Teachers College Press

Becoming Adult Learners:
Principles and Practices for Effective Development

Eleanor Drago-Severson
Foreword by Laurent A. Parks Daloz
Pub Date: June 2004, 224 pages

Paperback: $27.95, ISBN: 0807744840
Cloth: $58.00, ISBN: 0807744859

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"This book not only expands our understanding of human development and contributes significantly to our field, but it provides a lush map for the territory that lies ahead as well as practical guidelines for how adult educators can work together to make a real and positive difference in the world."
—From the Foreword by Laurent A. Parks Daloz

"Adult educators who wonder whether the goal of their work should be academic skills and knowledge or cognitive and emotional development should read this book. It provides evidence that these two goals can be mutually reinforcing and offers insights into how to accomplish this task in an adult education classroom."
—John Comings, Director, National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy Harvard Graduate School of Education

This book offers a new and promising way to support adults in Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programs specifically, and learners in adult education, in general. Applying renowned Harvard University psychologist Robert Kegan's constructive-development theory, Drago-Severson depicts an in-depth investigation into how and why adults develop "ways of knowing" to better prepare them for their work in the 21st century. This book provides practical suggestions for applying Kegan's theory in adult education classrooms to enable teachers, curriculum developers, program designers, and policymakers to better respond to adult learners' strengths and learning needs.

Features:

The first comprehensive examination of adults' perspectives on their own learning experiences in an adult diploma program at a workplace site by employing a constructive-developmental approach.

A variety of pedagogical approaches that attend to supporting the growth and development of students with a diversity of learning needs and "ways of knowing."

Stories of hope, struggle, learning, literacy, enhanced competencies, and development from adult learners themselves.

A cogent analysis of how program learning transfers to work, school, and home for adult learners.

Practical implications for program design, curriculum development, practice, policy, and research.
Eleanor Drago-Severson is a lecturer on education at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, where she conducts research into and teaches courses on leadership for adult development and qualitative research methods.