By analyzing ethnographic case studies, the ways that two colleges and one university conceive of and construct knowledge are examined. In contrast to assertions that disciplinary activity is the agent of knowledge production, it is argued that institutional contexts powerfully influence knowledge production and that knowledge is a cultural…

Adds the student's theory of the writing process to three competing theories: expressive, cognitive, and social. Attempts to put writing in its proper place as one small facet of students' lives, rather than relegating students' lives to the secondary status of one more influence on their writing. (RS)

Examines the similarities between ethnographic research and educational administration. Explores ways each field can utilize the techniques and knowledge base of the other. (7 notes, 50 references) (MLF)

An ethnographic account of the community of academic physicists is based on interviews, and a picture of what physics is like as a discipline is constructed. The features of its epistemology that differentiate it from other disciplines and characteristics (career structure, value-system and preferred modes of communication) are described.…

From an ethnographic perspective, "procedural display" is defined and discussed. Two lesson transcripts help to analyze procedural display. (32 references) (SI)

Interviews classroom teachers and reading specialists regarding their Chapter 1 reading programs. Finds specialists constructed their roles differently with each teacher, a lack of joint planning, different definitions of program impact reflecting different goals, and different philosophies regarding reading processes. Suggests that all teachers…

Describes an ethnographic study that focused on what knowledge and strategies children use to become literate in English as a Second Language, what the school influences are on children's literacy learning, and what the home and community influences are on children's literacy learning. (JL)

The New Standards Project has designed research to describe educational standards in other countries using an ethnographic case-study approach. Data review and analysis are organized by fundamental questions, the answers to which constitute a contextualized account of what students are expected to know and be able to do. (Author/SLD)

Reviews research in the field of language and gender from the 1970s through the 1990s, observing that language and gender research has moved away from variationist studies to broad-based ethnographic investigations and examinations of discourse and conversation where language is studied in communicative context. An annotated bibliography discusses…

Addresses the following issues, as illustrated by methodological features of a year-long ethnography of two high-school English classes: (1) the particular features and purposes of ethnography as a research genre; (2) the contributions it has made; and (3) the greatest challenges facing the ethnographer. (TB)

Observations of job training of special needs students were analyzed in terms of operational demands, staffing levels, resources, and trainee interaction. The competence approach often disappeared in the face of more pressing concerns; it serves to legitimate a political response rather than solve an educational problem. (SK)

This article addresses the concept of communication and social role including dimensions of speaker-listener relations, speaking options in these relations, and implications of language/learning-disabled individuals' failure to appreciate these dimensions and options. (DB)

Investigates the importance of time in literacy acquisition of second graders. Finds that the children wrestled with such complex issues as chronology in dialog, time/space relationships, and the way their culture defines time as they try to show the dimension of time on a page or work to understand the time element in the books they read. (RS)

An ethnographic study of two secondary schools in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is reported that examined the functions of English-Kiswahili code-switching among students. It argues that code-switching is used strategically by both teachers and pupils for meaningful classroom interaction and also reinforces the view that English is more appropriate for…

A contemporary ethnographic account of the social organization of the Okanagan of British Columbia, written by Peter Carstens, differs strikingly from three accounts published 1900-39 by Teit, Walters, and Ray. Ethnography is affected by personal bias and ideology, particularly when attempting to understand otherness. (Author/SV)