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Motivation to Learn and Multilingualism across the Adult Life Stages in the U.S.

Lifelong learning or continuing education over the life course has become necessary to navigate a rapidly changing technological landscape. Motivation to learn (MtL) is essential for facilitating lifelong learning. In the U.S., most of the educational opportunities are available in English. Moreover...

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Autores principales: Sahoo, Shalini, Yamashita, Takashi, Millar, Roberto, Cummins, Phyllis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8682174/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.3414
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author Sahoo, Shalini
Yamashita, Takashi
Millar, Roberto
Cummins, Phyllis
author_facet Sahoo, Shalini
Yamashita, Takashi
Millar, Roberto
Cummins, Phyllis
author_sort Sahoo, Shalini
collection PubMed
description Lifelong learning or continuing education over the life course has become necessary to navigate a rapidly changing technological landscape. Motivation to learn (MtL) is essential for facilitating lifelong learning. In the U.S., most of the educational opportunities are available in English. Moreover, little is known about associations between being multilingual and MtL across the life stages. This study analyzed nationally representative data from the 2012/2014/2017 Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) restricted use file (RUF). Using a previously established latent MtL construct, structural equation models were estimated by four age groups --- 25-34 (n = 2,310); 35-44 (n = 1,610); 45-54 (n = 1,670); and 55 and older (n = 2,620). Results showed that being multilingual was associated with greater MtL among younger age groups, including age 25-34 (b = 0.20, p = 0.01) and 35-44 (b = 0.28, p < 0.001), after adjusting for the demographic, socioeconomic and health characteristics of individuals. Multilingualism was not associated with MtL among older age groups, including 45-54 (b = 0.06, p = 0.50) and 55 and older (b = 0.13, p = 0.19). Findings suggest that education policies that target younger multilingual adults are likely to be effective while enhancing MtL of monolingual (i.e., English-speaking only) adults seems to be a necessary first step. Yet, a similar approach may not be effective for older adults, arguably due to more diverse life circumstances, educational needs, and learning style preferences. More detailed interpretations of empirical results and theoretical explanations are needed.
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spelling pubmed-86821742021-12-20 Motivation to Learn and Multilingualism across the Adult Life Stages in the U.S. Sahoo, Shalini Yamashita, Takashi Millar, Roberto Cummins, Phyllis Innov Aging Abstracts Lifelong learning or continuing education over the life course has become necessary to navigate a rapidly changing technological landscape. Motivation to learn (MtL) is essential for facilitating lifelong learning. In the U.S., most of the educational opportunities are available in English. Moreover, little is known about associations between being multilingual and MtL across the life stages. This study analyzed nationally representative data from the 2012/2014/2017 Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) restricted use file (RUF). Using a previously established latent MtL construct, structural equation models were estimated by four age groups --- 25-34 (n = 2,310); 35-44 (n = 1,610); 45-54 (n = 1,670); and 55 and older (n = 2,620). Results showed that being multilingual was associated with greater MtL among younger age groups, including age 25-34 (b = 0.20, p = 0.01) and 35-44 (b = 0.28, p < 0.001), after adjusting for the demographic, socioeconomic and health characteristics of individuals. Multilingualism was not associated with MtL among older age groups, including 45-54 (b = 0.06, p = 0.50) and 55 and older (b = 0.13, p = 0.19). Findings suggest that education policies that target younger multilingual adults are likely to be effective while enhancing MtL of monolingual (i.e., English-speaking only) adults seems to be a necessary first step. Yet, a similar approach may not be effective for older adults, arguably due to more diverse life circumstances, educational needs, and learning style preferences. More detailed interpretations of empirical results and theoretical explanations are needed. Oxford University Press 2021-12-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8682174/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.3414 Text en © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Abstracts
Sahoo, Shalini
Yamashita, Takashi
Millar, Roberto
Cummins, Phyllis
Motivation to Learn and Multilingualism across the Adult Life Stages in the U.S.
title Motivation to Learn and Multilingualism across the Adult Life Stages in the U.S.
title_full Motivation to Learn and Multilingualism across the Adult Life Stages in the U.S.
title_fullStr Motivation to Learn and Multilingualism across the Adult Life Stages in the U.S.
title_full_unstemmed Motivation to Learn and Multilingualism across the Adult Life Stages in the U.S.
title_short Motivation to Learn and Multilingualism across the Adult Life Stages in the U.S.
title_sort motivation to learn and multilingualism across the adult life stages in the u.s.
topic Abstracts
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8682174/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.3414
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