Adult education

There is little research-based and theoretical literature about adult education or English literacy classes in nonformal settings such as library literacy programs in the community (Mathews-Aydinli, 2008; McCook & Barber, 2002b). The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore the motivation, learning supports, learning barriers, and program change recommendations of Third Age Learners in a nonformal library ESOL setting. This study provides insight into the demographic variable of linguistically-isolated Third Age English Language Learners (ELLs) participating in a library conversationally-based ESOL program. The results can guide libraries offering services, as well as those considering offering services to these customers (American Library Association [ALA], 2008a). Data collected included in-depth, face-to-face interviews, classroom observations, documents, learner and teacher essays, researcher journals, and analytic memos. The researcher coded all data with NVIv o 8 qualitative software then half of the data was coded with Atlas-TI 5 software by a second coder. A thematic analysis was completed in order to triangulate the data. The purposeful sample consisted of 21 participants at a Florida library adult ESOL program which included 11 learners and 10 teachers. The 11 learners were selected based on their ethnic background, predominantly those of Hispanic background. Eight learner findings and four teacher-perceived findings were identified in this study.

An assessment of the knowledge and the behaviors associated with sustainable development was conducted to determine the effect of adult education on sustainable development in Jamaica. The discourse for leadership commitment and governance, as well as continuous learning has its tenets in the discovery that the programs do not significantly address sustainable development (SD). While knowledge was significantly addressed, the programs failed to motivate useful action. The study has provided an explanation of the barriers, costs, and limits to sustainability so that program planners can devise transfer of learning strategies that foster adaptation and mitigation. The investigation involved 35 adult educators and 84 trainees from four programs of the premier adult and continuing learning facility in Jamaica. Both groups agreed that the programs addressed the knowledge, but not the behaviors associated with SD, despite the fact that all three dimensions of SD were addressed in an almost equitable manner. The requirements for achieving SD were met by 7% of the respondents, while the percentage of respondents that achieved environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social responsibility was 15%, 16%, and 13%, respectively. The six measures correlated highly with the SD variable and were significant. However, there were no significant differences across the groups. Instructors and trainees agreed that knowing about the concerns of SD had not changed their thinking and behavior. On average, the principles of sustainability were not applied. Although hospitality programs were more effective than agriculture, construction and automotive programs in addressing the content on environmental sustainability, no program paid attention to transfer of learning. Cronbach's alpha for the survey instrument was .973.