This collection presents current thinking and research on the sociocultural influences in student motivation. After an introduction, "Bridging the Sociocultural Divide: An Encouragement for Researchers To Consider a Wheel of Research Perspective" (Shawn Van Etten and Dennis M. McInerney), the 14 papers include: (1) "The Self in Cultural Context: Meaning and Valence" (David Yun Dai); (2) "Ethnic Identity and the Sociocultural Playing Field: Choices Made by Ethnically Mixed Adolescents in Hawaii" (William L. Greene); (3) "Self-Schema, Motivation and Learning: A Cross-Cultural Comparison" (Chi-hung Ng and Peter Renshaw); (4) "Students 'At Risk': Exploring Identity from a Sociocultural Perspective" (Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur and Pedro R. Portes); (5) "Person-Environment Fit in Higher Education: How Good Is the Fit for Indigenous Students?" (Gerald J. Fogarty and Colin White); (6) "The Social Construction of Interest in a Learning Community" (Kimberley Pressick-Kilborn and Richard Walker); (7) "Motivation To Improve Adult Education in Under-Educated Adults in Rural Communities" (Eric M. Anderman, Jane Jensen, Diana Haleman, and Beth Goldstein); (8) "Teacher Immediacy and Student Motivation" (Nanette Potee); (9) "The Social Mediation of Metacognition" (Gregory P. Thomas); (10) "Motivation and African-American Youth: Exploring Assumptions of Some Contemporary Motivation Theories" (Tamara B. Murdock, Megan Brooks Bolch, George Dent, and Natalie Hale Wilcox); (11) "Communities Sharing Research: An American Indian Case Study" (Dawn Iwamoto and Henry Radda); (12)"Cross-Cultural Differences in Affective Meaning of Achievement: A Semantic Differential Study" (Farideh Salili and Rumjahn Hoosain); (13) "Motivation and Learning Strategies: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" (David Watkins, Dennis McInerney, Clement Lee, Adebowale Akande, and Murari Regmi); and (14) "Translation Issues in Cross-Cultural Research: Review and Recommendations" (Terese Garcia Duncan). (Papers contain references.) (SM)