Canadian Council on Learning | Conseil Canadien sur l'Apprentissage

Survey of French–Language Research on Adult Learning in Canada: 1997-2007

September 2008

Overview

This research was done by Claudie Solar and Nicole Anne Tremblay, who are both professors in the Psychopedagogy and Andragogy Department of the Faculty of Education Science at the Université de Montréal. The researchers worked in close collaboration with the Centre de documentation sur l’éducation des adultes et la condition féminine (CDÉACF) and received funding from the Adult Learning Knowledge Center (AdLKC) of the Canadian Council on Learning.

The 77-page report summarizes the 227 adult learning research projects in French Canada published between 1997 and 2007, inclusive. The database was developed from the CDÉACF notes on adult education, training, and literacy, plus research found on the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) and dissertations and theses gathered through PROQUEST. This study is the first review of the adult learning research conducted in French Canada.

Structure of the Adult Learning Research

Analyzing the 227 research projects made it possible to break them down into eleven topics, most of which were predefined. In descending order, the topics are: engineering (62 research projects), difficulties (35), nature and foundations (26), literacy (24), learning strategies (17), participation (17), the consequences of learning in terms of impacts, changes or exclusion (16), the resources used for learning (16), the recognition of acquired knowledge (7), and the content of learning (4). Three (3) research projects could not be classified.

The report provides a great deal of information on the different aspects of the adult learning research in French. The distribution of the 227 research projects into the above topics and related sub-topics makes it possible to distinguish the aspects that received more attention from those that should be further developed.

Key Elements

• More than half of the 227 research projects identified and analyzed break down into the first three topics:
  • The topic of engineering represents over 27% of the research, and nearly half of those (30) deal with the assessment of programs, needs and learning. Community groups and literacy centers concern themselves with the demand for training, and this aspect would benefit from subsequent development.
  • The topic of learning difficulties, obstacles and experiences is well documented, especially with respect to the traits of individuals with low literacy skills. The language aspect for Francophones in a minority environment, but also for individuals who speak another language, especially immigrants, is one of the most important elements to consider.
  • The research projects listed under the topic of the nature of adult learning covers a wide spectrum of theoretical concerns. The analysis reveals that they often come from university or government research. They deal with motivation, learning styles, experiential learning, work-based learning, equity, democracy and literacy skills, including writing skills and the skills required in order to learn how to learn.
  • The major international surveys on the literacy of Canadians indicate that Canada is average among the industrialized countries, with slightly more than half of its population at higher literacy levels (levels 3, 4 and 5). However, the Francophone and Aboriginal populations post lower literacy levels, especially when employment relationships do not enable individuals to keep up a better level. It should be noted that at least 39% of the 227 research projects identified are about learning among individuals with low literacy skills; the other research projects often deal with the adult population in general and do not always allow for a differentiated reading on literacy.
• The research also paints quite a clear picture of the situation among Canadian Francophones from the various provinces (53 research projects: 23%). In Quebec like elsewhere, Francophones post lower levels than Anglophones, and their literacy levels are lowest in New Brunswick. Francophones in Quebec and Ontario achieve similar results, and Ontario's Francophones even improved their results between the two major surveys in 1994 and 2003. It is important to remember that literacy levels in a given language are linked to the ambient culture and that living in an English-speaking environment is detrimental to maintaining and developing literacy in French. When they are in the minority, Francophones are constantly exposed to English-language media and working environments, which contributes to diminished French-language skills over time; literacy levels are also known to decline with age if reading and writing skills are not used.
• According to our sources, two topics have been explored less: the content of learning (4 research projects) and the recognition of acquired knowledge (7 research projects). It would also be desirable to have a better understanding, on the one hand, of the links between content, learning or training methods and adult traits, such as age and gender, and to try, on the other hand, to better document the recognition of acquired knowledge and skills when career changes and immigration raise new challenges.
• ICTs are one of the sub-topics of several main topics, which attests to their penetration into teaching and learning practices and strategies.
• Some crucial aspects of adult learning do, however, remain to be developed, if only from a philosophical or social development perspective; on the economic aspects of adult education taken globally and including literacy; or even on the knowledge to be mastered in order to enter the 21st century. No basic critique of the approaches to literacy was identified.

Finally, the study of the various sources identified in the databases used reveals certain shortcomings. The co-authors noted that some work, especially from university settings, was not in the database and that the database should be rounded out with the work conducted on self-training, learning difficulties, praxeology, reentry education and ICT-assisted learning, and with research that factors in different variables, including gender and age. This would inure to the benefit of the various adult learning research settings.

About the Authors

Claudie Solar is a full professor in the Psychopedagogy and Andragogy Department of the Faculty of Education Science at the Université de Montréal. She is the senior researcher at the CRIFPE (Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur la formation et la profession enseignante), the only education science research center subsidized by the FQRSC, and an associate researcher at the CIRDEP (Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Development and Advanced Studies on Lifelong Learning) at the UQAM, and at the ERCPE (Équipe de recherche sur la collaboration et le partenariat en éducation). More..

Before retiring, Nicole Anne Tremblay was a full professor in the Psychopedagogy and Andragogy Department of the Faculty of Education Science at the Université de Montréal, where she worked from 1981 to 2004. Her research work dealt mainly with adult learning and more particularly with self-training.