EN
The world is aging and life expectancy is extending among world societies. These phenomena undoubtedly create new challenges and result in transformation of the world as we know it. One of the spheres that needs a new approach is education which has to adjust to senior learners who are over 55 years old. Lifelong learning is not a new concept, as it originates from ancient Greece. However, new type of students require new approach and modifications in the educational process. For senior learners education often has compensatory features, e.g. making up for missed opportunities; meeting people and maintaining or developing social contacts. Many seniors attend education in older age simply to have their brain stimulated. Furthermore, older learners may have already developed learning strategies that have served them well in other contexts. The article presents the concept of lifelong learning and selected issues related with senior education in foreign language learning context. The study included in the article aimed at investigating motivational and demotivational factors in senior education. The obtained results point to affective (e.g. anxiety, self-esteem) and social (e.g. opinion of other learners, public performance) factors as the dominating factors in motivational process.