This project has formulated two substantial objectives, namely identifying suitable pedagogical approaches, teaching methods, or strategies for teaching foreign languages to older adult migrants and determining whether foreign language learning later in life is beneficial for older adults’ well-being. These objectives are justified as follows: learning how hosting organisations approach adult learning and create trust in their learners’ enthusiasm for foreign language teachings, especially when those are older individuals; broadening the scope of discussion during a learning experience to understand how their learners interact with their teaching, what information they are really taking away from their classes, and finally, how they listen with an open mind; considering that the number of people aged 60 years and older is expected to rise rapidly within the next decades, identifying interventions that promote healthy cognitive ageing.
We are applying for this project because ADYNE Netherlands has taken a challenge in teaching older adult migrants and refugees the Dutch language since 2019, to date. This mechanism was implemented to provide older migrants unable to learn a foreign language with the possibility to, at least, engage as much as they could in low-level conversations and understand political trends, especially when decision-makers implement policies that affect their lives. Indeed, ADYNE Netherlands acknowledges that teaching older adults, especially migrants, a foreign language can be very challenging because instructors have to dispel some misconceptions about their learning abilities and deal with self-defeating attitudes commonly adopted by older learners (Ramírez Gómez. Educational Gerontology 42:136–143;2016). Nonetheless, ADYNE believes new pedagogical approaches can provide older migrant learners with an avenue to learn the Dutch language and contribute substantially to their hosting society.