Легко ли учиться, если вам давно уже не 18?
Замечаете ли вы, что с возрастом вам сложнее дается освоение языков и/или приобретение каких-либо других новых навыков и умений? Или не чувствуете разницы? Есть расхожее мнение, что изучать иностранный язык можно только в детстве и юности - потом почти бесполезно, можно только поддерживать уровень. Я и сама когда-то так думала, но в последнее время все чаще встречаю жизнеутверждающие примеры пожилых людей, не утративших способности к обучению. А недавно увидела любопытные результаты исследований:
"Can older adults successfully learn foreign languages? Recent research is providing increasingly positive answers to this question. The research shows that:
--there is no decline in the ability to learn as people get older;
--except for minor considerations such as hearing and vision loss, the age of the adult learner is not a major factor in language acquisition;
--the context in which adults learn is the major influence on their ability to acquire the new language.
Contrary to popular stereotypes, older adults can be good foreign language learners. The difficulties older adults often experience in the language classroom can be overcome through adjustments in the learning environment, attention to affective factors, and use of effective teaching methods.
AGING AND LEARNING ABILITY
The greatest obstacle to older adult language learning is the doubt--in the minds of both learner and teacher--that older adults can learn a new language. Most people assume that "the younger the better" applies in language learning. However, many studies have shown that this is not true. Studies comparing the rate of second language acquisition in children and adults have shown that although children may have an advantage in achieving native-like fluency in the long run, adults actually learn languages more quickly than children in the early stages (Krashen, Long, and Scarcella, 1979). These studies indicate that attaining a working ability to communicate in a new language may actually be easier and more rapid for the adult than for the child.
Studies on aging have demonstrated that learning ability does not decline with age. If older people remain healthy, their intellectual abilities and skills do not decline (Ostwald and Williams, 1981). Adults learn differently from children, but no age-related differences in learning ability have been demonstrated for adults of different ages..."
Здесь можно почитать подробнее: http://www.language-learning-advisor.com/age-and-language-learning.html
А вы что думаете?