英语论文网

What Do Adults Expect from Teaching?

Examining what adult learners expect from teaching provides another perspective on whether teaching adults is different. In this context, the question might be more appropriately posed, 'Based on adult students' expectations, should teaching adults be different?' In an effort to answer this question, Donaldson, Flannery, and Ross-Gordon (1993) combined and reanalyzed research that examined adult college students' expectations of effective teaching and compared them with those of traditional students.

Previously, each of the authors had conducted investigations that looked at aspects of this question. Donaldson (1989) used a case study approach to examine student letters recommending faculty members for an excellence in off-campus teaching award. Flannery (1991) interviewed 68 returning students during the first semester back at school, asking them what they expected of instructors in the classroom. Ross-Gordon (1991) used the Critical Incident Technique to collect examples of the best and poorest instructors that respondents had encountered during college. Data for Ross-Gordon's study were collected through a questionnaire mailed to a randomly selected sample of adult undergraduates. The results from all three studies suggested that adult students might have 'different' expectations for teachers that in some ways paralleled the assumptions underlying an andragogical approach, but each researcher also found some similarities to expectations for a teacher-directed approach. By combining the results of their studies, the researchers were able to confirm and extend their individual results and also add an element that compared the expectations of adult students to those of traditional students as reflected in the literature.

In the combined results, the six most frequently mentioned attributes adult learners expected of effective instructors were as follows (Donaldson, Flannery, and Ross-Gordon 1993, p. 150):

to be knowledgeable
to show concern for student learning
to present material clearly
to motivate
to emphasize relevance of class material
to be enthusiastic

Thus, the adult learners in this study demonstrated pReferences for characteristics associated with both student-centered (e.g., relevance of material, concern for student learning) and teacher-directed (e.g., knowledge, clarity) instruction. When adult expectations for good teaching were compared with those of traditional students, many similarities existed in how the two groups characterized good teaching. However, four teacher characteristics mentioned by adults that were not among the top items for undergraduates were as follows:

creates a comfortable learning atmosphere
uses a variety of techniques
adapts to meet diverse needs
dedicated to teaching

Donaldson, Flannery, and Ross-Gordon (1993) point out that the first three of these items are congruent with the principles of instruction found in the adult education literature. Perhaps, as suggested by the researchers, when it comes to teaching adults, 'the issue is not to continue to promote an either/or approach with regard to teaching expectations of adults, but rather to concentrate on the particular attributes which adults consistently s