Abstract: Attitude towards speech communication refers to an individual's overall evaluation and relatively stable response tendency on the receiver in the process of speech communication. The conversational attitudes of both sides of communication are often important factors affecting the successful implementation of interpersonal communication. Although the elderly often become keen on communicating with others due to loneliness and solitude after retirement， the interpersonal communication of most of them cannot be understood and satisfied. From the perspective of willingness to communicate， the elderly's active willingness to communicate tends to decline. From the angle of communicative role， most of the elderly choose the role of the speaker in verbal communication. From the perspective of the focus of conversation， most of the elderly are more concerned with communicative attitudes instead of communicative contents. Besides， in terms of attention to conversational objects' emotion， the elderly rarely pay attention to the conversation object's emotion.

Key words: the elderly, speech communication, willingness to communicate, communicative role, attitude towards communication