Implications of Riegel’s Dialectic Approach for Adult Instruction

Abstract

The application of the dialectic orientation to adult education is discussed. More specifically, the dialectic framework developed by Riegel is used to sketch a model of instruction and to delineate some implications for teaching adults. The dialectic view is compared and contrasted with contemporary humanistic and cognitive perspectives on teaching. Although each of these different approaches to instruction provides a useful plan for teaching adults, the dialectic orientation, a descendant of the Socratic method, may prove to be particularly viable in light of current trends in instructional research and practice to conceptualize educational outcomes as the resultant of the complex interaction of environmental and organismic variables.