This study examines how various life factors and personal attributes affect African American adult learners' use of the three types of learning interaction-learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner. Multivariate multiple regression analyses were used. The aggregate effect of life factors on African American adult learners' use of…

Academic language is a challenging yet increasingly important skill for Adult Basic Education/English as a Second or Other Language learners. Related to academic language learning is an adult's developmental perspective. Developmental perspectives have been shown to vary in adulthood and shape qualitatively distinct ways of reasoning and learning…

This study investigated the relationship between self-directedness (as measured by the Adult Learner Self-Directedness Scale) and biographical factors such as age, race, and gender of adult learners enrolled at a South African open distance learning (ODL) higher education institution. Correlational and inferential statistical analyses were used. A…

The present study was an attempt to examine the impact of input flooding (IF) and textual enhancement (TIE) on EFL learners' syntactic development. Four homogenous groups were selected based on the pre-test and placement tests. During the treatment, the first group (i.e., IF) received reading comprehension passages in which the structure was…

In partnership with the ECMC Foundation, Jobs for the Future is leading an effort to explore how postsecondary competency-based education models can be adapted to better serve underprepared adult learners. JFF kicked off this initiative with a convening of educators, policymakers, and researchers, the results of which are captured in this paper.…

Adult learning is essential in schools. Learning Forward's Scholar Laureate Shirley Hord observes, "The improvement of our schools seldom results from mandates. What has become very clear is that change (its adoption and implementation) cannot occur without the provision of ongoing and long-term learning for the professionals" (Hord,…

Adult Learners' Week is based on a simple idea--that extolling the achievements of adult learners and promoting the benefits of learning will encourage others to take the plunge. Each year, through thousands of events and award ceremonies, and in media coverage that would cost millions of pounds if purchased as advertising, Adult Learners' Week…

Adult Learners' Week has whirled round again, but the author has been looking backwards. An invitation to speak at an event to mark the retirement of Richard Bolsin as General Secretary of the Workers' Educational Association prompted him at last to get hold of Jonathan Rose's "Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes." Rose's concern is…

Supporting teacher learning is a complicated and challenging task. This much-awaited book offers a practical, research-based framework for thinking about instructional leadership, along with the necessary resources and tools for improving practice. The authors identify specific structures, formats, and strategies that an instructional leader can…

This article presents the author's response to Michael Newman's "Calling Transformative Learning into Question: Some Mutinous Thoughts". Transformative learning has arguably become one of the most generative and provocative ideas in adult learning. More than 30 years ago, Mezirow (1978) introduced this idea to the field of adult education. During…

This paper argues that there are many ways of conceptualising lifelong learning and examines EU and Scottish lifelong learning policies in order to identify their underlying assumptions. Through an analysis of these policies, it is demonstrated that they draw on a number of inter-related fallacies that prioritise lifelong learning mainly in…

This article describes and summarizes the author's experience of teaching in Italy for three months and the impact it had on him and his learning. The author, at the age of 61, lived in Italy for three months and here he reflects on what he learned and how it relates to adult learning theory concepts.

This paper discusses some of the issues surrounding the nature of adult play. More specifically, we explore "family play-learning", where play activities result in forms of added knowledge or insight for the adults involved. Adult play itself is an under-researched area, and play-learning even more so. We discuss related research and, in…

Over the period of this journal's life the education of adults has been changed and developed in a wide variety of ways: the same phenomenon--adult learning--has been given a variety of meanings and the education of adults has assumed many titles. The aim of this paper is to unravel some of the changes that have occurred in this field during this…

The literature has shown that student veterans arrive in college with unique characteristics and also face unique challenges (Black et al., 2007; Bonar & Domenici, 2011; Church, 2009; DiRamio & Jarvis, 2011). There is also some evidence that student veterans develop complex ways of making meaning at younger ages than students in the…