Baddeley and his associates (2010) outlined that the learning behavior of older adults is different from that of younger generations. The World Health Organization (2015) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2017) claim that there is a continuing growth of elderly population in demography, which basically concerns citizens who are 60 years old or above. As found, for instance, altered cognitive abilities may impact their learning progress and their memory, attention, or perception (Grein, 2013). Further, their potentially negative learning experiences triggered by frontal teaching methods and a rather autocratic approach to classroom management may have also influenced their attitudes toward learning (Grein, 2018). These factors are likely to affect their ability to learn in an effective and independent way. Hence, promoting older adults’ learning by enhancing their learner autonomy should play a key role in continuing education, since the evolvement of their autonomous learning behavior can also contribute to the acquisition of skills and attitudes that play an important role in active social participation and experienced independence (Bélanger, 2016; Ciechanowska, 2015). In so doing, foreign language learning (FL) has emerged as an important developmental opportunity among senior citizens in the international context as well as in Hungary (Kaczor, 2011; Berndt, 2003).

One-to-one counselling for autonomous learning is a useful method to develop learner autonomy in adulthood (Karlsson et al., 2007; Mozzon-McPherson & Vismans, 2001). It is described as a solution-centered approach that acknowledges learners’ capacity for self-direction and focuses on promoting their self-development (Mynards & Carson, 2012). One-to-one counselling for autonomous learning specifically emphasizes the evolvement of effective teacherless learning by determining individual learning needs or purposes and enforcing possible courses of action for learning enhancement (Karlsson et al., 2007).

This exploratory study, therefore, focuses on developing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning autonomy of older learners through language learning counselling. The aim was to investigate the different supporting strategies applied by adult educators and to study participating older learners’ learning paths throughout the counselling program.  Panel surveys were applied to explore the possible long-term effectivity of counselling on participants’ autonomous learning behavior. Hence, the research questions are (1) how EFL teachers can contribute to the development of older adults’ learner autonomy with the help of applying one-to-one counselling of autonomous learning, (2) how do older learners conceive of their learning experiences during the counselling program, and (3) how do older learners reflect on their independent learning experience over time, three and six months after the counselling program.

We collected and analyzed data by using a hybrid form of Grounded Theory Approach (GTA) (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) that consisted of a dual code system subsuming theory-based, deductive codes and subordinated inductive elements. The software ATLAS.ti was used for the investigation, and our analysis concerned open and axial coding (Swain, 2018). The axial coding was designed to find out more about the level of interconnectedness of the coded elements by considering their quotation-based co-occurrences. Their degree of significance was based on the centrality measurement by using yEd graph-editor software. We also investigated the re-occurrence of the given inductive elements by calculating the ratio of the number of quotations of the coded construct. In order to assess the consistency of the analysis, we applied intracoder reliability by re-coding the whole set of emerging data by one of the authors two weeks after the first cycle of coding, which resulted in an f value of 0.93 (Dafinoiu & Lungu, 2003; Holsti, 1969). The results are based on the second coding phase. The counselling program involved volunteering older EFL learners (N = 25) and their educators (N = 5) based in Hungary. The data collection was concluded in 2021. The selection was conducted by applying cluster sampling (Cohen et al., 2002). Counselling began with a needs analysis that was designed to investigate participants’ independent learning-related perceptions, that is, they first filled in a paper-based questionnaire concerning their attitudes to learner autonomy and then counselors and their counselees met three times over the ten-week-long counselling program (Authors, 2021). Participants and their counselors used reflective diaries (Hardeland, 2013; Mozzon-McPherson, 2000) to document the materials and strategies used, and their reflective accounts on the effectiveness of the counselling sessions. Participating learners filled out an open-ended questionnaire three and six months after the end of the program. The open-ended questionnaires incorporated two main parts that concerned older adults’ perception about the effectivity of language counselling on their learning behavior and on study areas other than language learning.

As coding revealed, the most central codes were related to metacognitive awareness (degree of interconnectedness: 0.83; ratio: 28% of all the documents within the inherent deductive unit), and cognitive stimulation (interconnectedness: 0.58; ratio: 21%), which implies that older learners’ desire to develop knowledge and effective learning management play a crucial role when developing independent learning through one-to-one counselling. The analysis of educators’ reflective diaries showed that their perceptions of learners’ increased self-awareness (interconnectedness: 1; ratio: 14%) were the most central inductive elements with a larger number of interconnections and reoccurrence. This suggests that a conscious and systematic approach to enhancing older learners’ awareness of strategies to develop independent learning is necessary, which must constitute educators’ repertoire of counselling skills. The post hoc studies also imply that the most central inductive element which attained both high ratio and interconnectedness among coded constructs concerned learners’ perceived cognitive stimulation (interconnectedness: 1; ratio: 20%). That is, the continuous experiencing of cognitive enhancement played an important role in participants’ autonomous learning-related development in the third and sixth months past the program. Additionally, the use of online practice materials appeared as significantly useful (interconnectedness: 0.89; ratio: 18%), which highlights the importance of non-book learning materials contributing to participants’ independent learning practice even after the counselling program.

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