ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the social context of language learning. It considers language learners from three perspectives: social class, gender, and the special case of adult learners, an important group in the history of language learning, not least because of their sheer numbers compared to school learners. The chapter examines the changing status of language teachers, their qualifications, and the institutions that educated them for their careers as teachers. It also examines language learning opportunities beyond the classroom, including exchanges, pen–friendships, and residence abroad. The chapter considers the history of motivations for language learning. The very availability of language learning in all kinds of settings and in all kinds of degree combinations means that languages have never quite lost their ancillary status. The extremely wide availability of low–level language learning outside universities, and the fact that some of this low–level learning is replicated at university means that the "discipline" of modern languages remains opaque to many.
