Aysen Cem-Deger is a freelance ELT teacher, CELTA tutor and psychodramatist.  She has been teaching English for over thirty years to different age groups and learners with visual-impairments and physical disabilities within inclusive practices. She is currently working with older adult learners in Ege University of Third Age in Izmir, Turkiye. She is the joint secretary of IP&SEN SIG. Email: aysencdeger5@gmail.com

 

Introduction

The concept of ‘lifelong learning’ has gained more currency since WHO launched the policy framework in 2017 to promote the quality of life and active participation in society at later ages.  This resulted an increase worldwide in the number of adults over 60 learning a foreign language either in the courses offered by Third Age Universities or in General English courses at language schools.

I have been teaching English to third agers (people over 60) for five years both in a Third Age University, where all learners are over 60,  and in General English courses in which there is one or two older learners together with younger adults as the majority.  I have noticed that although third agers are more motivated, open to new techniques and want to grasp the joy of learning, it is hard for them to leave the anxiety of speaking English ‘flawlessly’. At first, it seemed to me a concern stemming from their perfectionism at later ages, but as I continued teaching them and communicating with them about learning a foreign language, I observed a mindset characterized by the belief that one cannot fully learn a language due to their (later) age. I have been trying to keep myself up to date on research findings and teaching approaches to aid and encourage older learners while fostering inclusive learning atmosphere for them.

This article departs from Oxford’s (2018) article in which she makes suggestions for Third age learning. I will mainly focus on the concepts of ‘savouring’, ‘mindfulness’, ‘the SOC (Selection, Optimization and Compensation) Framework’ and ‘Sage-ing’, all of which offer new insights in teaching older adults.

Positive Psychology suggests ‘savouring’ as a coping resource for managing negative emotions. Savouring is an emotion regulation process by noticing, appreciating, and enhancing the positive aspects of life. It directs conscious attention towards the experience of pleasure of self and others  (Bryant and Veroff, 2007). Positive emotions expand an individual’s focus, help them create ideas and take actions that are useful for the future (Frederickson, 2001).  I believe encouraging older adults to ‘savour’ learning a foreign language can change their negative mindset about their learning process.

 

Older adult learners

Like other age groups, older adult learners have specific characteristics and needs.  They have internal motivation and want to a learn foreign language for many different reasons. They might want to refresh their knowledge of a foreign language they learned at school or to feel more confident and independent while travelling.  Some learners feel the need to learn a foreign language to be able to communicate with their relatives living out of their country, especially with their grandchildren and some others go to the courses to fill their free time and avoid loneliness and everyday problems (Derenowski, 2021).  The motives for learning a language may differ, but the feeling of anxiety of learning it after a certain age is common among third agers.  Many of them find it hard to stay away from the age-related stereotyping of (the difficulty of) learning at later ages due to cognitive decline. The anxiety might be doubled when the older learner is attending a course with younger adults, who are considered to have ‘better’ memory and information processing skills.

For some third agers, physical and cognitive challenges may be combined with psychological challenges.  They may feel a sense of ‘social isolation’ and acquire a ‘roleless role’ after a long work life. They may no longer keep the social networks they previously formed at work and need to form new ones. Furthermore, with retirement, they may be faced with a new stereotype in society – being ‘useless’ after work (Ramirez-Gómez, 2016).

It is a fact that older learners experience physical and cognitive changes. They may have issues with vision, hearing, and attention time during the lessons due to the decrease in night sleep. Furthermore, cognitive information processing may take longer for older adults. But many visual and hearing problems can be treated, and recent research in Neuroplasticity has proven that even at older ages, the brain is active in producing new neurons, and age-related cognitive decline can be compensated by regular practice and training (Merzenich, 2005; Guglielman, 2012).  

Furthermore, anxiety arising from age-related stereotypes that may lead to lack of self-esteem in the language learning process for older learners can be lowered down creating an inclusive learning environment.  Oxford (2018) suggests three approaches for this: Mindfulness, Selection, Optimization and Compensation (SOC) Framework, and Sage-ing.

 

Mindfulness

Mindfulness activities such as meditation (accompanied by music), breathing, visualization , art, and yoga exercises, aid older learners to stay fully present without being overwhelmed with the stress of being able to memorise, remember and/or produce a piece of language. Such activities can be done either before a cognitively challenging task or as part of a language activity and could help learners focus more on the learning process rather than the product, i.e., in many older learners’ wording “producing flawless language”.

 

The SOC Framework

Selection, Optimization, and Compensation model encompasses strategies for active aging. It helps the maximization of gains and minimization of losses related to aging, and thus improves wellbeing in older adults (Baltes & Baltes, 1990). Selection refers to setting and prioritizing goals according to personal motivation and preferences, Optimization is accomplishing these goals based on personal strengths rather than weaknesses, and Compensation means finding alternative ways, when needed, to accomplish goals.

In a foreign language class, the SOC model can be supported by differentiation of instruction for older learners. In this way, they can choose the type of materials, tasks and content that respond to their personal needs, interests and aims and can be done building on their strengths. For the challenging tasks that they keen to do, with the help of the teacher, they can try to develop alternative strategies. Here are some suggestions of differentiating the instruction for older adults:

• Differentiating the materials, tasks, and content: For learners with low visual capacity,

materials can be typed in bigger fonts with more space between the lines. For those who experience a decline in hearing can sit closer to the teacher or the loudspeaker and can do the listening tasks at home in their own time. Listening tasks can also be differentiated. Age-related decrease in total night sleep may reduce alertness during the lessons and lead to slower reaction time during activities (Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham, 2006, cited in Ramirez-Gómez, 2016:70). Thus, as an alternative to meaningful repetition, ‘shadowing’ (Hamada, 2017), which is a slower online task requiring repetition with a time lag, can be introduced. Shadowing, especially at lower levels, also helps learners focus on incoming sounds, which eventually leads to better word recognition during listening. Older learners can try out different ways of shadowing in the lessons with the teacher’s guidance and then can make use of this training to work on some other self-access listening materials at home.

Moreover, introducing the memory strategies (Bilbrough, 2011) to aid retrieving and reactivating previously studied language can respond to older learners’ cognitive challenges. The third ager can decide on the type of the tasks, each of which practises  a certain memory strategy. The strategy they choose could be either the one they have previously used or a completely new one. Learners can be encouraged to start from their strengths, i.e., the ones they are familiar with and move towards the unfamiliar ones when they need to develop alternative strategies. The teacher’s job is to offer a variety of tasks differentiated according to the memory strategies learners need.

Oxford (2018) suggests that older learners benefit from multisensory instruction as such activities contribute to better memory skills both in the short and long term. She further adds that tasks should be differentiated according to learners’ multisensory preferences and abilities. I have observed that differentiated multisensory activities offer ways of self-expression in English for older learners. For example, in one of my classes in the Ege University of Third Age, after learners read an interview with a 108-year-old woman who leads an active lifestyle, I invite them to express their lifestyle using one of these tasks: a poem,  a very short story (of two or three sentences), a movie poster with some drawings,  a piece of song, a sculpture made with play dough, a few yoga or dance movements, which they learn in their yoga course or dance course offered in the university.  Then, I put them into two groups, each group playing each role at different times – one group being the artists displaying their artwork in an exhibition, the other one, the visitors listening to the artists and asking questions if they want to.

The content in the materials can also be differentiated. To avoid input load, which is cognitively challenging for some older adults, both written and spoken texts can be shortened, graded, or accompanied by visuals. Alternatively, learners in different age groups can be given texts in topics which would appeal to their interests as part of a jigsaw reading or listening task. Texts that portray people at later ages as active participants of the society instead of grandparents with sedentary lifestyle (Duarte, 2020) might also help both older and younger learners change their mindset based on age-related stereotypes.

• Differentiating the process of teaching: Teachers can differentiate the teaching

techniques in their lessons according to older learners’ needs. Most older learners have already left their educational lives behind and thus, may have not received feedback on their work for an extensive period of time. Besides, many of them attend the courses to enjoy the pleasure of learning and tend to avoid negative emotions caused by being ‘assessed’.  Thus, they may not feel ready to hear ‘negative’ feedback on their work among their peers or among younger learners. When this is the case, teachers can differentiate the way they give feedback. For example, they can have a one-to-one session for feedback or provide written feedback and allow the older learner to come and ask questions later.

Teachers also need to be attentive towards the way the older learner prefers working in the lessons. Some older adults may not feel comfortable with working with others, especially with younger adults whereas some others might be keen to share ideas with them. In addition to arranging the interaction patterns according to the learner’s needs, teachers need to take the older adult’s learning pace into consideration. Some older learners may need more preparation time to feel at ease, especially when it comes to accomplishing a speaking task.

 

Sage-ing

The concept of Sage-ing is described as a “process that enables older people to become spiritually radiant, physically vital, and socially responsible ‘elders of the tribe’, …. (whose life has) meaning and purpose” (Schachter-Shalomi & Miller, 2014). Learning a foreign language at later ages can contribute to this process as it reinforces the sense of fulfilment in life and may lead to feelings of wisdom rather than despair. In role plays, giving older adults such roles as  the ‘advisor’, ‘man of wisdom’, or ‘elder of the tribe’, who listens to the younger generation, acts as the transmitter of the culture and tradition but at the same time is open to new ideas and (technological) developments can encourage them to become more aware of and make use of their rich life experience. Such roles are a more appropriate match for their current situation than a shop assistant or a waiter and are more likely to challenge the age-related stereotype of having a ‘roleless role’ at later ages.

 

Savouring learning

For older adults to experience savouring, their physical and psychological needs should be met, they should be allowed to be able to connect to the present by being freed from urgent social responsibilities and should be offered some meta-awareness tools to notice and appreciate positive experiences (Smith & Bryant, 2017).

Mindfulness exercises can be designed as meta-awareness tools to direct learners’ attention towards the positive aspects of learning. For example, during a mindfulness exercise, learners can be invited to remember a successful learning moment in the past and talk about their achievement with their classmates in a speaking activity. Research suggests reminiscing about their previous learning achievements can reduce anxiety (Jin, et al, 2021). Another tool for focusing on emotions is to recommend learners to keep a journal and express their feelings about the lesson they have had. In a different mindfulness exercise, they can be invited to imagine a future moment in which they are communicating with their grandchildren in English or interacting with a foreigner in a country they want to visit. These moments can be acted out in a role play in which the learner assigns roles to their classmates.

It should be remembered that negative emotions are an inevitable part of the learning process. Rather than seeking the absence of negative emotions, older learners should be allowed to express them as they might be emerging out of their  unfulfilled needs or the difficulty of the learning process. Teachers can observe the learners more attentively to meet their individual needs and design activities to reduce the impact of the negative emotions. They can provide language input, such as vocabulary to describe emotions or structures to express negative emotions first and transform them into positives (e.g. I feel ….. (an adjective describing a negative feeling) because ….. (stating reasons). I think If I    ….. (verbs describing action points) from now on I might be able to …). Acquiring such language can encourage the sharing of that experience (Dewaele, 2010) with classmates. 

 

Concluding remarks

I believe that older adult learners deserve special attention in language classes. Like learners with SEN, teaching them requires certain instructional strategies to create an inclusive learning environment. However, we should bear in mind that ‘age alone’ does not represent a person. Older learners are a diverse group, each of them having their own interests, motives to learn a foreign language, strengths, and challenges. The SOC model supported by differentiated instruction, mindfulness exercises to savour the process of learning and activities to enhance Sage-ing can offer a framework to teachers to respond to these individual differences in different cultures.

 

References

Baltes, P.B. & Baltes, M.M. (1990) “Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation”. In. P.B. baltes & M.M. Baltes (eds.) Successful Aging: Perspectives from the Behavioural Sciences. Pp. 1-34. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Bilbrough, N. (2011) Memory Activities for Language Learners. Cambridge University Press

Bryant, F. B.  & Veroff, J. (2007) Savoring: A New Model of Positive Experience. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Derenowski, M. (2021a) Insights into Senior Foreign Language Education. Bristol:

Multilingual Matters.

Dewaele, J.M. (2010) Emotions in Multiple Languages. Baskingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Duarte, H. (2020) “Older adults in ELT materials”. Talk presented in IATEFL MaWSIG

webinar. February, 23^rd.

Frederickson, B. (2001) “The role of positive emotions in Positive Psychology”. American Psychologist. Vol.56, No.3, 218-226.

Guglielman, E. (2012) “The aging brain: Neuroplasticity and lifelong learning”. eLearning Papers. No.29 pp.1-8  Retrieved from May 2022  www.elearningpapers.eu.

Hamada, Y. (2017) Teaching EFL learners shadowing for listening: Developing learners bottom-up skills. New York: Routledge.

Jin, Y.X.; Dewaele, J.M. & MacIntyre, P.D. (2021) Reducing anxiety in the foreign language

classroom: A positive psychology approach. System, 101 (102604 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102604 retrieved 29.09.2023

Merzenich, M.M. (2005) “Change minds for the better”. The Journal on Active Aging. November/December. Pp. 22-28

Oxford, R. (2018) “A developmental perspective on third-age learning”. In D. Gabrys-Barker

(ed) Third Age Learners of Foreign Languages. Kindle edition. Pp. 42-64 Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Ramírez Gómez, D. (2016) Language Teaching and the Older Adult: The Significance of Experience. Kindle edition. Multilingual Matters.

Schachter-Shalomi; Z. and R. Miller (2014) From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older. New York: Balance.

Smith, J.L. & Bryant, F.B. (2017) “Savoring and wellbeing: Mapping the cognitive-emotional terrain of the happy mind”. In M. Robinson & M. Eid (Eds) The Happy Mind: Cognitive Contributions to Wellbeing. Springer.

World Health Organization (WHO) (2017) Global strategy and action plan on aging and health. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/ageing/WHO-GSAP-2017.pdf?ua=1

 

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