Beliefs About Learning A New Language After 45 Years Old

In Turkey, where life expectancy increases steadily, a very small amount of elder people are attending foreign language learning courses. In order to have a better understanding, this study focuses on the question whether beliefs of people from different age groups are effective in this manner. To examine the different age groups’ beliefs, an online questionnaire was conducted. While deciding on the statements of the questionnaire, popular assumptions and Turkish cultural beliefs were taken into consideration. The findings revealed that although participants find some languages harder to learn they believe that attitude plays a major role in language learning and it is easier to learn a new language for a person who has already learnt one. Most of the participants believe that, learning a new language may prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The results show that, people from different ages think in favour of learning a new language after 45-years-old.