Two catalogs inventory field-recorded wax cylinders which document the music and language of Indian tribes in northeastern and southeastern United States from 1890-1930. The Northeastern Indian Catalog contains entries for 738 cylinders comprising 16 music and spoken word collections from the Chippewa, Fox, Iroquois, Kickapoo, Menominee,…

This first volume in a two-part report reviews completed and proposed research studies on learning needs and problems in primary education and describes research proposed for Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, India, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand. An introductory chapter considers the following…

The paper examines how collaboration might occur when research in comparative education employs ethnographic techniques. Following a brief review of the literature, a set of principles and a model for collaborative ethnography in school-based research are presented in order to provide direction for future research where the active involvement of…

School improvement programs emphasizing certain school effectiveness correlates are now fairly common. While program implementation is often a focus of school effectiveness research, teacher efficacy and collaboration are also important. Large-scale aggregate studies viewing students' socioeconomic status as the chief determinant of academic…

A discussion of ethnographic research methods in language learning research focuses on what is involved in good descriptive and analytic ethnographic research and the value of the approach in the study of English as a second language (ESL). A basic definition of ethnography is offered, some key research principles are identified, and the…

The role of social interaction in the literacy learning of 21 children 3 and 4 years of age was investigated over a period of 8 months. Data were collected at a preschool classroom writing center, using the ethnographic techniques of participant observation, field notes, collection of written texts, as well as audio and video tapes. Patterns in…

This ethnographic study of 22 bilingual Mexican American fifth grade students in rural Texas examines which pedogogical techniques reduced students' risk of failure. Classroom instruction was based on Cummins' model of community intervention in which story-telling, dialogue journal writing, and bilingual dialogue between teacher and students…

Using a descriptive personal narrative that marks ethnographic research, this book looks at literacy education in the Amish culture and considers the implications that this perspective reveals for mainstream education. Divided into 12 chapters, the book chronicles the life of an Amish family, the Fishers, focusing specifically on the attitudes…

The Hmong are a preliterate Southeast Asian tribe in the remote highlands of Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited many Hmong to fight rebel forces in Indochina. Losing to the Pathet Lao in 1975, the Hmong were forced to flee Communist-controlled Laos. The United States accepted…

The methodology and problems of research on cross-age tutoring are reported. Using a phenomenological framework, the two researchers involved in the study worked toward a research method and design that would account for the backgrounds of both; one was trained in the quantifiable methods of natural science, the other in qualitative methods of…

An ethnographic study explored to what extent Trial Practice facilitates interpersonal skill development. Subjects, nine third-year law students enrolled at a large midwestern university law school, were observed over the course of a semester. Data collection included personal observations, informal interviews, fieldnotes, tape-recordings of…

The development of critical ethnography in education is traced, and the central epistemological and methodological issues in the practice of critical ethnography are discussed. Some of the directions the field appears to be taking are considered. Critical ethnography in education began in the late 1960's and early 1970's, with roots in the…

This article presents ethnographic data to elaborate the nature of teacher resistance and accommodation to the structural context of schooling, and it illustrates the dynamics of group solidarity among a group of eighth-grade middle school teachers. The analysis is predicated on concepts identified by Paul Willis in his study "Learning to…

Teachers can and should use the insights of ethnographic research responsibly in their teaching. Ethnography is an attempt to understand cultures or parts of cultures from the point of view of those who participate in them. It is in the discontinuity between home and school uses of literacy that most ethnographers who study literacy locate the…

Teachers' perspectives on the student assessment process and on the role of testing in that process are presented. Primarily ethnographic in approach, this study includes investigations of teachers' ideas and thought processes as well as observation of actual classroom practice. Six elementary teachers participated in a three-stage process of…