A discussion of discourse analysis focuses on its usefulness as a framework for analyzing and improving the communication skills of international teaching assistants (ITAs). The discussion is based on the transcript (appended) of a native Chinese-speaking ITA conducting an organic chemistry class in English. Using discourse analysis at one level,…

Health services research is a multidisciplinary field that investigates the structure, processes, and effects of health care services. This report focuses on one part of the field of health services research--its work force and its programs for educating and training that work force. This study undertook the following information collection…

There has been a recognized need to understand the basis of quality teaching at the secondary school level. The Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) was developed by T. Wubbels, H. A. Creton, and H. P. Hooymayers in the 1980s to address teaching quality at the high school level. A modified version of the QTI, the Professor Interpersonal…

Graduate students have long expressed difficulties adapting to different expectations graduate schools place upon them. Foreign students pursuing knowledge in the field of speech communication encounter cultural difficulties. Foreign graduate students are students at risk because they become a central locus for cultural tensions in relation to:…

This paper reports on an in-depth ethnographic study of one Latina attending a predominantly White university. The study focuses on her experiences during the process of earning a graduate degree, the importance of family and cultural influences, and the differences between the path taken by Chicanas/Latinas in higher education and that of…

This paper reports on a study of the relationship between students' characteristics and students' ratings of faculty teaching, using the Faculty Course Evaluation Form (FCEF) at a major southeastern university. In particular, the study investigated: (1) how students rate faculty members on an item-by-item basis (item functioning); (2) what the…

This qualitative study explored personal and program experiences that affect dissertation completion and non-completion to provide insights that might help students and faculty in their decision-making and advising. Interviews were conducted with 13 graduates and 9 "all-but-dissertation" (ABD) students regarding the traits they felt led…

This report describes the early development, recent revision, and some uses of a special Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) database for studying talent flow between undergraduate and graduate school. It discusses the following: (1) development and expansion of a talent flow database containing all variables from the GRE General Test files on all…

This report provides statistical data on trends in tuition and other basic student charges at the 66 State University of New York (SUNY) community colleges, colleges, and universities between 1963-64 and 1996-97. The first section of the report provides tables summarizing tuition and other charges (such as room, board, and fees) by program level…

A comparison of the motivational orientations of adult and vocational education graduates was made to determine the motivation for nontraditional students' participation in the off-campus credit programs leading to a master's degree at Marshall University (West Virginia). The population for this study consisted of all 319 vocational-technical…

To identify differences in doctoral student achievement across programs, demographic groups and gender, the graduate careers of nearly 5,000 doctoral students from 11 departments at each of 3 major universities were investigated. Three types of data analysis examined numbers of students entering each department and the proportions of various…

This report presents eight tables of enrollment data on college and university racial and ethnic distribution for New York State in Fall 1991. The data summaries were obtained from the 1991-92 Higher Education Data System Survey form "Enrollment by Racial/Ethnic Status, Fall 1991." Table 1 shows enrollment in institutions of higher…

Researchers have often noted the desirability of investigating the incidence of academic misconduct of college students who will be in employment fields requiring a high level of competence and/or a high level of personal integrity, such as elementary school and secondary school teachers. The Academic Misconduct Survey (AMS) developed by Charlotte…

This document presents some 20 papers on projects conducted by Foreign Teaching Assistant (FTA) participants in the areas of academic/pedagogical issues, cross-cultural issues, and testing issues. Papers are as follows: "The Testing and Evaluation of Foreign Teaching Assistants: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?" (Ralph Pat Barrett);…

There is a great reliance on symbolic messages in our society, but the success of these messages depends on how they are interpreted. The variability of subjects' interpretations of commonly used visual symbols was investigated by comparing the interpretations of a U.S. audience and a Jamaican audience. Responses of 27 executive master's in…