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The Single Most Popular Theory: Self-Directed Learning as an Effective Adult Learning Model

Although Westerners have used over 200 terms to describe Self-Directed Learning (SDL), few Western scholars realize that educators in Confucius Heritage Cultures (CHC) have successfully promoted and implemented SDL. In those cultures, self-directed learning is considered the single most popular theory in teaching and learning. For decades, American educators have argued that American students do not compare with students from other industrialized countries. This chapter proposes that for learners in the Western cultures, especially in the United States to catch up with learners in other industrialized nations including newly emerged China and India, SDL must be promoted and implemented at all levels of education, not only within adult education. Self-directed learning is the single most popular model that helps learners master skills for the sake of competency development. The goal in learning is to achieve the changed status on the part of learners or “perspective transformation.” Unless students are learning in a self-directed manner, it may be difficult to foster transformative learning; SDL and transformative learning are intertwined.