The psychological dimension is also related to the ability of a young-old individual to adapt to new circumstances and environments as he or she ages. Thus, going back to the sociological age factor of retirement, psychological gerontologists have divided this crucial transition in the life course into three phases: retirement planning, retirement decision-making, and retirement transition and adjustment (Wang & Shi 2015: 349).

How the young-old progress through these three phases of retirement – from envisioning their life in retirement, planning, and exiting their working lives to settling into their post-retirement life, ideally close to what they previously envisaged – can tell us a lot about their ability to cope psychologically with change in later years. This information also helps them to maintain or even improve their psychological wellbeing. Dorfman and Kolarik (2005), for instance, report that engaging in bridging employment, volunteer work, and leisure activities (which can also include lifelong learning activities such as language learning) contribute to an improvement of psychological wellbeing in the transition and adjustment phase of retirement. It is thus not surprising that more and more young-old people engage in language learning as a way of improving and maintaining their post-retirement quality of life – i.e. enhancing personal agency, control, and emancipation (Ammon & Maehr 2008; Moody 2010: 485; Walker 2010; Whitnall 2012: 652; Ramírez Gómez 2016: 136). For adult learner institutions, this transitioning phase in life constitutes a promising starting point for new educational programmes (Schmidt 2005; Costard 2006; Tippelt et al. 2009; Völkening 2006).