Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults, Revised Edition

289 Pages·2002·0.74 MB·English

by  Jane Vella

Learning to
Listen, Learning
to Teach
The Power of Dialogue
in Educating Adults
Revised Edition
Jane Vella
Vella.fm 5/7/02 9:55AM Pageii
Vella.fm 5/7/02 9:55AM Pagei
Vella.fm 5/7/02 9:55AM Pageii
Vella.fm 5/7/02 9:55AM Pageiii
Learning to
Listen, Learning
to Teach
The Power of Dialogue
in Educating Adults
Revised Edition
Jane Vella
Vella.fm 5/7/02 9:55AM Pageiv
Published by
Copyright © 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vella, Jane Kathryn, 1931–
Learning to listen, learning to teach : the power of dialogue in
educating adults / Jane Vella. — Rev. ed.
p. cm. — (The Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-7879-5967-7 (alk. paper)
1. Adult learning. 2. Adult education. 3. Teaching. I. Title. II.
Series.
LC5225.L42 V45 2002
374—dc21
2002003807
FIRSTEDITION
PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword to the 1994 Edition vii
Malcolm S. Knowles
Preface to the Revised Edition 2002 ix
The Author xxiii
Part One: A Process That Works and Why
1. Twelve Principles for Effective Adult Learning 3
2. Quantum Thinking and Dialogue Education 29
3. How the Principles Inform Course Design:
Two Examples 37
Part Two: The Principles in Practice:
Across Cultures and Around the World
4. Learning Needs and Resources Assessment:
Taking the First Step in Dialogue 57
5. Safety: Creating a Safe Environment for Learning 71
6. Sound Relationships: Using the Power of
Friendship 85
7. Sequence and Reinforcement: Supporting Their
Learning 101
v
vi Contents
8. Praxis: Turning Practice into Action and
Reflection 115
9. Learners as Decision Makers: Harnessing the
Power of Self Through Respect 129
10. Learning with Ideas, Feelings, and Actions:
Using the Whole Person 149
11. Immediacy: Teaching What Is Really Useful to
Learners 161
12. Assuming New Roles for Dialogue: Embracing
the Death of the Professor 179
13. Teamwork: Celebrating Learning Together 191
14. Engagement: Learning Actively 203
15. Accountability: Knowing How They Know
They Know 213
Part Three: Becoming an Effective
Teacher of Adults
16. Reviewing the Twelve Principles and Quantum
Thinking 227
17. How Do You Know You Know? Supposing and
Proposing 243
Appendix: Ways of Doing Needs Assessment 247
References 251
Index 255
Foreword to the 1994 Edition
I feel obliged to open this foreword with a warning: You will enjoy
reading this book so much that you may wonder whether you are
learning anything from it. Let me assure you that you will learn
more from it than from any textbook written by me (or anyone
else). The deep lessons it contains creep up on you and flower into
joyful insights.
Jane Vella is one of the most gifted adult educators I have known.
She has discovered and mastered the fundamental concepts of adult
learning and applies them with flair, imagination, and loving, tender
care. But she is more than a gifted teacher—she is also a gifted sto-
ryteller. If you find it difficult to put a good novel down at
lunchtime, you will find it hard to put this book down for the same
reason; you will get caught up in her exciting adventures.
Although I have written eighteen books on the subject myself, I
must admit that I was surprised at how much I learned about the
theory and practice of adult education from this book. But I am also
delighted and rewarded by how much I learned about the people
and cultures of lands I have never visited—northern Ethiopia, Tan-
zania, Indonesia, the Maldives, Nepal, El Salvador, Zimbabwe,
Bangladesh. I understand our world better now; I am a more com-
petent global citizen. I have a cadre of new friends: Fatuma in Ethi-
opia, Auni Makame in Tanzania, Margie Ahnan in Java, Mustafa
vii
viii Foreword to the 1994 Edition
Hussein in the Maldives, Durga Bahadur Shrestha in Nepal, Mikaeli
Okolo in Zambia, Carlos Castillo in El Salvador, Tainie Mudondo
in Zimbabwe, Assura Lori in Bangladesh. Jane Vella made them
come alive to me.
Have one of the most enjoyable and rewarding trips of your life!
January 1994 Malcolm S. Knowles
Professor Emeritus
North Carolina State University