The Relationship Between Epistemology Beliefs and Learning Style in Adult Learners ---in the Case of Adult Students in “On-The-Job Master Program”

• Main Authors: Ya-Hsin Weng, 翁雅欣
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/t9n7p2

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 成人及繼續教育所 === 93 === The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the epistemology beliefs and learning style in adult learners.The results were explored to give useful information for academic institute in adult teaching and adult education curriculum planning in the university. The research method adopted the analysis of Positivism,taking the first grade students of “On –The-Job Master Program ” from the universities in the south of Taiwan as the population and utilizing the method of cluster sampling to sample 584 students from twenty-six departments. The survey including “ Epistemic Beliefs Inventory in Adult Learners” and “Learning Style Inventory“ was conducted to collect information. The effective sample size was 398 pieces of the questionnaire .We had examined the data by using the Statistic Descriptive, t-test,One-way Anova,Chi-Square Test, and Pearson’s Product-moment Correlation. The results of the statistical analysis were concluded : 1.The epistemology beliefs in adult learners were considerably unbiased .They were subjective in “Simple Knowledge”, but objective in “Quick Learning”. 2.The epistemology beliefs in adult learners were related to gender, age, occupation and majors. 3.The ability for the students in “On- The -Job Master Program” to learn was divided equally into four levels. The ability of “Abstract Conceptualization” was the best, otherwise, “Reflective Observation “ was the worst. 4.The ability for the students in “On- the –job Master Program” to learn had relationship with gender, age, occupation and majors. 5.The learning style of the students in “On- The –Job Master Program” were “Divergers”,” Assimilators”, “Convergers” and “Accommodators”. Among them, the divergers were the most and the assimilators were the least. 6.The learning style of the students in “On- The –Job Master Program” had relationship with gender, age and majors. 7.The epistemology beliefs in the students in “On- The –Job Master Program” were related to the ability for them to learn in the four levels: “Concrete Experience”, “Reflective Observation”, “Abstract Conceptualization” and “Active Experimentation”. 8.There was relationship between the epistemology beliefs and learning style of the students in “On- The –Job Master Program”. According to the results of the study, the research proposed some suggestions: 1.The suggestions for the educational institutions and the instructors for adult learners: (1) The instructors should emphasize on the epistemology beliefs in adult learners. (2) The instructors should help the adult learners to develop comprehensive learning styles. (3) The instructors should put emphasis on “the gender” which had great influence on the learning style of adult learners. (4) The instructors should handle the learning style of the adult learners through the epistemology beliefs. 2.The suggestions for the further were as followed: (1) The objects of study:We could try to expand the research objects to the other graduate students from the pre-service education colleges or the general universities in other areas. (2) The methods of study:We could take other methods,such as the interview, participant observation, the experiments and the longitudinal study to do the research. (3) The tools of study:We could design the questionnaires which were more suitable for the adult learners. (4) The variables of study:We could take mental variables, character variables and environmental variables into consideration for further analysis.