The positioning of adult learners: appropriating learner experience on the continuum of empowerment to emancipation

This article offers a critical analysis of discourses and power structures and the ways they operate in two instructors’ adult education and ESOL classrooms. The instructors defined learner experience in specific ways and subsequently used those definitions and drew on their learners’ experiences to define their curricula and pedagogy. They conceptualized learner experiences in ways that potentially empowered or emancipated learners from existing power structures. The data presented are part of a two‐year study of different lifelong learning and adult education contexts in the north‐eastern and mid‐western USA. Data sources included survey, interview, artifact collection, and observation methods. Data analysis was guided by a sociocultural theory of literacy development (The New London Group 1996 New London Group. 1996. A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66: 60–92. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Gee 1996 Gee, J. 1996. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in discourses , (2nd edn), London: Falmer.  [Google Scholar], 2003 Gee, J. 2003. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, New York: Macmillan. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Barton and Hamilton 1998 Barton, D. and Hamilton, M. 1998. Local Literacies: Reading and writing in one community, London: Routledge. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), Holland et al.'s (1998 Holland, D., Lachicotte, W. Jr., Skinner, D. and Cain, C. 1998. Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  [Google Scholar]) theories of figured worlds and identity development, Bakhtin’s (1963 Bakhtin, M. M. 1963. Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, Edited by: Emerson, C. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. 1994 [Google Scholar], 1975 Bakhtin, M. M. 1975. The Dialogic Imagination, Edited by: Emerson, C. and Holquist, M. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. 1998 [Google Scholar], 1979 Bakhtin, M. M. 1979. Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, Edited by: Mcgee, V. W. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. 1994 [Google Scholar], 1986 Bakhtin, M. M. 1986. Toward a Philosophy of the Act, Edited by: Liapunov, V. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. 1993 [Google Scholar]) theory of dialogism, and Foucault’s (1963 Foucault, M. 1963. The Birth of the Clinic: An archaeology of medical perception, Edited by: Sheridan‐Smith, A. New York: Vintage. 1975[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 1980 Foucault, M. 1980. Power/Knowledge: Selected interviews & other writings, 1972–1977, Edited by: Gordon, C., Marshall, L., Mepham, J. and Soper, K. New York: Pantheon. 1980 [Google Scholar]) conceptualization of power. One instructor offered her learners a chance to empower themselves, that is, to find gratification by learning to appropriate mainstream ways of acting, thinking, believing, and using text. The discourse that promotes such instructional efforts is predominant in lifelong learning and adult education. In this discourse, referred to at the outset as one of coherence, learner experience, as a resource for language and literacy development, is essentialized as dispositional, meaning that correct or proper attitudes and beliefs are necessary for empowerment. The other instructor practised a reverse discourse, or what Gee (1996 Gee, J. 1996. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in discourses , (2nd edn), London: Falmer.  [Google Scholar]) referred to as a liberatory literacy. She positioned learners to critique the Discourses they encountered, including those they participated in, as movement toward emancipation, toward communicative competence or a critical stance in the world. In effect, learners reversed the panoptic framework and turned the gaze back upon existing power structures. In this case, learner experience was valued for the experiential positioning it offered learners.     

The relationship between learner control of CAI and locus of control among hispanic students

This study investigated achievement and motivation effects related to locus of control (internal and external) and three levels of learner control (no control, moderate control, and high control). The 101 seventh-grade and eighth-grade Hispanic subjects were classified as internal or external based on locus of control (loc) scores, blocked by sex and grade, then randomly assigned to the three levels of learner control in separate versions of a CAI instructional program in science. Internalloc subjects did not choose more en route practice than externals and did not perform better under high learner control. Theloc results raise questions about the usefulness of locus of control as it relates to instruction, at least with populations similar to the present one.     

Matching learner preference to amount of instruction: An alternative form of learner control

This study was conducted with 75 United States and Far East employees of a major corporation to investigate the effects of assigning learners to either the amount of instruction they preferred or to the contrasting amount. Subjects completed a 10-item Likert-type prequestionnaire to indicate whether they preferred a basic instructional program or a more comprehensive one, then were randomly assigned either to the type of program they preferred or to the opposite type. Subjects who received the amount of instruction that matched their preference scored significantly higher on the posttest, spent significantly less time in the program, and had significantly more positive attitudes on four of the six attitude items. Further research is recommended to determine the generalizability of the present findings to other subject populations.     

The effects of cooperative learning and learner control on high- and average-ability students

The effects of studying alone or in cooperative learning groups on high- and average-ability students were investigated. Also examined were the effects of completing computer-based instruction using either a learner- or program-control version of a lesson. A total of 175 fourth-grade students were classified as being of high or average ability and randomly assigned to paired or individual treatments stratified by ability. Students completed training to enhance small-group interaction before completing a computer-based tutorial and a posttest. Following cooperative learning, students demonstrated increased achievement and efficiency as well as better attitudes toward both the computer lesson and grouping. Students completed more practice items and examples in program-control treatments than in learner-control treatments. However, the form of lesson control did not affect students' achievement or attitudes.     

Multimedia learning environments: Issues of learner control and navigation

Using schema theory as a framework, we view learning as an active, constructive process. It is affected not only by learners' internal knowledge structures, but by the external constraints of the learning environment as well (Kozma, 1991). This article examines how different internal learner characteristics (e.g., prior knowledge, self efficacy and interest) and different external constraints (e.g., learner control, instructional design and level of control) influence the learning process. Specifically, we address learning from a variety of multimedia environments such as video, hypertexts, kiosks and other hypermedia within a schema theoretic approach that incorporates a constructivist view.     

The academic writing of community college remedial students: Text and learner variables

Community college remedial reading studentscomposed an informational report from sources,a task commonly assigned in higher educationthat integrally combines reading and writingprocesses. Productivity, use of source text,reproductions, accuracy, and inclusion of keyideas were analyzed as a function of twoexogenous variables, text density (high, low)and domain (health, business), and twoendogenous variables, prior knowledge andgeneral literacy skill. Text densityinteracted with literacy skill forproductivity, and with prior knowledge foraccuracy. Individuals with lower literacy orprior knowledge scores were at a disadvantagewith high but not low density source text. Domain affected productivity, use of source,and inclusion of key ideas: health text wasassociated with superior performance. Domaineffects may be explained by metacognitive ormotivational variables, or differences in thereadability of the source texts. The resultshave implications for instruction aimed atimproving community college students'preparedness for the academic demands of highereducation.     

Engaging Kenyan secondary students in an Oral History Project: Education as emancipation

This article uses a case study approach to explore the viability and impact of learner-centered, emancipatory pedagogies. The research focuses on the implementation of an Oral History Project with students at a Kenyan secondary school. Findings reveal that the project had a significant impact on participants’ beliefs about teaching and learning, strengthened students’ sense of self-efficacy, and enhanced participants’ perceptions of community knowledge. The study suggests that while learner-centered, emancipatory pedagogies are viable and can have a transformative impact on students and teachers, systematic and sustained instructional support and professional development are needed to ensure long-term success.     

Aptitude,learner control,and adaptive instruction

‘'Learner control'’ refers to the proposal that learners will benefit if given more control over the pace or style of instruction they receive. It is often assumed that providing increased learner control will “accommodate”; individual differences. This article argues that such a view is naive. It is argued that research on learner control will benefit from (a) avoidance of reference to panacea, (b) basic work on a detailed taxonomy of the various forms learner control might take, and (c) a substantial review of related research which, while not labelled “learner control,”; has implications for the educational benefits that can be expected from giving learners control of certain aspects of instruction. Research examples are used to explicate these suggestions. It is concluded that no form of individualization of instruction, including learner control, has yet been shown to erase the relevance of prior individual differences to learning from instruction.     

Continuing motivation,learner control,and CAI

This study investigated the effects of learner control and program control on the achievement and continuing motivation of high school students. The influence of the availability of computer-delivered instruction on student motivation was also examined. Continuing motivation was measured by student choice of learner control or program control as the mode for a second instructional program after subjects completed an initial program under their randomly assigned mode. Results revealed a highly significant difference in continuing motivation favoring learner over program control. The differences in posttest performance and performance during instruction between learner and program control were not significant. The data also revealed significant preferences to study both science and an alternative subject when they are presented by computer over when they are not.The research reported herein was conducted while she was a doctoral student at Arizona State University.     

Education and the illusions of emancipation

In this article, I deal with the question of emancipation in education. In the first part of the article, I argue that contemporary concepts of emancipation are explicitly or implicitly related to the idea of the sovereign subject articulated by Kant and other philosophers of the Enlightenment. I contend that our modern enlightened concepts of emancipation rest on a dichotomy between an autonomous and self-sufficient subject and its sociocultural world. Referring to current research in mathematics education, I show how this dichotomy leads to intrinsic contradictions that haunt ongoing educational practices. These contradictions, I contend, are manifested in the hopeless efforts to bridge the gap between the deeds and thoughts of an autonomous individual and the regimes of reason and truth in which the individual finds itself subsumed. In particular, I argue that emancipation as understood in the enlightened modern sense remains a chimeric and unfulfillable dream. In the second part of the article, I suggest that emancipation can still be an orienting vector of educational practice and research, but it needs to be conceptualized differently: emancipation needs not be predicated in terms of individuals’ freedom and individualist autonomy, but in critical–ethical terms.     

The effect of curricular activities on learner autonomy: the perspective of undergraduate mechanical engineering students

This study researches how first-year engineering students perceived the influence of curricular activities on their own learning autonomy, measured with an adaptation of the Personal Responsibility Orientation to Self-direction in Learning Scale (PRO-SDLS). Participants were questioned to assess the influence of the teacher's role. The results indicate that learners’ characteristics (motivation and self-efficacy) contribute more to learner autonomy (LA) than the teaching–learning transaction (control and initiative), as in the original PRO-SDLS validation. The most autonomous learners presented higher values in all LA components and dimensions, but the differences were greater in motivation and initiative. The participants with higher LA were not as dependent on the teacher, regarding assessment, the completion of classroom tasks and deadlines. Regardless of the degree of autonomy in learning, all participants viewed teachers as the main source of information. Therefore, LA plays an important role in teaching activities planning. Suggestions for adjustments and more flexible learning scenarios are formulated.     

因材施教 突出特色 提高质量

在高校要全面推进素质教育就必须以人为本，真正贯彻“因材施教、有教无类”的方针，就要在教育目标上承认学生个体的差异性，尊重和重视学生的个性发展。北京航空航天大学为了进一步全面推进素质教育，促进人才培养质量的提高，近几年进行了“强化特长生因材施教，全面提高人才培养质量”的研究与实践，收到了很好的效果。     

Dynamic task selection: Effects of feedback and learner control on efficiency and motivation

Structural features of learning tasks are relevant for problem solving but not salient for novice learners. Feedback in the form of Knowledge of Correct Response (KCR) during practice is expected to help learners recognize the structural features and to profit from learner control over the selection of learning tasks. A 2 × 2 factorial experiment (N = 118) was conducted to study the effects of the KCR feedback (present and absent) and control over the selection of learning tasks (learner control and program control). The presence of the KCR feedback yielded higher efficiency on a near-transfer test as well as higher learner motivation. An interaction between feedback and control, indicating extra beneficial effects of feedback when learners control the selection of learning tasks, was not found. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Travellers' Tales: Reflections on the way to learner autonomy

Student opinion is an important source of information in any quality audit. This paper reports on the views of a small group of 11 part-time UK Open University students taking their first course with the university. The paper reports their views on their experience in the 'phoney' period between application and the start of their course, as well as their views on what the Level 1 (entry-level) courses demanded of them, and of the support they received; the demands on their time and the extent to which they learnt how to study is brought out. The paper then looks at the students' response to assessment-and the extent to which the assignments kept them going, with success as measured by good marks increasing their motivation. Finally, the paper reports on the students' feelings about their developing ability to study, and their awareness of their increasing confidence, fluency, and self-worth.     

Professional development for practicing mathematics teachers: a critical connection to English language learner students in mainstream USA classrooms

This article examines the effects of changing teacher self-efficacy on student achievement. Results from a quantitative study of mathematics teachers in a USA mid-Atlantic state showed that teachers experienced reduced self-efficacy when working with English language learner students (ELLs) relative to non-ELLs. Further, the article explores professional development opportunities for strengthening teachers’ effectiveness with ELLs. The study utilized a four-part survey instrument based on the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES). All participants (n = 181) were mathematics educators from the highlighted state, and 94 % of them were preK-12 public school practicing classroom teachers. Study results indicate that teachers’ participation in professional development on ELL instruction is positively correlated to their heightened sense of self-efficacy. This finding points to continuing education as a potentially viable approach to reducing academic challenges for ELL students in mainstream mathematics classrooms by developing ever more effective practicing teachers.     

New Learning: Re-apprenticing the learner

The preparation of graduates who are able to use theoretical knowledge to become independent, critical thinkers ready for the workforce and career and life changes is a major problem facing academics in higher education. This paper explores the theoretical background to the development of The Interdisciplinary Critical Thinking Tool ( ¢ TICTT), a dynamic Internet tool based on an eclectic educative model that incorporates concepts from cognitive apprenticeship, problem-based learning and critical thinking. Through the use of these concepts, the tool's design re-apprentices the learner to develop contextual knowledge and compare this knowledge to expert ways of knowing. La nouvelle Education: un nouvel apprentissage de l'apprenant. La préparation d'étudiants diplÔmés qui peuvent utiliser des connaissances théoriques pour devenir des penseurs critiques prts pour faire face des changements de la force de travail, de la cariére et de la vie est un probléme majeur auquel doivent faire face les enseignants de l'enseignement supèrieur. Cet article explore l'arriére plan du Interdisciplinary Critical Thinking Tool ( ¢ TICTT), un outil dynamique d'internet fond modèl sur un clectique d'éducation qui incorpore divers concepts depuis l'apprentissage cognitif jusqu' l'enseignement quicebase sur des problémes et la penseé critique. GrÂceÀ l'emploi de ces concepts la structure de cet outil constitue un nouvel apprentissage pour l'apprenant faisant appel un savoir conceptuel et compare ce savoir des méthodes de savoir devéloppés par des experts. Neues Lernen: Zu Fragen des Wieder-in-die-Lehre-Gehens von Absolventen. Im Bereich der akademischen Bildung ist es ein größeres Problem, Absolventen darauf vorzubereiten, Ihre Fähigkeiten im Umgang mit theoretischem Wissen zu nutzen, um auch im eigenen Berufs- und Privatleben unabhängige, Kritische Denker zu werden. Dieses Papier beschreibt den theoretischen Hintergrund zur Entwicklung eines bereichsüberschreitenden dynamischen und kritischen Internet-Denk-Werkzeugs (üTICTT), das auf einem eklektischen erzieherischen Modell basiert, das Konzepte kognitiver Lehre, problemorienten Lernens und kritischen Denkens integriert. Durch die Verwendung dieser Konzepte wird es möglich, dieses Werkzeug so zu gestalten, dass die Studenten wieder lernen, kontextuelles Wissen zu entwickeln und dieses Wissen mit auf fachlichem Weg erworbenem zu vergleichen.     

高技本大学生英语词汇学习观念与策略调查

对我院非英语专业大二83名高技本学生的英语词汇学习观念和策略进行了调查,并对数据进行描述性统计.结果发现学生普遍接受"通过应用和上下文来学习单词"的观点,英语词汇学习策略使用频率偏低.调查结果启示广大英语教师应重视学生词汇学习策略训练,同时学生应在具体的词汇学习实践中采用多种学习策略,以提高学习词汇的效率.     

Serious game in introductory psychology for professional awareness: Optimal learner control and authenticity

Introductory Psychology courses in Higher Education lack application of knowledge in solving work-based problems. We develop and study mini-games that support a more active and experiential way of learning to increase professional awareness. This paper describes the instructional design and the factors under study: learner control and authenticity. We compared professional awareness and perceived authenticity for the old (without game, n = 130) and new course (with game, n = 197) by administering pre- and post-questionnaires. Participants were allocated to game variants, differing in freedom of assignment order (less or more learner control) and number of sources available (less or more authentic). We computer logged their game actions, and asked them additional questions about gameplay that concerned aspects like motivation, flow, performance, learnability and usability. Both courses improved professional awareness (knowledge gains of 4% for the old and 12% for the new course), but only in the new course with mini-games this was significant. Students evaluated gameplay and their content as “more than sufficient” to “good.” A free order of assignments was found to produce more effective (in-game) performance, and the provision of more sources was found to improve learnability, authentic learning and appreciations of gameplay.     

Hardware: Portable Computers / Software: Computers in the School

No abstract available for this article.