Analysis: How Adult Education Theories And Strategies Are Useful In My Field

How Adult Education Theories and Strategies are Useful in My Field
Adult learners typically possess four characteristics. They take responsibility for their own learning, they have a lifetime of accumulated experience and knowledge, they are engaged in the learning process and they are goal oriented (Kenner & Weinerman, 2011). “According to the principles of andragogy (Knowles, 1980), adults have accumulated a reservoir of life experiences that is a rich resource for learning and they are problem-centered and interested in the immediate application of knowledge” (Rothes et al, 2017). Adult students have clear ideas about their reasons for returning to college and intend to succeed. However, today’s adult learners come from diverse backgrounds

Online courses rely heavily on print-based materials with higher level vocabulary, syntax, complex sentences and obscure references, which present an obstacle to comprehension for learners with varying social and cultural backgrounds (Marschall & Davis, 2017; see also Hinchman, Alvermann, Boyd, Brozo, & Vacca, 2004). “Poor critical reading skills contribute to the many cognitive, personal and social challenges that prevent degree completion” (Marschall & Davis, 2017, p. 64) Adult students must have advanced reading skills to achieve college success (Marschall & Davis,

This happens by incorporating specific strategies that readers use to access, interpret and comprehend text. Students’ perceptions and understandings of text change as a result of discussing with other students, reflecting and reading companion texts (Langer, 1990; Marschall & Davis, 2017). “…A teacher who addresses these issues effectively is one who affirms and reinforces her students’ cultural identities while she simultaneously teaches them [all] forms of English” (Marshcall & Davis, 2017; see also Alvermann, Phelps, & Gillis, 2010 p. 50). Educators can best support the acquisition of critical reading skills by having their adult students envision, or use prior knowledge to begin thinking about the text. Students expand the meaning of the text by writing, reflecting and discussing the text with others. The reading is further developed by relating it to ideas outside the text (Marshcall & Davis, 2017). The same strategies adults use to comprehend text are the same for students of all ages. Students in developmental reading classes need to develop strategies for comprehension because the whole point of reading is to make meaning of the