Professional development and learning are vital components of the educational system due to their dynamic impact on teachers (Bayar, 2014; Darling-Hammond, 2010; Guskey, 2002). Despite the importance of teacher development and the impact of student learning outcomes, professional development and learning often rely on traditional…

Research on learning strategies and learning motivation in different educational contexts has provided valuable insights, but in this field, low-educated adults remain an understudied population. This study addresses this gap by means of a person-oriented approach and seeks to investigate whether quantitatively and qualitatively different learner…

The transition out of adolescence signals a period of increasing personal and social responsibility. For many this means entering postsecondary or the labor market. Previous research has demonstrated that youth who do not finish high school in four years have less favorable postsecondary and labor outcomes. However, few studies compare the…

This study adapted and validated Barnard's Online Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire (OSLQ) to assess adult learners' (n = 1302) online self-regulation, and examined its relation with attitude towards online learning and perceived online learning satisfaction. It was found that age and employment status were important demographic factors…

This study is the first to investigate subject-level variability in sociolinguistic evaluative judgements by 30 adult L2 German learners and explore whether the observed variability is characterizable as a function of individual differences in proficiency, exposure, and motivation. Because group-level estimates did not paint an accurate picture of…

The incorporation of digital technologies into adult education classrooms has seen steady growth for over two decades. Many computer-based applications are used for skills development, practice, and other activities inside and outside the classroom. Despite such integration, the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected in-person learning, catching…

The present study takes a variationist perspective to explore the varietal repertoires of adult learners of German as a second language (L2), that is, their variable use of standard German, Austro-Bavarian dialect, and mixture varieties. Forty L2 learners completed a virtual reality task involving interactions with dialect-speaking and…

The way people connect their life stories and sense of self is important for identity and functioning. U.S. emerging adults' expressions of self-event connections within a story may reflect societal narrative conventions and indicate the narrative work required to integrate redemption into one's identity. We recruited 336 college and community…

Adults typically struggle to perceive non-native sound contrasts, especially those that conflict with their first language. Do the same challenges persist when the sound contrasts overlap but do not conflict? To address this question, we explored the acquisition of lexical tones. While tonal variations are present in many languages, they are only…

Positive psychology (PP) is currently employing its modern research toolkit to examine how individual differences of hedonic (i.e. pursuing pleasure, fun, and painlessness) versus eudaimonic (i.e. pursuing meaning, self-worth, and growth) well-being motives play out against emotional and learning challenges or outcomes in life. Similarly oriented,…

This study examines the selection of online course taking by adult learners. Specifically, this study evaluates the relationship between adult learner characteristics and their choice of online, hybrid, or all in-class programs to identify emerging trends in course-taking preferences. Using survey data from 7,861 adult students age 24 and older…

This study sought to fill a gap in the literature by considering the role of motivation in post-secondary aspirations of adult learners, specifically full versus part-time status, previous level of educational attainment, years of work experience, and the selection of an academic program. The data from this study came from adult students ages 25…

Jurgen Habermas offered a revolutionary way of thinking about the relationship between knowledge, learning, and the human condition in knowledge and human interests. He provided us with a powerful means of understanding the unity in diversity of human learning. The article presents a philosophical framework that enables vocational and adult…

The role of the school principal continues to increase in its responsibility and complexity. This narrative study centered around two research questions: 1. What stories do principals tell about their memorable professional development and 2. In what ways do the stories align with Knowles' principles of adult learning theory? Eight principals from…

This study is a part of an ongoing design-based research (DBR) project aimed at designing, piloting, and assessing a digital study module focused on older people's media education. In order to gain a better understanding of older people's media literacy and develop the teaching of adult educators, participatory creative workshops for a total of…