Recent reforms in vocational education in Sweden and Finland reflect economic, academic, and practical concerns common to many countries today. Two issues of particular interest are continuity of vocational training after late secondary school and establishment of parity between vocational and general education. (MSE)

A study examined advice-giving interactions between Swedish district nurses and patients, comparing these sequences with parallel interactions between British health visitors and first-time mothers in previous research. Analysis focused on how advice-giving is organized in the settings, including how advice is initiated and designed, its…

A survey of 392 American and 276 Japanese college students concerning academic dishonesty found both similarities and differences in attitudes and behaviors, and investigated behavior patterns, types of cheating, attitudes about and responses to own and others' cheating, and deterrents. Explanations for cross-cultural differences and implications…

A study investigated different cultural perceptions of the appropriateness of advice-giving in native speakers of English (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs). Using a questionnaire, 172 NNS college students and 31 NS college students were administered a questionnaire in which 16 everyday situations involving either social superiors or peers were…

This study examined characteristics of the relationship between mothers and adolescent daughters in 24 African American families--12 middle class and 12 working class--and compared these findings to similar past research done on white middle class mother-daughter dyads. Specific questions addressed in this study were constructed around recurring…

A quest for knowledge about the behavior and development of people in other parts of the world, concerns for social action, and greater family mobility have led to an increased interest in cross-cultural research. Male (N=112) and female (N=113) college students in India rated the desirability of 104 traits for Indian men or for Indian women. The…

Commentary on cultural differences between the Anglo-American and Spanish-American cultures focuses on food, role playing, division of labor, and the concept of making "-etic" and "-emic" distinctions in culture study. Reference is made analagously to the work of Kenneth Pike, to Howard Nostrand's remarks on Eskimo culture, and to Americo Castro's…

This report presents a statistical portrait of the changing role of women in the United States during the 20th century. Data are from United States Government sources--from surveys, decennial censuses, vital statistics, and administrative records. The majority of the statistics have been published previously, either in government documents or…

Describes a 1981 study that compared uses of U.S. television by foreign children residing in the United States and American children in light of theories of acculturation, cultivation, and uses and gratifications. Children's television viewing is discussed, research methodology is described, and results are analyzed. (22 references) (Author/LRW)

Over the past 20 years, approaches to educational policy analysis have opened up to qualitative research methods and to sociocultural perspectives on schooling. This volume is a collection of studies that view educational policy from a variety of angles and at different levels of social life. It consists of 12 chapters: (1) "Are Pedagogical Ideals…

Investigated the extent of alcohol consumption among the educable mentally-retarded (EMR) as compared to their nonretarded peers, and identified social and demographic variables which relate to drinking behavior. Findings revealed that there was a more prevalent alcohol use among the nonretarded than the EMR students. (Author)

This study in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) was conducted in a Spanish as a foreign language classroom. The study investigates dyadic face-to-face collaborative dialogue at the computer from a sociocultural perspective. Protocols for analysis were obtained by the transcription of audio recordings of twelve dyads/triads completing…

This study describes and contrasts theoretically and empirically problem solving of situated problems in school and the real world at the macro level as a social-cultural activity system and analyzes the process of solving situated problems by high school students at the micro level as an activity. Three potentially experiential problem tasks were…

This article looks at two different primary EFL classrooms: one in which the teacher is a general-subject teacher who teaches different subjects to the same group children and another in which the teacher is an EFL specialist who teaches the same subject to different groups of children. First we qualitatively characterize the differences in…

A study examined national data on the English language proficiency of Southeast Asian refugees at the time of their arrival (after 1975) in the United States and again in 1983. Information from an annual refugee survey was also used. Comparisons were made for: (1) different ethnic groups (Vietnamese, Chinese, Hmong, Khmer, Lao, and other) and…