Participants

Who is behind the VARIAGE research project?

VARIAGE is a project led by Prof. Dr. Simone Pfenninger as part of the Second Language Acquisition Lab (SLAb) of the English Department, University of Zurich, and receives support from the UZH Foundation .

Who is eligible to become a Participant?

To be eligible for the study, you need to be between 62 and 64 years old at the time of the project start (14.09.23), and you need to have retired between September 2023 and March 2025.

You are not eligible to become a participant if one of the following applies to you:

You have a different native language than German or Swiss German.
You play an instrument for more than 6 hours per day.
You cage a chronic psychical, cognitive, or neurological Diagnosis (depression, AD(H)S, ASD, dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, tinnitus).
You are consuming mind-altering substances (marijuana, etc.).

(Unfortunately, we cannot accept any new participants as the language course has already begun.)

Am I allowed to revoke my consent to participate in the study?

Yes. Your participation in the study is voluntary. You can withdraw from the study at any time without giving reasons and without incurring any disadvantages. You can request that the data collected be deleted up to two years after the data was collected.

What are the possible benefits of participating in the study?

Learning a language can have significant cognitive benefits for you personally. You will also help us to better understand language learning at an advanced age, and thus, better pedagogical decisions can be made. After the end of the study, you will receive information on our results on request.

Your further advantages are:

The two-year English course is completely free of charge for you.
Your learning process is individually and closely accompanied by professional specialists.
You will be financially compensated for the tests.
You will receive an individual evaluation of your learning process twice a year.

What are the possible disadvantages of participating in the study?

The procedures and tests described are not harmful to health and comply with international scientific standards. However, taking the tests can be exhausting.

As already mentioned, you can withdraw your participation in the study at any time without giving reasons and without any disadvantages to you.

Do people outside of the project have access to my data?

No. All data will be anonymized, treated as strictly confidential, and cannot be assigned to the participants. Access to personally identifiable information is severely restricted and not possible for third parties.