The Question of Self-Esteem:

Does It Affect Academic Performance

and Student Writing?

A Senior Capstone Project Proposal

and

Annotated Bibliography

Wendy R. Weber

Writing 403: Senior Capstone Project

Dr. Stacey Donohue

December 4, 2002

Table of Contents

Introduction......................................................................   3

Review of Research............................................................    5

Capstone Project Prospectus Outline.........................................   9

Proposal Conclusion: Project Work Remaining..............................   11

Annotated Bibliography.........................................................  13

 

Introduction

As a student teacher, I noticed that many middle and high school students don’t want to be in school.  Adolescence is a complex time in a person’s life, with many distractions.  In addition to that, students may have developed a negative self-concept or low self-esteem, believing, “I can’t spell,” or “I’m not a good writer.”  After observing such attitudes I began to wonder how teachers can get beyond those types of barriers to help students become competent writers.  Furthermore, I wondered how much negative self-concepts hinder writing development and what types of pedagogical strategies can help motivate students to progress, regardless of where they are developmentally.

Obviously there are many factors that contribute to a student’s willingness to engage with a teacher or a particular lesson on a level that will yield positive growth.  I am interested in determining exactly what those factors are.  For example, should teachers design different lesson plans for individual students or should teachers group students somehow in order to inspire their best efforts?

I believe that writing skills are crucial to a person’s success in the world; whether it means filling out a job application, writing a job proposal, or creating a work order.  I am curious about what current research says about the importance of writing skills in American society.  And, if writing well is important, why do state test scores continue to decline?  Why don’t kids care and how can teachers inspire them to care more about their education?

It is my hope that through this Capstone Project I will be able to answer some of these questions.  In doing so, I also hope to uncover some of the things teachers inadvertently do that have a negative impact on students’ self-esteem, what they can do instead.  Furthermore, in addition to preventing damage to students' self-esteem, I want to discover what teachers can do to help foster positive self-esteem in their students. 

Review of Research

The theme that is developing through my research is as follows:  Competition, comparisons, and academic failures have negative effects on students' self-esteem, whereas experiencing success and feeling as if they have control in their lives builds self-esteem among students.  However, there is controversy over the issue of self-esteem in the field of education.  Some educators, such as Alfie Kohn, do not believe self-esteem has a great impact on academic success one way or the other.  Programs designed to build self-esteem have not been proven to be any more effective than teachers treating their students with dignity and respect.  I intend to examine all of these issues surrounding self-esteem and its effect on academic performance in this Capstone Project.

In the first section of the paper I will define self-concept and self-esteem and discuss how they develop.  According to Paul S. Kaplan, young children develop a self-concept based on physical and external factors.  For example, a small child might say, “I run fast, like Forest Gump.”  This changes as children get older.  School-age children being to take comparisons seriously.  In addition to the Kaplan text, the essay "Student Self-Esteem and the School System:  Perceptions and Implications" by Cynthia G. Scott, Gerald C. Murray, Carol Mertens, and E. Richard Dustin, is going to be a valuable resource for this section.

In the next section of this research paper I will explore ways students develop positive self-esteem.  Factors related to positive self-esteem include feeling successful and having the opportunity to make choices.  Kaplan says that it is unclear whether high self-esteem has a positive impact on academic performance or whether academic success leads to high self-esteem.  The probability is that the two factors are interrelated.  In the essay "Cognition:  Information Processing," Miles Meyers explains that the best way for students to become successful writers is by doing a lot of writing and reading.  As students become better writers they are likely to feel better about themselves as writers.  Other sources that will be useful in this section of the paper are the essays "Student Self-Esteem and the School System:  Perceptions and Implications" by Cynthia Scott, et al. and "Assessment Crisis:  The Absence of Assessment FOR Learning" by Richard J. Stiggins.

In the third section of this paper I will describe practices that are detrimental to students' self esteem.  Kaplan says a negative self-concept can set a self-fulfilling prophecy in motion, which echo's Stiggins assertion that assessments of learning lead to a sense of hopelessness in some students.  Also, Scott, et al. explain the custodial climate of many schools creates a negative impact on student's self esteem.  Tracking and competitive learning environments, as well as evaluations based on letter grades, foster a sense of failure and lower self-esteem among students in the middle and upper grade levels.  Sadly, declines throughout students’ educational careers (Scott, et al., 286).  In addition to the sources mentioned above, I will refer to Jeannie Oaks' article, "Keeping Track" and the NCTE's report, "Tracked for Failure/Tracked for Success" in this section.  These two papers condemn the practice of ability grouping.

Finally, I will discuss pedagogical strategies that help empower students by giving them choices in their learning in order to make it more meaningful.  The techniques I will discuss also show students they can be successful learners.  Instead of tracking students, teachers like Nancie Atwell advocate teaching writing through the writer’s workshop approach.  In this way each student is given tasks that are appropriate for them as an individual.  Then, evaluation is based on effort and progress, not comparison to other students or to guidelines set by any government agency.  In addition to referring to Atwell's text, In the Middle:  New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning, for this section I will refer to "The Effects of Prior Knowledge and Audience on High School Students' Writing" by John Chesky and Flerieda H. Hiebert, "Writing as a Mode of Learning" by Janet Emig, Language and Reflection: An Integrated Approach to Teaching English by Anne Ruggles Gere, Colleen Fairbands, Alan Howes, Laura Roop, and David Schaafsma, "The Effects of Peer Evaluation on Attitude Toward Writing and Writing Fluency of Ninth Grade Students" by Joyce Katstra, Nona Tollefson, and Edwyna Gilbert, and "The Basic Aims of Discourse" by James E. Kinneavy.

For the conclusion of this paper I will summarize the research findings and restate the benefits of the writer's workshop approach.  I will also reiterate the dangers of ability grouping and urge teachers to discontinue the practice.  Tracking begins in grade school and the effects stay with students throughout their entire educational career.  Hopefully more teachers will understand the negative impact tracking has on students.

Capstone Project Prospectus Outline

The Question of Self-Esteem:

Does it Effect Academic Performance and Student Writing?

I.        Introduction

a.  Self-Concept and the development of Self-Esteem:  In this section I will define self-concept and discuss how children develop theirs.

b.  Self-Esteem:  Here I will define self-esteem, discuss how it is important to school age children, and how it effects academic success or failure.

II.       Ways to Foster Self-Esteem

a.  Allowing students to make choices

b.  Developing Sense of Autonomy Among Students

III.      Factors in the Development of Negative Self-Esteem

a.  Ability Grouping:  I will start by defining ability grouping or tracking and then discuss current research on this controversial practice.

b.  Creating an environment of competition and comparison:  Here I will discuss how school climates can have a negative effect on students' self-esteem.

IV.      Pedagogical Applications

a.  Writer’s Workshop:  Here I will primarily refer to Nancie Atwell's approach to teaching Writing.

b.  Evaluation/Assessment Criteria:  In this section I will make an argument for grading on effort and progress rather than final product.

V.       Conclusion

          a.  Summary of Research

          b.  Restate Dangers of Tracking

Proposal Conclusion:

Project Work Remaining

I still have resources to read and to consider using for this project.  Furthermore, I will be enrolled in Language Arts Methods again next term.  It was in Language Arts Methods that I was introduced to Nancie Atwell's approach.  It is likely that I will learn more useful strategies for teaching writing next term and I want to stay open to the idea that I might be able to incorporate what I learn into this Capstone Project.

I also have to consider whether or not the organizational scheme of this project is effective.  As I put it together I might find that some sections are small and don't warrant their own section or that an idea needs to be developed further and made into its own section. 

In addition to that, I will need to prepare for the oral presentation of this project.  I would like to create either a Front Page web-project or a Power Point presentation.  I need to look into whether or not I can get some space online through COCC for a web-page.  The Power Point option would not be a problem, but I prefer the idea of doing an online project.

Beyond that, I am considering doing some interviews with my mentor teachers.  They often have experience and insight that is useful.  For example, in an online posting in response to a question I asked, Dr. Wolfe from EOU told me that since students are of so many varied levels of development in writing, the best approach is to put them each in their own track.  In other words, rather than reducing tracks and teaching to one group as if all of the students in a class are at one level, you create assignments and lesson plans that enable students to work at their own level.

Annotated Bibliography

Atwell, Nancie.  In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning.  2nd ed.  Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook Publishers, 1998.

Nancie Atwell founded the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in Edgecomb, Maine, in 1990.  She teaches seventh- and eighth-grade reading, writing, and history at CTL.  In this book Atwell describes the evolution her teaching style has undergone.  She now teaches reading and writing workshops.  She begins each class with a mini-lecture, which typically lasts from five to twenty minutes.  The mini-lecture can cover topics ranging from workshop behavior expectations to writing conventions or reading strategies, to thematic evaluations of poetry or short stories, and everything in between.  During the workshop time, student read and write.  They choose their own books to read, they choose their own topics to write on, and their own modes to write in.  Atwell says that the workshop method empowers students and makes their learning meaningful.

This book is going to be an important resource for my capstone project.  I believe that when teachers model their classes after Atwell's workshop approach they are offering their students the best environment for learning.

Berlin, James A.  "Contemporary Composition:  The Major Pedagogical Theories."  Cross-Talk in Comp Theory:  A Reader.  Ed. Victor Villanueva, Jr.  National Council of Teachers of English:  Urbana, 1997.  233-48.

Berthoff, Ann E.  "Is Teaching Still Possible?  Writing, Meaning, and Higher Order Reasoning."  Villanueva.  307-22.

Bizzell, Patricia.  "'Contact Zones' and English Studies."  Villanueva.  735-42.

Brewer, Dominic J., Daniel I. Rees, and Laura M. Argys.  "Detracking America's Schools:  The Reform Without Cost?"  Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues.  Ed. James Wm. Noll.  Guilford: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill, 1997.  264-269.

"Building a Young Child's Self-Esteem."  Building Self Esteem:  27 Nov. 2002.  <http://kidsjustwannahavefun.com/comment4.htm>

This online article tells the story of an incident where a little girl is asked to come up in front of the class.  She thinks the teacher may have asked her up to give her a compliment, the teacher said she "had found out something about the girl and she wanted to tell them about it" (par. 1).  The girl wonders what it could be.  Her mother is ill and she and her sister have been staying with a series of aunts and uncles.  The girl wonders if the teacher wants to compliment her on her appearance, because she had worked hard to get her hair just right.  It turns out the teacher wanted to tell the class that the story she had written was bad and not believable.

This article may not be very useful for this capstone project.  It is obvious in its effort to provoke sympathetic feelings in the reader.  I don't want the readers of this project to feel they have been emotionally manipulated.  That would take away from the credibility of my paper.

Charney, Davida, and John H. Newman.  "'I'm Just No Good at Writing': Epistemological Style and Attitudes Toward Writing."  Written Communication 12.3 (1995):  298-329.

Chesky, John, and Flerieda H. Hiebert.  "The Effects of Prior Knowledge and Audience on High School Students' Writing."  Journal of Educational Research 80.5 (1987): 304-13.

                   This study examined the effects of low- and high-prior knowledge and peer and teacher audiences on high school students' writing.  Students who had high-prior knowledge wrote quantitatively more and qualitatively better.  Audience did not seem to play a factor in the quantity or quality of students' writing. 

This article should have some useful information regarding ideas for creating lesson plans.  One factor that influences effective learning is teaching new concepts that fit into the schema of students’ prior knowledge.  This is an important concept to include in this project.

Delpit, Lisa D.  "The Silenced Dialogue:  Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children."  Villanueva.  565-88.

Emig, Janet.  "Writing as a Mode of Learning."  Villanueva.  7-16.

                   According to Emig, writing and learning share similar attributes which makes writing a very useful way to learn.  Listening and talking are processes that human beings naturally acquire but reading and writing need to be taught.  One similarity between learning and writing has to do with the three "posits" of ways which people "represent and deal with actuality;" enactive, iconic, and symbolic (10).  The process of writing deploys all three of these ways of dealing with actuality.  Furthermore, writing uses both hemispheres of the brain.  When more of the brain is active during the learning process, the more likely it is that learning will be facilitated.  Emig says, "Successful learning is also engaged, committed, personal learning" (12).  Writing is useful as a heuristic because writing and learning both occur at a pace that is appropriate for each individual writer or learner.

                   This article will be very useful to include in my project.  I believe writing should be taught across all disciplines, perhaps Emigs research will help convince other teachers this is true.

Flower, Linda.  "Cognition, Context, and Theory Building."  Villanueva.  701-34.

Gere, Anne Ruggles, Colleen Fairbanks, Alan Howes, Laura Roop, and David Schaafsma.  Language and Reflection: An Integrated Approach to Teaching English.  Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1992. 

Gere, et al. describe the following approaches to teaching language arts to middle and high school students:  the language as artifact approach, the language as development approach, the language as expression approach, and the language as social construct approach.  The authors describe, compare, and evaluate the various apporaches.  They also offer examples of strategies teachers use as they relate to the various approaches.

This is a great resource.  It includes specific lesson plans based on the different approaches.  These lesson plans will be particularly useful to the pedagogical component of this project.

Hairston, Maxine.  "Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing."  Villanueva.  659-76.

Kaplan, Paul S.  A Child's Odyssey:  Child & Adolescent Development.  3rd ed.  Belmont:  Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2000.

Kaplan explains that young children develop a self-concept based on physical characteristics and external factors.  By the time children reach about age 8 this changes; they begin to make comparisons between themselves and others.  At this point, if they are compared negatively to others, they may develop a defeatist attitude.  On the other hand, when children experience successes they develop what Erickson called a sense of industry, "The sense that their work and efforts are valued" (421).  Children with a sense of industry develop positive self-esteem.  When children experience failure they develop a sense of inferiority.

A Child's Odyssey has been a useful resource to begin with.  I have referred primarily to a section titled, "'How I See Myself': The Self-Concept and Self-Esteem" (419-424).  It offers introductions to everything involved in child development.  From this text I found other sources to use in order to get a more complete understanding of the issues this capstone project deals with.

Katstra, Joyce, Nona Tollefson, and Edwyna Gilbert.  "The Effects of Peer Evaluation on Attitude Toward Writing and Writing Fluency of Ninth Grade Students." Journal of Educational Research 80.3 (1987):  168-72.

                   This paper describes a study that was designed to measure the effects peer evaluations had on students' attitudes toward writing and on the fluency of their writing.  The results supported the hypothesis that peer evaluations would have a positive influence on attitudes toward writing.  It also helped alleviate some of the fears students had about writing.  Peer evaluations did not increase writing fluency, but that may be because the papers students produced were "tightened," or, in other words, second drafts had a decrease in word count.

                   This article advocates peer evaluations as a useful pedagogical tool for middle and high school writing teachers.  I believe peer evaluations help the writer as well as the evaluator.  Other research suggests that self evaluations are an important component in helping students become more proficient writers.

Kinneavy, James E.  "The Basic Aims of Discourse."  Villanueva.  107-118.

                   Kinneavy describes some of the basic aims of discourse and offers a useful diagram showing "The basic purposes of composition" (113).  Kinneavy explains how different modes relate specifically to each of the four purposes.  The four modes include expressive, referential, literary, and persuasive.  He further explains how expressive compositions relate to the encoder (writer), persuasive compositions relate to the decoder (reader), reality compositions have to do with technical types of works (referential), and literary works are artistic in nature or have entertainment value.

                   Kinneavy says, "no composition program can afford to neglect any of these basic aims of discourse" (115).  He is adamant in his argument that all of the modes need to be taught and he says, "My plea is simply for a preservation of the liberal arts tradition with composition as the foundation stone" (116).

Kohn, Alfie.  "The Truth About Self-Esteem."  Phi Delta Kappan 76.4 (1994).  EBSCOhost.

Myers, Greg.  "Reality, Consensus, and Reform in the Rhetoric."  Villanueva.  415-38.

Myers, Miles.  "Cognition:  Information Processing."  The Teacher-Researcher:  How to Study Writing in the Classroom.  National Council of Teachers of English:  Urbana, 1985.  71-88.

                   In this chapter, Myers explains Piaget's cognitive perspective.  This theory says that language learning is affected by the external world and by internal cognitive structures.  A developing writer's thoughts enable him or her to develop hypotheses about what will come next in their text.  It's a mental representation or a writing plan.  Theories about internal plans, or cognitive procedures, are called metacognition.  Meyers explains that research indicates some writing skills are automatic and some require attention.  Furthermore, there are different stages for developing these skills.  Meyers says, "Students who have difficulty encoding letters automatically will not have adequate attention capacity to integrate large blocks of meaning into text" (72).  For these students, practicing writing can improve "automaticity."

                   This article encourages teachers to use fluency exercises, such as free-writing, or journaling because they help writers "increase the size of the units that the writer is able to process automatically" (74) and that "correctness" should be de-emphasized.  On the other hand, if a writer is at a level of development in which concerns about spelling and other matters of small-unit correctness are appropriate, practicing writing with these goals in mind will help the writer "increase the allocation of attention capacity to small units" (74).  No matter where a student lies on a continuum of writing proficiency, writing will help that student develop into a stronger writer and this article will be useful for the pedagogical component of my paper.

Murray, Donald M.  "Teach Writing as a Process not Product."  Villanueva.  3-6.

Oakes, Jeannie.  "Keeping Track."  Noll 254-263.

Oaks is adamantly opposed to tracking.  In this article she defines tracking, explains assumptions about it and describes the reasons tracking continues to be used in the schools.  Oaks explains that the assumptions people have about ability grouping are wrong and misleading.  Furthermore, she asserts the majority of children put into the low-tracks are minorities and poor.  Therefore, tracking is not only ineffective, it is harmful and biased.

This is a very thorough article and I will be able to use many of Oakes' points to support my argument that tracking is damaging to students' self-esteem.

Rose, Mike.  "The Language of Exclusion:  Writing Instruction at the University."  Villanueva.  525-48.

Scott, Cynthia G., Gerald C. Murray, Carol Mertens, and E. Richard Dustin.  "Student Self-Esteem and the School System:  Perceptions and Implications."  The Journal of Educational Research 89.5 (1996):  286-293.

Scott, et al. define the difference between self-concept and self-esteem in this article.  They explain that the biggest influences on children's self-esteem are family, peers, and teachers.  One statistic that comes out in this article is of a 1991 report that showed that 89% of kindergarten students had high self-esteem, 20% of fifth-grade students had high self-esteem, 5% of high school students had high self-esteem, and only 2% of college graduates had high self-esteem.  On of the reasons self-esteem declines during the school years is the "emphasis on external evaluation for achievement that is common in school systems" (286).  Scott, et al. discuss school climate and the impact of teachers of self-esteem.

This is going to be an important article to include as a resource for this paper.  The information presented is difficult to dispute.  Scott, et al. conducted a study which yielded significant data regarding perceptions of the impact of school personnel on student self-esteem.

Stiggins, Richard J.  "Assessment Crisis:  The Absence of Assessment FOR Learning."  Phi Delta Kapan.  June 2002:  758-765.

According to Stiggins our school teachers only test students on information they were presented.  Teachers would be doing a better service to students if they used assessment to help students want to learn and find out what they need in order to learn.  He writes, "Tests, ostensibly developed to 'leave no student behind,' are in fact causing major segments of our student population to be left behind because the tests cause many to give up in hopelessness" (759).  Stiggins asserts assessment for learning helps students become more confident learners because they begin to experience success.  Unfortunately Stiggins says teachers are under-trained in the area of assessment for learning.

One of the themes that keeps coming up in my research is that success breeds motivation.  This article will be useful in explaining why we don't see more motivated students in the middle and high schools.  It also offers an action plan and hopefully will inspire teachers, new and old alike, to implement some of his ideas about assessment for learning.

"Tracked for Failure/Tracked for Success."  NCTE Positions and Guidelines.  National Council of Teachers of English.  23 Oct. 2002.  <http://www.ncte.org/positions/tracked.shtml>.

The NCTE is involved in a campaign against, "testing practices and programs which, masquerading as improved education for all children, actually result in the segregation and tracking of students, thus denying them equal education opportunities" (par. 1).  In this paper several people comment on the practice of tracking.  For example, Robert E. Slavin said, "The fact that African American, Hispanic, and low socioeconomic student in general wind up so often in low tracks is repugnant on its face" (par. 9).

This article will be another useful resource.  The experts represented have passionate opinions against the practice of tracking.  Their words will help make this project more persuasive.