From Politicized Adult Education to Market Oriented Adult Higher Education: How Adult Education Practice in One Region is Different from Another

This study investigated the general instructional modes of adult educators in Southeast China and Northeast China. The study utilized Conti’s (1983, 2004) Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) to measure instructional modes of adult educators. Data were collected from 112 randomly selected participants engaged in teaching Chinese adult learners in Southeast China and Northeast China. The results of the study showed that adult educators in Southeast China were andragogical in their instruction while their counterparts in Northeast China were pedagogical although the difference (p>0.05) between the means of adult educators in Southeast China and Northeast China was not statistically significant.