The integration of critical perspectives in ESP instruction: Social work students’ reflections on ageing identities and representations

The phenomenon of population ageing has created a greater demand for professionals with specialised knowledge and expertise who are willing to work with older people and better understand the complexity and diversity of later lives. Guided by the principle that a response to the needs and interests of older adults requires innovative pedagogies and research practices, the current article presents the results of an ESP teaching intervention aimed to positively impact social work students’ beliefs regarding ageing and old age as well as their interest in working with older adults by bringing into focus the socially constructed, situated and ideological nature of language and discourse. The study participants were involved in a series of task based activities, including critical text analysis as well as observations in local communities and interviews with older women and men in order to scrutinize the dominant ideologies and representations of later years and to explore the diversity of individual pathways to ageing. Despite some limitations due to the small scale of the study, it can be observed that the adoption of accessible and eclectic critical approaches in the ESP context may be beneficial to challenge students’ assumptions about ageing and support them in developing skills and knowledge in gerontology.