Abstract

The study was intended to find out the influence of adult learning principles on the effective learning of students in the Buea -Sub Division. Specific objectives were to investigate if gold orientation has an influence on the effectiveness of students, find out whether respect of hierarchy has an influence on the effectiveness of the students, examine the extent to which practical application through learning has an influence on the effectiveness of students and find out whether experience in life has and influence on the effectiveness of students.

The study adopted a correlation research design. Questionnaires to measure the impact of adult learning principles on the effective learning of students were administered to 60 students of the Department of Educational Psychology in the faculty of education and the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences they were selected using a simple random sampling technique.

The descriptive analysis in particular frequencies, percentages, averages, and pie charts was used to analyze the data The findings of the study indicated that: Gold orientation significantly influences the effectiveness of students; Respect of hierarchy has an influence on the effectiveness of the students. Practical applications through learning influence the effectiveness of students.

And Experience in life has an influence on the effectiveness of students. The researcher design used is the sample survey design. Based on this finding, some recommendations were made to counselors, teachers, and parents to encouraged students to do their best, work hard and study for the purpose of understanding the subject matter, learning and practicing good study skills and strategies in their academic process which will help them enhances their academic achievement.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

This chapter presents the background of the study, the statement of the problem, the objective of the study, research questions, significance of the study, justification of the study, scope, and delimitations of the study, and operational definition of terms.

Adult learning for the past years has been a serious issue to learners’ effectiveness and performances in school. The more we read, the more we realize that there are many different ways of explaining how adults learn (Merriam et al.2007). But none can fully explain what is happening when an aspiring adult engaged in learning.

In this study, it will become clear that there are authors who hold a broadly constructivist view. Constructivists, like Vygotsky (1997), consider that learning is the process of constructing new knowledge on the foundations of what you already know. The researcher will explain a constructivist schema, which has an evidence base and forms a theoretical basis to help curriculum development, learning and teaching strategies, student assessment, and programmed evaluation following adult learning principles.

Background of the Study

Experience has shown that part of being an effective educator involves understanding how adults learn best. Adult learning is the acquisition of knowledge attitude and skills often resulting in behavioral of some sort in an adult.

Malcolm Knowles (1988) considered that adults learn in different ways from children. He introduced the term ‘‘andragogy’’ to differentiate adult learning from pedagogy; this differentiation now seems to be artificial. Many of the principles of andragogy can be applied equally to children’s learning. It is probably more appropriate to think in terms of a learning continuum, which stretches throughout life, with different emphases, problems, and strategies at different times.

The main proponent of Andragogy is Malcolm Knowles. He defined the term as the art and science adult learners and stresses the unique challenges and needs of the mature learners. Andragogy is a study of adult learning that originated in Europe in the 1950s and was then a pioneer as a theory and model of adult learning from the 1970s by Malcolm. Also since the 1970s adult learning theory had offered a framework for educators and trainers whose job is to train adults.

Adults learn by connecting experience with reflection (Gillen 2005, p.208).  Learning in adulthood is different than learning in childhood (Knowles, 1984). To understand adult undergraduates, one must fully understand how adults learn.  This is well known by educators specializing in adult education (Merriam & Caffarella, 1999). Adult learning is a theory that holds a set of assumptions about how adults learn. Andragogy emphasizes the value of the process of learning. It uses approaches to learn which is also the principle used by adult learners.

Adults prefer learning situations that are practical and problem-centered, promote their positive self-esteem, integrate new ideas with existing knowledge, show respect for the individual learner, capitalize on their experience, and allow choice and self-direction (Stephen Lieb, 2005).

Malcom Knowles (2005) identified the following characteristic of adult learners: Adults are autonomous and self-directed; Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education.

They are goal-oriented relevancy-oriented, adults are practical, focusing on the aspects of a lesson most useful to them in their work. As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect. Instructors must acknowledge the wealth of experiences that adult participants bring to the classroom.

A comprehensive understanding of adult learning principles is critical to developing successful education programs that result in participant engagement and the facilitation of learning. Adults are autonomous and self-directed, adults bring knowledge and experience to each learning activity, adults need learning to be relevant and practical, adults are goal-oriented, adults are problem-oriented and want to apply what they’ve learned, adults are motivated by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, adults are pressed for time and adults have different learning styles.

Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction or teaching, experience including mistakes provides the basis for the learning activity meaning that all that you want to teach them should be built in their experiences. Adults are more interested in learning subjects that have more relevant to their jobs or personal life.  Adult learning is problem center rather than content-centered.

It presents a situation where adult learners are motivated to learn self-directed responsible and use the prior experience as a platform of learning. In adult learning literature the age of 25 is used as a criterion for adults. An adult learner is any learner who engages in some type of activities formal or informal for the acquisition of knowledge for personal attitudes of the mastery of behavior as compared to school age. More than 60 years ago Edward Lathondike (1928) published the result of his research and studies of aging on adults put in his book title Adult Learning.

Adult learning theory can trace its philosophical roots back to the experiential learning philosophy of John Dewey (Tweedell, 2000). Dewey’s (1948) philosophy of newer education stressed the importance of experience in the learning process, the participation of the  learner in  the  learning process,  and  the importance  of  perceiving  learning  as  a lifelong process.  “There is… no point in the philosophy of education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process” (Dewey, 1948, p. 77).

The  idea  that  education  was  related  to  the  whole  of  life’s  experiences,  and  that  the educational experience required active participation of the learner, was quite radical for the time (Dewey, 1948; Tweedell, 2000). While the adult learning community has utilized these concepts as theoretical underpinnings of its pedagogy, it’s interesting, reading his work,  to  note  resurgence  in  these  educational  concepts  in  education  in  the  recent movement toward learner-centered teaching (Weimer, 2002).

Adults must first understand the need for learning something before investing in learning, most adults have a fully self form image and turn to be resentful when these images are not valued in a learning situations, adults learn in a rich history of life experiences. Adults generally prepare more for learning. Adults expect that their learning is relevant and practically motivated than traditional learners.

Statement of the problem

Adult learning holds a set of principles which include: adult needs to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction or teaching, experience including mistakes provide the basis for the learning activity meaning that all that you want to teach them should be build on their experiences. Adults are more interested in learning subjects that have more relevance to their jobs or personal life. Adult learning is a problem center rather than a content center.

In other to see if the above principles hold, the researcher after observing some evening schools around the Limbe municipality with almost all the students older than the teacher and even in some courses at the university of Buea facing the same problem i.e. the problem of younger teachers teaching older students that is why the researcher seeks to find out whether this older student obeys the instructions given to them by their teachers and even the task they have to perform. As a result, the researcher wanted to find out the influence of adult learning principles on the effectiveness of students in the Buea Municipality.

Purpose of the study

To examine the influence of adult learning principles on the effective learning of students in the Buea Municipality

Specific Objectives

The study seeks:

1. To investigate if gold orientation has an influence on the effectiveness of students.
2. To find out whether respect for hierarchy has an influence on the effectiveness of the students.
3. To examine the extent to which practical application through learning has an influence on the effectiveness of students.
4. To find out whether experience in life has an influence on the effectiveness of students.