Learning English in the elderly : an analysis of motivational factors and language learning strategies

This study investigates motivational factors and language learning strategies involved in the process of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in the elderly. The taxonomy of strategies developed by Oxford (1990) is adopted, as well as discussions on motivation in language learning. Twenty-five (25) elderly students participated in this research. Three instruments were administered for data collection, (i) a placement test; (ii) a background questionnaire; (iii) and a translated version of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), proposed by Oxford (1990). Results identified 11 strategies used more frequently, most of them metacognitive strategies. Results also show that learning English, travelling, and socializing are motivational factors in this group. This paper may contribute to researchers and to English teachers and elderly students by shedding some light on features of EFL learning in the elderly regarding language strategies and motivational aspects.

To fulfill the need of social and cultural activities, as prescribed in Article 21, many institutions have created projects which offer an array of activities to the elderly.Among these activities, it is common to find different types of classes, that go from handcrafts to singing, playing an instrument, and languages, such as English.
Because of that, English teachers need to be aware of the factors that can influence in the learning process of older people, to choose an appropriate methodology to work with this specific profile.In this sense, it is believed that understanding more about the relationship between elderly students and the language learning strategies used by them might help professionals focus on more effective activities and approaches to the target group.
Hence, this research investigates the language learning strategies used by basic proficiency level elderly students of EFL, whose native language is Brazilian Portuguese.The data collected and analyzed may serve as a base for teachers who work with this target age.Once teachers become aware of the strategies this group of students use the most, they can prepare classes focusing on learners' characteristics and learning styles.

ChARACTERISTICS of ThE ELDER EfL LEARNER
Before looking at language learning strategies, a few aspects concerning the acquisition of a foreign language in the elderly must be observed.Initially, the definition of elderly adopted in this project considers The United Nation (UN)'s assumption.As mentioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) (2014, p. 4), the UN states that older people are those who are over 60 years old, even though, the chronological age is not the only factor involved in this definition.Health state and social independence are also involved (WHO, 2014, p. 4) Considering this idea, it is necessary to understand the role these other factors have in the learning process in the elderly.The age factor has been widely discussed in the literature.Lenneberg (1967) with the Critical Period Hypothesis might be one of the most known examples.However, other factors such as cognitive and social have been discussed by researchers worldwide.
Among cognitive factors there is memory.Ortega (2013), Williams (2012), Morandi (2005) and Pizzolatto (1995) discuss about this topic on their works.While the first two of them focus on working memory, and its relation to second language acquisition in general, the last two of them focus the discussion specifically on elderly learners.Morandi (2005, p. 45) exemplifies by saying that people in this specific age tend to remember old memories rather than recent facts, adding that people who maintain an intellectual activity (such as learning a new language) enhance their memory capacity."People with active life style, physical activities, and a healthy diet maintain this capacity for a longer period of time"3 (Morandi, op.cit.).
Abrisqueta-Gomez (2013) proposes a general discussion on memory and ageing, presenting aspects such as decline in processing speed, reduced resources in memory processing, inhibitory deficits related to the age, and decrease in cognitive control.Izquierdo (2011) states that as people get older, neurons are naturally lost, which can cause the loss of cognitive functions, such as memory.Episodes of memory failure can also be an indictive of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementias such as the Alzheimer's Disease (AD).Stella (2012, p. 252) mentions that "some memory modifications are found during ageing, which can be considered normal if not associated to a progressive decline or to an impairment of a person's functionality" 4 .

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Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly According to the author, MCI is not a type of dementia, being presented as a pre-dementia state in many different studies.Researchers have discovered that, in some cases, MCI has developed to AD, and are still trying to understand the biomarkers of AD in patients diagnosed with MCI.However, it is still not possible to affirm that every person diagnosed with MCI will progress to AD (Stella, 2012, p. 255).
Aside from cognitive factors, older learners have also affective and emotional issues to deal with.According to Morandi (2002, p. 46), self-esteem, anxiety, stress and depression are factors which can influence directly on how the elderly students behave as language learners.The author also points out that teachers have to pay attention to these factors, which interfere in learners' attitudes and process of acquisition (Morandi, 2002, p. 50).
Morandi (op.cit, p. 46) stresses that factors such as economic security, physical and psychological health, for example, are responsible for promoting self-esteem in this target age.Considering this statement, he proposes that keeping high levels of self-esteem in this age can help avoiding situations of anxiety, frustration, and depression.Anxiety, along with stress, can also contribute to the development of episodes of depression, for example, which, according to Morandi (op.cit., p. 47) is the disease which affects the elderly the most.Moraes and Cintra (2013) point to the importance of being aware about depression in ageing because it is a silent disease whose symptoms are sometimes ignored and not treated properly.According to the authors, the effects of depression in the elderly can be as severe as other chronical-degenerative diseases.
Pizzolatto (1995, p. 44) calls the readers' attention to these affective factors as well.In addition, he explains that motivation also plays an important role in the acquisition of a second language.Lightbown and Spada (1999, p. 163) reinforce this, but mention that even though motivation is important, it is not the guarantee of successful language acquisition.There are, for example, learners who are highly motivated but do not reach proficiency.The authors also present a reflection proposed by Peter Skehan, who asks a provocative question about the role of motivation in language learning: "are learners more highly motivated because they are successful, or are they successful because they are highly motivated?"(Skehan apud Lightbown; Spada, op.cit.p. 56).
Ortega (2013) also gathers a large amount of information on the role of motivation in second language learning.The author summarizes the main antecedents of motivation identified in L2 research so far.Among eight of these main antecedents, she goes further on what she defines as orientations.According to Ortega (2013, p. 172), orientations "are reasons for learning the L2, which in turn may influence the intensity and quality of motivation of learner's experience".That means to say that orientations are responsible for the reason why learners decide to study a foreign language.And because of this characteristic, they help students setting goals to their own learning experience (Ortega, op.cit.p. 173).
The role of orientations is divided in five types: -instrumental when pragmatic and utilitarian reasons are important, such as getting a better job or pursuing a higher level of education in the L2.

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Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly -for knowledge or enlightened understanding of one's own identity, language or culture and to become a more knowledgeable person.-to facilitate travel to other countries or parts of a country.
-for fostering general friendship with members of the target language.
-for integrative reasons related to identification with the target culture and a genuine desire to become more like members of the L2 groups (…) (Ortega, op.cit., p. 172).The last type of orientation mentioned by Ortega (op.cit.), the integrative motivation, is also known as integrativeness (p.170), and, according to her, is the orientation which has been the focus of the discussions around foreign language motivation.Gardner and Lambert (1972) were pioneers in the study of attitudes and motivation in foreign language acquisition.They were responsible for identifying both integrative and instrumental motivation.According to them, The orientation is said to be instrumental in form if the purposes of language study reflect the more utilitarian value of linguistic achievement, such as getting ahead in one's occupation.In contrast, the orientation is integrative if the student wishes to learn more about the other cultural community because he is interested in it in an openminded way, to the point of eventually being accepted as a member of that group (Gardner & Lambert, op.cit.p. 3).
That means to say that instrumental is the orientation in which the learner sets his goals focusing on his own interests, such as the need for working, travelling, and so on.On the other hand, integrative orientation is related to learners who want to know more about the culture of the community in which the language he is learning is spoken.This may be due to their wish of being part of that community as equals.These ideas proposed by Gardner and Lambert (1972) lead us to think that to identify which of these two orientations is preceding learning motivation requires knowing what are the reasons why learners decide to learn.
Pizzolatto (1995, p. 95) presents in his research many reasons which make elderly students decide to learn a second language in an advanced age.These reasons include travelling, curiosity about the language itself, but also one of the main social factors in the acquisition of a second language in the elderly: socializing with other people at the same age.Morandi (2002, p. 23) says that one of the biggest complaints of older learners is to be in groups with people from a wide range of ages, in which they cannot participate comfortably.
[Older] Learners usually say that they feel embarrassed in front of adolescents and younger people because they commonly have problems with pronunciation or slow reasoning ability.They can notice that younger classmates feel impatient when they intend to elaborate a more complex answer, and become the target of mocking (Morandi, op.cit., 23).5

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Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly Aside from being the center of jokes in the classroom environment, Morandi (op.cit., p. 49) calls the attention to the fact that older learners also have to deal with the prejudice for searching for knowledge in an advanced age.Anyhow, socializing with other people in the same moment of life can help the elderly maintaining their self-esteem, helping to minimize the negative effects of these variables (Morandi,op. cit.,p. 48).
After the discussion presented on some of the factors which influence the acquisition of a new language in the elderly, one can conclude that "it is possible to learn a foreign language in the elderly, once learners have (internally) and find (externally) favorable conditions in the teaching-learning process, considering the characteristics of the target age"6 (Pizzolatto, 1995, p. 162).

oxfoRD'S (1990) TAxoNomy foR LANguAgE LEARNINg STRATEgIES
As mentioned by Oxford (1990, p. 1), "learning strategies are steps taken by students to enhance their own learning".For many years, students used learning strategies to achieve goals, despite of the fact that they might not even had a vague idea about what this was.Thinking about the importance of studying -and using -language learning strategies, different systems and taxonomies for the use of language learning strategies have been developed in the past decades, such as Rubin's (1987) and O'Malley and Chamot's (1990).The first one is divided into three main categories of strategies, while the second focuses more on academic skills.Because of that, for this research Oxford's (1990) taxonomy was chosen not only because of its large number of strategies, but also because of its organization.According to Oxford (op.cit.p. 1), this system is different from any other language learning strategies system previously presented in the literature.Even though this model can be considered outdated (it has been almost 30 years since it was published), it is believed that it is one of the most comprehensive among the ones found in the literature regarding number of strategies covered and also for presenting an instrument for measuring strategy use (the SILL questionnaire, to be detailed in the method section).Another aspect about Oxford's taxonomy for language learning strategies is its concern in conducting the learner to achieve communicative competence.It is also comprehensive for foreign learners of languages, which fits the group to be analyzed in this paper.
Aiming at organizing the strategies, Oxford divides the taxonomy into two main classes: Direct strategies and Indirect strategies, which will be separately described next.Even though the strategies are divided into these two classes, the author states that they both support each other.Aiming to exemplify this situation, she presents an analogy from the theater.The direct strategies would be like the Performer in a play, and the indirect strategies like the Director of the play (Oxford, op.cit.p. 14).

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Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly Direct strategies are those strategies "that directly involve the target language" (Oxford, op.cit., p. 37).According to Oxford, all of these strategies are linked to mental processing, and are divided, at first, into Memory, Cognitive, and Compensation strategies.Each of these classes has its own processing, and with different purposes.
Memory strategies (also called mnemonics) are well-known strategies which "reflect very simple principles, such as arranging things in order, making associations, and reviewing" (Oxford, op.cit., p. 39).They are divided into 4 sets of strategies, which are: Creating mental linkages, Applying images and sounds, Reviewing well, and Employing action.If one pays attention to the initials of each set, he/she will notice that they form the word CARE.
According to the author, CARE is "an acronym that is itself a memory aid: "Take CARE of your memory and your memory will take CARE of you!" (Oxford, op.cit., p. 38).She also states that memory strategies help vocabulary learning, because learners tend to have problems dealing with many different vocabulary groups to reach fluency in the target language.
Among a variety of functions, "cognitive strategies are unified by a common function: manipulation or transformation of the target language by the learner" (Oxford, op.cit., p. 43).They are the most popular strategies among students, and, like memory strategies, are divided into 4 sets: Practicing, Receiving and sending messages, Analyzing and reasoning, and Creating structure for input and output (Oxford, op.cit., p. 44).Once again, the initials form an acronym, PRAC.
PRAC refers to practical, and help students reminding that "cognitive strategies are PRACtical for language learning."(Oxford, op.cit., p. 43) Also, according to Oxford (op.cit,) practicing (one of the strategies covered by the cognitive strategies subgroup) is an important tool for learners to achieve higher proficiency levels.That is why it is one of the most important strategies among the cognitive ones.The diagram developed for PRAC exemplifies the organization of these strategies.
Compensation strategies allow learners to comprehend and produce language despite of not being highly proficient.These strategies are often linked to vocabulary acquisition, since they involve the use of clues (what is sometimes called as making "inferences") to guess the meaning of a different, unknown word.They are divided in two sets of strategies, which are Guessing intelligently and Overcoming limitations in speaking and writing (Oxford, op.cit., p. 47).
These initials also form an acronym, GO, which refers to the fact that "language learners can GO far with compensation strategies" (Oxford, op.cit.).This strategy can be good for learners when it comes to making educated guesses, because it interrupts the need to look up every new word on the dictionary, an option that could slow down the process of becoming proficient (Oxford, op.cit.).
Indirect strategies are those "that underpin the business of language learning" (Oxford, op.cit., p. 135).These strategies were given this name because, according to Oxford (op.cit.), they interfere in the learning process without having to involve the target language in many situations.Because of

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Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly that, they work together with Direct strategies, in a co-dependency relation (the author mentions the word tandem to illustrate it).Indirect strategies are divided into Metacognitive, Affective, and Social strategies (Oxford, op.cit.).A broad observation of indirect strategies can be made based on the diagram presented by Oxford (op.cit.).
Metacognitive strategies are strategies which go over cognitive processes.They are responsible for providing a way for learners to organize their own learning process, and are very important to achieve good results in language learning.These strategies are categorized in three sets, which are Centering your learning, Arranging and Planning your learning, and Evaluating your learning (Oxford, op.cit., p. 136).
Oxford (op.cit.) states that CAPE is the acronym formed from the initials of these sets because "metacognitive strategies make language learners more CAPE-able" (Oxford, op.cit.).But, apart from this idea, Oxford also mentions that research shows that students prefer to use cognitive strategies as compared to metacognitive ones.
As mentioned by Oxford (op.cit., p. 140), affective strategies are more related to personal issues, such as emotions, attitudes, motivations, and values.They have great impact on the language learning process, and they are responsible for helping students to deal with these issues mentioned before.These strategies are divided into three sets: Lowering your anxiety, Encouraging yourself, and Taking your emotional temperature (Oxford, op.cit.).
The acronym, LET, is used by Oxford to say that "affective strategies help language learners LET their hair down!" (Oxford, op.cit.).So, learners who act positively towards their performance in the learning process can make it more effective.But if students cannot control their negative feelings, or cannot deal with situations such as low self-esteem, for example, these issues can negatively influence the learning process (Oxford, op.cit., p. 141).
Oxford (op.cit., p. 144) explains that social strategies have to do with socialization, communication, and are recruited when the learner interacts with other people, asks questions, and shares information.These strategies are very useful, and, like the others, are also divided in three sets: Asking questions, Cooperating with others, and Empathizing with others (Oxford, op.cit., p. 145).
The acronym ACE -formed from the initials of each set -works as a reminder of the fact that "ACE language learners use social strategies."(Oxford, op.cit.).The author also clarifies the fact that, since languages are a part of human behavior, to socialize with other people who share the same interest in the learning process is very important to language development, because of mutual support and the empathy (Oxford, op.cit., p. 144).
An overview of Oxford's taxonomy for language learning strategies is provided in Figure 1.

Participants
25 (twenty-five) elderly students of EFL ranging from 60 to 81 years old (mean age 68,9), being 2 men and 23 women.from a free English course offered by a Brazilian university in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State participated in this research.Their level of education is from 10 to 20 years, and they all have basic proficiency level in English, as attested by a placement test (to be described in section 4.2).All the participants signed a consent form agreeing with the terms of the research before starting data collection.
It is important to mention that 54 students from the English course signed the consent form, agreeing to participate in the research.However, 29 of them were not included as participants because of at least one of these exclusion criteria: a) was younger than 60 years old; b) had educational level below incomplete high school; c) did not complete one of the instruments proposed in this research; d) did not have Brazilian Portuguese as mother tongue.The idea of adopting some criteria for the selection of participants was taken into consideration in order to standardize the group to be analyzed in this research.So, the participants who did not match the criteria were not included in the analysis.

Instruments
Three instruments were administered for data collection: a placement test and two questionnaires (one to gather personal thoughts about learning English, and the second one focusing on language strategies).

Placement test
Aiming at attesting the level of understanding of English, the participants were invited to do a placement test (see Appendix A).This test was developed by a group of English professors of the Faculty of Letters of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS).The Faculty offers classes from levels 1 to 8, so students who already know something about the language can take this test before registering to a specific group.The test is composed by 35 questions, being 30 about grammar and vocabulary, and 5 on reading comprehension.Each of the 30 questions have 4 options for students to decide which one they think is the correct, and the questions about reading comprehension have "true" or "false" options.Students who mark from 0 to 29 correct answers are placed under basic level; and students who mark from 30 to 35 are invited to do the pre-intermediate test.
The participants were displayed in a room seating apart from each other.They had 1 (one) hour to answer the test, and could not use any kind of material, such as dictionaries, grammar books or online resources.They were not allowed to talk to their class mates or to their teachers, or to the author of this paper.

Background questionnaire
Adapted from the model provided by Oxford (1990, p. 282), this questionnaire (Appendix B) was administered to gather more information about the participants' relation with the process of learning English.It was developed in the form of 12 (twelve) questions, being 11 (eleven) of them open ended questions, in which students had to write about their likes and dislikes about learning English; and 1 (one) question for students to mark the reasons why they study English.
The participants were displayed in a room in which they could seat next to their classmates.They had 30 minutes to answer to the questionnaire, but none of them took more than 20 minutes to answer to it.

Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL)
After collecting information from the background questionnaire, the researcher invited the participants to answer to an adapted translation of Oxford's (1990) SILL (Strategy Inventory for Language Learning) for speakers

Original Article
Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly of other languages learning English (see Appendix C) 7 .One of the reasons that justify the use of SILL in this research is the fact that it is a simple, learner-friendly questionnaire, which helps learners observe how they are learning.It is also teacher-friendly because it can be used by teachers to identify their students' styles of learning and help them creating a more effective learning environment.
The participants have to rank each of the 50 statements presented in the SILL questionnaire, based on how they evaluate each of them in their learning process.To do so, they must write a number from 1 to 5, being 1) never or almost never true of me, 2) generally not true of me, 3) somewhat true of me, 4) generally true of me, and 5) always or almost always true of me (Oxford, 1990, p. 283).
The statements presented on SILL are divided into six parts (from A to F).Each of these parts cover statements that are related to the use of each of the six groups of strategies developed by Oxford.
To do it, the participants were displayed in a room in which they could sit next to their classmates.They received the SILL questionnaire and had 30 minutes to answer it.Most of them finished around 15 minutes after they received the questionnaire.The last participant took around 20-25 minutes to complete the answers.As soon as they finished it, they gave the questionnaires back to the researcher.

RESuLTS PRESENTATIoN AND DISCuSSIoN
In this chapter, the results of the data analyzed are going to be presented in their order of administration.The first instrument to be analyzed was the placement test.Its results attested that all the participants are under basic proficiency level of English.In this research, basic proficiency level students are considered those who mark from 0 to 29 questions correctly.
The information gathered from the background questionnaire will bring evidence to the motivational factors involved in the learning process of elderly students.25 participants' questionnaires were analyzed.Figure 2 presents the participants' answers to this topic.motivates them to study is the interest in the language.The second reason, being chosen by 20 participants (80%), shows that their focus is also on learning English for travelling.Next, there is something that is fully related to the social factors mentioned before: socialization.Being chosen by more than half of the participants, 14 of them (56%), socialization plays an important role in this age.As mentioned by Morandi (2002), when people retire, they tend to feel useless in relation to their participation in society.Because of that, socializing with other people in the same situation may contribute to their self-esteem, since they can feel part of the world again.Next there is the interest in culture (52%), having a weekly activity (44%), having an intellectual activity (12%), increasing mental activity (4%) and interest in the USA (4%).It is important to mention that the participants were able to mark more than just one reason why they study English.
Also, it is possible to see that what motivates these learners to study English at this age is related to the instrumental orientation, as proposed by Gardner and Lambert (1972).According to the authors, instrumental orientation is that specific kind of motivation in which the learner focuses on his/her own needs and interests.These learners have clear goals to study English with the purpose of socializing with other people, or even travelling.
The background questionnaire has also gathered information on students' attitudes towards studying English, their preferences, their favorite activities and skills to practice, among other aspects.These results are not going to be included in this article since the focus is specifically on motivation and language learning strategies.
So, to understand which learning strategies are used the most by the elderly learners who participated in this study, the answers given by them to the 50 statements comprised in SILL were summed and divided by 25 (the number of participants).Based on this calculation, it was possible to find out the average number for each statement.The selection of the highest averages was made taking into consideration the model provided by Oxford (1990, p.300) in the Key to Understanding Your Averages.According to this model, averages between 3.5 and 5 are considered high, being from 3.5 to 4.4 considered usually used, and between 4.5 and 5, always or almost always used.
Based on the averages obtained from the classifications made by each of the 25 participants to all 50 SILL statements, a list of 11 statements (with average score from 3.5 to 5) was built, which was later crossed with Oxford's taxonomy of strategies, resulting in the relation between statement-strategy, presented in Table 1.

Original Article
Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly

Finding out about language learning
Eu percebo meus erros/enganos em inglês e utilizo esta informação para me ajudar a ter melhor desempenho.

Asking for correction
Eu reviso os conteúdos das aulas de inglês.

Getting the idea quickly
Source: The author (2017).
After making the equivalence between the statements on SILL and the taxonomy of strategies provided by Oxford (1990), it was possible to observe and rank the use of strategies by average of classification.Results show that 11 strategies were selected.The strategies used more often by the elderly students of EFL are: Asking for clarification or verification; Paying attention; Finding out about language learning; Self-monitoring; Self-evaluating; Asking for correction; Reviewing well; Setting goals and objectives; Practicing/Repeating; Taking risks wisely; and Getting the idea quickly.
Results obtained by the administration of the SILL questionnaire were also helpful for discovering which group of strategies is the most used by the target audience of the research.By comparing the averages of each of the strategies, it was possible to observe that the groups with the highest number of strategies used by the elderly is the group of metacognitive strategies.This finding is relevant because it is the opposite of what was said by Oxford.According to Oxford (1990, p. 138), previous research on language learning showed that this group of strategies is usually neglected by students, who prefer to use cognitive strategies instead of those.But it would be relevant to the field of research on language learning strategies to go further in these results.Many factors could have influenced this choice.Further research should investigate if the elderly learners always choose metacognitive strategies among other groups of strategies.To do this, carrying out this research with a larger group of participants, from different regions of the State (or country), or even with students from different language courses in the city of Porto Alegre could enhance the results for this research.Also, choosing metacognitive strategies over other strategies may be related to the level of proficiency of these participants.Since they are all under basic proficiency level of English, working with a group with a certain variety of proficiency levels could contribute to attest if this characteristic is more related to proficiency level, than to the age factor itself.A comparative study analyzing strategies used by younger and older students of EFL could help us more deeply understand this choice.

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Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly But even though the results do not corroborate those provided by Oxford, the use of these strategies is positive judging by the fact that the author states that this group of strategies is very important to the learning process, and should be better explored by learners (Oxford, 1990, p. 138).The group of cognitive strategies, on the other hand, obtained the lowest overall average of all six groups of strategies in this research.However, Practicing/ Repeating and Receiving the idea quickly are among the strategies observed as being used more often by the elderly students.And this is good, based on Oxford's (1990, p. 43) statement that practicing strategies are among the most important stratregies for students to achieve higher proficiency levels.
As already mentioned, metacognitive strategies achieved the highest overall average among the six groups, and almost all of these strategies are among the most used strategies by the elderly students.The only group of strategies which was not included in the list of higher occurrence (because any of the strategies on the group obtained an average over 3.5) is the group of compensational strategies.However, analysing the overall averages of the six groups together, compensational strategies had higher scores than the cognitive ones.The overall averages for each of the groups were: Metacognitive strategies

Correlating motivation and strategy use
Based on students answers to the SILL and to the Background Questionnaire, it was possible to correlate the findings on motivation and strategy use.One of the main motivational factor involved in the process of learning English, as described by the participants, is travelling abroad.In answer to a question about trips to different countries, proposed on the Background questionnaire, 13 of them affirmed to have travelled to a foreign country (not all of them specified the country, but they all used English), and gave examples of how they communicated in there.

Original Article
Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly Table 2 presents the participants (identifyed as P), the strategies they used when they were abroad, and three statements of the SILL questionnaire (identifyed as S plus the number on SILL -25, 45, and 48).Each of these statements have to do with the strategies mentioned by the students.However, only S45 was on the list of the 11 strategies the students use the most.
S25 is related to the Compensational strategy Using mime or gesture, according to Oxford's (1990) taxonomy.6 out of 13 participants reported using this strategy, but when they scored its use on the SILL questionnaire, 4 of them said that they always or almost always use this strategy; 1 of them said that they sometimes use this strategy, and 1 of them said that they usually do not use this strategy.These results show that more than half of these students are really aware of the fact that they use this strategy to communicate in English, and so they did when they were abroad.
S45, as we have already seen, is a Social strategy that is based on Asking for clarification or verification.2 participants mentioned having tried to communicate even though they had difficulties in understanding what foreign speakers were saying.Asking the interlocutor to repeat, or to reformulate the sentence may contribute to improve the communicative situation, and has to do with the use of this strategy.One of these students scored 5 to this strategy, while the other scored 3, which leads us to think that both of them are aware of the fact that they use this strategy, but one of them was more conscious than the other.This attitude also has to do with another strategy selected as used the most by these participants: Taking risks wisely.This Affective strategy is related to enouraging oneself to speak, despite of being afraid of making mistakes.
S48 is another Social strategy, related to Cooperating with proficient users of the new language.4 participants mentioned asking for the help of others (family or friends) who speak English in order to communicate abroad.The fact that the learner understands that he/she needs help and asks for it, includes cooperation, which is the main idea of the use of this strategy.Surprisingly, the participants had difficulty to identify the use of this strategy, since only one of these 4 students scored 4 to this strategy on the SILL questionnaire, which shows that the participant is conscious about using this strategy.The other 3 participants scored 3 or 1 to this strategy, evidencing that they do not feel like they use this strategy so much.
S45 and S48 are related to socialization, something that the elder student of EFL is interested in, based on their own answers to the instruments proposed.Also, the fact they travel to different countries and try to use the language may be related to the interest in foreign countries and languages, other aspect pointed by them as a motivational factor.
These results can be useful for teachers and language specialists who already work, or intend to work with this target age.Paying attention to their motivational factors, and the strategies reported by them as being the most used can contribute to the design of specific class plans and didactic materials focusing on the needs and interests of this group.

Original Article
Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly

fINAL CoNSIDERATIoNS
Thinking about the large number of groups targeted to the elderly in Brazil providing many different social activities -such as learning a foreign language -this paper aimed at studying the language learning strategies used by a group of elderly learners of EFL.It also aimed at discovering what motivates these learners to study English at an advanced age.
The main results included a list of 11 strategies which are used more often by the elderly students, based on the taxonomy for language learning strategies provided by Oxford (1990).They are: Asking for clarification or verification; Paying attention; Finding out about language learning; Self-monitoring; Self-evaluating; Asking for correction; Reviewing well; Setting goals and objectives; Practicing/Repeating; Taking risks wisely; and Getting the idea quickly.The group of strategies used more often by this target age is the group of Metacognitive strategies.
Other findings were related to what are the motivational factors which lead people at an advanced age to search for the study of a foreign language.Some of these factors were the interest in the language, in travelling, in socializing with other people from the same age, among others.A correlation between the findings also show that the motivational factors presented by the participants are related to their strategy use, showing that many of them are aware of their learning process.This fact may also justify the majority of metacognitive strategies among the strategies pointed out by them as used the most.
It is important to remember that these results are based on a group formed of 25 participants, all of them from a free English course provided at a University in the city of Porto Alegre.It is believed that results can differ if based on a larger number of participants.Also, analyzing other elderly students, from different regions in Brazil would help researchers understand if other aspects such as culture can influence on the use of language learning strategies as well.It would be interesting to have a balanced number of men and women too, in order to attest if there are differences in the use of strategies based on gender (there were only two men among the participants).
It is suggested that other researchers carry out this study focusing on other models or taxonomies of language learning strategies in order to attest if results are going to be similar, using also different instruments to measure strategy use.Even though the taxonomy chosen in this research can be considered outdated, it is believed that this paper is relevant because of its target audience: the elderly students of EFL.Until the production of this paper, it was not easy for the researcher to find other studies centered on this group of students on the field of language learning.This seems to be the contribution of this paper to the field, in terms of bringing some evidence -yet with some limitations -to the teaching-learning experience in ageing.
To conclude, this work understands the importance of and tries to increase the studies on second language acquisition in an advanced age.Thus, its reading may be interesting to language teachers who work with this target age, or language teachers in general, who want to understand more about the role of language learning strategies and motivation in the language teachinglearning process.

II -Reading comprehension
The year is 2147.It is a normal day in Warren Number 5.It is always a normal day here.Today is no different from yesterday or tomorrow.In Warren Number 5 there are no seasons: there is no spring or summer or autumn or winter.There is no difference between day and night.The only light is electric; natural light does not exist.Most people do not know the word 'sun'.
Everybody lives in a Warren.A Warren is a very big city under the ground.Think of the Paris metro or the London tube, but a thousand times bigger.And a Warren is not a transport system; people live there all the time.They are there all their lives, from the day they are born to the day they die.People must live in a Warren.They cannot leave their city under the ground.Millions and millions of people live in these Warrens.There are nine Warrens in the world and Warren Number 5 is the biggest.

1 :
figure 1: Diagram of the Strategy System showing two classes, six groups, and 19 sets.

figure 2 :
figure 2: Why do you study English?

27 .
Our team played _______ last Sunday and lost the game.A) well B) bad C) badly D) wrong 28."What do you want to do next weekend?"A) "I went to the beach with my friends."B) "I'd like to go to the beach with my friends."C) "I like going to the beach with my friends."D) "I go to the beach with my friends."29.Students _______ not to eat or drink in the library.A) asked B) are asked C) ask D) asks 30.This film _______ in 1965.It's an old film.A) made B) makes C) was made D) were made

(
Buckledee, S. Permission to Leave: Three Short Stories.London: Richmond, 1997.p. 7) Mark A (true) or B (false), according to the text.31.The text describes an imaginary city.? ( ) A ( ) B 32. 'Number 5' is a house number.( ) A ( ) B 33. Night and day are the same in a Warren.( ) A ( ) B 34.A Warren, the Paris metro and the London tube are transport systems.( ) A ( ) B 35.People choose to live in a Warren.( ) A ( ) B

APPENDIxES appendix A -Placement test (
Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly Teste de Nivelamento) Learning English in the elderly 12. "Mark _______ a new car two days ago.""I heard he _______ it to his wife."A) buys / give B) bought / gave C) had / gave D) bought / give 13.Susan didn't _______ to Europe last month because she didn't _______ enough money.Excuse me.Where is the drugstore?""It's on Prince Street.Take the first street on the left.Go _______ for two blocks._______ right.The drugstore is on the left.It's _______ the supermarket." Garcia, V. R. M. | Garcia, V. R. M. | Learning English in the elderly