SelfStudy
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Self-Study Among Adult Learners
Clare Strawn's presentation on Self-Study Among Adult Learners, made me think about some things, and generated some interesting discussion.
First, what is self-study? If I understood correctly, the question was asked without providing a definition, so the definition was whatever the person thought it was. If I read a magazine article, is that self-study? If I do some research on the car I want to buy using the Internet, is that self-study? If I read a book, or seek out a friend or even a stranger who is knowledgeable about something I want to know about, or make some phone calls to get information, is that self-study? If I get together with a group of people to study, for example, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, but there is no leader and no one gets paid to be there, is that self-study? In the broadest definition, we are all studying all the time. We are constantly absorbing and processing information about our environment, our life, the people around us.
So we pick out a little sub-set of all this learning and define it as basic skills - reading, writing, math, critical thinking, etc. What the study tells us is that formal adult education is a subset of that. Adults have a variety of ways of learning to read and write better, and adult education or literacy education is just one of them.
- David Rosen replied: Marian, I had the same question, so I asked Clare at lunch on Saturday what she could tell me about what self study means in this context. She said that she didn't have a clear picture but that there were some graduate students who were finishing a qualitative study now that addressed that question. So we may have an answer sometime soon.
One implication cited is that adult education programs should be promoting self-study more, and providing effective ways of doing it. It would be interesting to survey a class about self-study practices, talk about how effective the different approaches were, and maybe determine that some approaches might be more effective than others. I'm interested in promoting use of the Internet as a self-study tool.
If our learners had a wiki where they could discuss and add information about a topic they were interested in, and worked on it outside of class, would that be self-study? Is this a new form for a book group or a philosophical discussion over a cup of coffee? Once they got started, could other classes from other schools, regions, states or countries be invited to participate? How would they pick the initial topic? How much teacher participation should there be, if any?
There was a lot of discussion about Wikis at TESOL a couple of years ago, but last year I didn't hear anything about them. What does that mean, if anything?
One other question - does anyone else have the feeling that maybe self-study is something we should mind our own business about? People have lots of ways of learning things that don't involve teachers, and that's just as it should be. I wouldn't want to have to take a standardized assessment every time I spend 40 hours trying to learn about something that I need to know!
Other thoughts and comments?
Marian Thacher
12/10/04
12/11/04
The most remarkable things about this study may be:
- as far as I know it's the only long-term study we have, and
- the participation rate is 90%.
This is phenomenal, and according to Clare they get this by being clear that they are determined to have a high participation rate, paying people for their time, staying in touch -- I think every three months -- checking databases of information for those who don't respond,chasing after people. I believe Clare is writing about the strategies they have used. That should be interesting once it's available.
David J. Rosen
Steve Reder, who has been conducting the study with Clare Strawn, provided some clarification on the self study in a message to the NIFL-FOBASICS list. I have highlighted in bold a description which Steve gave of the study.
From: reders@pdx.edu Subject: [NIFL-FOBASICS:1335] Re: Fear of Finishing Date: March 24, 2005 5:44:00 PM EST To: nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov
Cindy, Terrence, Ujwala and everyone,
Barb Garner has forwarded your recent messages. I'm sorry it's hard to reach me this year while I'm away, I just haven't been following email as closely as I normally do.
On my sabbatical, I'm trying to write up findings from our ongoing Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning (LSAL). I'm not sure how helpful I can be in answering Cindy's very interesting question, but I'll tell you what we know so far.
Let me start with just a bit of background information about LSAL. LSAL is a NCSALL project that has been closely following a population of high school dropouts over a long period of time (6 years so far). Many have participated in ABE/GED programs, many others have not. Many of those who have not gone to programs have still worked independently to try to improve their basic skills and prepare for the GED. Overall, about 25% have already received their GED, and many more have passed some but not yet all of the tests.
Within the population LSAL is following, we see a fragmented pattern of participation in programs and GED test-taking. Over time, some students move from one program to another, take some tests, maybe wait a while, then take more tests. From the vantage point of a single program, some students may seem to "disappear" as Cindy describes even though they actually continue to work towards the GED on their own or through another program.
At the same time, we know from interviews that some adults do have fears related to the GED, as Cindy suspects. We have heard a variety of fears described. Some have to do with test-taking in general, fear of failing, and so forth. Some of these are associated with particular subjects/tests such as math or writing. Some people are fearful of failing (to pass a test), and others are indeed, as Cindy mentioned, fearful of succeeding because of uncertainties about what follows next.
I believe others have written about techniques for helping adult learners deal with fears about particular subject matter like math and writing. Others on the list may have specific recommendations. With respect to helping learners deal with more diffuse fears of failing or of succeeding, I would be interested in what others have to say or suggest. It does seem that connecting counseling and advising services with basic skills instruction is an important direction for our field.
Hope this helps a bit. We'll announce LSAL publications here as they become available.
-Steve Reder
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