Learning theories provide a framework or perspective from which to teach. This Primer for practitioners in adult education describes the origins, tenets, and criticisms of the foundational theories of adult learning while challenging some of the assumptions made in Western perspectives on these theories. Two of the six chapters examine andragogy in depth. Lisa M. Baumgartner, Northern Illinois University, provides an overview of this theory. Then Ming-Yeh Lee of San Francisco State University, critiques the assumptions of andragogy through the eyes of foreign-born adult learners. Next, Baugartner presents several perspectives on transformative learning theory explaining how transformative learning differs from other types of learning, various theoretical approaches to transformative learning, and criticism of the theory. In the next chapter, Baumgartner provides definitions of self-directed learning, a brief history, and philosophical underpinnings of the theory and introduces models of self-directed learning as well as criticisms. Susan Birden's chapter on critical and postmodern theory explains their historical development, the philosophical tenets behind these theories, and the differences between them. Birden (SUNY-Buffalo State College) notes that these theories have had a great impact on adult learning and upon the educational process, which includes learning, teaching, and the curriculum. Doris Flowers (San Francisco State University) takes an Afrocentric view of adult learning theory, examining race and its intersection with class and gender as it applies to learning theory and African Americans' learning processes. She delineates how slavery informed African American adults' learning and discusses the tenets of Afrocentricity and its role in adult education. $9.00
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