Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Women Of African Descent: Persistence In Completing A Doctorate, Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

This study examines the educational persistence of women of African descent (WOAD) in pursuit of a doctorate degree at universities in the southeastern United States. WOAD are women of African ancestry born outside the African continent. These women are heirs to an inner dogged determination and spirit to survive despite all odds (Pulliam, 2003, p. 337).This study used Ellis’s (1997) Three Stages for Graduate Student Development as the conceptual framework to examine the persistent strategies used by these women to persist to the completion of their studies.

An Examination Of Mature Interpersonal Relationships Among International And American College Students, Bona Aidoo

Dissertations

Educating students to relate harmoniously with people from different backgrounds has become an important agenda for student affairs professional because of the increasingly diverse nature of the American society. The purpose of this study was to assess how American and international college students develop mature interpersonal relationship skills. All the participants were from a mid-sized comprehensive institution in the Southern United States. The two main constructs measured were tolerance and quality of relationships. Attempts were also made to identify other predictors that may influence mature interpersonal relationships: gender, age, educational level, and academic achievement as measured by GPA. Both quantitative …

American Ways: A Course In Contemporary U.S. Culture For International Students, Christopher D. Fitch

Capstone Collection

International student populations are increasing in large proportions at universities across the United States. The onset of culture shock and difficulty communicating and relating with their new peers compounds an already difficult situation. Universities and colleges need a method to accommodate these students and help facilitate their transitions into a completely new academic and social environment.

“American Ways: A course on Contemporary American Culture for International Students” is a semester-long university level course designed to give knowledge and understanding of “American” culture to international students attending U.S. higher education institutions. It will cover topics surrounding U.S. culture that …

Mapping The Contact Zone: A Case Study Of An Integrated Chinese And Canadian Literacy Curriculum In A Secondary Transnational Education Program In China, Zheng Zhang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This case study using ethnographic tools was conducted in an Ontario transnational education (TNE) program in China where Ontario secondary school curricula were integrated with the Chinese national curricula. Curricula are seen by TNE researchers as key to successful TNE programs (e.g., Hughes & Urasa, 1997). However, little is known about how literacy-related curricula are exported across borders and what happens with them in local contexts. The study investigated how literacy was conceived and practiced at the various levels of curriculum at the elite secondary school (Pseudonym: SCS), namely, intended, implemented, lived, hidden, and null curriculum.

The theoretical tools of …

La Disciplina Y Los Procesos De La Enseñanza Y El Aprendizaje: Una Visión De Los Enfoques Hacia La Disciplina, La Enseñanza Y El Aprendizaje Basada En Las Observaciones De Una Escuela Concertada En Granada, Andalucía, Anna Lau

Spain: Language, Community, and Social Change

For my community service project, I worked as an English teacher at the Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, a charter school in the neighborhood of Realejo in Granada. My primary contact at the school was a professor, José Guerrero, who is also head of the school’s English department, among many of his other roles. He assigned me to work with a group of 16-year-olds one day per week, and 7-year olds on another. With the older students, I presented a different aspect of American culture at each meeting, after which I asked them to share their own traditions. With …

Are Teacher Education Programs Failing The Nation’S Urban Schools? A Closer Look At Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Working With Inner-City Students, Servet Celik

Servet Celik

To address the issue of pre-service teachers being under-prepared for work in multicultural and impoverished environments in America’s urban schools, teacher education programs have taken steps to improve diversity-oriented curricula and provide relevant fieldwork experience. However, research indicates that a large proportion of teacher candidates still do not have the necessary skills to deal with students from divergent upbringings. This interpretive study investigated the beliefs of pre-service teachers about urban students and how well their teacher education programs are addressing the issues of working in inner-city schools. The results revealed that, although some progress has been made, a significant gap …

Educando Para El Futuro Mapuche: Un Estudio De Caso De La Enseñanza Intercultural En Nivel Media En La Ix Región De Chile, Henry Edelstein

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este estudio se trata de la educación intercultural en un liceo técnico de la novena región de Chile. Analiza la educación como una herramienta de la preservación y revitalización de la cultura mapuche. El proyecto intenta buscar una respuesta a la pregunta de si se puede educar a los jóvenes para que adquieran una identidad clara mapuche con que puedan vivir en el mundo globalizado. Se usa métodos de observación, y los hallazgos muestran mucho sobre los éxitos, desafíos, y métodos utilizados en el liceo. Además ofrecen opiniones variadas sobre las posibilidades de aplicación del modelo de este liceo a …

Newsletter Fall 2012, Grant Center For International Education

Grant Center Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Finding Hope In The Darkness: Stories Of Two Chinese Newcomers Enrolled In A Canadian High School, Yi Li, Denise J. Larsen

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

Hope has been described as the ability to envision a future in which one wishes to participate. A burgeoning body of research consistently points to the vital role hope plays in learning and successful change. Employing narrative inquiry (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000), in this paper, we explore two Chinese newcomer students’ stories of hope as they face the many challenges of undertaking a Canadian education. Findings indicate the value of communicating teachers’ belief in students, making hope more visible by inviting students to tell their stories of hope, and understanding hope as a process that evolves as students’ lives unfold.

Sociological Perspectives On Ethnicity And Education In China: Views From Chinese And English Literatures, Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, Emily C. Hannum, Chunping Lu

Emily C. Hannum

This paper reviews Chinese- and English-language literature on ethnic minorities and education in China. Six major research topics emerge from the Chinese-language research: (1) Marxism and ethnic minority education; (2) patriotism and national unity in education for ethnic minority students; (3) multicultural education; (4) determinants of ethnic differences in education; (5) school facilities and teacher quality; and (6) preferential / affirmative action policies. Four research themes are identified from the English-language literature: (1) policy overviews; (2) education and ethnic identity; (3) incentives and disincentives for buy-in to the education system; and (4) educational stratification. The majority of quantitative research from …

Office Of Multicultural Affairs (Oma) / Office Of Intercultural Student Engagement (Ise) Annual Report 2011-2012, Intercultural Student Engagement Office, Anthony Johnson

Intercultural Student Engagement (ISE) Annual Reports

This Annual Report 2011-2012 marks the transition and renaming of the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) to the expanded Office of Intercultural Student Engagement (ISE). This expansion brought to ISE the Office of International Student Services (OISS) and a diversity coordinator- a new position focusing on underserved student communities including LGBTQ, religious/spiritual, and first generation to college. These important shifts and incredible staff members have poised the office and RISD to respond more broadly and deeply to the needs, hopes, and development of our collective student body. The ISE 2011-2012 Annual Report is a year in review containing a message …

Road Scholar Service-Learning Corps: Reflection And Reciprocity In Rajasthan, India, Lezlie R. Weber

Capstone Collection

Road Scholar (RS) is the name for the programs developed and offered by Elderhostel, Inc., the not-for-profit leader in lifelong learning since 1975. RS inspires adults to learn, discover and travel (Road Scholar, 2012). Currently, RS is in the process of launching five new service-learning programs over the next two years. Road Scholar runs five different programs yearly to India; of the current programs offered there is no service-learning component throughout any of the programs. The specific location in India was chosen due to the need for an additional English teacher at the public school. There are a growing number …

Internationalization Of K-12 Schools Through The Eyes Of Public School Principals, Megan M. Landwehr

Capstone Collection

Today’s teacher education students have more opportunities than ever to incorporate study abroad into their degree and licensure requirements. This Capstone examines the value that public school principals place on internationalization, especially when it comes to hiring teachers. I approached this qualitative study utilizing action research through case studies. Data was gathered by conducting six in-depth interviews. Of these, three are current principals and three have been principals their entire careers and are now retired. The main research question is; what value do principals in Wake County, North Carolina place on global competence of teacher job applicants? The findings answer …

Wmu International News Spring 2012, Haenicke Institute For Global Education

WMU International News

In this issue:

• Globally engaged aviation program helps developing countries spread wings
• Homeland development key outcome for Afghan degree-seeker
• German-born American new CELCIS activities coordinator
• Growing global programs is key mission for WMU international administrator
• Georgian tennis ace scores on and off the court
• International activity converges in Global Business Center

Newsletter Spring 2012, Grant Center For International Education

Grant Center Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Community Perspectives- How Study Abroad With Service Learning Impacts The Locals, Sarah J. Delcambre

Capstone Collection

This case study focuses on the community perspectives of homestay families, partner organizations, and local program staff that collaborated with Xplore USA Summer Language Adventure Camps in the Summer of 2011, in Asheville, North Carolina. The researcher focused on the service work aspect of the Xplore programming, and its impact on the local community via the local community’s perspective, to inform the reader of an underexplored subject. Interviews and survey results showed that the volunteer service projects performed by Xplore students and their local brothers and sisters were perceived as beneficial by an overwhelming majority of all local parties concerned: …

Challenges In The Land Of Hope: Phoenix Area Refugees And The Recession, Valerie E. Nightingale

Capstone Collection

Refugees in the United States today have greater access than ever to training programs and specialized service providers who assist with cultural adjustment to the U.S. as well as pre-employment training, job placement and retention services. Service providers develop job opportunities in the local community through partnerships with dedicated employers who see value in hiring new Americans and purpose in collaborating with voluntary agencies to overcome barriers for employees. During the recession there has been greater challenges for employment specialists to find employment for refugee clients and employers have noted some reluctance in hiring employees with low or non-existent English …

Building International Partnerships: Country To Country, School To School, Doyle Brinson Dr.

NALS Journal

Creating effective, meaningful international partnerships is a major component of a comprehensive education for today’s students. Knowledge of different cultures and perspectives provides a richer and deeper educational experience for students growing up in a world brought closer together through modern technology and up to the minute communications. University School at East Tennessee State University and Colegio Americano from Guayaquil, Ecuador are two schools who embraced the myriad of challenges that accompany the process and have successfully established a global partnership that has provided for each school opportunities to visit one another, share ideas and establish friendships and relationships between …

Consulting Cultural Informants: A Look At The Extent To Which Students Use Informants And Other Strategies To Learn From Their International Experiences, William Scott Leroy

Capstone Collection

This study explores the extent to which students from the United States consult with cultural informants while abroad when experiencing what Taylor (1994a, 1994b) refers to as “cultural disequilibrium”. The study also explores how this strategy compares to other learning strategies and which informants students most frequently consult.

Two research methods were used: a survey of 85 students who recently returned from an international program and interviews with nine students from the same sample. The survey sought to explore strategies students employ when facing cultural disequilibrium while the interviews aimed at uncovering why students preferred some learning strategies over others. …

Strengthening The Education Management Information System (Emis) In Tanzania: Government Actors’ Perceptions About Enhancing Local Capacity For Information-Based Policy Reforms, Assela M. Luena

Master's Capstone Projects

Strengthening the Education Management Information System (EMIS) in Tanzania is an important task, as the government needs quality data and information to support the creation of sound policies, making plans and managing educational resources. Well-functioning EMIS can ensure achievement of national goals to provide quality education, which is the basis for facilitating economic growth and sustainable development. The government also needs quality data and information in order to enhance monitoring and evaluation of the education sectors’ performance and ensure the right direction for achieving the intended goals and objectives.

Creating a sustainable and efficient EMIS is a challenge that requires …

Contemplative Education: How Contemplative Practices Can Support And Improve Education, Judith Johannes

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to explore how contemplative education can have a viable role in education. In the first part of this thesis I will share my own personal experience with contemplative practices and how they led to my personal growth and transformation.

The second part will give some brief insights about the benefits the ancient wisdom traditions Hinduism and Buddhism attributed to contemplative practices. They claim that those practices help to reach a state of expanded awareness and stillness of the mind. Contemplative practices such as mindfulness, which is a Buddhist meditation technique, were used to better …

Assessing And Instilling Hopefulness: A Case Study Of Swazi Youth, Connie Titone Dr., Laura Stefanik, Robert Mcnamara

connie titone

Hopefulness is a critical quality of human beings that provides us with the capacity to set goals and overcome adversity in the pursuit of those goals. Likewise, successful achievement of goals sustains hopefulness. High levels of hope can therefore positively affect a student’s education. The psychologist C.R. Snyder, a leading researcher of hope theory, developed the Children’s Hope Scale (CHS) to assess and analyze the state of hopefulness in children ages 8-17. This study expands on Snyder’s data by analyzing the results of the CHS administered to 38 students at an orphanage in Swaziland. The results presented here show that …

Reclaiming And Re-Visioning Indigenous Voices: The Case Of The Language, Edward Shizha

Edward Shizha

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of teaching science to rural primary school students using a second language (English) in Zimbabwe. The study also investigated the opinions and attitudes of primary school teachers toward teaching science using an indigenous language (chiShona). Qualitative data was collected using twenty classroom observations and interviews with ten purposely selected primary school teachers. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis. The findings revealed institutional and attitudinal barriers to using chiShona as a language of instruction in science teaching and learning. The results also showed that some teachers frustrate and silence students’ …

The Arabic Language: A Sociolinguistic Study, Ahlam Alfouaim

Ahlam Alfouaim

It is very true that bilingualism boosts ones’ cognitive skills and increases ones’ executive system. A bilingual brain has the privileges to process languages and, sometimes, code switch unconsciously. Many bilingual speakers including ESL learners focus only on understanding and analyzing the target language, leaving behind understanding and embracing their own native language. The need to make a conscious sense of how we speak our native language, how others speak it, and how it is different or similar to other language varieties, is somehow misinterpreted. In other word, understanding ones’ mother tongue is vital for the progress of acquiring a …

The Critical Language Awareness Impact On Language Variation, Ahlam Alfouaim

Ahlam Alfouaim

The ideology of Critical Language Awareness is an integral part of any successful language education system. This area of specialization has played an important role in the development of sociolinguistics study. CLA expands substantially over a wide range of factors including language acquisition and variety, as well as human identity factors. Before diving into critical language awareness studies and its wide practices, the definition of CLA, according to Fiarcough, includes “how language conventions and language practices are invested with power relations and ideological process which people are often unaware of” (205). That is, language is not only a mean of …

Assessing The Relationship Between Intercultural Competence And Leadership Styles: An Empirical Study Of International Fulbright Students In The U.S., Chris Taylor Cartwright

Dissertations and Theses

As U.S. higher education institutions strive to educate students to meet the needs of an increasingly complex world, there is great importance in studying the interplay between leadership and culture to enhance preparation of global-ready graduates. This inquiry examines the relationship between intercultural competence and leadership styles. The construct of intercultural competence focuses on effectiveness in engaging people across cultural differences, while the construct of leadership style or "connective leadership" focuses on the achieving styles employed to engage diverse followers. The Fulbright International Student Program offers an unparalleled opportunity to examine the dynamic interplay of intercultural and leadership development. More …

A Qualitative Study Of Overseas Cooperating Teachers' Perceptions To Student Teachers' Experiences, Cynthia L. Reilly

Master of Education Research Theses

As the world becomes a closer-knit economic and academic community, teachers who have worked or completed their student teaching requirements overseas are sought after for their international experience and multicultural understanding. Previous research has explored the observations of overseas student teachers in order to understand better the classroom and foreign community experiences and to help develop overseas internship programs. In consideration of the important role cooperating teachers perform in the student teaching experience, this current research examined the inductive perceptions of cooperating teachers in order to corroborate and develop further what has been reported in student teacher studies. This research …

Strategic Discussions For Nebraska: Opportunities For Nebraska -- Food Scarcity, Mary Garbacz

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Strategic Discussions for Nebraska is a program in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources that produces an annual publication called Opportunities for Nebraska, focusing on a different topic each year. The publication is produced in hard copy and also is available online at www.sdn.unl.edu.

The content for each publication is produced by UNL students enrolled in a Magazine Writing course each spring semester, taught by the SDN coordinator. Students conduct interviews with UNL researchers and write stories for inclusion in the publication. The interviews are captured on video and are edited into video montages, …

Second Language Acquisition: Selected Topics, Ahlam Alfouaim

Ahlam Alfouaim

The article includes a brief discussion of the following topics: Who is better in learning a second language: Kids or Adults. The nature of mistakes in second language acquisition. The issue of Bilingualism.