Literacy of Navajo Indians within an isolated community of a northeast Arizona Navajo reservation is discussed, based on an ethnographic investigation. Functions for English and Navajo literacy in two community settings where Navajos use standard and vernacular print are described. Using literacy artifacts, participant observation, and interview…

An exploratory study making use of ethnographic and grounded theory methods was carried out with two Hispanic and two Black American working-class families. Exploration focused on how cognitive processes taking place in the natural setting of the family can best be understood. In order to uncover the intellectual interactions that take place in…

In this study four research strategies used in previous studies of the socialization of cognitive skills were first contrasted and then assessed in terms of five criteria. (The data base for this study was 32 videotapes of mothers preparing their 7- or 9-year-old children to take a memory test.) The four strategies (frequency coding, fine-grained…

The comments focus on two topical themes and two aspects of research in the papers in this volume of the "Language and Ethnography" series dealing with ethnography and education. The first part deals with continuity and discontinuity in children's home and school lives. Borrowing from the field of second language learning, the point is made that…

Outlining the premises of role theory applicable to the dean's role, this paper attempts to analyze the dean's role from several perspectives. It recommends ethnographic research for a true understanding of the dean's role and as a means of hastening the reform of education. Recent studies of the deanship, the professoriate, and schools of…

A student interview was administered to second grade students to determine how accurately they perceived their class environment. Three areas investigated were differential treatment of students by the teacher, the organization and management of the classroom, and students' self-rated ability. Ethnographic reports, teacher interviews and student…

This part of the multimethod Head Start bilingual/bicultural curriculum evaluation (Juarez and Associates 1979), provides a description of the procedures followed to ensure and maintain the quality of ethnographic data over time. Data collection procedures, including ethnographic notes, time and event samples, implementation forms, phone call…

Examined in this paper is the relationship between the early reconnaissance and arrival of individual Italians and the great flow of migration into Canada by the Italians at the turn of the century. Taken into consideration are the Italian origins of some early Canadian heroes and the degree of their "Italianita." Differences between…

Ethnographic research in reading examines process more than outcomes of instruction, considers environmental factors, and studies the behavior of individual learners. There are few descriptive studies in reading to guide researchers in ethnographic research. Some aspects of planning such a study include gaining permission from school…

This paper discusses the utility of an ethnographic method that incorporates various participant observation techniques in providing information about family television viewing. It presents arguments for a naturalistic case study approach focusing on family-media interaction and suggests three methods of data collection: interviews and followups;…

The rationale for a constructivist approach to behavioral and social science research, and studies which have applied this methodology, are reviewed. The author suggests that ethnographic techniques of explaining behavior patterns may be as valuable as or more appropriate than traditional behavioral science methods. (GDC)

Case material from an anthropological field study of 57 blind adults in Tel-Aviv is used to illustrate the contradictions that blind Israelis face in the current transitional period from traditional segregation and dependent roles to an indeterminate type of integration and independence. (Author/JW)

Presents an ethnographic study of whether a heterogeneous group of Sotho people in Southern Africa continues to subscribe to a particular cultural metaphor concerning heat, even though the group is no longer strictly traditional in its way of life. Considers implications of the metaphor's persistence for the learning of orthodox scientific…

The aim of this article is to provide a conceptual picture of a "Mathematics and Society" curriculum. Examples of such curricula are described, along with discussion of ethnomathematics and self-generated mathematics, the social institution of mathematics, critical thinking and conscientization, and policy issues. (MNS)

An ethnographic research project to document the ways in which new immigrants and established residents in communities around the country adjust to each other and learn to live together in relative harmony is described. Six institutions have been awarded two-year grants. (MLW)