This qualitative case study investigates key reason(s) for Korean language loss among Korean-American children raised in mixed-race military families where the mother is a Korean immigrant of middle school or lower educational background and the father is an American Serviceman. A secondary purpose is to discover some effects of Korean language loss on the participant's identity (cultural and social) and effects on relationships between children and mothers. This study focuses on four Korean-Americans---three biracial participants, and one monoracial, adopted participant (ages 21 to 28). I record the phenomena of language loss, using the participants' voices. The three data sources include: interviews, follow-up discussions, and field notes. Major findings show: (1) that the decision to drop Korean language maintenance was made deliberately by one or both parents based on what the father considered best for the welfare of the child in U.S. schools. (2) The participants most traumatized by Korean language loss found it hard to identify with any group socially. (3) Those participants not consciously traumatized by Korean language loss claimed a Korean social identity. (4) All participants' mothers preferred to isolate themselves in the family or among Korean friends who spoke little English. (5) All participants noted frustrations in the mother-child relationship. (6) The children recognized it was easier to communicate with their absent military fathers even if they did not necessarily "get along" well with Dad once he returned home.

Education is and always has been an important component of American Indian life. Contrary to popular understanding, American Indians have always had a system of education which imparted understanding and cultural genetics to the rising generation. With European contact, this viable system of education was discredited; consequently, American Indians were viewed as "uncivilized" and in need of a Euro-American education. As the egregious five hundredth anniversary of European discovery of the new World approaches, educational policy makers still view the indigenous Americans as void of a culture worth perpetuating and therefore in need of a prescribed education. While Native Americans today are not adverse to Western education, they view it in a perfunctory manner because it is still designed to acculturate rather than educate. This constitutes miseducation and therefore is a foe against whom many American Indians battle for survival, both as a people and as individuals.

A survey needs assessment was conducted with casts of an International Educational Program. The purpose was to identify common problems the members faced and to determine their need for counseling services. The data collected included general demographics, symptoms of culture shock, personal and career problems, and counseling needs. Four hundred subjects from 25 different countries participated in this study. It was found that about 50% experienced symptoms of culture shock, personal problems rotated around difficulties at home, and career problems related to applying what they learned while in the program. It was also found that all groups indicated a need for counseling services. However, one particular group indicated a stronger need. Additional information provided by participants was analyzed and reported. From three open-ended questions, the students identified other common problems not mentioned in the body of the questionnaire.

The purpose of this research was to examine aspects of Indian higher education with a focus on Indian and native studies programs in the United States and Canada. The academic dimension of the study centered on the intellectual discussion, credibility, and stature of the field, as well as, perceptions prevalent in mainstream academia. This thesis compared and contrasted Indian higher education in the United States and Canada, and provided analysis of mainstream and tribal college Indian and native studies programs. Institutions studied were Sinte Gleska University, Trent University, University of Arizona and Saskatchewan Indian Federated College. A theoretical framework was created with essential criteria for Indian and native studies program development including: (1) Administrative Structure; (2) Program Purpose and Goals; (3) Mission Statement; (4) Governance; (5) Relationship to Tribal Community; (6) Curricula; (7) Staffing/Faculty; (8) Student Services; and (9) Community Outreach.

An extensive literature review has been undertaken to create an accurate portrayal of North American Indian Sign Language as used by both deaf and hearing American Indians. Historical accounts are stressed as the primary source for understanding the extent of signed language use among the American Indians of North American and its decline to the present status as an endangered language. This sign language has functioned in two significant ways: (1) primarily (for hearing tribal members) as an alternative to the spoken language and (2) as a primary, or first language for deaf tribal members. It is critical to bear this distinction in mind for future investigations into the linguistic status of North American Indian Sign Language. Additional historical accounts related to American Indians' encounters with the signed language use among Deaf Anglos are also included. An ongoing research project involving the preservation of old film in which North American Indian Sign Language has been documented in 1930s and the current data collection of deaf NAISL signer is discussed as a potential source for future research and as a viable access to the heritage of American Indians.

The study analyzed the relationship between cultural affinity and language dominance of Arab minority students participating in bilingual/bicultural education programs. The hypotheses tested were: (1) Arabic dominant Arab students would not exhibit a greater affinity for the Arab culture than for the American culture. (2) English dominant Arab students would not exhibit a greater affinity for the American culture than for the Arab culture. (3) Bilingual students would not exhibit an equal affinity for both the Arab and the American culture. / A major undertaking of the study was the modification and the adaptation of the Cultural Affinity Scale to the Arab culture, which was later used to assess cultural affinity. To assess language dominance, the Basic Inventory of Natural Language was used. The subjects for the study were 72 Arab minority students enrolled in fourth through eighth grade bilingual/bicultural classes in Wayne County School District in Detroit, Michigan. / The results of the study failed to confirm the relationship, if any, between the cultural affinity and the language dominance of Arab students in bilingual education programs. Regardless of their language dominance, the subjects demonstrated a consistent expression of their biculturalism. The fact that all the subjects were enrolled in bilingual/bicultural classes may be a significant factor in the explanation of the results. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0352. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

Bilingual bicultural education continues to be a complex social issue in the U.S. well into the end of the 20th century. Supporters of bilingual bicultural education charge that the mass media usually pay little attention to the field, and when they do pay attention, they tend to print mostly negative articles. Educators consider newspaper editors to be particularly biased when they write about bilingual bicultural education. / Newspaper editorials offer a public forum where controversial issues can be debated. Professional standards in the field of communications, e.g., Hulteng and Nelson (1971), require editors to use argumentation where all sides of a social issue are exposed so that readers can make up their own minds about a controversial social issue like bilingual bicultural education. / The research questions for this study are to ask (a) whether there are any editorials that espouse bilingual bicultural education, and (b) whether editors are exposing their readers to the 12 points in the argument that favors bilingual bicultural education. These 12 supportive statements are gleaned from the writing of educational theorists. / Since 1970, Editorials on File has been collecting U.S. editorials on sundry topics. In that 23-year period, there are 3 years where the selected editorials are about bilingual bicultural education. A computer program called Qual-Pro has been used to cull editorial sentences supportive of bilingual bicultural education in the 68 editorials of that period. / The results of the study are that none of the editors comes out in full support of bilingual bicultural classes. Of such statements in these 3 years of editorials, only 23% give even token discussion to the 12 points in the positive argument. Only 4 of the possible 12 points are mentioned--only 2 frequently, the other 2 somewhat frequently--and the other 8 points are hardly mentioned at all. The 2 points mentioned most often are (a) bilingual education is a legal right of minority students, and (b) bilingual education includes teaching in more than one language. The 2 points mentioned less often are that (c) bilingual education includes teaching about more than one culture, and (d) bilingual education has been and is now as asset to the nation as a whole. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2492. / Major Professor: Frederick L. Jenks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

Little research has been conducted to document the process utilized in state-mandated multicultural teacher inservice education programs and the effect of these programs on teachers and their ability to teach their limited English proficient (LEP) students. The current study focused on the component of culture in the 60-hour inservice education required of content-area teachers in Florida. The purpose was to assess the impact of inservice educational programs on public school teachers' cross-cultural adaptability using control and experimental groups. / The study established the relationship between multicultural inservice education and the four dimensions of cultural adaptability: emotional resilience, flexibility/openness, perceptual acuity, and personal autonomy. The study also investigated the relationship of these four dimensions to teacher characteristics of gender, age, race, years of teaching experience, languages spoken fluently other than English, and extent of overseas travel. / One hundred and three male and female content-area teachers ranging in age from 24 to 60 years old were divided into four groups: (a) two control groups of 24 and 29 teachers respectively, and (b) two experimental groups of 24 and 26 teachers, respectively. The two experimental groups consisted of teachers participating in a multicultural inservice education program. The two control groups were composed of teachers who had not yet had the inservice program. / All subjects were administered the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI) developed in California by Meyers and Kelley (1987) as well as the Multicultural Opinion Survey (developed at The Ohio State University) and a Demographic Profile Checklist. Semi-structured interviews with selected teachers were conducted to further substantiate the outcomes of the inservice education. The instructor was also interviewed regarding her educational background and teaching experience. / Contrary to what the researcher expected, the findings of the study revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in the teachers' cross-cultural adaptability scores before and after taking the cultural component of the inservice educational program. The results of the study indicate that inservice educational programs in multicultural education need to be reevaluated. Further research is needed in other parts of the country to validate the findings of the current study. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-12, Section: A, page: 4378. / Major Professor: Byron G. Massialas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The issue of differential item functioning (DIF) in standardized tests has increasingly generated interest in the measurement and testing communities. An item is said to contain DIF if examinees of equal proficiency from different gender, ethnic or other groups have an unequal probability of responding correctly to the item. / Although the majority of DIF research has focused on its identification through statistical procedures, recent published studies have addressed the arguably more important issue of causes of DIF. To date, however, most studies of causes of DIF have been concerned with post-secondary situations. / The present study identified sources of DIF within a widely used secondary school achievement battery. Responses on the Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension sections of the Stanford Achievement Test were obtained from 1580 White and 3223 Hispanic eighth graders in Dade County, Florida. A quantitative technique was used to detect items exhibiting DIF. Once these items were identified, a review panel of expert bilingual judges examined them in terms of linguistic and cultural factors associated to DIF between Hispanics and Whites. / Results suggest that, when comparing Hispanic and White students of the same ability, the use in test items of true cognate words frequently used in Spanish will favor the performance of Hispanics. In contrast, several conditions may favor Whites, including the use of non true cognate words infrequently used in English, linguistic complexity, idiomatic expressions derived from technical language, and poetry. Moreover, words and phrases with a special cultural meaning for one of the groups will favor members of that group (White or Hispanic) and, the use of settings for which Hispanic students are likely to be less familiar with will favor the performance of Whites. / Findings from the study confirm the need to stress certain areas in the instruction of Hispanic students. Even though DIF is not necessarily indicative of item bias, its appearance in test items might be a sign of instructional deficiencies. Findings also should alert test developers to distinguish between construct-relevant DIF and DIF associated with test invalidity. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-09, Section: A, page: 3411. / Major Professor: Albert C. Oosterhof. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

Six instructional competencies (communication skills, positive regard, non-authoritarianism, pedagogic flexibility, socio-cultural knowledge, and self confidence) were investigated to determine the effectiveness of elementary bilingual education teachers. Supervisor/peer ratings of teachers' effectiveness were selected as the criterion of effectiveness for this study; the relationships between competency scores, supervisor/peer ratings, and background data were then examined and compared. / There was a significant correlation between teachers' pedagogic flexibility (the ability to provide a variety of methods and materials) scores and their ratings, although the remaining correlations between competencies and ratings were near zero. Correlations between background variables and competency scores were not significant, nor were correlations between background variables and competency scores, with the exception of the significant relationship between the subjects' years of experience teaching limited English proficient students with their scores for the competency of positive regard. / There were minimal differences in the background data of teachers who had received the highest and lowest supervisor/peer ratings. However, the highest rated teachers scored higher on all competencies; their mean total competency score was almost double that of the lowest rated teachers and their mean pedagogic flexibility score was almost triple that of the lowest rated teachers. / The factor that determined a teacher's effectiveness rating seemed to be skill in pedagogic flexibility. If further experimental studies that deliberately train one set of teachers in pedagogic flexibility and deny such training to another set of teachers verify the findings of the present study, the need for specialized training in ESL/BE will be substantiated and pre- and in-service training will need to be modified to emphasize the development of a repertoire of skills in pedagogic flexibility. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4408. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.