Developing motivation in the foreign language classroom among senior learners
Developing motivation in the foreign language classroom among senior learners

Summary/Abstract: The world is aging and life expectancy is extending among world societies. Thesephenomena undoubtedly create new challenges and result in transformation of the world as weknow it. One of the spheres that needs a new approach is education which has to adjust to seniorlearners who are over 55 years old. Lifelong learning is not a new concept, as it originates fromancient Greece. However, new type of students require new approach and modifications in theeducational process. For senior learners education often has compensatory features, e.g. makingup for missed opportunities; meeting people and maintaining or developing social contacts.Many seniors attend education in older age simply to have their brain stimulated. Furthermore,older learners may have already developed learning strategies that have served them well inother contexts. The article presents the concept of lifelong learning and selected issues relatedwith senior education in foreign language learning context. The study included in the articleaimed at investigating motivational and demotivational factors in senior education. The obtainedresults point to affective (e.g. anxiety, self-esteem) and social (e.g. opinion of other learners,public performance) factors as the dominating factors in motivational process.

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