This paper investigates the methodological discrepancies underlying the measurement of adult learning and education (ALE) participation in the UK by focusing on four major surveys -- APiL, PIAAC, AES, and LFS. Grounded in the Total Survey Error (TSE) framework, we systematically examined the surveys' documentation and compared their definitions,…

The field manual for a series of coordinated studies of the spontaneous acquisition of a second language by adult immigrant workers provides a theoretical and practical framework for the entire project and a source of information about it for other researchers. Chapters 1 and 2 describe the project's objectives and organization. Chapter 3 reviews…

In this study, Education Participation Scale data from 13,442 learners in Africa, Asia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States were combined and subjected to a cluster analysis designed to examine the extent to which Houle's typology fitted the phenomenological reality that exists within adult education participants. Results are described.…

Argues that the propensity and capacity of many adults to conduct self-directed learning projects is now well proven, and that researchers should now infuse a spirit of self-critical scrutiny into this developing field of research. Advances four criticisms regarding the current state of self-directed learning research. (Author/CT)

What anticipated benefits motivate adults to continue a major learning effort? This study empirically tested a conceptual framework that emphasizes chains of linked benefits from learning. A diagram of this framework was given to 100 adults in Toronto. They were asked to imagine that their total motivation for one of their learning projects was 10…

This booklet, which was produced as a follow-up to the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education, examines monitoring adult learning for knowledge-based policymaking. The following are among the topics discussed in the booklet: (1) the need to reconstruct the reality of adult learning in consideration of the concepts of lifelong learning…

Trends in adult and community education (ACE) across Australia were examined. Data were obtained from consultations with national, state, and territory policy and funding body representatives; consultations with representatives of 40 ACE agencies across Australia; and analysis of pertinent literature, research, and policy documents. The study was…

This book contains nine papers in which data from the Adult Education Participation Survey (a part of the International Adult Literacy Survey) are used to identify and compare trends in organized learning in seven countries. The following papers are included: "Introduction: Who Participates in Organized Adult Learning?" (Paul Belanger,…

These proceedings of a conference on research in the field of adult education contain the texts of 40 conference papers and 4 symposia. Included among the areas examined in the individual reports are the following: education participation scale factor structure and correlates for 12,000 learners, a comparative analysis of adult education research…

In September 1998, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) established a 1-year task force to review the NCES's role concerning lifelong learning. The eight-member task force established a working definition of lifelong learning ("a process or system through which individuals are able and willing to learn at all stages of life,…

This document contains the eight appendixes from the National Center for Education Statistics's (NCES's) final report on lifelong learning in the United States. Appendix A discusses the considerations that entered into the formulation of the definition of lifelong learning adopted for the NCES study. Appendix B, "Literature Review on Lifelong…