The 1992 report of the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) and several other recent studies and publications addressing the nation's changing labor force development needs, particularly as they concern instruction in English language skills for the workplace, are discussed briefly, and five aspects of this issue often…

This paper discusses the challenges of identifying gifted students from underrepresented or special populations. Reasons for underrepresentation of students from special populations are reviewed and include biases in standardized testing, underreferral of students from diverse cultural and ethnic groups to gifted programs by teachers, and the…

This paper contends that many of the difficulties students of Chinese have in reading comprehension are directly related to their level of understanding of Chinese language and culture, and that these difficulties could be alleviated by providing students with knowledge about the value system, social customs, formation of Chinese characters and…

The role of workplace literacy and numeracy education in the introduction of new workplace practices was examined in a case study of a local council in New South Wales, Australia. Two researchers worked over a 6-week period to interview the manager, 2 team leaders, and 15 team members involved in the introduction of competitive maintenance and…

This resettlement guide, entirely in Armenian, describes the initial stage of resettlement and the processes that refugees undergo as new arrivals. The information is intended to prepare refugees for the first few weeks in an American community and to explain fundamental aspects of American life. An initial chapter outlines issues in pre-arrival…

This resettlement guide, entirely in Farsi, describes the initial stage of resettlement and the processes that refugees undergo as new arrivals. The information is intended to prepare refugees for the first few weeks in an American community and to explain fundamental aspects of American life. An initial chapter outlines issues in pre-arrival…

This paper analyzes a study by Fukushima (1990) of the English offers and responses of Japanese English as a foreign language (EFL) college students and reports on an experiment designed to address the perceived weaknesses of Fukushima's work. Fukushima's study found that many Japanese EFL learners could not use appropriate levels of politeness in…

A study investigated the relationship between language contacts made outside of the classroom by Japanese foreign students and how those contacts affect their participation within the classroom and their overall academic performance. Subjects were 32 university students from Japan enrolled in an intensive language program. All of the students had…

A teacher of educational theory delivers an educational foundations course on sociocultural concerns in education. In this course, teaching is presented as an orientation to the world and a moral enterprise because it intervenes in people's lives. Students typically fear theory classes because they do not want to appear foolish or because…

Previous research has shown that future roles and plans are affected by race, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). However, almost all studies have focused on isolated aspects of socialization, such as the occupational plans of white males and the family plans of white females. To investigate the impact of social class, sex-role attitudes, and…

The impact of the western educational model and the use of English on the language and traditional behaviors of young people in American Samoa was studied. Results from a 1973 study were compared with results collected in 1987 using the same instrument to measure changes in language and culture-related behaviors. A survey of nearly 190 American…

Ten essays on the use of ethnography in educational assessment are presented. Overview essays include: (1) "Beyond the Status Quo in Ethnographic Educational Evaluation" (David M. Fetterman) and (2) "The Ethnographic Evaluator" (David M. Fetterman). Theoretical papers include: (3) "Theory in Education Evaluation: Or,…

Guided by interpretive ethnographic methods and by instructional leadership concepts, this comparative study of secondary principals in Japan and America discovers characteristics of excellent principals and examines their values in relation to dominant cultural themes. The investigation applies anthropologist Clifford Goertz's assumptions (1973,…

A handbook for those involved in Southeast Asian refugee assistance discusses some of the values and customs that refugee groups from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam may have in common and looks at the different countries and peoples of the region. A section on the shared values and customs of Indochinese refugees focuses on aspects of family life,…

Large numbers of foreign students attend United States colleges and universities, and the institutions can play a major role in facilitating the students' adjustment to life in a new culture. The foreign students' most common problems include homesickness, finances, housing and food, English language proficiency, understanding lectures and…