Language Learning in Later Adulthood

Bibliographic Data

ID23756540
AuthorsMerel Keijzer (0000-0001-9041-8563), Mara Van Der Ploeg (0000-0001-6303-3449)
Year2025
Pages1-7
Publication date2025-12-02
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueEncyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal20341
OpenAlexW4416920044
ISBN9781405198431
LanguageEN
References cited37

The topic of second language learning has been widely investigated within the realm of applied linguistics. Investigations have tended to focus on aspects such as the age factor in second language learning, and the influence of individual learner characteristics such as motivation, aptitude, or executive functioning as predictors of the second language learning process and outcome. Past applied linguistics studies also amply investigated the type and frequency of learner input and, in instructed second language contexts, the form of instruction, with as one of the most prominent questions whether more implicit versus more explicit ways of teaching a new language are more effective. But despite the vastness of the area of investigation, work has almost exclusively focused on the young to young‐adult lifespan: from primary through to secondary to tertiary education learners. Until recently, later‐life language learning was never a topic of applied linguistic investigations. This entry outlines why the emergent research topic of later‐life language learning should be added to the applied linguistics canon. It elaborates on what later‐life language learning entails and explores learning needs of older adults and effective teaching methods at the later‐life stage, before turning to the cognitive and socio‐affective effects that have been ascribed to later‐life language learning. The entry ends in research considerations for future applied linguistics work targeting later‐life language learning.

Applied linguistics · Comprehension approach · Developmental linguistics · Language acquisition · Language assessment · Language education · Language industry · Language pedagogy · Second-language acquisition · Second-language attrition

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