Titlepage -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: A First Glimpse of Age -- Part 1: Framing Age as Socially Constructed -- 1 The Age Factor and Second Language Acquisition -- Introduction -- The Critical Period Hypothesis for Second Language Acquisition: A Critique -- Sociocultural Approaches to Second Language Acquisition -- Conclusion -- 2 Present-Day Approaches to the Study of Age -- Introduction -- Social Constructionism -- Recent Perspectives in Sociolinguistics on the Study of Social Dimensions -- Conclusion -- 3 Viewing Age through a Social Constructionist Lens -- Introduction -- Contemporary Age Discourses and Their Manifestations -- Language and the Discursive Construction of Age Identity -- Narrating Age -- Conclusion -- Part 2: The Social Construction of Age in Mexico -- 4 Constructing Age in Later Adulthood -- Introduction -- Hector's Story: A Tale of Progress -- Felix's Story: A Tale of Discontent -- Conclusion -- 5 Constructing Age in 'Middle' Adulthood -- Introduction -- The Women Tell Their Stories -- Conclusion -- 6 Constructing Age in Young Adulthood -- Introduction -- David's Story -- Conclusion -- Final Reflections -- Introduction -- Age and Second Language Acquisition: What We Have Learned -- Implications of the Findings -- Concluding Remarks -- References -- Index.