This dissertation analyzes a study which focused on the problem of interpersonal relationship development between Japanese hosts and visiting North American exchange students during their one year of studying abroad at a Japanese university. The study identified and analyzed factors that contributed to, or inhibited social interaction which led to effective interpersonal relations. The research described and explained the interpersonal relationship development experience of the research participants. A qualitative interpretive case study, participants included both North American exchange students and Japanese people with whom they developed relationships. Data collection was accomplished over a one-year period utilizing in-depth interviewing and direct behavior observation methods. Results included identification of cross-cultural social-psychological factors which contributed to and inhibited effective interpersonal relationship development. An analysis of cultural value-orientation differences led to the explanation of problems in relationship development. The North American exchange students established cordial relationships with Japanese people and were overall very satisfied with the exchange program and their one-year experience. However, the study concluded that North American students were disappointed with the perceived shallowness of relationship development. This negatively impacted their cultural and language learning. Recommendations were made to study abroad administrators in Japan and North America, as well as to prospective North American exchange students and researchers. These recommendations were in the areas of cross-cultural understanding and orientation, programming, advising and recruitment, and future research efforts. These recommendations are designed to assist in enhancing relationship development effectiveness. The dissertation includes a review of study abroad research literature that focused on social interaction and interpersonal relations.

Historically, the concepts of international development and women in development (WID) have been constructed by white Anglo-Saxon men and imposed on the "Third World" and on "Third World" women. The voice of U.S. government texts is authoritative and presumes to speak for "Third World" women. Although most African women play a pivotal role in the lives of their people, their voices are absent from government development discourse. Most policy makers and planners rely on the knowledge found in texts written by Western, or Western-trained, researchers and experts. This textual knowledge is powerful because it is the "reality" upon which official action is based. The actions of development organizations often detrimentally affect the lives of "Third World" people--particularly women. In this study five African women development workers speak from their life experience and the work they do about what effective development means to them. Their words stand out against an analysis of modernization theories of development and WID discourse found in selected U.S. government documents. Recommendations from the women on how to ensure that development means something positive to people includes the importance of: (1) education for girls and women--including strong, role models of both genders for girls to learn from--that encourages them to be adventurous and courageous; (2) maintaining positive traditional values. Tradition can play an important role in development; (3) listening to the voices of women and youth. The creativity and wisdom of women have often been ignored. A balance must be maintained between respect for the wisdom of the old and the young; (4) changing the definition of what it means to have power, to one that is more popular, participatory and transparent; (5) African countries becoming more discerning about the kind of aid they accept; (6) African intellectuals speaking out against harmful practices of their governments; (7) working as development workers from the outside as communities help themselves from the inside.

This study was designed to formulate categories that reflect pupil personnel service providers' and administrators' views of elements associated with effective multicultural perspectives of pupil personnel services and how they rate the importance of these elements. A review of the literature examined how school reform, effective schools, school culture, and multiculturalism have influenced the provision of services by Pupil Personnel Services to a growing culturally diverse population over the last 20 years. Q-Sort was the qualitative methodology used with these professionals from within pupil personnel services. A total of 32 respondents representing five specific professional positions found in most public school environments. The results of the Q-Sort were analyzed from the combined data from all subjects. A similarity matrix was computed and frequencies of co-occurrence were determined for all pairs of items. This provided for the correlation of each person with every other person and, through factor analysis, the number of different Q-Sorts is known and the degree to which there is a high correlation among them or not. In addition, individual participants' matrices were subjected to two-dimensional non-metric scaling. In addition, MultiDimensional Scaling (MDS) was applied to the data to further analyze the categorization process. Lastly, a rank ordering of items provided a rating of items from most important to least important. This last activity provided an overall ranking of the items across all participants and allowed for a comparison of the importance of these statements. As a result of cluster analysis, all items grouped at higher levels of significance agreed with the way the items were placed in categories that the author had established. However, MDS results indicated that the basis for coexistence of items was different from that which the author had used. An examination of a multidimensional configuration of the raters, using a weirdness index table, found school psychologists and administrators differed the most from the average of all of the five groups. Factor analysis and a similarity matrix of the ratings by individuals and groups indicated that there may not be a significant difference between them.

The international Development field has long been critiqued on ideological grounds. This study complements more recent critical analyses which cast Development as discourse, as a system of logic disseminated through power-knowledge strategies which represent “the real” according to its own dictates. The interface between Education and Development, however, has received little scholarly or critical attention to date. Informed by the work of Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, this study employs poststructuralist and deconstructive strategies to investigate the performativity of the discursive formation, (Education for) Development. The author builds an analytics which posits a “problematic” or epistemological framework, comprised of three “regimes of representation”—History, Geography and Governmentality—and two guiding modes of rationality, the “economistic” and “developmentalist,” which underwrite Development's power to constitute “the real.” Analyses of three recent influential texts, the Declaration of the World Conference on Education for All (1990); USAID Technical Paper No. 12 “Education Policy Formation in Africa” (1994); and World Bank (1995) Policies and Strategies for Education destabilize the apparent naturalness and inevitability of (Education for) Development's own account of itself. Problematizing the discourse's claims to objectivity and disinterested technical knowledge, the analyses subvert the logic which makes possible Development's constitution of problems crying out for solutions emanating from its own epistemological universe. The analyses expose the discourse's power to interpellate its subjects (“girls,” “women,” “government,” “the State”) within the limits of its own discursive regimes. Limits to representation proscribe the “girl's” subjectivity, for example, within the confines of childbearing and domestic labor. The discursive formations “Girls' Education” and “Population Education” are shown to perform in the service of Development's normalizing and self-sustaining strategies.

This dissertation critically examines the autobiographies of ten teachers identified using the community nomination method (Foster, 1991) as exemplary teachers of Latino students to make recommendations for teacher preparation programs preparing educators to work in urban schools. The study is informed by postmodern understandings of culture and identity and draws heavily from Hip-Hop/Urban culture---a site from which, I argue, many urban students draw to create their identities. A review of the literature regarding culturally responsive pedagogies demonstrates the need for teachers to affirm students' cultural identities but also highlights the focus much of the research in this area places on race, thus, possibly contributing to a reification of singular aspects of students' identities. This study seeks to expand the discourse by forwarding cultural connectedness as a framework for practicing culturally responsive pedagogies in ways that do not essentialize culture and are informed by the multiple sites from which students draw to create hybrid cultural identities. It also stresses the potential for teachers who are not members of the same racial or ethnic group as their students to become "culturally connected" and improve their practice. Postmodernism and Hip/Hop-Urban culture informed the creation of Represent(ations), a hybrid methodology I created to employ in this dissertation. The findings suggest that teacher preparation programs need to be reconceptualized to include, in addition to content knowledge, a specific focus on teacher identity development and restructured by making changes to the curriculum, recruiting and retaining more pre-service candidates of color, and diversifying teacher preparation faculty to include teacher educators of color and those with teaching experiences in urban settings. Transforming urban teacher preparation based on this research has the potential to cultivate more teachers who "represent" for Latino students.

This study explores the concept of partnership in community development programs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the concept of partnership, and acquire a comprehensive understanding of community development programs called partnership programs. In the past few years the international development community, especially the nongovernment organization (NGO) community, has been discussing the importance of establishing partnerships between organizations and people from the developed countries with organizations and people from the emerging nations. Also, during the past fifty years community development programs have become the dominant type of development program for communities working together to improve the living condition of the community members. In the last few years a new concept called, "partnerships and community partnerships" is being heard as a new type of development program. What are these partnerships? How are they different from community development programs? Are these partnerships worthwhile? And if they are, how, and to whom? These questions need to be answered in order to decide if and how development organizations should implement partnership programs. The following research hopes to answer these questions. Six programs have been studied, five short cases and one longer case study. The issue of power and empowerment have been examined in detail because it is important to understand exactly how partnership members empower themselves to improve their lives for themselves. Three other dimensions used in this dissertation to understand partnerships are: different types of teaching pedagogies, participation, and different types of community development organizations. By examining partnership programs through these four dimensions the author was able to better understand and explain why and how partnership programs are different from community development partnership programs of the past. The study concludes with a description of what partnership pedagogy is, and how the author believes that creating partnerships in development is one way of transforming our institutions into more effective systems for human beings to work and live together.

This study explored metacognition of sixteen adult learners enrolled in an advanced level community college ESL writing course. The ESL participants reflected on three topics concerning thoughts and feelings about writing and themselves as writers: attitude towards writing (feelings and motivations), writing identity, and self-direction (self-evaluation and planning). Using a participatory research approach, data were collected from three semi-structured interviews and numerous written responses during one semester. Participants were from the Hispanic and Korean cultures with a majority Puerto Rican (75%) and female (81%). Overall, feelings towards writing were complex (both positive and negative) and changed throughout the semester. Positive feelings energized and appeared related to an individual awareness of progress rather than an outside measure of proficiency. Motivations for learning to write were also complex (including both external and internal orientations) and changed over the semester. External utilitarian motivations seemed to be primary initially. Internal motivations such as expression of feelings, joy in self-expression, and expansion of cognition surfaced as the semester progressed. Participants' descriptions of themselves as writers changed from incredulity, negativity, and denial to a relatively positive and distinct sense of writing identity. Self-direction changed from global (or very general) self-evaluations and planning to more specific and empowering self-evaluations and planning. Encouraging interviewing language and subsequent dialogue fostered self-direction. Both positive and negative global self-evaluations indicated powerlessness while increased specificity (either positive or negative) indicated potential for improvement through concrete planning. Suggestions for modifications to a traditional ESL writing class include acknowledgement of strengths, focus on progress in a noncompetitive workshop environment, and inclusion of metacognitive topics that acknowledge the affective or emotional component to learning to write. Student-participants reported benefits of the metacognitive approach: clarification, opportunity for verbal expression, time for thinking and understanding, awareness of progress through comparison of work, and increased awareness of the instructor (or researcher). The researcher also reported benefits of the metacognitive approach: a harmony of student-centered methods and goals, data for researchers and curriculum developers, "encouraging" and "enabling" of participants, and growth of self-awareness and autonomy of participants.

The primary goal of this dissertation is to examine the impact of Spanish as a Second Language instruction within a bilingual setting. The first chapter provides an overview of those issues which must be considered when developing and implementing a second language program. These issues are too often addressed in isolation by foreign language, English as a Second Language and bilingual educators. All three disciplines are concerned with language acquisition and literacy development. To date, not enough has been done to bring about collaboration among the three disciplines. The sharing of ideas and resources can only help to promote language development for all students. The second chapter reviews the literature in four specific areas: theories of second language acquisition, methodology and techniques used in the study of a second language, attitudes towards foreign language teaching and learning, and foreign language study within a bilingual setting. The exploration of these four areas provides information about theoretical frameworks on which many second language programs are based. It also emphasizes the value of integrating a second language into the overall education of youngsters. In addition, it provides one example of an educational schema which shows promise in promoting bilingualism for all children. The third chapter provides an analysis of the process followed in this study to arrive at some conclusions about the benefits of an SSL Program within a bilingual setting. The findings of the study are reported in chapter four. Results indicated that children participating in SSL made important gains in the acquisition of oral proficiency. Also, educators who were surveyed favored the approach that was used in the SSL Program because it considered the following characteristics: (1) The value of learning a second language; (2) Curriculum; (3) Methods and techniques; (4) Assessment; (5) Support for SSL instruction; (6) SSL instruction within a bilingual setting. Chapter V offers a summary of the study, the conclusions, the recommendations for applications of the findings and possible further research.

This study was designed to explore through two surveys and interviews the question of confidence levels of practicing professional nurses in giving quality care to ethnically diverse client populations. One questionnaire to nursing faculty in 170 colleges and universities across the United States was concerned with the transcultural educational preparation of students, and the second questionnaire to 40 community health agency and inpatient (hospital) facility nurses pertained to their present level of confidence. The comments on situations encountered by practicing professional nurses and how they handled the situation were sought. These nurses also discussed how transcultural education would have helped them to either prevent or solve the problems. Faculty were surveyed regarding the inclusion of transcultural nursing concepts in their nursing curricula, their transcultural education background, and the ethnic background of their student and client populations. The practicing professional nurses were surveyed as to their personal and professional backgrounds and their knowledge of and perceived confidence levels in giving holistic nursing care to three different ethnic groups--Asians, Blacks, Southeast Asians and Spanish-speaking people. Three variables were assessed; namely, family organization, health care beliefs and lifestyles. Results indicated that in the surveys of the colleges and universities 96.3% of the nursing programs included some general transcultural nursing concepts in their courses and 31,5% offered them in theory, seminar and clinical components of the program. Only 26% of those who responded offered specific courses or certification classes. In order to assist students in developing cultural awareness 74.1% of the colleges and universities offer clinical experiences with ethnically diverse populations. The second part of the survey (Self-efficacy) illustrated a definite lack of confidence in giving holistic nursing care to Asian/Southeast Asian clients. Although there appears to be no significant relationship between the three major ethnic minorities and the inclusion of transcultural nursing concepts or the number of years since graduation, there are definite levels of significance between the variables of family organization, health care beliefs, and lifestyles and background information as to the type of nursing program, length and place of employment, and past clinical experiences with ethnic minorities.

Extreme professional nurse shortage exerts stress upon the conventional recruitment and retention efforts of administrators in health care institutions, causing administrators to seek alternative solutions, including the recruitment and hiring of foreign nurses. The productivity of the foreign nurse alternative, as evidenced by pass rates on registered nurse licensure examination and by retention of the recruited nurses at sponsoring institutions is low, raising questions about factors that contribute to lack of success and promulgate improvement of foreign nurse recruitment and orientation initiatives. This study describes and analyzes an attempt to assimilate Filipino nurses at a medical center in western Massachusetts of just under 1000 client beds during an 18% professional nurse position vacancy crisis, occurring in the mid 1980's. The initiative, involving the recruitment and socialization of a group of 37 graduate nurses from the Philippines to fill staff nurse position vacancies on a variety of clinical service units, is summarized in a case description. This study identifies significant factors to be considered by administrators who have responsibility for the planning and implementation of similar initiatives. The literature review relates cultural information in two areas necessary to understand the transcultural socialization of a Filipino nurse, the pre professional socialization and the professional socialization contexts. The literature review of the professional socialization area discusses important contextual factors in Filipino nurse employment, nursing practice and nursing education. The Wolf-Welsh Linkage Methodology and the Wolf Knowledge Diffusion/Utilization Inventory provided the framework for the study. The seven interrelated parts of the Methodology provided the basis for data collection and ex post facto analysis of the case data. Data sources included the researcher's own participant observations, available medical center documents, and interviewed persons. Periodicals and external reports supplemented these data. The analysis clarified key characteristics of the Filipino nurse socialization and related linkage activities that might have contributed to greater success in the medical center case. Nineteen recommendations for successful linkage in future foreign nurse initiatives comprise the concluding chapter of the study.