Research Trends in Studies on Adult Literacy Learners in South Korea: Focusing on the Multidimensional Meanings of Literacy Learning

Abstract

This study aims to identify the general trends in research on adult literacy learners in South Korea and to examine, from the perspective of an expanded notion of literacy, the multidimensional meanings of literacy learning addressed in prior studies. For this purpose, 46 articles on adult literacy learners published in KCI-listed journals between 2008 and 2025 were selected, and their general trends and the meanings of literacy learning were analyzed. The results show that research on adult literacy learners emerged in academic journals in 2008, in step with the institutionalization of literacy education, and was most actively published in 2021 and 2022. The studies were concentrated in the social sciences, particularly in education; qualitative research accounted for more than half of them (58.7%); and the dominant research topics were learning participation and learning outcomes, with elderly women constituting the primary research subjects. The analysis of meaning dimensions revealed that most studies reported two or more dimensions in combination, confirming that the meaning of literacy learning is not confined to a single dimension. However, the frequency of each dimension—emotional (41), social (27), cognitive (25), and existential (12)—showed that the meanings captured in research on adult literacy learners have been concentrated in the emotional dimension. Based on these findings, this study suggests that future research on adult literacy learners should be expanded to address learner diversity and the multidimensional meanings of literacy learning in a more balanced manner.