Working in the area of applied linguistics and language education, we are obliged to assess teaching and learning. Establishing an assessment of competence with respect to monolingual, first-language speaker competence, though well-established, is not without controversy (McNamara & Roever, 2006). But considering the multiple starting points, contexts, and goals of learners, assessing success for each learner is likely to get us closer to an understanding of effective teaching and learning. The close investigation of details of the lives, inside and outside the classroom, of these fourteen immigrant-learners, suggests to us that each of the learners was successful in some way.

Most of the students in the Portraits would be characterized as successful students based on their standardized assessment scores. Those that were not as successful in these terms (Mai, Liang, Nina) were students who could not take classes for extended periods of time due to work or family obligations. While these three students may not have achieved a high level of proficiency in terms of more abstract measures of linguistic competence, the influences of work and family on their lives and on their ability to study English formally need to be taken into account when considering a notion like success.

Two of these students (Liang and Nina) were also older (in 2006, 80 and 62 years old, respectively) which fits with the profiles of older language learners in a great deal of research. We cannot address the issues around cognition, age, and language learning here. But we can say that where students are on the age continuum coincides with particular life goals and, subsequently, language learning goals. Jing, as a 70 year old student, may be unusual in his level of activity both employment and education. And his experience with formal education in his home country (a university professor) is likely a cause for his continued vocational and intellectual activity in a new culture. His example shows the possibilities that exist for older learners.

Liang, another older student (80 years old), did not have a great deal of experience with formal education (6 years of school in Taiwan - in Japanese and Chinese). Yet she participated in English classes for 6 terms showing a desire to learn. She expressed regret at not being able to continue her studies when called on by her family to provide childcare. Her 'success' in English language learning has been largely defined by what her family has requested of her throughout her life. She supported her family at their request even when it meant that it limited her English language development or her acculturation. In terms of 'competence', we can say that Liang was able to write her name and personal information in English by the end of her study. Also, in terms of the classroom as a community of practice, we can say that she took upon herself the role of tutor to another older Taiwanese woman, interpreting and guiding her through language learning task processes.