This study examines if a relationship exists among three rich research streams, specifically the behavioral science of motivation, adult learning and leadership. What motivates adult professionals to continue learning and how is that connected to their style and efficacy as leaders? An extension of literature to connect Andragogy,…

Research has shown the importance of goal orientation in predicting academic performance for children, adolescents, and college students in traditional educational settings. Studies on this relationship within adult distance education, however, are lacking. To fill this gap, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between…

Can mastery and performance-approach goals predict distance learners' learning and achievement in different learning situations over an academic year? Using a prospective longitudinal design, the current study examined this research question using a cohort of distance learners in Hong Kong. Two hundred and seventy-two distance learners completed…

This paper reports on a study of five motivational orientations in continuing education among working adults. The influence of motivational orientations on their academic achievement was identified. The study involved 159 working adults who enrolled into part-time programs in an Open University in Sabah. Boshier's Education Participation Scale…

This study investigates adults' ability to change their phonetic systems in perception and production, specifically upon exposure to a new dialect in adulthood. It further addresses the relative importance of binary biological sex and socially constructed gender in predicting an individual's sociolinguistic variation. Perception and production…

This study examined the effect of civil servants' Self-Directed Learning Readiness (SDLR) and network literacy on their online learning effectiveness in a web-based training program. Participants were 283 civil servants enrolled in an asynchronous online learning program through an e-learning portal provided by the Regional Civil Service…

This study attempts to identify the factors perceived to be important in choosing an Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) for distance learning. One thousand five hundred questionnaires were distributed to the first year students in the social sciences distance learning programs and 980 valid responses were received of Malaysian public university.…

This study sets out to examine the pragmatic competence of Cantonese adult learners of English possessing different levels of proficiency when performing the speech act of requesting for a formal purpose in writing. Pragmatic judgment--one of the two aspects of pragmatic competence--was examined by studying the most proficient group (i.e., native…

Describes a study conducted at Athabasca University (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) that investigated the relationship between persistence, life events, external commitments, and resiliency in undergraduate distance education. Used scores from the Resiliency Attitudes Scale (RAS), the Life Events Inventory, and a questionnaire relating to external…