Describes the organization and functions of the Union of Civic and Workers' Institutes, which provides an organizational framework and general regulations for Finland's civic and workers' institutes of adult education, represents and promotes the institutes, arranges training for teachers and administrators, and publishes educational materials and…

Examines the effectiveness of the Adkins Life Skills Employabilities Series, a curriculum designed to help disadvantaged adults choose, find, get, and keep a job. Subjects were 350 New Jersey Learning Center students. Overall, evidence suggests program participants increased employability skills. (Author/CSS)

A study of affective development in the adult, nonresidential students of Empire State College, the college-without-walls, indicates that students experienced significant overall development during the testing period, unlike students in traditional settings. Differentiations in the results on the basis of such factors as age and sex are noted.…

This article provides background on several types of nontraditional higher education programs, particularly the external degree programs. The program effectiveness and related costs strategy developed by Empire State College and adapted to several other institutions are reviewed. (JMF)

This article consists of a battery of tests designed to evaluate the communicative competence of German students studying English in Volkshochschule. The battery includes tests of reading comprehension, written production, listening comprehension, vocabulary and structures, and oral production. (CFM)

At Northern Kentucky State University, the Peer Support Organization offers older students, especially women, peer counseling and a chance to discuss problems. The organization was introduced to help these nontraditional students adjust to their unique demands that often include husbands, jobs, children, and school. (JMD)

Rather than being concerned with basic teaching methods and techniques and how to handle hardware and software, those preparing experienced teachers to work with adults should stress the clientele's characteristics and specific, appropriate techniques, with emphasis on recognizing common difficulties and creating an appropriate adult learning…

A study of the abilities, interests, goals, perceptions and other characteristics of 17,137 two-year college students was conducted utilizing data collected at entrance, after one term, at graduation, and three years after graduation. Differences by sex among four age groups, where three of the groups were older students, were ascertained. (JG)

Design of student-centered instruction for telecourses must take into consideration the variables that contribute to meaningful and motivated student learning: clarity; connections; teacher immediacy behaviors; and active learning. Unlike much conventional instruction, telecourse teaching isn an intensive and demanding team process requiring…

A survey of 194 adult community college students and potential students in Ontario (Canada) investigated factors in education decision-making, for purposes of student recruitment. It was found that the Latent Variable Partial Least Squares model of analysis highlights best the important factors. (MSE)

Investigates adult second language learners' processing of English syntactically ambiguous sentences in which a prepositional phrase is interpreted as either a noun phrase or verb phrase attachment. Results reveal lexical, syntactic, prosodic, and contextual constraints on processing ambiguous sentences. (87 references) (Author/CK)

Proposes a neurobiological model in which a greater number of brain structures than previously indicated are involved in language functions, with particular reference to second language learning. The study examines three areas of the brain rarely associated with language: the anterior cingulate gyrus, the prefrontal cortex, and the basal temporal…

Thirteen Kaska Elders took a leading role in a University of British Columbia Kaska language course held in three locations in Kaska territory in the Yukon. The elders conducted a variety of cultural activities, and entire families participated, creating an environment in which the language was constantly spoken and relevant to the activities.…

Describes a project that explored the use of Web sites with adults with learning disabilities. Highlights include advantages and weaknesses of Web-based learning for adults with learning disabilities; creating multimedia work related to the Web sites; motivating effects; and Web site access difficulties for people with low literacy levels.…

Explores English-as-a-Second-Language students' introspective accounts of perceived underlying second language production processes for the purpose of discovering folk models that may impact on pedagogy. Findings reveal that the pervasive image emerging is a translation schema with a subcomponent of conscious grammar rule application. (19…