The Social Construction of Age, livre ebook

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.

Introduction: A First Glimpse of Age
Part I Framing Age as Socially Constructed
Chapter 1 The Age Factor and Second Language Acquisition
Chapter 2 Present-Day Approaches to the Study of Age
Chapter 3 Viewing Age through a Social Constructionist Lens
Part II The Social Construction of Age in Mexico
Chapter 4 Constructing Age in Later Adulthood
Chapter 5 Constructing Age in ‘Middle’ Adulthood
Chapter 6 Constructing Age in Young Adulthood
Final Reflections