A Developmental Perspective on Third-Age Learning

Rebecca L. Oxford

I am sixty years old, and glory is my work. Adapted from Mary Oliver

Though I am old with wandering ... I will ... pluck till time and times are done ... The golden apples of the sun.

William Butler Yeats

Introduction

Researchers are paying significant attention to lifelong language learners (e.g. De Bot & Makoni, 2005; Gabrys-Barker et al., 2016; Martinez, 2012). The term 'third-age language learners', which might seem a little more precise than 'lifelong language learners', is now gaining currency as well. In general, the term 'third agers' refers to healthy, motivated individuals who are retired, i.e. no longer working full-time.

This chapter addresses a topic that is dear to my heart, mind, and aging body: a developmental perspective on third-age language learning. I have repeatedly taught university courses on life-span human development, or developmental psychology. It is exciting to unite my psychological background with my applied linguistics experience when examining third-age language learning. The first section of the chapter introduces 'third age' and related concepts. The second section offers research findings about physical, cognitive, emotional, and cultural issues relevant to the third age. Three broad ways to encourage and aid older language learners are the focus of the third section. The fourth section discusses the role of organizations (educational institutions and group living facilities) in teaching languages to third agers and some techniques that could be used. The chapter has a personal postscript containing hopeful ideas and poetry linked to third-age language learning.

Introducing the Third Age

This introductory section discusses labels and concepts, age-grading of the third age, gifts of the third age and third age=golden age (?).

Labels and concepts

The concept of 'third age' emerged from a hypothesized sequence of three stages that can be summarized by the acronym 'EER': education (first age), employment (second age) and retirement (third age) (Moen, 2011). The third age, supposedly occurring after full-time work has ended, is sometimes called 'young-old' age, as compared to the fourth age, which is called 'old-old' age, or flatly 'old age'. The term 'third age' describes relatively healthy 'young-old' people who are now retired, while feeling energy, excitement, purpose and well-being. Theorists typically view the third age as a time before any serious disability arises for a given person; the 'fourth age', discussed later, includes such a disability (Carr & Komp, 2011).

Many view the third age as a life phase. However, the concept of a life phase is an interpretation, a construction, a social status and a cultural field (Carr & Komp, 2011; Gilleard & Higgs, 2011), and thus tied to an array of sociocultural issues. Discussing the third age in a group of people from Berlin, Bali and Birmingham or Tunis, Texarkana and Taipei would necessitate intensively probing into cultural belief systems, socioeconomic statuses, educational levels, genders, religions and other issues. That calls for another book, or at least another chapter.

Moen (2011) raised concerns about the conceptual sequence of first-second-third ages, because this sequence is very lockstep and age graded. She called for considering alternative, more flexible life paths rather than hard-and-fast delineations of stages. She enthusiastically called for greater career options for third agers. However, she noted that outmoded politics and policies, risky economies and the loss of community-based safety nets keep many elders from having meaningful career options in their third age.

Age grading of the third age

Some scholars try to give the third age a certain number of years, while others state that the third age begins and ends at given ages. These efforts are part of 'age grading'. For instance, Lawrence-Lightfoot (2009) identified 'the third chapter' (roughly equivalent to the third age) as lasting from age 50 to 75, whereas for Smith (2000) the third age is from 70 to 84. Erik Erikson's (1982) famous model of psychosocial development did not use the term 'third age', but the model's eighth and final stage, identified as starting around 65, involves the crisis of identity versus despair and might include the third age.

For several reasons, I personally doubt that chronological age is a good proxy for the concept of the third age. First, individual lives, including schedules for retirement, are very different for various people, making third-age timing difficult to predict for a given person, much less for a professional group or for a culture. Second, some people, like me, retire several times, and the start of the third age might depend on which retirement is counted as 'real' and why. Third, scientific advances make possible an ever-increasing number of third-age years, so the length of the third age is difficult to anticipate. For these reasons, it is better to consider individual or small-group cases and circumstances than to trust generalized or supposedly universal third-age years.

Gifts of the third age

The third age offers many gifts, according to numerous theorists. Lawrence-Lightfoot (2009) described the third chapter (similar to the third age) as filled with passion, risk-taking, and adventure. To attain these gifts, the older individual must perceive abundance in his or her life (even if the person's material possessions are not abundant), must seek meaning and purpose and must not focus on failure. Lawrence-Lightfoot's depiction was somewhat...