Discursive Construction of Age in Older Immigrants’ Narrations of Language Learning

This article explores the discursive construction of age by older adult language learners, with a particular focus on older immigrants in Vancouver, Canada. It draws on data generated as part of a larger narrative ethnography conducted over the course of a year within an English as an additional language storytelling class. Specifically, it looks at one narrative event in the classroom that was later followed up with a series of narrative interviews. In this paper narration of age and ageing is approached as a contextualized discursive practice. Analysis of discursive patterns in learner narratives suggests that learners construct their language learning experiences using affective stancetaking towards aging and agentive positioning as older learners. The article argues for a close attention to the discursive construction of age by older learners and enactment of ageist stereotypes within language learning contexts.