Some comments of what I've noticed in 30 plus years of teaching adults.


1)      Many gang members have noticeable low self esteem

2)      Many people who are incarcerated have low self esteem/self worth
issues

Have you all noticed this?

Va

________________________________

From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Judith Sinclair
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 8:26 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 483] Re: Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?

 

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: j-p-sinclair at att.net
www.sinclairsystem.com

 

 

 

 

----- Original Message ----- 

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

	To: 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.
	
	

	 

	
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