Presents postpositivism as a useful method for understanding the cultural context of work. Highlights the critical theory approach, presenting qualitative studies that use this framework. Recommends critical research as a way to achieve the democratic transformation of schools and workplaces. (SK)

Examines how students in a bilingual third-grade classroom coconstruct knowledge through oral and written discourse. Explains that, by analyzing the various interactional patterns of the class, the multiple opportunities for learning become visible. Demonstrates how a group of students achieved the common task of writing a "planet story." (PA)

This paper uses an ethnographic orientation to contrast trainer-oriented intervention practices with more client-centered or naturalistic practices in speech therapy. Specific ways that control is established and sustained are outlined. Use of an ethnographic perspective is recommended to create intervention contexts that allow children to be…

Examines preimmigration education of Mexican immigrants using an ethnographic case study of a rural Mexican primary school. Discusses the implications of a high-quality national curriculum and instructional methods emphasizing teacher direction, verbal interactivity, and group orientation for immigrant students in American schools. (FMW)

An American Indian professor discusses his concerns, contradictions inherent in his insider/outsider position, and the nature of cross-cultural discourse related to his family's participation at a university showing of an ethnographic documentary about the last Bole Maru leader ("Dreamer") of the Kashaya Pomo (a deceased family member).…

Reviews four books: (1) "On Intelligence. . .More or Less: A Bioecological Treatise on Intellectual Development" (Stephen J. Ceci); (2) "Knowing Children: Experiments in Conversation and Cognition" (Michael Siegal); (3) "Adolescents and Their Families: Paths of Ego Development" (S. T. Hauser and others); and (4) "Adolescence: An Anthropological…

Describes qualitative and ethnographic investigation based on structured interviews and observation of 14 college students from chemically dependent, dysfunctional, and sexually abusive families. Sexual abuse was found to be endemic in this subculture. Suggests counseling strategy to assist moving students through role development and toward…

Ethnographic interviews offer the academic decision maker an alternative lens with which to gather information, develop hypotheses, and implement plans. Specific procedures must be followed to use the technique properly, and other research methods should accompany the ethnographic interview for increased validity. (MSE)

Describes the influence of ethnography on current writing research. Outlines the debates within the field of ethnography and considers the relevance of those debates to composition theory. Argues for more experimental ethnographic texts. (HB)

Selected results from an ethnographic study of communication in an American Pacific Northwest church community are presented. The case illustrates patterns in the selection of linguistic options of personal address and that personal address choice is influenced by such factors as context, public/private meanings, and interlocutor beliefs.…

Used both a noncontextual mode and a natural history mode of analyzing the emotionally charged dramas that form an important part of the socialization of Inuit children. Focused on a three year old's participation in such a drama. Analyzed themes and plots of the incident. (MM)

Examines Zora Neale Hurston's work, particularly her collection of folklore and ethnography of the American South, "Mules and Men." Looks at the author's role, the ways the ethnographer inscribes herself into the text, and speculates about Hurston's understanding of the limits of the impersonal researcher. (JB)

Argues with John Fiske's position on the nature and function of cultural interpretation. Defines and defends cultural interpretation as an investigative mode the main objective of which is to render participants' communication practices coherent and intelligible, through an explication of a system of symbols, symbolic forms, and meanings which is…

Presents an ethnographic study with graduate students leaving other careers for education to discover the meanings of the career change for those involved. Discusses the following types of students: (1) the homecomers; (2) the converted; and (3) the unconverted. For each type the initiating influences, mediating forces, and commitment are…

Describes how an (industrial) organization's control system evolved in response to a managerial change from hierarchical, bureaucratic control to concertive control via self-management teams. The organization's members developed a system of value-based normative rules that controlled their actions more powerfully and completely than did the former…