Judith-- an interesting take on the literacy and self-esteem issue--and 
one I do not think was intended in this discussion.  Literacy in 
English as opposed to no literacy at all are rather different 
situations.  Of course it boosts an English learner's self esteem in 
the language learning and use situation when their English improves, 
but I do not think it is wise to make this analogous to self esteem 
issues of those who have never gained literacy in their native language 
and have remained, perhaps, marginalized as a result.     Robin Lovrien 
Schwarz

-----Original Message-----
From: j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 10:26 AM
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
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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