Examining Interpersonal Dynamics Among Adult Learners Through the Lens of Place

Drawing on critical geography literature and the concept of place, this paper analyzes interpersonal problems among learners in three family literacy programs. The findings suggest that interpersonal tensions cannot be reduced to individual factors such as personality. Rather, distinctive spatial and community contexts powerfully shape learners’ identities and interpersonal relations

The Other Hidden Curriculum: On Losing Pena and Becoming Educado in a Salvadoran Adult Literacy Program

This paper examines how participation in a literacy program in El Salvador helped participants learn new social behaviors (to speak out and to become more well-mannered), and identifies which aspects of the program contributed to these benefits. The study suggests that educators must consider the social dimensions of adult education

The Uses and Consequences of Literacy Among Salvadoran Campesinos/as: A Longitudinal Study

This paper uses data from a longitudinal study with former adult literacy participants in El Salvador to examine how campesinos/as currently use literacy and what they perceive as the temporary and long-term socio-economic benefits of literacy education. The findings underscore the social dimensions and multi-faceted nature and consequences of literacy

The Contradiction of the Freirean Lecturer: Bridging the Gap Between Educational Philosophy and Practice

This paper describes the gap between educational philosophy and practice in a Freirean-inspired adult literacy program in El Salvador, explains the programmatic, pedagogical, and cultural reasons for this contradiction, and suggests ways that educators can enact their ideals while accommodating local conceptions of teaching and learnin

Incarcerated Fathers’ Experiences in the Read to Your Child/Grandchild Program: Supporting Children’s Literacy, Learning, and Education

In response to rising parental incarceration, some correctional facilities and outside organizations offer family literacy programs for parents in prison. However, research on these correctional education initiatives is scant. This paper uses qualitative data to analyze how 11 fathers in a rural Pennsylvania prison were involved in their children’s literacy, learning, and education before and during incarceration and through the Read to Your Child/Grandchild (RYCG) program. Before RYCG, most fathers had taken steps such as reading to children, teaching reading and math, attending parent-teacher conferences, helping with homework, and singing and rhyming—and then sought to continue supporting their children’s learning from within prison. Fathers used RYCG materials (video-recorded book reading, children’s book, scrapbook) to emphasize the importance of education, literacies, and numeracy. They also created personalized scrapbooks that cultivated their children’s literate abilities and cognitive, academic, and socio-emotional development. This research contributes to the nascent literature on family literacy for incarcerated parents

The Enactment of Hegemony through Identity Construction: Insights from ThePresentation of Self in Everyday Life

This paper uses Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis to examine how hegemony maintains its power and influence in the life of the individual. The analysis reveals that the power of hegemony lies in the construction of particular identities that shape our interactions and limit our imagined futures

Community Science Education: Critical Science Literacy and Community Engagement Related to Shale Gas Development

This paper examines how 48 adults in a non-formal education class on shale gas development in two rural counties expanded their scientific knowledge, developed critical science literacy, and applied what they learned in the course. The findings elucidate adults’ relationships with science and their self-perceptions as scientifically knowledgeable citizens

Nadezhda Krupskaya’s contributions to early Soviet adult education theory and practice.

This article examines Nadezhda Krupskaya’s contribution to early Soviet adult education, outlines key principles of her adult education theory, and discusses tensions and challenges in implementing them in the Soviet context

Reproducing Gender Inequality: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Turkish Adult Literacy Textbook

Based on Critical Discourse Analysis of a prominent adult literacy textbook in Turkey, this paper discusses the text’s two main Discourses: (a) a normative parenting Discourse that assigns mothers responsibility for childrearing and caretaking, and fathers responsibility for discipline; and (b) a Discourse of the sexual division of labor that associates the outside, public world with men, and the private, domestic world with women

Taking Initiative and Constructing Identity: International Graduate Student Spouses‟ Adjustment and Social Integration in a University Town

This paper uses qualitative data to explore the social integration and adjustment of 13 international graduate student spouses (IGSSs) who attended an ESL class in a university town. We examine how IGSSs adjusted to their new community and roles, the strategies used to navigate social spaces, and the factors that shaped their integration. Keywords: adult education, informal learning, ESL, ESOL, international graduate student spouses, sojourner spouses