Volume 63 in the Second Language Acquisition series.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"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." (Book Cover).

CONTENTS:

Introduction: A First Glimpse of Age

PART 1: Framing Age as Socially Constructed

1. The Age Factor and Second Language Acquisition
Introduction
The Critical Period Hypothesis for Second Language Acquisition: A Critique
Sociocultural Approaches to Second Language Acquisition
Conclusion

2. Present-Day Approaches to the Study of Age
Introduction
Social Constructionism
Recent Perspectives in Sociolinguistics on the Study of Social Dimensions
Conclusion

3. Viewing Age through a Social Constructionist Lens
Introduction
Contemporary Age Discourses and Their Manifestations
Language and the Discursive Construction of Age Identity
Narrating Age
Conclusion

PART 2: The Social Construction of Age in Mexico

4. Constructing Age in Later Adulthood
Hector's Story: A Tale of Progress
Felix's Story: A Tale of Discontent

5. Constructing Age in 'Middle' Adulthood
Introduction
The Women Tell Their Stories
Conclusion

6. Constructing Age in Young Adulthood
Introduction
David's Story
Conclusion
Final Reflections
Introduction Age and Second Language Acquisition: What We Have Learned
Implications of the Findings
Concluding Remarks

Reference

Index