Freire和Illich有很多重要的理論思想對成人教育發展有深刻影響，本文即針對這兩位學者的主要思想進行探究分析，並陳述其教育思想帶給成人教育之啟示與貢獻。 Freire主張教育在開展人性，知識應該與民眾生活相結合，而且知識來自日常生活的非正式教育；在教育實踐方面，他以對話教育實踐教育民主化，以社區情感作為教育與信任的基礎，Freire的識字教育更是為當前各國所引用，他的教育思想與實踐，為成人教育帶來重大的貢獻。 Illich同樣重視非正式教育，而且主張學習者具有自主性與自由，學校不等於教育，「教」與，「學」應該多元化，這都是當今成人教育的精神所在，而且Illich將社區網絡視為重要的學習資源，在他的四個教育網絡中，成人教育所倡導的終身學習社會，其雛型早已隱然成型，這是Illich的教育思想帶給成人教育的啟示與貢獻。

Freire and Illich made lots of important theoretical thought that have had a considerable impact on the development of adult education. This paper explores the main idea of their educational thought, also states their implication and contribution in adult education. Freire maintained that education is for humanization development. He said knowledge is combined with people's lives and comes from informal education of daily life. He emphasized on dialogue and practiced education democratilization by 'problem-posing' education. He regarded community's emotion as the foundation of educating and believing in. Above all his literacy education is continuously followed by countries. Freire's educational thought and practice, bring great contribution to adult education. Illich also emphasized on informal education, and maintained the learner has independence and freedom. He stated school isn't equal to education. The way of 'teaching' and 'learning' should be diverse. Above thought is the spirit of adult education. Also, Illich regards community's network as the important education resource. The model of lifelong learning society that adult education advocates and emerged in his four education networks. Illich's educational thought brought enlightenment and contribution to adult education, too.