Interviews with 20 people involved in Wiccan communities of practice revealed a trajectory of participation from the periphery to the center of the group, experiential learning that combines formal and intuitive knowledge, and a process of identity development in becoming a witch. To an extent, the community's marginality shaped learning and…

Adult self-directed learning is considered a process of self-instruction. This concept is inadequate because it fails to account for persistence in learning and excludes adults unable to plan self-instruction. These inadequacies can be addressed by studying self-directed learning as it relates to the learner's personality. (Author/CH)

The authors discuss the concept of life-world. Transformation of the life-world is analyzed and three developmental stages are distinguished: (1) the self-evident, (2) the threatened, and (3) the transformed life-world. The importance of this transformation in relation to adult education is explored and the developmental stages related to the…

In this article, it is argued that capitalism and empiricism are dominant and implicit social paradigms that profoundly affect adult education in the United States in often deleterious ways. (CT)

Knowledge about a culture is best understood as situated cognition, that is, contexts are inseparable from cognitive processes. Learning about a culture is similar to learning about a practice; both require new ways of perceiving, interpreting, and communicating experience. Successful learning depends both on individual factors and on access to…

Contrasts Western traditional objectivism with the interpretist paradigm explaining cognitive processes. Describes the transformation theory of adult learning based on the emancipatory paradigm. (SK)

In response to Cunningham's review of his book "Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning" in the Spring 1992 issue of "Adult Education Quarterly," Mezirow clarifies his transformation theory of how adults learn and points out how his meaning has been misrepresented. (SK)

Erich Fromm proposed that learning to penetrate ideological obfuscation and overcome the alienation it generates is the learning task of adulthood. He believed adult education would make people aware of ideological manipulation and prepare them for participatory democracy. His was a Marxist humanism aimed at the creation of democratic socialism.…

Assesses the state of the art of theory building efforts in adult learning. Theories are divided into three categories: (1) those based on adult learner characteristics, (2) those emphasizing the adult's life situation, and (3) those focusing upon consciousness changes. Common components are identified. (Author/CH)

The author discusses the historical development of Mezirow's theory of perspective transformation (seen as adult learning that leads to social action). Problems with this concept are discussed and the author concludes that perspective transformation, while an important concept, is not a complete theory of adult learning and education. (CH)

Mezirow restates the major ideas of his transformation theory and addresses criticisms in terms of adult development, ideology, and Freire's concept of conscientization. Tennant and Newman's reactions are followed by Mezirow's response. (SK)

Focus groups with 30 participants in a residential adult learning program identified descriptive themes of the experience: building relationships, learning, and individual change. Two overarching themes distinguished the phenomenon: detachment (physical and psychological isolation for the world) and continuity (uninterrupted learning). (SK)

This article raises questions about the universal valuing of behaviorism in workplace learning based on a review of trends in organizations in the postindustrial era and analyses of theorists within and outside the field who emphasize the importance of reflectivity and critical reflectivity in learning. (Author)

Houle hypothesized three models of professional continuing learning: (1) inquiry, (2) instruction, and (3) performance. A study tested this typology with a population of staff nurses in a community hospital. A revised typology is proposed consisting of (1) inquiry, (2) performance, (3) group instruction, and (4) self-instruction. (Author/CH)

A qualitative analysis of interviews of 78 adults with less than high school completion who were currently engaged in a learning project supported the hypothesis that self-directed learners, rather than preplanning their projects, tend to derive their structure and direction from resources available in the environment--the organizing circumstance.…