1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778903003321

Autore

Andrew Patricia

Titolo

TheSocial Construction of Age : Adult Foreign Language Learners / / Patricia Andrew

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Blue Ridge Summit, PA : , : Multilingual Matters, , [2012]

©2012

ISBN

1-280-12091-6

9786613524775

1-84769-615-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (194 p.)

Collana

Second Language Acquisition

Disciplina

401/.93

Soggetti

Language and culture

Language and languages -- Age differences

Second language acquisition

Sociolinguistics

Second language acquisition - Age differences

Language and languages

Languages & Literatures

Philology & Linguistics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: A First Glimpse of Age -- 1. The Age Factor and Second Language Acquisition -- 2. Present-Day Approaches to the Study of Age -- 3. Viewing Age through a Social Constructionist Lens -- 4. Constructing Age in Later Adulthood -- 5. Constructing Age in ‘Middle’ Adulthood -- 6. Constructing Age in Young Adulthood -- Final Reflections -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

This book explores the social construction of age in the context of EFL in Mexico. It is the first book to address the age factor in SLA from a social perspective. Based on research carried out at a public university in Mexico, it investigates how adults of different ages experience learning a new language and how they enact their age identities as



language learners. By approaching the topic from a social constructionist perspective and in light of recent work in sociolinguistics and cultural studies, it broadens the current second language acquisition focus on age as a fixed biological or chronological variable to encompass its social dimensions. What emerges is a more complex and nuanced understanding of age as it intersects with language learning in a way that links it fundamentally to other social phenomena, such as gender, ethnicity and social class.