Age as a Factor in Learning for 55 to 64 year old ELLs

I found that there was no significant difference or barrier (or rather no one chose to mention any signicant age-related barriers*) for those I interviewed in this age group. This is true no matter which end of the age spectrum I looked at,whether 55 year of age or 64 year old. In fact, I observed Janine (Jeanne's) class of nine learners where the average age of the class was 52.

She had them play a memory game and, in fact, one learner, Henrico (Hector), 62, did a superior job. I would like to know if he has any memory strategies he uses to help the others. I found that they all performed in this oral language memory exercise at about the same level with no one struggling anymore or less than anyone else. In fact, everyone displayed more than the normal level of nonverbal behaviors during this memory game exercise. Behaviors such as head holding, closing of eyes, concentrated, focused stares, and face scrunching were observed in most everyone, no matter their age.

Also, on 10/24/10, in my interview with Elida, 61, she told me that she did not experience anything differently as a learner at this age as compared to ten years earlier. She said, in fact, "In the library, I feel comfortable. It looks like I don't have age."