This paper draws on a recent theory-driven critical case study that uses ethnographic methods to examine data on the stated needs for literacy of adult literacy learners. It is argued that the literacy needs of adult learners are social constructions. (14 references) (LB)

Describes a teacher education program that utilizes an internship that includes an ethnographic research project. Explains that the teacher intern is required to conduct an in-depth analysis of the social studies being taught in their school as contrasted to that described in their textbooks. Includes resulting suggestions for improvement in the…

In considering an ethnographic perspective on creativity research, this article briefly discusses and reviews sample studies on (1) the cultural context of creativity, (2) creativity and cultural transmission and transformation, and (3) creativity in the context of cultural anthropology. (DB)

Examines how relations of power are privileged or marginalized by ethnographers. Discusses how ethnography is judged by and subsumed within the ideological practices of academia. (SR)

Argues that, even for young children, composing of both oral and written texts is sociocultural process. Highlights variation in kind of oral and written genres child uses, in kinds of discourse traditions child draws upon, and kind of relationships child author enacts with others. Discusses implications of sociocultural perspective on young…

Discusses six common characteristics and three controversial issues of feminist theory. Traces their impact on the redefinition of technical communication in terms of the myth of scientific objectivity, the new interest in ethnographic studies of workplace communication, and the recent focus on collaborative writing. (SR)

A brief ethnographic study of a metropolitan airport revealed that a relatively small number of people had taken up residence there, prizing the airport mainly for its survival utility and amenities. Policies and attitudes regarding the homeless and a critique of the pathological explanation for homelessness are explored. (CJS)

The paper discusses alternative research approaches to special education including positivist case studies, the interpretivist approach in general, and three variations within interpretivist anthropology--traditional ethnography, microethnography, and the study of everyday cognition. (DB)

Describes how students in three college-level writing groups viewed their collaborative learning experience. Suggests that collaborative learning works (or does not work) in complex ways that cannot be reduced to a field manual of identifying behaviors. (RS)

Provides examples illustrating that the study of technologically-mediated communication, if approached from an ethnographic perspective, draws attention to old questions of interactional patterning in what may be radically new contexts of communication. Notes a central issue to be explored, that of the implications of formulating the notion of…

A 25-year association with the Kwakiutl led to an invitation in 1987 to a Kwakiutl memorial potlatch in British Columbia (Canada). Jean Lave's concept of peripheral participation is used as a framework for examining how humans find their "way in" to such cultural events. (Author/MMU)

Children do not often develop the skills and resources with which to grieve because they are routinely left out of the process. This article describes an ethnographic evaluation of an educational grief program based on mental health rehabilitation theory. The process includes a focus on improving competencies and behaviors. (EMK)

Interprets data collected from multi-modal sources (ethnographic interviewing and non-participant observation) using an analytic-inductive method to construct a new Layered Model of Problematic Intercultural Communication. Provides a holistic view of the ways the macro-context, individual (in)competencies, and dyadic communication behaviors…

Describes the structure of one anthropology field program and discusses some of the things students learn. The program, an ethnographic field school in Barbados, is offered during the academic year as a term abroad for undergraduates. (SLD)

Describes seminars in which researchers reported their findings to the high school teachers whose classes they studied. Interprets the experience from three orientations: different school cultures, the research team's role, and teacher power. (SK)