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[ProfessionalDevelopment 2616] Re: Question for the ListAndrea Wilder andreawilder at comcast.netFri Oct 17 15:37:22 EDT 2008
Tom-- Thank you for your note. We still need to change the name. Any suggestions? From you or anyone else? It really should be changed. Andrea On Oct 17, 2008, at 2:44 PM, tsticht at znet.com wrote: > Katrina: Here is a longer note I wrote a couple of years ago that > addresses > some of the differences between pedagogy and andragogy. > Unfortunately, when > I put the piece on discussion lists in 2006 most of the comments > centered on > the idea of “andr” as referring to “man” and hence in some folks > minds this > excluded women and was a sexist put down of women. There was not much > actual discussion of the differences in educating children versus > adults. > If you overlook the sexist language of “andragogy” and focus more > on the > distinctions among children and adults as learners this might be more > helpful for your work. Tom Sticht > > Note: The term andragogy was originally formulated by a German > teacher, > Alexander Kapp, in 1833. He used it to describe elements of Plato's > education theory. Andragogy (andr- meaning 'man') could be > contrasted with > pedagogy (paid- meaning 'child' and agogos meaning 'leading'). > Following is > a long two part note that makes distinctions between the cognitive > processes > of children and adults and the reasons why teaching methods for the > former > may not be generally transferable to adults across the years. The > first > note calls attention to how the present federal and state government > activities are pushing adult education more and more into the mold of > childhood education. The second note illustrates with the National > Assessment of Adult Literacy that it is not valid across the age > range from > 16 to 90 years. The human cognitive system changes dramatically > with age and > this is one reason why approaches to education based on children's > approaches are not transferable across the life span. As children > grow into > adulthood pedagogy should be transformed into andragogy (andr- > considered > now as meaning "adult" rather than "man" in keeping with the idea that > language constantly changes and new functions are found for old > forms). > > > Part 1. In Adult Literacy Education: Must Andragogy Recapitulate > Pedagogy? > > In many industrialized nations today there appears to be a movement > in adult > basic skills education to have andragogy, defined as theories and > methods > for teaching adults, recapitulate pedagogy, defined as theories and > methods > for teaching children. This is suggested by many ideas and actions > that > are being initiated in adult literacy education. > > For instance, in many cases adult literacy education is thought of > as a > "second chance" at learning what should have been learned in the > primary > grades of school. In this case, then, it seems to be assumed that > adults > should be taught the "3 Rs" in the same way that children are > taught them. > Indeed, in the United States the National Institute for Literacy > (www.nifl.gov) includes web pages on the "scientific basis" for > teaching > adults to read that are based primarily on research in the K-12 grade > school system. The focus is on teaching alphabetics > (phonemics,phonics, > decoding, word recognition) and reading comprehension in the same > way that > children are taught. > > The U. S. Department of Education has created a National Reporting > System > for adult literacy education that has requirements for programs to > show how > adults learning literacy progress upward through levels of > proficiency with > each level being about equal to two "grade levels" of proficiency, as > though adults in literacy programs are recapitulating grade school. > Such an > approach is also found in the United Kingdom with adults in basic > skills > education expected to progress up to the same sorts of skills as > children > in the primary grades acquire. > > Further, adult literacy programs are often asked to measure > progress in > adult learning in their programs using standardized tests that are > based on > methods used in measuring progress in the grade schools. In some > cases, > adult literacy development is stated in terms of gain in reading grade > levels, as if adults were going to school for six hours a day for > 180 or so > days a years to make a year's gain in reading or other basic skills. > > One consequence of this belief that andragogy should recapitulate > pedagogy > is that a great misunderstanding of adult literacy education > occurs. In > particular, there is a tendency for policymakers and funding > agencies to > think that adult literacy education is the same as children's literacy > education and that may lead to the idea that, instead of investing > much by > way of resources into adult literacy education, we will be better > served by > "stopping the problem at the source" and focusing instead upon young > children to prevent adult literacy problems. > > However, such an approach fails to recognize that, in thirty years of > trying, and after spending over a trillion dollars in preventing > reading > failure in the public schools, recent data from the U. S. National > Center > for Education Statistics for the years from 1971 to 2004 show that > reading > scores for 9, 13, and 17 years old have remained about the same, > with some > up and down fluctuations over the years. So up to now, at least in > the U. > S., there has not been much success in "stopping the problem at the > source." > > Also, the belief that andragogy ought to recapitulate pedagogy in > literacy > education fails to recognize that while the teaching of basic > skills as > abstract "skills" may follow the same practices as for adults, the > "content" in which the basic skills instruction is embedded should > not be > the same as for children. Over one hundred years of adult literacy > practice > has provided professional wisdom indicating that adults should be > taught in > a "functional context," meaning that the content used to teach > reading, > writing, and arithmetic ought to reflect the kinds of daily needs that > adults face. > > This showed itself in the Freedman’s Schools following the Civil > War, the > Moonlight Schools of Kentucky in 1911-30, in World Wars I and II > during > which time soldiers were taught to read using materials that > embedded basic > skills instruction with important military information. This type > of taking > account of adult's functional contexts does occur in many adult > literacy > programs today where > materials of importance to adults, such as what to do in case of > spousal > abuse, what kinds of health problems adults might be facing with > themselves > or their children, how to deal with consumer fraud, workplace > demands for > basic skills, and on and on are used to teach literacy. > > The fact that the "content" of adult literacy programs is so > different from > that of primary grade children reflects attention to andragogy. But > when > the focus is on abstract "skills" devoid of any particular content, > literacy instruction for adults begins to recapitulate the pedagogy of > children. > > There is a need today for adult literacy educators to stand up for > andragogy > and to insist upon the rights of adult literacy students to have their > education focused upon their current life circumstances. There is > evidence > to suggest that this will not only make adult literacy learning more > desirable and palatable for adults, it can also lead to greater > rates of > participation, retention, better learning, and greater transfer > from the > classroom to the world in which the adults live outside the classroom. > > > Part 2. Fluid and Crystallized Literacy Assessment and Development > With > Adults: Challenges to the Validity of the 2003 National Assessment > of Adult > Literacy (NAAL) > > The distinction between the "skills' and "content" aspects of > education has > revealed itself in psychometric research on intelligence over the > last half > century. This research has resulted in a trend to draw a > distinction between > the knowledge aspect and the processing skills aspects of > intelligence. > Beginning in the 1940s and continuing up to the 1990s, Raymond > Cattell and > various collaborators, > and later many independent investigators, made the distinction between > "fluid intelligence" and "crystallized intelligence." Cattell stated, > "Fluid intelligence is involved in tests that have very little > cultural > content, whereas crystallized intelligence loads abilities that have > obviously been > acquired, such as verbal and numerical ability, mechanical > aptitude, social > skills, and so on. The age curve of these two abilities is quite > different. > They both increase up to the age of about 15 or 16, and slightly > thereafter, > to the early 20s perhaps. But thereafter fluid intelligence steadily > declines whereas crystallized intelligence stays high" (p. 23). > > Cognitive psychologists have re-framed the "fluid" and "crystallized" > aspects of cognition into a model of a human cognitive system made- > up of a > long term memory which constitutes a knowledge base ("crystallized > intelligence") for the person, a working memory which engages various > processes ("fluid intelligence") that are going on at a given time > using > information picked-up from both the long term memory's knowledge > base and a > sensory system that picks-up information from the external world that > the person is in. Today, over forty years of research has validated > the > usefulness of this simple three-part model for thinking about human > cognition. > > The model is important because it helps to develop a theory of > literacy as > information processing skills (reading as decoding printed to spoken > language) and comprehension (using the knowledge base to create > meaning) > that can inform the development of new knowledge-based assessment > tools and > new approaches to adult education. > > The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the National Adult > Literacy > Survey (NALS) of 1993 and the new 2003 National Assessment of Adult > Literacy (NAAL) all used "real world" tasks that are complex > information > processing tasks that engage unknown mixtures of knowledge and > processes. > For this reason it is not clear what they assess or what their > instructional implications are. > > Colleagues and I used the simple model of the human cognitive > system given > above to analyze performance on the NALS. It was concluded that the > NALS > places large demands on working memory processes ("fluid > intelligence") and > that is what may account for some of the large declines in > performance by older adults. To test this hypothesis, an assessment of > knowledge ("crystallized intelligence") was developed and used to > assess > adult's cultural knowledge of vocabulary, authors, > magazines and famous people.. The results showed clearly that > younger adults > did better on the NALS with its heavy emphasis on working memory > processes > ("fluid literacy") and older adults did better than younger adults > on the > knowledge base ("crystallized literacy") assessment . > > Given the differences between younger and older adults on "fluid > literacy" > and "crystallized literacy" there is reason to question the > validity of > using "real world" tasks like those on the Prose, Document and > Quantitative > scales of the IALS, NALS, and NAAL to represent the literacy > abilities of > adults. In general, when assessing the literacy of adults, it seems > wise to > keep in mind the differences between working memory or "fluid" > aspects of > literacy, such as fluency in reading with its emphasis upon > efficiency of > processing, and the "crystallized" or knowledge base aspects of > reading. > > It is also important to keep in mind these differences between > fluid and > crystallized literacy in teaching and learning. While it is > possible to > teach knowledge, such as vocabulary, facts, principles, concepts, and > rules, it is not possible to directly teach fluid processing. > Fluidity of > information processing, such as fluency in reading, cannot be directly > taught. Rather, it must be developed through extensive, guided, > practice. Though I know of no research on this theoretical framework > regarding the differences between fluid and crystallized literacy and > instructional practices in adult literacy programs, it can be > hypothesized > that all learners are likely to make much faster improvements in > crystallized literacy than in fluid literacy, and this should be > especially > true for older learners, especially those over 45 to 50 years of a > > Note: For information on Functional Context Education see the > following > reports: > > 1. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant (1997 > edition). > Eight chapters including The Power of Adult Literacy Education, Some > Challenges of Diversity for Adult Literacy Education, Views On > Contemporary > Cognitive Science, Introduction to Functional Context Education, > Functional > Context Education and Literacy Instruction, and four case studies in > applying Functional Context Education to the design of programs that > integrate (or embed, contextualize) basic skills and vocational or > parenting education (workplace literacy, family literacy). > http://www.nald.ca/library/research/context/context.pdf > > 2. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant in the 21st > Century (2005 edition). Functional Context Education (FCE) materials > available online in several nations, the AdultLiteracy and Life Skills > (ALL) survey, National Adult Assessment of Literacy (NAAL) survey, > FCE in > historical perspective, (1860-Present) including Paulo Freire and > Learner > Centered, Participatory Literacy Education. Methodologies used in > adult > literacy research for determiningwhat is relevant to youth and adult > learners; five case studies illustrating the application ofFCE in > parenting, vocational training, and health literacy. > http://www.nald.ca/library/research/fce/FCE.pdf > > For references to fluid and crystallized intelligence see Beyond 2000 > by Thomas Sticht downloadable online at > http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/beyond/Beyond.PDF > > Thomas G. Sticht > International Consultant in Adult Education > 2062 Valley View Blvd. > El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 > Tel/fax: 96190 444-9133 > Email: tsticht at aznet.net > > > ---------------------------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list > professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment > > Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki > http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ > Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development
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