Learning in Adulthood. Sharan B. Merriam
id="ulink_97056d4a-9616-5bb7-ba21-4e2108dce709">Learning in Adulthood
A Comprehensive Guide
Sharan B. Merriam
Lisa M. Baumgartner
FOURTH EDITION
Copyright © 2020 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Merriam, Sharan B., author. | Baumgartner, Lisa, 1964- author. | Jossey-Bass Inc.
Title: Learning in adulthood : a comprehensive guide / Sharan B. Merriam, Lisa M. Baumgartner.
Other titles: Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series.
Description: Fourth Edition. | San Francisco : Jossey-Bass, 2020. | Series: The Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series | Third edition published 2007.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019037489 (print) | LCCN 2019037490 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119490487 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119490517 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119490494 (ePub)
Subjects: LCSH: Adult learning.
Classification: LCC LC5225.L42 M47 2020 (print) | LCC LC5225.L42 (ebook) | DDC 374—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037489
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037490
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © Fedor Selivanov/Shutterstock
FOURTH EDITION
Acknowledgments
This fourth edition of Learning in Adulthood is a direct response to the field's burgeoning literature base on research and theory in adult learning and the need for a single, comprehensive, up-to-date textbook to use in our adult learning classes and as a resource for research in adult learning. In a very real sense, it has been the students in our programs, participants in our workshops and seminars, and colleagues in the field who have challenged us to revise and update the previous edition of the book. Others, of course, have been of invaluable assistance at various stages of the project. David Brightman, an editor at Jossey-Bass for the first three editions of Learning in Adulthood, was enormously supportive in assisting us through the process as was Amy Fandrei and Pete Gaughan for this fourth edition. Colleagues Ralph Brockett, Carol Kasworm, Ed Taylor, and Libby Tisdell unselfishly provided us with updated materials and suggested resources for us to consider. A special thanks goes to Bora Jin, student and graduate research assistant at Texas A&M University, for tracking down references, assisting in editing, and in technical matters of getting the book ready for the publisher. Thanks also to Julia Lynch, postdoctoral scholar at Texas A&M, for her editing suggestions, creation of tables and figures, and attention to detail in preparing the book manuscript. Finally, thanks to Mario Torres at Texas A&M University and Kevin Fall at Texas State University for their support. To all of you, we offer our heartfelt thanks. Of course, we also want to thank our family members and friends for their support and patience over the last year.
Finally, we wish to acknowledge Rosemary S. Caffarella's invaluable contribution in the conceptualizing, researching, and writing of chapters in the earlier editions of Learning in Adulthood.
Sharan B. Merriam
Lisa M. Baumgartner
Athens, Georgia
San Marcos, Texas
July 2019
Preface
Learning in adulthood is an intensely personal activity. Yet at the same time, a multibillion-dollar enterprise has arisen in response to adult learning interests—an enterprise that spends more dollars than elementary schools, high schools, and postsecondary schools combined. Indeed, the field of adult and continuing education is characterized by a bewildering array of programs, agencies, and personnel working to assist adults in their learning. It is precisely the focus on adults as learners, however, that unites an otherwise extraordinarily diverse field. It is also the life context of adults and some of the distinguishing characteristics of the adult learning process that differentiate adult education from other kinds of education. To facilitate the process of learning, it is especially important to know who the adult learner is, how the social context shapes the learning that adults are engaged in, why adults are involved in learning activities, how adults learn, and how aging affects learning ability. Learning in Adulthood addresses these topics, among others.
There is a voluminous literature on adult learning, ranging from technical articles on various aspects of adult learning to handbooks, guides, YouTube videos, and other online resources, summarizing material for the new instructor of adult students. If one investigates the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) website, which contains journal articles, monographs, conference proceedings, fact sheets, and so on, or does some random exploring on the World Wide Web, one encounters