Adult ESL is a high-turnover field, and volunteers are a critical component of the adult ESL workforce. Existing research focuses on learners' experience in the classroom. There is limited attention to how teachers might change as a result of encountering immigrant learners in adult ESL. The purpose of this study was to understand the informal and…

Supportive community contexts are critical to positive youth development. Out-of-school time (OST) programs serve as supportive community contexts, and participation in OST programs is associated with a host of positive outcomes for youth. Cultural centers, such as museums, have been identified as potentially supportive community contexts for…

The research team examined the associations between adult education and training (AET) participation, educational attainment, literacy skills, gender, race, and ethnicity among the U.S. adult population aged 25- to 65-years old (n = 5,450). As more women and racial/ethnic minorities make educational and economic advancements, it is important to…

Data-art inquiry is an arts-integrated approach to data literacy learning that reflects the multidisciplinary nature of data literacy not often taught in school contexts. By layering critical reflection over conventional data inquiry processes, and by supporting creative expression about data, data-art inquiry can support students' informal…

Shared book reading in which children actively participate in the reading of a text via discussion or extratextual talk has been well-established as an activity to advance children's literacy and language learning, and it is a characteristic practice of public library storytime programs. This study scrutinized the extratextual talk that occurred…

This paper investigates the different ways in which the Battle of Okinawa in World War II is presented in and beyond formal education, using narratives and photos in Japan's state-authorized history textbooks and at a local museum. Specifically, this study examines 15 upper secondary school textbooks issued by six publishing companies from across…

Researchers have argued that fast fashion's second-hand market has affected seamstresses' lives in various facets from business to livelihoods. This study seeks to explore effects the fast fashion's second-hand clothing market has on seamstress' business and livelihoods in Ghana. It also asks the question about how relevant formal and non-formal…

This mixed methods study used an exploratory sequential design to explore how K-12 public school teachers learned to use technology outside of formal professional development opportunities. Two constructivist adult learning perspectives, social cognitive theory and informal learning, provided a framework to understand how individuals create and…

My dissertation seeks to explore opportunities for disruptions--moments of learning in (digitally) networked spaces that seek to challenge, subvert, and reimagine our worlds. Drawing primarily on sociocultural theories of literacy and learning, I explore the ways that learning, mediated by digital technologies, takes place in formal and informal…

This field research project sought to facilitate growth for cohort-based online university students. The facilitator conducted eight extensive weeks of training in communication for public speaking. The study included objectives for cognitive, affective, and skill-based dimensions in relation to communication and public speaking for the…

In 2020, many organizations moved their formal training programs to an online learning context due to COVID-19. Informal learning, which refers to activities that are self-guided and occur independently outside of formal learning contexts has gained significant interest among researchers and practitioners in the past two decades as it has been…

A survey was conducted to investigate how samples of 452 pre-service teachers from 5 Spanish universities seek information on science and technology using informal resources, particularly the Internet. Findings reveal that pre-service teachers exhibit information-seeking patterns similar to their age group in the wider population, predominantly…

The purpose of this study is to reveal the relationship between the formal and non-formal foreign language education skills of prospective teachers and their professional competency levels. The research was conducted using a descriptive survey model. The sample consists of 273 prospective teachers studying in the first to fourth years of foreign…

Background/purpose: Indonesia has more than 1,300 ethnic groups and 652 active local languages. Javanese, the most widely spoken regional language, is experiencing a decline among younger generations who increasingly prefer using Indonesian for daily communication. While traditionally transmitted within families and local communities, educational…

In this article, Tyson E. Lewis argues for an alternative form of educational attunement beyond attentiveness. Discourses and practices of schooling emphasize being attentive as a primary educational virtue. This emphasis casts distraction as either the negation of attention or its deterioration. In either case, distraction lacks educational use…