1. Transformative
Learning Theory
Class Session 4 – ADLT 671
Theory and Practice of Adult Learning for Medical Educators

2. Mezirow’s Transformative
Learning Theory (1978,
1991)
In childhood, learning is formative (derived
from formal sources of authority and
socialization)
In adulthood, learning is transformative, as
adults are more capable of seeing distortions in
their own beliefs, feelings, and attitudes

3. “We are caught in our own
histories” (Mezirow, 1991)
• We individually assimilate the culture of which
we are a part
• We uncritically adopt idiosyncrasies from
primary child care givers in childhood.
• We have many intentionally and
unintentionally learned theories about the
world, some of which may no longer be serving
us well

4. Mezirow’s Definition of
Transformative Learning
“The process of using a prior
interpretation to construe a new or
revised interpretation of the meaning
of one’s experience in order to guide
future action”
Mezirow, 1991

5. Human Communication and
the Learning Process
• Human beings share a defining need to
understand the meaning of their experience
• We seek agreement on the meaning and
justification for our understandings and beliefs
• We seek more functional beliefs
• We want to act on our beliefs

6. Two Domains of Learning in
Mezirow’s Theory
• Instrumental
learning is learning
to control and
manipulate the
environment or other
people, e.g., task-
oriented learning
• Communicative
learning is learning
what others mean
when they
communicate with
us. This involves
feelings, intentions,
values, moral issues,
and meanings.

7. Key Points in Transformative
Learning Theory

8. Points of View
• Consist of meaning schemes
• Specific attitudes, knowledge, beliefs, value
judgments, and feelings involved in making
interpretations
• Are more changeable than habits of mind or
frames of reference
• Are transformed when we become critically
reflective on the content of a problem or the
process of problem-solving

9. Habits of Mind
• Older TL language referred to these as
“meaning perspectives”
• Clusters of meaning schemes which constitute an
overarching view or a rule system for guiding
behavior and action
• Habits of mind are transformed when we
become critically reflective on the premise of a
problem

10. Frames of Reference
• Mindsets of orienting assumptions and expectations.
They predispose us to view the world in a certain way.
• Frames of reference include:
• Values, affective dispositions, moral and aesthetic
preferences, paradigms, learning preferences, and
sense of self
• They involve orienting habits of mind and resulting
points of view. They shape, delimit, and often distort
the way we make meaning of our experience
• Frames of reference are derived from the culture,
language, and the idiosyncrasies of principal
caregivers

11. Learning becomes
transformative when meaning
structures are revised or re-
framed to include perspectives
that are more inclusive,
differentiated, and permeable,
in the sense of being open to
alternative viewpoints.

12. Learning Occurs in Four Ways
• Learning within existing points of view
(expanded meaning)
• Learning/developing a new point of view
• Revising or re-framing points of view
(meaning scheme transformation)
• Revising or re-framing habits of mind or
worldview (perspective transformation)

13. Perspective Transformation
• Requires critical reflection on the content,
processes, and premises underlying our untested
assumptions of reality
• Results in a revised “world view”
• Can be dramatic and epochal: a disorienting
dilemma
• Can be incremental through gradual accumulation
of changes to meaning schemes

14. Mezirow’s Early Conception of
the Ten Phases of a Perspective
Transformation

15. Mezirow’s Ideal Conditions for
Discourse (from Habermas)
• Have accurate and complete information
• Be free from coercion and distorting self-
deception
• Be able to weigh evidence and assess
arguments “objectively”
• Be open to alternative points of view and to
care about the way others think and feel

16. Ideal Discourse, continued
• Be able to become critically reflective of assumptions
and their consequences
• Have equal opportunity to participate in the various
roles of discourse
• Be willing to accept an informed, objective, and rational
consensus as a legitimate test of validity until new
perspectives, evidence, or argument are encountered
and established as yielding better judgments.

17. Development in Adulthood
• Mindful learning process
• Phased and transformative
• Meaning clarification through expanded
awareness and reflection
• Movement towards fuller realization of agency

18. Early Critique of Mezirow’s
Theory

19. Mezirow’s Assumptions about
the Education of Adult
Learners
• There is no such thing as a value free
education
• Adult educators are never neutral
• The most insidious effects of power are
when people feel insecure enough not to
have a voice---and therefore do not
participate

20. Role of the Adult Educator
• To support and encourage transformative learning
that creates more inclusive, discriminating, and
integrative perspectives for the adult learner
• How?
• Challenge untested assumptions
• Encourage critical reflection and critical self-reflection
• Create ideal conditions for discourse

21. How viable is Mezirow’s
view of TL in medical
education?
… for the education of physicians?
… for the education of graduate students?