This is a bibliography on the Hmong of Laos who are part of a larger group of people commonly referred to in the literature as the Miao. The bibliography is divided into eight sections: (1) background material and volumes which include references to the Hmong; (2) items which specifically refer to Hmong culture and history; (3) ethnographic works…

Questions about students' competence in classrooms are addressed in three parts: the suitability of ethnography as a research strategy, a summary of research that examines the social organization of classroom events, and the consequences of this organization for students' performance in the classroom. The discussion of methodology leads to the…

An attempt is made to demonstrate that major theories of children's outdoor play reveal the social class biases of their originators. Most modern play theory is enclosed in the individualism of Western philosophy; its emphasis on the voluntary, the solitary, and the creative are seen as indications of its cultural relevance to people of higher…

Kenneth Burke's concepts of rhetoric, dramatism, terministic screens (perceptual filters), and identification are used in this paper to justify and direct intercultural communication research. Three intercultural methodologies--cultural variable analysis, componential analysis, and ethnomethodology--are examined in the paper using these concepts.…

The paper reports on the Vanguard Program, (Houston, Texas), an interdisciplinary, multilevel instructional program for gifted and creative children. The program, one component of Houston's Magnet school approach designed to comply with desegregation rulings, developed broadened criteria for identifying gifted minority students. Vanguard has…

A study was conducted to examine three fundamental aspects of the process of responding to a literary work of art: the nature of the reader's response to literature, the processes of response to literature, and the relationship of a reader's personal construct system to the way in which the reader responds to a literary work of art. The subjects…

An ethnographic study of children's response to literature at a range of developmental levels and in a variety of natural classroom contexts involved comprehensive classroom observations of 90 children aged five to eleven years representing a range of abilities. Data were collected during a four-month period on daily log sheets, then later…

The debate between proponents of ethnographic and quantitative methodology in classroom observation is reviewed, and the respective strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches are discussed. These methodologies are directly compared in a study that conducted simultaneous ethnographic and quantitative observations on nine classrooms. It is…

This paper concerns my own reflections on ethnographic research with Indigenous students studying at university. I began the research by using the methodology of interpretive ethnography to discover what constitutes success for Indigenous students studying at university. But after some unflattering critiques of my initial interpretation of the…

Reviews the status of educational anthropology. Argues that (1) anthropology's strength lies in understanding groups; (2) the complexity of the gap between a school and its community must be better understood; (3) anthropological research offers theoretical paradigms for understanding educational problems holistically; and (4) without significant…

An intensive 2-year ethnographic study looked at the formal intake process involving preschool Hispanic deaf children at a special school. The progress of one family is analyzed in detail to demonstrate the social and cultural complexities of the ideological and social relationships between participants in the intake process. (Author/DB)

Summarizes recently articulated research needs in business and technical communication. Argues that qualitative studies of writing on the job and in the classroom are the most needed form of empirical research. Shows how research can be conducted using one type of qualitative research, ethnography. (JAD)

Although ethnographic studies sometimes reveal ways in which incongruity contributes to inequity, the research does not imply that teachers should always promote cultural congruity. Unless teachers understand the problems underlying endorsements of cultural congruity, they may contribute to the miseducation of future teachers and their students.…

Ethnographic qualitative assessment methods can be used to evaluate gifted programs. Noted are the use of multiple tools in fieldwork, allowing an extended time span, the research as the research instrument, ethnographics research cycle, and use of both macro and micro approaches to the evaluation product. (Author/CB)

A rebuttal to three responses to an article opposing use of the natural science-technical model in special education research suggests that the responses demonstrate a continuing vitality of the positivist ideology critically opposed in the original article. (Author/CB)