Challenges of learning English in late adulthood: The case of online learning

Year 2024, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 43 - 65, 29.02.2024

Ebru Noyan , Asuman Aşık

https://doi.org/10.47806/ijesacademic.1393221

Abstract

Foreign language learning has been found effective in helping older people improve cognitive functioning and provide opportunities at psychological and social levels. This study examines the difficulties older adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and their instructors encounter within the online learning and instruction framework. To achieve this objective, seven EFL learners over 60 and two English teachers were included as participants in the study. The collection of qualitative data occurred over six weeks during an English course. The objective was achieved by submitting participants' weekly self-reflection reports, interviews with learners and instructors, and the researchers' observations. A content analysis was conducted to examine the qualitative data. The study's findings indicate that learners aged 60 and over have several cognitive and physical obstacles when participating in online English courses. Additionally, they rely on their previous learning habits, potentially impacting their overall learning experience. This study provides insights into the pedagogical implications of teaching English to older adults and recommendations for traditional face-to-face classroom instruction and online learning modalities.

Keywords

older adult learners,, online adult teaching,, late adulthood

References

• Alladi, S., Bak, T.H., Duggirala, V., Surampudi, B., Shailaja, M., Shukla, A. K., ... &Kaul, S. (2013). Bilingualism delays age at the onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status. Neurology, 81(22), 1938-1944.
• Andrew, P. (2012). The social construction of age. Multilingual Matters.
• Antoniou, M., Gunasekera, G. M., & Patrick, C.M.W. (2013). Foreign language training as cognitive therapy for age-related cognitive decline: A hypothesis for future research. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 37, 2689–2698.
• Bak, T. (2016). Language lessons to help protect against dementia. BMJ, 354, i5039. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i5039
• Baran-Łucarz, M., & Słowik-Krogulec, A. (2023). Language Anxiety of Older Adults in an Online and In-class EFL Course: Results of a Pilot Study. In Contemporary Issues in Foreign Language Education: Festschrift in Honour of Anna Michońska-Stadnik (pp. 231-251). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
• Bellingham, L. (2005). Is there language acquisition after 40? Older learners speak up, in Phil Benson and David Nunan (ed.) Learners’ stories: Difference and diversity in language learning. Cambridge University.
• Bialystok, E., & Hakuta, K. (1999). Confounded age: Linguistic and cognitive factors in age differences for second language acquisition. Second language acquisition and the critical period hypothesis, 161-181.
• Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
• Dӧrnyei, Z. (2009). The psychology of second language acquisition. Oxford University Press.
• Eguz, E. (2019). Learning a second language in late adulthood: Benefits and challenges. Educational Gerontology, 45(12), 701–707.
• Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition (2nd Ed.). Oxford University Press.
• Evans, M., & Tragant, E. (2020). Demotivation and dropout in adult EFL learners. TESL-EJ, 23(4), 1-20.
• Flood, J. (2002). Read all about it: Online learning facing 80% attrition rates—Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 3(2).
• Fred, L. & Perry, J. (2011). Research in applied linguistics: Becoming a discerning consumer. Routledge.
• Gao, L. X., & Zhang, L. J. (2020). Teacher learning in difficult times: Examining foreign language teachers’ cognitions about online teaching to tide over COVID-19. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2396.
• Gustafsson, J. (2017). Single case studies vs. multiple case studies: A comparative study. Halmstad University.
• Grasso, G. M. (2017). Language Anxiety. A study on communication apprehension and willingness to communicate in the older adult EFL learners' context. Bachelor's thesis, Università Ca'Foscari Venezia.
• Grognet, A. G. (1997). Elderly refugees and language learning. ERIC database
• Hakuta, K., E. Białystok & Wiley, E. (2003). Critical evidence: A test of the critical period hypothesis for second language acquisition. American Psychological Society, 14 (1), 31-38.
• Hanna, K., Giebel, C., Tetlow, H., Ward, K., Shenton, J., Cannon, J., ... & Gabbay, M. (2022). Emotional and mental well-being following COVID-19 public health measures on people living with dementia and carers. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 35(3), 344–352.
• Hu, R. (2016). The age factor in second language learning. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 6(11), 2164–2168.
• Jaroszewska, A. (2013). Teaching foreign languages to senior learners in Poland. An analysis of needs and abilities in a multicultural context. Impuls.
• Kim, A., & Merriam, S. B. (2004). Motivations for learning among older adults in a learning in retirement institute. Educational Gerontology, 30(6), 441–455.
• Klimova, B., & Kuca, K. (2015). Alzheimer’s disease: Potential preventive, non-invasive, intervention strategies in lowering the risk of cognitive decline a review study. Journal of Applied Biomedicine, 13(4), 257–261.
• Klimova B. (2018). Learning a foreign language: A Review on recent findings about its effect on the enhancement of cognitive functions among healthy older individuals. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 305.
• Krashen, S. D., Long, M. A., & Scarcella, R. C. (1979). Age, rate and eventual attainment in second language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 573-582.
• Kulal, A., & Nayak, A. (2020). A study on perception of teachers and students toward online classes in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District. Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 285-295.
• Kuklewicz, A., & King, J. (2018). " It's never too late": A narrative inquiry of older Polish adults' English language learning experiences. TESL-EJ, 22(3) Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). The biological foundations of language. Wiley.
• MacIntyre, P. D., Baker, S. C., Clement, R., & Donovan, L. A. (2002). Sex and age effects on willingness to communicate, anxiety, perceived competence, and L2 motivation among junior high school French immersion students. Language Learning, 52(3), 537–564.
• Major, C. A. (2014). The effect of age on second language acquisition in older adults. Master's thesis. Brigham Young University, Provo.
• Marcotte, K., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2014). Age-related behavioural and neurofunctional patterns of second language word learning: Different ways of being successful. Brain & Language, 135, 9–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2014.04.004
• Martin, C. (2003). Learning in retirement institutes: The impact on the lives of older adults. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 51(1), 2–11.
• McCroskey, J. C. (1984). Self-report measurement. Avoiding communication: Shyness, reticence, and communication apprehension, 81–94.
• McElree, B., & Dyer, L. (2013). Beyond capacity: the role of memory processes in building linguistic structure in real time. Language Down the Garden Path: The Cognitive and Biological Basis for Linguistic Structures, eds M. Sanz, I. Laka, and MK Tanenhaus (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 229-240.
• Merriam, S., & Caffarella, R. (1999). Key theories of learning. Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide, 248-256.
• Mestheneos, E., & Withnall, A. (2016). Ageing, learning and health: Making connections. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 35(5), 522–536.
• Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Sage.
• O’Connor, C., & Joffe, H. (2020). Intercoder reliability in qualitative research: debates and practical guidelines. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19.
• OECD (2022). Life expectancy at birth (indicator). https://doi.org/10.1787/27e0fc9d-en
• Olt, P. A., & Teman, E. D. (2018). A duoethnographic exploration of persistent technological failures in synchronous online education. Qualitative Social Research 19(3).
• Owatnupat, N. (2021). Foreign language learning in older adults: Benefits, challenges, and suggestions for teaching. Education for the Elderly in the Asia Pacific, 221–234.
• Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
• Polonyi, T. E., Gnandt, M., Abari, K., Nagy, A., & Santha, J. (2016). The animal farm task: Implicit and explicit language learning in young and elderly adults. Cognition, Brain, Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 20(5), 395–409.
• Pfenninger, S. E. (2011). Age effects on the acquisition of nominal and verbal inflections in an instructed setting. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching. 1(3). 401-420.
• Ramírez-Gómez, D. (2014). Older adult FL learning: Instructors beliefs and some recommendations. In Sonda, N. and A. Krause (Eds.), JALT2013 Conference Proceedings.Tokyo: JALT
• Ramírez-Gómez, D. (2016a). Critical geragogy and foreign language learning: An exploratory application. Educational Gerontology. 42(2), 136-143.
• Ramírez-Gómez, D. (2016b). Language teaching and the older adult: The Significance of experience. Multilingual Matters.
• Scott, M.L. (1994). Auditory memory and perception in younger and older adult second language learners. SSLA 16, 263–281.
• Słowik, A. (2016). Adult learners and the use of L1 in the foreign language classroom. Anglica Wratislaviensia, 54, 107-124.
• Słowik-Krogulec, A. (2019). Developing efficient foreign language classroom environment for older adult learners. The Journal of Education, Culture, and Society, 10(2), 189-200.
• Słowik-Krogulec, A. (2021). Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching English to older adults: The case of motivation. Beiträge Zur Allgemeinen Und Vergleichenden Sprachwissenschaft, (10), 149-174.
• Sener, B., Ertem, I. S., & Mec, A. (2020). Online teaching experiences of ELT instructors. Journal of Educational Technology and Online Learning, 3(3), 340-362.
• Sigelman, C.K. & Rider, E.A. (2012). (7th ed.). Human development across the life span: Introduction to the human life span. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
• Singleton, D. & Ryan, L. (2004). Language acquisition: The age factor. Multilingual Matters.
• Singleton, D. (2017). Language aptitude: Desirable trait or acquirable attribute? Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 7(1), 89–103.
• Singleton, D., & Záborská, D. (2020). Adults learning additional languages in their later years: The pain, the profit and the pleasure. Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices, 1(1), 112-124.
• Singleton, D., & Leśniewska, J. (2021). The critical period hypothesis for L2 acquisition: An unfalsifiable embarrassment? Languages, 6(3), 149.
• Tyler-Smith, K. (2006). Early attrition among first-time eLearners: A review of factors that contribute to drop-out, withdrawal and non-completion rates of adult learners undertaking eLearning programmes. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 2(2), 73–85.
• Weinstein-Shr, G. (1993). Growing old in America: Learning English literacy in the later years. ERIC Digest.
• Werbińska, D. (2018). [Review of the book Third Age Learners of Foreign Languages, by D. Werbinska]. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching. 8 (4). 845-851.
• World Health Organization (2015). World report on ageing and health. World Health Organization.
• World Health Organization (2021). Ageing and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health
• Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (4th Ed.). Sage.