Promote autonomous motivation in low-education adult learners by helping them grasp the meaning of education and providing choice and volition¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 4 studies (1 quant-synthesis, 1 review, 1 associational, 1 theoretical), q1–q4 · 2 of 4 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article proposes concrete practices for educators working with adults of lower educational levels, a group it identifies as particularly vulnerable. "Autonomous motivation can be promoted by helping adults grasp the meaning of education and its relation to their other goals and values, as well as by providing learners with a sense of choice and volition." Educators should also encourage deep-learning strategies and reinforce efforts and achievements to improve academic self-concept and self-efficacy.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Educators must help adults connect education to their other goals and values
• Learners must be given a sense of choice and volition, for example help choosing a program in a field that truly fulfills them
• Educators should encourage deep-learning strategies like critical thinking, metacognition, and elaboration
• Educators should reinforce learners' efforts and achievements

Constraints¶

• The article targets learners with low educational levels, whom it identifies as a particularly vulnerable group
• Future research is called for to replicate findings in larger and more homogeneous samples

Target Learners¶

• adult learners with less than secondary education

Target Learning Goals¶

• promoting autonomous motivation
• improving academic self-concept and self-efficacy
• encouraging deep-learning strategies

Claims¶

• Autonomous regulation correlates positively with self-efficacy, learning strategies, and behavioral engagement, while controlled regulation shows no significant linear relations with these outcomes [+W]
• Adult learners' motivational profiles differ significantly in self-efficacy, learning strategies and behavioral engagement: the good-quality motivation group scores higher on all three, the high-quantity group on strategies and engagement only [+W]
• Self-determination theory holds that autonomy support raises intrinsic motivation, and a meta-analysis finds expected tangible rewards undermine it [+M]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Ana Rothes, Marina S. Lemos, and Teresa Gonçalves. (2017). Motivational Profiles of Adult Learners. Adult Education Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713616669588