Introduction

The focus of this chapter is on second language (L2) learning in late adulthood. It begins, however, with a brief general summary of our state of knowledge and ignorance regarding age and language learning in general, including a brief exploration of the controversy surrounding the Critical Period Hypothesis. It then goes on to discuss the central theme of the chapter, the question of the acquisition of additional languages in late adulthood and senescence. The account given of the conditions for such learning is contextualised, on the one hand, with reference to such negative factors as the decline of the acuity of the senses and, on the other, with reference to more promising indications such as those that show that some aspects of learning, given an active mind, continue until death. The final part of the chapter addresses the practical matter of teaching additional languages to learners in late middle age and in the ‘third age’ – what educational planners, managers and teachers need to be attentive to and the areas in which they can expect late language learners to excel.

Age and Language Learning

Research findings concerning age-related dimensions of L2 acquisition in informal, naturalistic settings seem to offer broad support for the view that an early start usually confers significant advantages in terms of proficiency attained. Thus, immigrant studies, for example, conducted over several decades, have shown that immigrants with several years’ experience of the language of the host country and whose exposure to the L2 in question began early in childhood eventually tend to outperform those whose exposure began later (see, e.g. Hyltenstam, 1992; Krashen et al., 1979; Oyama, 1976, 1978; Patkowski, 1980; Piske et al., 2002; Snow & Hoefnagel-Höhle, 1978).

Such findings have been taken by some to support the Critical Period Hypothesis or the maturational constraints approach, which contends that only starting an L2 before a specific critical age offers the possibility of achieving a quality of ultimate attainment which is indistinguishable from that of a native speaker of the relevant language.