Tečaji španščine za starejše odrasle na Univerzi za tretje življenjsko obdobje in v Dnevnih centrih aktivnosti za starejše

Abstract

V članku so predstavljena teoretična izhodišča o starejših odraslih in učenju v obdobju pozne odraslosti. Avtorja menita, da je za učinkovito poučevanje starejših odraslih treba poznati njihove motive in značilnosti učenja v tem obdobju. Razloženi so različni vidiki učenja starejših odraslih in opredeljene njihove zmožnosti za učenje tujega jezika. V empiričnem delu so predstavljeni izsledki raziskave, izvedene med udeleženci začetnih in nadaljevalnih tečajev španščine na univerzi za tretje življenjsko obdobje in dnevnih centrih aktivnosti za starejše v Ljubljani v študijskem letu 2013/14. Odgovori udeležencev tečajev španščine so prikazani kot ključni za razumevanje tega, zakaj se odločajo za učenje španščine in kaj jim je pri tem pomembno, kar izobraževalcem starejših daje smernice za delo z njimi. Rezultati raziskave so pokazali, da udeleženci kot najpomembnejši razlog za udeležbo na tečaju navajajo ljubezen do jezika in možnost potovanj po špansko govorečih državah. Kot najpomembnejšo aktivnost so ocenili poslušanje učitelja in izdelavo zapiskov, vaje izgovarjave ter učenje novih besed. Pri učni skupini najvišje vrednotijo sproščeno vzdušje, medsebojno razumevanje in sodelovanje, najpomembnejše značilnosti učitelja pa so po njihovem mnenju jasna razlaga in pozitiven odnos do udeležencev ter učna podpora.

Bilingualism and Language Education to Improve the Cognitive Health of Older Persons

“…There is an opportunity for Third Age Universities to act as social gathering points and places to learn new or maintain and upgrade foreign language skills beneficial for one's personal brain health. The motivation for participating ranges from love of languages to the maintenance of cognitive abilities (Bizjak, 2010;Miklič, 2018;Sešek, 2012;Zavrl & Radovan, 2016), but the effectiveness in the long-term has not been evaluated in terms of cognition or life satisfaction (Bizjak, 2010;Miklič, 2018;Sešek, 2012;Zavrl & Radovan, 2016). Third Age Universities should link their adult education process to a more scientific evaluation through standardised language proficiency and cognitive test batteries, and establish collaborations with psycholinguistic and social fields.…”

“…Thus, to have older persons learn a new language up to proficiency, continue to practice active bilingualism, and subsequently contribute to building up cognitive reserve, one needs to carefully plan the learning paradigm. The following recommendations build on previous notions (Miklič, 2018;Zavrl & Radovan, 2016) and further research is needed to propose proper and effective methodologies that fulfil these recommendations: 1) establish personal difficulties and make sure the older person's auditory and visual perceptions are not hindered during classes; 2) incorporate abundant time within the period of learning (preferably long, not flash courses); 3) add multiple contact hours with repetitions during the educational period (preferably hours scattered over several days a week for effective memorisation); and 4) challenge the participants by using multiple languages during the assignments to demand shifting, switching, and inhibition activities. Moreover, language education for older persons needs to be approached differently from other age groups.…”

“…However, educated older persons have shown less expression of narrow social identity (through limited social interactions from a smaller living environment), but more broad social identities formed by a general interest in society (Zaletel et al, 2011). Furthermore, older Slovenian persons that learn languages have mentioned maintenance of cognitive function and social inclusion (Miklič, 2018), love for language and travelling (Zavrl & Radovan, 2016) as reasons to learn new language skills, which might contribute to broad social identities. This might help explain why adults and older persons participate in foreign language courses at Slovenian Third Age Universities (Bizjak, 2010;Miklič, 2018;Sešek, 2012;Zavrl & Radovan, 2016) at what amounts to 49% of all annually offered courses (Sešek, 2012).…”

“…Furthermore, older Slovenian persons that learn languages have mentioned maintenance of cognitive function and social inclusion (Miklič, 2018), love for language and travelling (Zavrl & Radovan, 2016) as reasons to learn new language skills, which might contribute to broad social identities. This might help explain why adults and older persons participate in foreign language courses at Slovenian Third Age Universities (Bizjak, 2010;Miklič, 2018;Sešek, 2012;Zavrl & Radovan, 2016) at what amounts to 49% of all annually offered courses (Sešek, 2012). There has not been much data collected on the cognition of the participants, but this does illustrate that older Slovenians are motivated to learn foreign languages.…”

Vidiki učenja tujih jezikov na univerzi za tretje življenjsko obdobje

“…Pogosto napačno sklepamo, da starejši odrasli obiskujejo tečaje tujih jezikov predvsem zaradi potrebe po socialnih stikih. Prvo raziskovalno vprašanje, pri katerem smo želeli izvedeti, ali je prevladujoč motiv za učenje potreba po socialnih stikih, potrjuje ugotovitev, do katere sta v svoji raziskavi o tečajih španščine za starejše odrasle prišla že Zavrl in Radovan (2016). Za četrtino sodelujočih v naši raziskavi sicer drži, da je razlog za vztrajanje pri učenju družba vrstnikov, a anketni odgovori veselje do jezika, potrditev lastnih zmožnosti (21 %) in napredek pri učenju (11 %) dokazujejo, da je za vztrajanje pri učenju odločilna intrinzična motivacija.…”