Although there may be a relationship between 
adult literacy and self-esteem, it is important 
to note that the subjects of the study were adult 
literacy students, a select 
population.  Nationally, only about 8% of those 
eligible for adult literacy attend programs.  It 
may be that low-literates with the lowest self-esteem simply do not attend.



At 11:26 AM 9/25/2006, you wrote:

>Hello, All:

>

>With great interest I am reading and learning 

>from the postings, including Ms. Lipnevich, 

>regarding the community's perception of the 

>relationship of self-esteem to literacy.  I 

>would like to add my own experience.  For many 

>years I have worked as a teacher, tutor, and 

>advocate with people of all ages and 

>backgrounds, in groups and in individual 

>consultation, who are struggling in some way 

>with issues of literacy.  Sometimes they are new 

>arrivals to the USA, with English language 

>skills ranging from emergent through expert.  At 

>other times they are long time residents or 

>citizens of this country, and again with varying 

>degrees of American English language 

>accomplishment.  And sometimes they are 

>native-born Americans, who struggle with our 

>language in some way, from the basics to a more 

>advanced understanding.  From the onset of this 

>work it was my idea that there was a direct 

>relationship between self-esteem and literacy.

>

>During my years in graduate school, I remained 

>interested in the relationship between 

>self-esteem and literacy, yet found in my 

>research and that of others that opinions 

>regarding this relationship widely varied. 

>Nevertheless, from my own ongoing work including 

>my final research and dissertation I found again 

>that there was a direct relationship between 

>self-esteem and literacy, and that this 

>relationship existed across all populations, cultures, and ages.

>

>Now, as a practicing cognitive psychologist and 

>educator, and as a life and career management 

>services consultant, with more experienced and 

>education gained, I have found no instance where 

>these two variables are not present in some 

>critical relationship, at least to some 

>degree.  The evidence of this relationship 

>presents in a variety of forms, and with a 

>variety of forces: economic, social, political, 

>cultural, and so on.  The presentation may be 

>explicit, in that my client(s) tell me and 

>demonstrate that they have low self esteem, or 

>implicit, but there is, in my opinion, always 

>evidence for this relationship. The evidence 

>also takes many forms, but most simply can be 

>seen in their change of self-perspective as they 

>improve their communication and English language 

>skills and go on to accomplish their goals.  The 

>model that I have established for my practice is 

>also based to some degree on this idea: that 

>there is a direct relationship between self-esteem and literacy.

>

>Low literacy denies to people of all ages and 

>backgrounds many aspects of life and career 

>management.  Moderate-to-high literacy allows 

>people to negotiate American society's processes 

>and institutions with at least some quantifiable 

>measure of success.  Are there other variables 

>that assist in determining life and career 

>success?  Of course, and they are integrated 

>into my own practice, and reviewed in my other 

>professiorial activities.  But the relationship 

>does exist, and occurs in my experience with many people over many years.

>

>Thanks for providing this forum. I enjoy the 

>discussions and hope to hear from anyone interested.

>

>Judith Sinclair, PhD

>Cognitive Psychologist & Educator

>Life & Career Management Services Consultant

>The Sinclair Center

>3003 Van Ness Street NW

>Suite 411 West

>Washington, DC  20008

>Phone: 202-364-3893

>Mobile: 202-236-9822

>email: <mailto:j-p-sinclair at att.net>j-p-sinclair at att.net

>www.sinclairsystem.com

>

>

>

>

>----- Original Message -----

>From: <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>Anastasiya A. Lipnevich

>To: <mailto:focusonbasics at nifl.gov>focusonbasics at nifl.gov

>Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 4:15 PM

>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 480] Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?

>

>Dear All,

>

>First of all, I would like to thank everyone for 

>very insightful comments concerning issues 

>addressed in the article. I was very pleased 

>that my work sparked such a lively discussion. 

>As I noted in the paper, I did expect some 

>skepticism since the findings run counter to 

>what seems to be a commonly accepted belief in 

>the field. I will try to dissolve it to the best 

>of my ability; it is not my main goal, 

>however.  Let me quickly describe the premises 

>of the research and what these findings mean to me.

>

>  Since my very first encounter with the adult 

> literacy literature, I noticed that many 

> writers had described adult basic education 

> learners as having detrimentally low self 

> esteem. Similarly, many researchers showed that 

> teachers saw their role as that of raising 

> students self esteem. Being a student in an 

> educational psychology program with a heavy 

> emphasis on statistics, I always seek empirical 

> evidence for every claim made. In the case of 

> adult literacy students’ low self esteem, I 

> found none. Therefore, I suggested conducting a 

> study that would shed some light on the matter. 

> This study was going to be a part of a larger 

> study, so it was decided to administer a 

> self-esteem questionnaire along with other measures.

>

>  I agree with those of you who pointed at the 

> possible flaws of the self-report. Ideally, I 

> would back up my findings with other methods 

> (e.g. interviews, observations). In case 

> converging results are found, such 

> triangulation would solidify my conclusions. I 

> haven’t gotten to it quite yet. However, 

> careful construction of the questionnaire under 

> the supervision of savvy adult education 

> researchers and good psychometric 

> characteristics of the measure suggest that 

> this way of measuring self-esteem is at the 

> very least acceptable. Students seem to have 

> provided meaningful answers to the questions.

>

>  I do agree that self-esteem is influenced by 

> many variables, e.g. economic status. This is 

> an important factor to consider, but it doesn’t 

> change the way we interpret the findings. In 

> psychological research, we measure self-esteem, 

> motivation, self-regulation and what not, 

> keeping in mind that they do not operate in 

> isolation. However, it does give us useful 

> information about the level of certain 

> phenomena and helps us refine ways we interact 

> with our students. Therefore, I do not 

> necessarily see why difficulty with measuring 

> self-esteem should deter us from doing it.

>

>  For those of you who wondered why PhD students 

> were chosen for comparison, here is my 

> rationale. In the absence of self-esteem norms 

> for the adult students’ population, I needed a 

> comparison group. PhD students are similar to 

> adult learners in that they have voluntarily 

> enrolled in their respective educational 

> programs. Even though doctoral students and 

> adult learners are at different educational 

> levels, they had to believe they could succeed 

> when they joined the program and they may have 

> the same doubts about their potential success 

> as they progress in the program. Additionally, 

> societal views on PhD and adult literacy 

> students as being a sea apart on the SE vector 

> served as a good concurrent validity estimate.

>

>  Having found no differences, Hal Beder and I 

> concluded that those who work with adult basic 

> education students should reevaluate any 

> preconceived notions they may have about their 

> students. Adult learners need no more praise 

> than PhD students, and teachers’ focus should 

> be on helping learners acquire skills, 

> strategies and knowledge, rather than working 

> on the elusive goal of raising self-esteem. 

> Again, my findings do not mean that adult 

> students have high SE – it means only that they 

> do not differ from PhD students in the levels they have.

>

>  Having said this, I am looking forward to your 

> comments. I will try to address your comments 

> every night – my schedule prevents me from 

> doing it more often. Thank you so much!

>

>Ana Lipnevich.

>

>

>----------

>----------------------------------------------------

>National Institute for Literacy

>Focus on Basics mailing list

>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov

>To unsubscribe or change your subscription 

>settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics

>

>----------------------------------------------------

>National Institute for Literacy

>Focus on Basics mailing list

>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov

>To unsubscribe or change your subscription 

>settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics


Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213