Yhteisövoimainen oppimisprosessi : substantiivinen teoria aikuisten ryhmässä oppimisen kokemuksista

Abstract

The aim of this study was to build a conception as well as a substantive theory of adult learners’ group learning. The framework for this study is andragogy, which places the life context of adult learners at the center of the learning process (Knowles 1990). This study has been carried out using grounded theory as a research methodology. Hermeneutics offers a broad scientific paradigm for the understanding of group learning as a phenomenon, whereas grounded theory offers a concrete tool for analyzing data and developing a substantive theory. In this approach, the theory emerges gradually in open interaction between a researcher and the data (Glaser 1992). The informants for this study were a group of 12 adult teacher students from six different countries. The working language was English, but it was not the mother tongue of any participant. The teacher students met once a month, for a total of eight times. The data consist of individual learning diaries, group learning diaries, two taped group discussions, and portfolios. Four main categories were identified in the analysis of the data: participation, communality, creativity, and tutoring. The first three categories expressed the relationships between group members. The fourth category, tutoring, diverges from the other three categories in that it is a description of the relationship between a tutor and the group members. Tutoring is needed in order to ensure the development of the relationships between group members. The core category covers all main categories, and it was identified as the community power learning process. A process of selective coding was then used to generate a substantive theory of the community power learning process. In addition, three qualitative properties were linked to each category: persistence, encountering and freedom. As a basic social process, the community power learning process was found to be porously chained and entangled. The experiences in the community power learning process occur simultaneously on an individual level – based on each participant’s personal and cultural interpretation – as well as on a group level. Therefore, the community power learning process builds a new social reality within a learning community. This enables the development of a new social reality, which in this research context is multicultural. As a result, the community power learning process, as a basic social process, also promotes cultural change.