Full Title: Teaching Languages to Older Adults

Date: 19-Oct-2023 - 19-Oct-2023
Location: Online, United Kingdom
Contact Person: Karen Roehr-Brackin
Meeting Email: [email protected]
Web Site: https://www.essex.ac.uk/events/2023/10/19/ladeli-workshop

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition

Call Deadline: 15-Jun-2023

Meeting Description:

The aim of this workshop is to bring together research into and practical experiences with teaching languages to older adults aged 60+. In particular, we will consider the benefits and challenges associated with teaching third-age learners. What can and what cannot be achieved? Dimensions of interest include learner factors such as affect (confidence, anxiety, self-efficacy), cognition, mental and physical health, social factors, and the role of the teacher. To what extent do approaches to teaching and learning languages require adaptation? How can teachers best serve older learners?

We will focus on the specific needs and preferences of older adults, while at the same time bearing in mind that individual differences are as important (or perhaps even more important) in later life stages as they are at all other points during the human lifespan. The plenary papers will report on work with both healthy, independent older adults and older adults in care homes and/or with early-stage dementia.

Call for Papers:

Following our successful workshop on language learning in older adults in June 2022, we are pleased to issue a call for papers on teaching languages in older adults that address any of the themes outlined above. We invite papers from both researchers and practitioners (language teachers) for 20-minute presentations followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

Submission Guidelines:

Please include a title, author name(s), affiliation(s) and an abstract of up to 300 words outlining the content of the proposed paper. Please indicate whether your submission is a research paper or a practitioner paper and submit via email to [email protected] by 15 June 2023. Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of TALL members.

Registration for the workshop will open in July 2023.