Motivating adult learners to learn: a comparative study of adult literacy programmes in South Africa and Nigeria
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Date
2019
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background and objectives of the study
The study investigated factors motivating learners in adult literacy programmes in South Africa and Nigeria. The main emphasis of the study was on adult literacy learners and adult facilitators in adult literacy programmes in both South Africa and Nigeria.
Theoretical frameworks and literature reviews
The theories of social cognitive, andragogy, self-determination and Self-concordance underpinned this study. Existing related literature on adult literacy programme in two countries were extensively discussed as well as strategies across the globe.
Research methods and data analysis
Data for the study were gathered through survey. A questionnaire was designed and used to obtain information from the adult learners in the literacy centres in both countries. In-depth interviews were conducted for the selected adult facilitators from the two countries. A mixture of simple random and convenient sampling was used to generate sample frames of the participants for the study. The sample of the adult literacy learners and facilitators that participated in the study were drawn from KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, and Southwestern region of Nigeria. Two hundred and forty (240) adult learners in the selected literacy centres responded to the questionnaires from the two countries. Furthermore, a total of twelve (12) adult facilitators were interviewed from the selected literacy centres from the two countries. Data analysis, interpretation and discussions were guided by mixed method with the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches and, a transformative paradigm that values the objective understanding of the adult learners and facilitators with the use of percentage and frequency counts for the quantitative and summative analysis for the qualitative approaches.
Results The demographic results revealed that majority of adult learners in the literacy centres selected for the study in South Africa has higher percentage of young people between 20- 30 years compared to Nigeria. It also indicated that majority of the adult learners from both countries are females, unemployed with no stable source of income. Furthermore, promotion at workplace, improvement of employees’ performance at work and desire to improve their present situation were found to be the prominent among the factors that motivated the participants to enroll in the adult literacy programmes.
The study revealed that group work, project-based learning, use of activities, question and answers, storytelling, demonstration, role play and dramatics were found to be the major strategies through which the selected literacy centres in the two countries use in motivating adult learners to learn. However, participants sampled in Nigeria stressed the use of strategies like Language Experience Approach, Each One Teach One (EOTO) and Reflect method. It also revealed that the sampled adult learners found it motivating to exhibit knowledge and skills acquired in the classroom to their day to day activities because of its relevancy.
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The findings confirm that manuals developed for adult learners encourage their individual learning which speaks to the need of adult as self-concept learners. The study also revealed that adult facilitators in the selected literacy centres found some technological innovations such as mobile technology, desktop computer, to be a motivating factors for adult learners. However, the adult learners and literacy programmes in the two African countries are demotivated as they face various challenges which include issues of time constraint for adult learners, absenteeism of learners, carefree attitude towards the programme, unemployment of learners, traditional social structure, age constraint, dropout barriers, distance covered to access literacy centres, unqualified facilitators, late payment of facilitators, lack of professional development for facilitators, lack of technological know-how among facilitators, and lack of infrastructure.
Recommendations and conclusion
The study recommends that the government painstakingly cater for this set of individuals in order to motivate them to stay on the programme, adopt the right strategies base on the need of the adult learners, specially focus on vocational skills in the curriculum, engage policy makers, and recruit personnel that are experts in the field of adult learning to always attend to the issue of curriculum design. Also, technological intervention for adult learners should be design in a mobile friendly manner with the aim of accessing content on the go, and government should not only increase funding, but also focus on adult literacy programmes in the two African countries.
The study proposed a model for effective delivery and intervention of adult literacy programmes in Africa, especially in the context of motivating adult learners to learn
Description
A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Comparative and Science Education in the Faculty of Education, University of Zululand, 2019.
Keywords
Adult literacy programme, Adult learners