Leraning a foreign language in the elderly age

In the age of globalization, the level of development of the country is determined not only by socio-economic, cultural indicators, in assessing strength and power, it is based in many ways on its intellectual potential. After all, it is scientific and technological progress that is the central link in the comprehensive, sustainable development and progress of the state and society.

So, comprehensive and sustainable development requires comprehensively developed, high skilled personnel who would really do a considerable contribution to the above mentioned development.

All actions undertaken, including decrees, laws, decrees of the Republic of Uzbekistan on education, training of personnel, improvement of the study of foreign languages, one of the recent ones-improvement of higher education are aimed at developing the intellectual potential of the population of the country, both the younger generation and adults.

The age of high-information technology requires everyone to be a highly qualified specialist in their field of work and at the same time have a good knowledge of a foreign language, since most of the information on innovations is provided in a foreign language. In turn, this requirement puts the current concept of "lifelong learning", which involves participation in the acquisition of new knowledge and training in new skills of people of all ages.

Learning a foreign language is one of the most popular opportunities for personal development of people of all ages. To what extend successful is learning foreign languages by the people of age becomes an urgent issue of today. New research gives more and more positive answers to this question. Studies show that: (1) the ability to learn does not decrease with age; (2) age is not the main factor in the study of a language, because it can only affect some of the worsening of hearing and sight abilities; (3) the greatest affect on the ability to learn a new language is environment in which people learn.

Despite the existing stereotypes, people with age (the Elderly) can perfectly learn foreign languages. If we speak about the difficulties often encountered by older students in the classroom, it can be settled by changing the learning environment, attention to important factors and the use of effective teaching methods.

When studying a foreign language in the elderly age, it is necessary to consider some stereotypes that will help both the student – to easily master the language, and the tutor - to successfully present material for his student.

The biggest obstacle in learning a language for an elderly person is a doubt -both in the student and in the teacher. For example, studying the speed of learning a new foreign language in children and adults showed that although children have more opportunities to reach the level of fluency, in the end, adults actually learn faster in the first stages (Krashen, Long and Scarzella, 1979).

This study indicates that achieving a good working level in a new language can be easier and faster for an adult, not for a child. Studies aimed at developing languages by the elderly have demonstrated that the ability to learn does not decrease with age. If the elderly person is healthy, then his intellectual abilities and skills are not lost (Ostwald and Williams, 1981). Adult people do not learn the way the younger generation does. But it should be noted that adults of different age groups do not differ in their ability to learn.

Stereotypes related to age are stereotypes that say that older people cannot learn well, have two roots: the theory of the brain and its age-related development and training practices that discriminate against older students. The hypothesis of the "critical period" arose in the 1960s. It was based on the popular theories of brain development and claimed that the brain loses its "mobility" after reaching maturity, which makes learning a foreign language more difficult for an adult than for a child (Lenneberg, 1967).

But the more recent studies in neuroscience have shown that, although adults and children learn different languages in different ways because of differences in brain development, "ultimately, adults have the ability to learn a foreign language higher" (Walsh, Diller, 1978). The advantage of an adult is that neurons responding to high-level linguistic processes (such as understanding semantic connections and grammatical sensitivity) develop with age. This is can be observed noticeable in the areas of vocabulary and the structure of the language. Adult students have a more developed cognitive system, can create more complex associations and generalizations, and can combine the data of a new language with their much richer learning experience. Age factors in the study of language are of no small importance. Many chronic diseases can affect the ability of older people to learn. Many elders face worsening of hearing, which can affect the ability to understand speech, especially with background noise. Acute eyesight also falls with age (of course, these restrictions do not apply exclusively to the elderly). It is very important that the class with eyesight and hearing impairment should be equipped with better lighting, no noise, combining audio and video presentations of new material (Joyner, 1981). Some methods of teaching foreign languages may not be suitable for older people. For instance, some language teaching techniques focus on listening.

It should be noticed that hearing worsens with age, so these techniques will hamper learning for older students. Exercises like verbal repetition and memorization are also not efficient for the elderly, because they are based on the use of short-term memory. The efficiency in teaching the adults is not by cramming, but by the integration of new concepts and materials into existing cognitive structures. Another factor that works against older students is speedquick repetitions and competitive exercises.

In order to facilitate language learning by the Elders, teachers can introduce the following changes in their programs (1) remove significant difficulties, (2) find suitable motivating material and (3) apply training strategies that are suitable and efficient for older people.

Factors such as motivation and self-confidence are really important in learning a foreign language. Many elder students are more afraid of failure than young people. Teachers should be able to support student’s confidence in their abilities and reduce anxiety. Exercises involving large amounts of oral repetition, constant pronunciation correction, or waiting for speech without errors also greatly affect the behavior of the older students. On the other hand, if students are involved group work discussions, focus on understanding, and not on mistakes, and the teacher less corrects them, their confidence in their abilities will increase, which in the result will make learning more effective.

Teachers should create a positive attitude in the classroom: pay attention to the progress of students, create opportunities for demonstrating success. The lessons on which grammar is learned are boring for them. They need material that represents structures and words that can be immediately used in real situations.

Usually older students have already developed learning strategies that work well for them. These strategies can be successfully used in the learning process. Teachers should be flexible enough and use different approaches in tasks at the lessons.

In conclusion, it should be noted that working with older students should be pleasant enough and grateful. To successfully master the language and to achieve their assigned tasks, the teacher needs to rely on their life experience and intellectual abilities. Motivation and encouragement in training will be the key to success in learning.

Used sources:

• 1.    Lenneberg, E.H. “Biological foundation of Language”. New York, 1967.

• 2.    Ostwald, S.K., and H.Y. Williams. “Optimizing learning in the Elderly: A Model.” 1985.

• 3.    Stephen D. Krashen, Michael A. Long and Robin C. Scarcella. “Age, rate and eventual attainment in second language” 1979.

• 4.    Joiner, E.G. “ The older foreign language learner: a challenge for colleges and universities”.

• 5.    Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On measures to further improve the system of studying foreign languages." 2012

• 6.    National personal training program of the RU. 1997

Веб ресурсы:

• 1.     www.worddive.com > blog> worddive- "Learning a foreign language in old age"

• 2.     www.efl.ru > forum> threads - "Teaching English to the elderly"