成人学习者的学习心理及基本特性

Learning psychology and its features for adult learners

远程教育的学习者主要以职业成人为主,虽然识记等学习能力有衰弱迹象,但由于元认知能力以及丰富的生活经验,使他们仍具有较强的学习能力。成人学习者在学习过程中表现出功利学习、自我导向学习、经验学习等特征。

Research and analysis on learning psychology and features has long been an important concern in the field of distance education research. The principles and methods to explain the learning phe- nomenon in traditional psychological subject has offered us a theoretical framework to analyze the adult learning mechanism. On the basis of study on domestic and foreign literature, the author defines the category of adult learners and points out that in comparison with the younger learning group, the adult learners are weak in some psychological features. In analyzing the overall learning psychology, there is no evi- dence to doubt their learning ability. Actually, the factors which constitute learning obstacles for adults in most cases are related to some objective factors of social environment. The author further summa- rizes the general features for adult learning, which include utilitarianism, self- direction, emphasis of personal experiences and pragmatism, and attention to improve constantly their cognitive strategy. Owing to impact of cognitive and non- intelligent factors, there are many differences between adults and youngsters in learning motivation, process and strategic evaluation. Only when we take se- riously in analyzing those differences and organizing teaching and learning accordingly, can we im- prove the quality of distance education in teaching, facilitate empirical learning, reflective learning and life- long learning for adult learners.