A terceira idade e a aprendizagem de inglês como língua estrangeira moderna

Abstract

This work aimed to investigate theprocess of teaching and learning English as a modern foreign language (L2) for the elderly, in a learning Center specifically geared towards this type of acquisition. This exploratory research aimed to understand the contributions made by the student and the teacher and to identify how the language learning for this audience could be optimized. We present some principles considered essential for the learning process of the elderly student and principles that are adopted by teachers who are appointed as facilitators by one of the authors researched. An initial survey was used to help us identify theaudience we would study and the profiles of each one of them. Through this research, a lesson was elaborated based on the suggestions made by the students, the principles brought in during the course of the work and the methodology chosen for the application of the lesson. The analysis and interpretation of the data, which were collected after the class by means of a questionnaire with open and closed questions, revealed that this public, aged 50 years or more, has the capacity to learn a new language and that all The principles covered in theory and methodology are found in English language teaching for the elderly as well as for Young people.