Jarvis, P. (2010) Adult Education and Lifelong Learning, Chapter 4
2020 Spring Term, GS course Textbook:
Jarvis, P. (2010) Adult Education and Lifelong Learning: Theory and Practice, Routledge.
- 1. The nature of learning
- 2. Theories of learning
- 3. Experience & learning
- 4. Types & styles of learning
Chapter 4. Learning
大意「学習は存在論的現象、学ぶことと生きることは不可分」
1. The nature of learning
Since it is the person who is the recipient of that data or information, it is natural that most learning theories start with the person ... Leaning must always be seen within the wider cultural context and it may be regarded initially as a process of receiving and transforming any element of culture, by whatever means it is transmitted (p. 68).
2. Theories of learning
Merriam and Caffarella (1989) have typified the variety of learning theories: behaviourist, cognitive, humanist and social.
2-1. Behaviourist theories
Immitation, Coonectionism（連合説, recognition as "trial & error" learning）, conditioning (such as Pavlov 1927 and "Operant conditioning" by Skinner 1951)
2-2. Cognitive theories
Cognitive theories will be outlined here: developmental, Gestalt, data processing, transformative and, finally, the work of Bruner.
- Development theories (e.g. Piaget 1929 in West) postulated a number of stages in the process of cognitive development which he related to the process of biological development during childhood (p. 71)... In Eastern Europe, Vygotsky (1978, 1986) has had a similar influence ... but developmental processes do not coincide with learning processes. For him (1978:90), ‘the developmental process lags behind the learning process’. He postulated that there is a level of actual development and also a zone of proximal development (最近接発達領域); the former he defines as ‘the level of development of a child's mental functions that has been established as a result of already completed developmental cycles’ (1978:85–86; italics in original), whereas the latter is ‘the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined by problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers’. We see here an important factor in Vygotsky's work: he did not isolate the individual but recognized that development is dependent upon relationship and collaboration. Basing some of his thinking on Vygotsky's work, Engestrom (1987) regards the zone of proximal development as a space for creativity, and this he applies to all forms of activity and learning, in both adults and children. Engestrom has also developed his work with specific reference to activity theory in organizational settings, and in his book Learning, Working and Imagining (1990) there are twelve very carefully researched and analysed case studies.
- Gestalt theorists: ... there is a tendency to complete an incomplete representation, so that the whole is perceived, rather than the incomplete parts.
- Data processing: learning begins with a stimulus which is partially picked up by a sensory register and processed through selective perception to the short-term memory.
- Transformative learning: ... learning is a process of constructing new meaning (Ausubel et al., 1978). This is a feature that Mezirow (1991) has also focused on in transformative learning, which is not surprising, as Mezirow's focus of attention is on adults rather than on the person as a whole.
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Bruner (1990:104) considered ‘learning theory’ dead... argued for the significance of meaning and meaning-making... "the degree that one is able to approach learning as a task of discovering something rather than ‘learning about’ it, to that degree there will be a tendency for the child to work with the autonomy of self-reward or, more properly, be rewarded by discovery itself. (ibid.:88)
2-3. Social learning
Vygotsky (1978) clearly recognized the social nature of learning, and we are all well aware of learning through imitation, the adoption of role models, ‘sitting by Nellie’, and so on. Social learning theory emphasizes behavioural learning, and clearly relies on certain forms of reinforcement, but it is necessary to focus briefly on those researchers who have seen learning from a social perspective. The main social learning theorist has been Bandura (e.g. 1977, 1989), who has shown through numerous experiments that many of the behavioural patterns ... have been acquired through observing and copying others.... we are probably all aware that we do it, especially when we enter new situations and are unsure about how to behave... Bandura showed that children acquire aggressive behaviour in the same way... We can imitate in whatever situation we find ourselves, as Lave and Wenger (1991) show in their book Situated Learning and Wenger (1998) develops in his study of communities in practice.
3. Experience & learning
...belief that all genuine education comes about through experience ... does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative (Dewey 1938: 25). Knowles (e.g. 1980a) focused our thinking on the centrality of experience in his work on andragogy, and this is not surprising in the light of the fact that adult education itself has traditionally been learner-centered... Boud et al. (1983) also emphasized when they focused on the idea that learning was reflective experience. Many writers have focused on experience as a basis for human learning over the years. It has been Kolb's (1984) work that has become the popular focus of this work...
Kolb's (1984) learning cycle has become one of the central images of experiential learning, although Kolb and Fry claimed from the outset that the learning cycle may begin at any stage and that it should be a continuous circle... This cycle, which has become tremendously popular (probably because of its simplicity), does not do justice to the complexity of human learning.
the practice situation is actually one in which potential learning experiences do occur ... when students enter the practical situation for the first time, they are entering a new learning situation, and this is true irrespective of how much learning has occurred in the classroom before that new experience happened. The students are now having for the first time a primary, rather than a secondary, experience about practice, and they experience it differently. They are experiencing a new learning situation, so that the more they have learned from previous experiences, the more likely they are to have some knowledge that they can use in the present situation.
The transformation of the person through learning: the combination of processes throughout a lifetime whereby the whole person – body (genetic, physical and biological) and mind (knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, emotions, meaning, beliefs and senses) – experiences social situations, the content of which is then transformed cognitively, emotively or practically (or through any combination) and integrated into the individual person's biography resulting in a continually changing (or more experienced) person. This process may be depicted as in Figure 4.3.(p. 81).
- Life-world: As we learn the subculture of the society into which we are born, so we construct our own life-world.
- Disjuncture: a complex phenomenon and yet it is best described as the gap between what we expect to perceive when we have an experience of the world as a result of our previous learning (and, therefore, our biography) and what we are actually confronted with... coincidence is when there is no conscious experience because we can presume upon the world. Divergence is when there is a slight difference and we can adjust our behaviour to respond to the situation without changing our understanding of the world (our theory/meaning), and can do so in an almost unconscious manner. Separation is when there is a larger gap between the two, and this is where the questioning begins and where our conscious learning starts. Distinction is when the gap is so wide that we know that in order to bridge it we have to undertake a great deal of learning, perhaps by undertaking a course of study. ... Conscious disjuncture begins at the point of separation; we are aware of the situation and we consciously experience the world, but we do this cognitively, emotively and practically. Disjuncture occurs in all three dimensions of experience, and is often a combination... (p. 84).
- Experience: Life might be described as a passage through time, so time must be the starting point of any discussion of experience. Human existence is situated within time and emerges through it, and I have argued elsewhere that learning is the process through which the human, as opposed to the biological, being grows and develops (Jarvis, 1992). Since we do construct our experiences, we do so within our own life-worlds – or cultural frameworks. Consequently, our reality is determined by our culture, and this, in its own way, affects not only our identity but also the way in which we learn.
- Thinking, feeling, doing: We deal with our experience by memorizing it, thinking about it, feeling it or doing something about it, and so on. Significantly, the content of our experience depends upon how long it lasts and what degree of attention we give to it. Crawford (2005) shows how attentiveness to our experiences helps us be aware of the senses, other than cognition, that affect our bodies and change our learning, and she suggests that it is during attentive experience that the more spiritual side of our being becomes more apparent.
4. Types & styles of learning
Some people are rigid in their approach to learning, since once they have discovered a successful method, they always seek to apply that method. This creates its own difficulties, since problems emerge that cannot be solved by the normal approach.
4-1. Types of learning
- Non-learning occurs when we take a situation for granted and we act upon it in a taken-for-granted manner.
- Non-consideration: no learning, although knowing the disjuncuture
- Rejection: reject learning opportunity
- Ambivalence: conflict between emotion & rational thought.
- Pre-conscious knowledge learning (incidental learning):
- Memorization
- Emotional learning
- Action learning: frequently occurs through bodily learning – that is, through sense experience
- Discovery learning: Trial & error learning
- Contemplation (reflective): occurs when philosophers and mathematicians reflect upon their problems.
4-2. Learning & thinking styles
- Learning styles: Active v. passive, Assimilators v. accommodators (Kolb 1984:78), Convergers v. divergers (Kolb, 1984:77), Field dependence v. field independence, Focusing v. scanning, Holistic v. serialistic, Reflection v. impulsivity. Rigidity v. flexibility.
- Thinking styles: Belenky et al. (1986) used the phrase ‘ways of knowing’
- Silence: described as being ‘deaf and dumb’ since some of the women in the study could not learn from the voices of others and they themselves felt voiceless.
- Received knowledge: Some of the women learned to listen to the voices of others but had no confidence in their own ability to think. Once again, authorities have the right answers; they know the ‘truth’... Knowledge always lay outside of them
- Subjective knowledge: To reach the state of subjective knowing, individuals have to wrest control of their lives from others. This period of transition rarely had anything to do with learning in an educational setting
- Procedural knowledge: sees the subjectivist approach as being in conflict with a recognition that there is external validity.
- Constructed knowledge: all knowledge is subjective and that the knowers construct their own knowledge. It is integrated and personal between those who can both listen and share in a collaborative manner. Knowledge about reality is complex, and experts are aware of the complexities of their subject. Now all knowledge is challenged but the process is intimately connected with caring. Constructivists become passionate knowers and emphasize the never-ending search for truth.(pp. 94-95).
