Читать книгу New Perspectives on Older Language Learners - Miriam Neigert - Страница 9

To achieve a better understanding of young-old language learners, the following chapters cover the theoretical overviews (chapters 2 and 3), the methodological framework and research context for this research project (chapter 4), and finally the empirical work conducted (chapters 5, 6, and 7). A concluding chapter briefly outlines the results and discusses the implications of the research outcomes. With regard to the theoretical foundations, chapter 2 will provide a better understanding of the participants in this study: the young-old language learners. What differentiates the young-old learners from the participants in most other research studies on language learning is their age. As chapter 2 will highlight, there is more to age and ageing than the mere chronological perspective. Using different dimensions of ageing – biological, chronological, sociological, and psychological age – chapter 2 provides a working definition of “young-old” for this study. The chapter ends with a brief overview of previous studies on older language learners in the field of SLA, which reveals the need for more research in this area.

With a focus on self-concept within the realm of foreign and second language research, chapter 3 addresses a second theoretical foundation of this study – self-concept within psychological research. This detailed overview includes the nature of self-concept and its formation over the life course. This is followed by a discussion of other self-terms, which are also commonly investigated in SLA research, to further clarify the meaning of self-concept. The focus is then further narrowed down to the temporal aspects of self-concept and theories connected to this: possible selves, self-determination theory, and self-discrepancy theory. What are the dynamics between our past, present, and future self-concepts? What makes us work towards or away from a certain future self? Do we learn a foreign language because of our personal ideals and aspirations, or because we think we are expected to do so? In its final sections, chapter 3 connects these temporal aspects of self-concept to recent SLA research on the language learner self. The chapter introduces the L2 Motivational Self-System (Dörnyei 2005, 2009) which comprises ideal as well as ought-to L2 self guides, and the L2 learning experience. It is hoped that this model helps to provide a better understanding of the young-old language learners in this study. Having presented and discussed the theoretical foundations, chapter 3 concludes with the major questions addressed by this study.

Chapter 4 outlines the study’s research design, in order to find answers to the research questions. A mixed-method design has been chosen to investigate the young-old language learners’ L2 self-concepts and their temporal facets. Combining the results of a survey (quantitative data strand; QUAN) and an interview study (qualitative data strand, QUAL) can provide an expanded understanding of the complexities of language learner selves. Chapter 4 also introduces the research context: adult education centres – so-called Volkshochschulen (vhs centres) – in Germany to which young-old language learners typically turn if they intend to learn or brush up on a foreign language.

Chapters 5 and 6 present how the theoretical concepts introduced in earlier chapters were operationalized in the quantitative and qualitative instruments and how the respective data were collected and analyzed. Chapter 5 outlines the development and analysis of the questionnaire on the self-concept of young-old language learners. It brings together the results of 195 respondents, who are learning English as a foreign language at vhs centres in the German state of Hesse, and correlates the results with factors relevant to the research interests. The qualitative data strand evolves around interviews with 21 young-old learners at a local vhs centre. Similar to the survey, the interview guide aimed elicit information about young-old language learners. These two chapters – 5 and 6 – also present and contextualize the research study’s results in view of the research questions and the following merging stage. Following this, chapter 7 merges the two data strands presented in chapters 5 and 6 and draws meta-inferences based on the points of convergence and divergence between quantitative and qualitative perspectives.

The conclusion in chapter 8 gives a brief overview of the results and examines the implications of the results of the study for adult education institutions such as vhs centres in Germany and foreign language instructors, who are teaching older learners. This final chapter also presents directions for further research that emerged in the course of the research project.