Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults [Paperback]

Jane Vella (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787959677 | ISBN-13: 978-0787959678 | Publication Date: June 15, 2002 | Edition: Revised Edition

In this updated version of her landmark book Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach, celebrated adult educator Jane Vella revisits her twelve principles of dialogue education with a new theoretical perspective gleaned from the discipline of quantum physics. Vella sees the path to learning as a holistic, integrated, spiritual, and energetic process. She uses engaging, personal stories of her work in a variety of adult learning settings, in different countries and with different educational purposes, to show readers how to utilize the twelve principles in their own practice with any type of adult learner, anywhere.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Vella writes persuasively about the power of listening as the predominant tool for effective teaching.... This is a book that broadens cultural horizons, tears down superficial boundaries, and presents excellent practical ideas for all adult educators." (NACADA Journal)

"Anyone who wants to help make the world a better place should read this book. Jane Vella is an educator par excellence. But the message of this book is not for academics; it is for the people who will help things change on the ground. This book is about reality—real people, real situations, and what I call real development." (James P. Grant, executive director, UNICEF)

"Adult educators, because they are also lifelong learners, will continually cheer, "YES!" as they read Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach. The management and literacy trainers in our organization need this book as they prepare to become better facilitators of learning" (Margaret A. Price, director of field services, Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc.)

"Easy to read and contains a wealth of information on how we can develop the skills and attitudes that will make a difference in the way we teach our medical students, our residents, and our patients. Medicine is changing drastically and we need tools that help us return to the essence of our art. This book is one of them. Let's use it." (Rodrigo Escalona, M.D., assistant professor, Department of Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine.)

"The deep lessons...[this book] contains creep up on you and flower into joyful insights. Jane Vella is one of the most gifted adult educators I have known." (from the foreword by Malcolm S. Knowles, professor emeritus, North Carolina State University) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Praise for the first edition of Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach

The book is highly recommended reading for every trainer in the Habitat for Humanity organization.

"The deep lessons [this book] contains creep up on you and flower into joyful insights. Jane Vella is one of the most gifted adult educators I have known."
--from the Foreword by Malcolm S. Knowles, professor emeritus, North Carolina State University

"The stories furnish 'real life' support for the effectiveness of this approach to adult learning in different cultures and give the reader the opportunity to vicariously experience popular education in action."
--Adult Education Quarterly

"Recommended for anyone interested in education and training at any level."
--Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 263 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; Revised Edition edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787959677
• ISBN-13: 978-0787959678
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for any Adult Educator, January 31, 2001

By 

Courtney L. Lewis "Sassy Librarian" (Kingston, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults (Paperback)

I was expecting the usual with this book - a little dry, one or two ideas I could apply to my work, maybe an anecdote. I had never read Jane Vella before! A Maryknoll sister and longtime worker for Save the Children, Vella has taught in 48 countries and for over 45 years doing community development work in incredibly varied and diverse situations. You don't have to be interested in community development though, to get the point of this book. While her stories are riveting (you constantly grip the book asking, "And then what happened?!"), her message is consistent - she maps out how she plans, teaches, listens, and reflects on all her teaching/learning experiences. I particularly appreciated her honest approach (she tells you stories of when things didn't go well) and her egalitarian approach to equalizing power in the classroom (she calls it "the death of the professor"). This would also be an excellent volume for anyone working with a culture not their own - Vella models how to truly listen to people's needs in their education experience and not impose what you think they need.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important concepts illustrated through practical application, April 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults (Paperback)

I read this book as part of my master's degree program and have come to respect Jane Vella tremendously. She has a way of explaining, in simple yet powerful terms, complex concepts that are often ignored in training and adult education in simple yet powerful terms. Her practical examples help drive home the importance of her principles and by doing so, she is teaching by example. I also suggest you read other works by her, including "Training Through Dialogue." --Anthony Jones

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Need for Dialectic and Active Learning, January 1, 2007

By 

JR Woodward "dream-awakener" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults (Paperback)

Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach is designed to demonstrate the power and value of dialogue over monologue, and active over passive learning when it comes to educating adults. Vella demonstrates through real life examples how her twelve transcendent principles flesh out in a variety of specific contexts all around the world. This book is designed to help all adult educators embody and model a more effective way to facilitate actual learning. Not only does the book clearly explain and illustrate the twelve principles, but it also calls us to engage and analyze the principles along the way. This book demonstrates what active learning is all about.

A quick summary of the principles for effective adult learning:
1. Needs Assessment: The First Step in Dialogue
It is important to have a need-oriented approach to learning, where the scratch meets the itch by asking the www (political) question - "Who needs what as defined by whom?"
2. Safety: Creating a Safe Environment for Learning
Creating an atmosphere where learners feel safe: where they can trust in the feasibility, relevance and sequence of the learning objectives; where the learners can be both "creative and critical" in their response to the program in an affirming environment.
3. Sound Relationships: The Power of Friendship and Respect
The relationship between the teacher and student is vital. The more that the teacher can formally and informally create a relationship of mutual respect, the greater the motivation and learning potential of the adult learner.
4. Sequence and Reinforcement: Knowing Where and How to Begin
Based upon the needs assessment, the teacher designs an appropriate sequence of lessons moving from simple to complex and from group supported to mastering the lessons alone, in a way the reinforces the learning outcomes. The Seven Steps of Planning: Who, Why, When, Where, What For, What and How help design and reinforce the achievement-based objectives.
5. Praxis: Action with Reflection
Praxis is practice in dynamic relation with thought, where the learner engages in the practice of a new skill, attitude or concept - then immediately reflects on what they just did. The process of action and reflection, practice and thought is repeated in a cyclical process, each informing the other.
6. Respect for Learners: Learners as Subjects of Their Own Learning
In as far as it is possible, allow adult learners to determine what occurs in a learning event, based on their need assessment and the seven steps of planning.
7. Learning with Ideas, Feelings and Actions
Active learning is more effective than passive learning and requires learning objectives that help people think, feel and do.
8. Immediacy: Teaching What is Really Useful
Inviting people to immediately use a skill and see its benefit, gives them motivation to continue to learn more of the skills set out in the learning sequence.
9. Clear Roles: Reinforcement of Human Equity between Teacher and Student
The goal is to do whatever is necessary to foster honest dialogue, so that adults can learn together - while at the same time clarifying who has a deliberate voice and who has a consultative voice.
10. Teamwork: How People Learn Together
By using small groups in healthy competition with each other, the learners are able to provide reinforcement and constructive feedback with each other, enabling effective learning.
11. Engagement: Learning As an Active Process
The goal is not to cover a set of materials, but to allow the learner to engage in an active process of learning by doing.
12. Accountability: Success Is in the Eyes of the Learner
In the end, the educator wants to understand if the learner has actually learned the achievement-based outcomes. The best way to determine if someone has learned is to see if the learner is able to put into action what they have learned and if they have confidence that they "know that they know".

This is a great book to help teachers engage their students in active learning.