Читать книгу New Perspectives on Older Language Learners - Miriam Neigert - Страница 7

The older I get, the braver I become.

Jennifer, 68, retired.

Jennifer1 had only recently joined my English class at a local adult education centre (Volkshochschule, hereafter: vhs centre). In her interview, she told me about her doubts before she joined this course, which was specifically designed to practice conversation. But despite her doubts, she gave it a try and did not regret her choice. Yet, her statement indicates that as a younger woman, she possibly would have refrained from doing so. It is learners like Jennifer who made me want to find out more about how older learners approach learning a language. On my search for answers, which started long before my PhD during my studies at university, I discovered that research on how foreign or second languages are learned and taught has widely neglected older adults (see chapters 3 and 4). Very often research in this field is based on the assumption that adulthood (i.e. everything past the age of 18) is a stable and uniform concept (but see: Kade 2009; Dannefer & Settersten 2010; Schmidt-Hertha 2014). Moreover, as soon as age and ageing are explored in conjunction with this research, it is explored in terms of the possibilities and boundaries of second language acquisition (e.g. critical period hypothesis; Singleton & Ryan 2004; Schramm 2010; Herschensohn 2007). Therefore, this thesis aims to provide new perspectives on older language learners by studying their language learner self and its temporal facets: how do older learners perceive their past, current (or actual), and future language learner selves? In order to move away from a uniform view of adulthood, my study will narrow down the focus on a specific group of older learners I refer to as ‘young-old’ (see chapter 2). Young-old learners are between 60 and 80 years of age, mostly retired, and are still active in that they are interested in starting or continuing learning English as a foreign language. It is hoped that my study can open up new ways to view older adults who learn foreign languages and that it initiates further discussions about adapting language learning programs to their expectations and needs.