In Canada, although multicultural/diversity education has been widely discussed over the past three decades, little research has been conducted in mathematics education regarding equity and diversity. As textbooks play a pivotal role in education and are important pedagogical tools, this study examines a nationally distributed Grade 3 mathematics textbook, and whether it responds to the needs of today's multicultural/diversity educational goals and is reflective of the various pluralities present in Canadian society. This study analyzes representations of ethnic, gender, and class diversities as well as historical and cultural references with respect to the concept of ethnomathematics in the textbook and how the inclusion or non-inclusion of diverse student identities can affect both the teaching and learning of mathematics and diversity in Canada. The study concludes with discussions at several levels of curriculum: provincial ministry, classroom, and the textbook through which students construct meanings. / Au Canada, bien que l'instruction multiculturelle/de diversité ait été largement discutée au cours des trois dernières décennies, peu de recherches ont été menées en enseignement des mathématiques concernant l'équité et la diversité. Puisque les manuels scolaires jouent un rôle charnière en enseignement et sont d'importants outils pédagogiques, cette étude examine un manuel en mathématiques de 3ième année distribué au niveau national, et s'il répond ou non aux besoins des objectifs pédagogiques multiculturels/de diversité d'aujourd'hui et reflète les différentes pluralités présentes dans la société canadienne. Cette étude analyse les représentations des diversités ethniques, de genre, et de classe ainsi que les références historiques et culturelles, par rapport au concept d'ethnomathématiques dans le manuel scolaire et comment l'inclusion ou la non inclusion des diverses identités étudiantes peut affecter l'enseignement et l'apprentissage des mathématiques et de la diversité au Canada. L'étude se termine par des discussions sur plusieurs niveaux de programmes : les ministères provinciaux, les salles de classe, et le manuel scolaire à travers lequel les élèves construisent des sens.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0476. Adviser: Cheryl Bullock. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-89) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4582. Adviser: Wanda Pillow. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-210) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Educat.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1979. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-05, Section: A, page: 2525.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Language Education, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 5, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-08, Section: A, page: 2856. Adviser: Larry Mikulecky.

Learning how to interact with others of diverse backgrounds is essential to effective participation in a globalized world and is a key goal of two-way language immersion programs, which bring together students from different language backgrounds to learn in both languages. These programs are frequently lauded for their success in promoting academic achievement and bilingualism, as well as for their potential to promote cross-cultural learning. However, limited research in this area shows that while students develop positive attitudes and cross-cultural friendships, the unequal status of the two languages and the marginalization of African-American students are concerns. Few studies have looked at the process of cross-cultural learning in these programs to see how interactions between students, teachers, and resources like curricula may influence students’ cross-cultural educación (Valenzuela, 1999). This comparative case study examines the question “What does cross-cultural educación look like in two-way immersion programs, and what factors influence that process?” at two schools, using observations of classes and schoolwide events, semi-structured interviews with teachers, document review, and a student picture sort activity. Using contact theory, I find that the two schools have different strengths in regards to cross-cultural educación, with one providing institutional support structures for explicit cross-cultural learning and another providing more opportunities for informal learning through its socioeconomically- and ethnically-diverse student and teacher population. There are also distinct ways of talking about difference at the two-schools, with one favoring a discourse focused on commonalities and the other a more dissonant discourse that recognizes differences. Nevertheless, the schools share important characteristics associated with their shared context, the rapidly globalizing state of North Carolina; these include pressure to integrate cross-cultural learning with Common Core literacy standards and a focus on the cultures of foreign countries. I argue that two-way immersion programs need to emphasize equity for not only speakers of non-English languages, but also diverse ethnic and socioeconomic groups, through broadening considerations for choosing program models, diversifying student and teacher populations, and teaching students to both learn about and care for different cultures in their local communities. / Culture, Communities, and Education

Across the country, community organizing has emerged as a strategy for engaging low-incoming communities and communities of color in school transformation. There is increasing recognition that this approach can be used to develop relationships, leadership, and political power to support systemic and long-lasting educational change. Oakland has a rich history of community-driven school reform. In the early 2000s, the mobilization of thousands of families across the city led to the passage of a new small autonomous school policy and the creation of over 30 new district schools through community-based design teams. However, since 2007, no new district schools have been authorized. Like many other urban districts, the charter sector has expanded, enrollment has declined, and the school district has turned to closing and consolidating schools, rather than opening new ones. This strategic leadership project sought to combine community organizing and design thinking frameworks to develop institutional and community support for a new dual language middle school as part of a PK-12 multilingual pathway of schools in the Oakland Unified School District. Throughout the capstone, I use Mark Moore’s strategic triangle framework (public value, operational capacity, and institutional support) to organize my research and analysis of this strategic project. I describe my leadership of the design team and some of the complexities that arose in our authorizing environment when we attempted to develop the new school through an existing district transformation process. The analysis includes implications for both new school design and school transformation work, and includes recommendations for how Oakland and other districts can more effectively facilitate communities to take leadership in school transformation.

Cross-cultural learning and identity formation are an under-theorized but fundamental aspect of dual language bilingual schools, where heritage speakers and English-only learners of a foreign language are educated together through immersion in both languages (Parkes, Ruth, Anberg-Espinoza & de Jong, 2009; Reyes & Vallone, 2007). Previous research on dual language programs has shown that despite careful program designs to treat each language equally, asymmetries between Spanish and English still play out even in well-implemented programs (Palmer, 2004; Potowski, 2005). Observation of such inequalities at the Espada School, a highly successful Spanish/English dual language school, spurred the current study, which seeks to explore in greater depth the language ideologies held by youth in such a setting. In-depth interviews and group discussions were conducted with six middle school students who had attended the school for eight years. Drawing on Foucauldian discourse analysis and sociocultural linguistics (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005; Willig, 2009), the study sought to answer the following questions: 1) What discourses do bilingual youth at a dual language middle school draw on to talk about Spanish and English, and about speakers of each language? 2) How do they deploy these discourses of language for identity-building and world-building? Three discourses of language were identified. The first, language as utilitarian, emphasizes the functional or practical use of language as a resource or tool. The second, language as internal, constructs language as a skill, proficiency, quality or accomplishment that is located inside the individual person. The last, language as connecting or excluding, treats language as a means of relationship-building and understanding or as leading to division between people. Analysis reveals the ways that these discourses were deployed in different ways by each participant to construct their own identities with respect to their future, their everyday language interactions and their perceptions of the relationship between language and ethnicity. The study contributes to a theoretical understanding of ethnolinguistic and sociocultural identity formation from a youth perspective. Recommendations are also made for dual language educators interested in expanding the discourses of language available to students as one way of countering the lower status of Spanish.

This doctoral study deals with communication issues of MBA students from China at Eastern Canada University (pseudonym). The author investigates how Chinese cultural presuppositions can lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding in the Canadian academic and social context. The main research questions are: What is the nature of Chinese/Canadian cross-cultural miscommunication and misunderstanding? What are the reasons for such miscommunication and misunderstanding? What are the consequences of such miscommunication and misunderstanding? What are the strategies for dealing/coping with miscommunication and misunderstanding? In examining communication issues in non-instructional, real-life settings, the emphasis of the present study is on communicative competence (Hymes, 1971, 1972) and language socialization (Lazaraton, 1995). Firth & Wagner (1997) lament that although second and foreign language interactions in non-instructional settings are everyday occurrences, such as in the workplace, they have not yet attracted the attention of second language acquisition researchers. The present study addresses this gap. Johnson (1992) encourages ethnographic research, by saying that we can gain new insights by employing ethnographic approaches to understanding second and foreign language learners in schools and varied adult educational and workplace settings. The present study is a naturalistic inquiry employing ethnographic methods; data are collected through (1) observation of the participants, (2) in-depth interviews with key informants, (3) interviews with background informants, and (4) a questionnaire. Data analysis and interpretation follow the qualitative paradigms of phenomenology and hermeneutics (Tesch, 1990). Further, Spindler's (1997) concept of transcultural sensitization has inspired the present study towards a better understanding of the phenomena and concepts involved in learning an additional language and culture. Through its ethnographic approach, the present study shows that cultural factors significantly influenced the Chinese MBA students' sojourn in Canada and played a crucial role in various aspects of their academic work, their off-campus social interaction, their on-campus study-related interaction, and their relationships with Canadians. The present study is expected to contribute to a better understanding of language socialization in cross-cultural contexts and facilitate efficient language and professional training programs. With its emphasis on cross-cultural understanding on the conceptual level, it is further expected to contribute to the theory of language learning and language use in international settings.

Dans le domaine de la formation interculturelle pour des personnes qui vont vivre et travailler dans une autre culture, il y a des questionnements sur la veritable nature des formations. Sont-elles des sessions de preparation et d'orientation fournissant de l'information sur le pays et la culture hotes, ou sont-elles des sessions de formation developpant des habiletes et des capacites d'interagir efficacement avec les individus de l'autre culture? Cette recherche descriptive, de nature evaluative, utilisant une approche d'analyse documentaire, analyse les objectifs d'apprentissage de sessions de formation pour conseillers techniques canadiens avant leur affectation outre-mer dans le cadre de projet de cooperation internationale. Partant de la notion de l'efficacite interculturelle, des qualites requises d'un conseiller technique efficace et du continuum du developpement de la sensibilite culturelle de Milton Bennett, un outil d'analyse est developpe. La demarche comprend un survol du developpement international ainsi que certaines perspectives des efforts de cooperation internationale d'agences et d'organismes impliques dans ce milieu. Un des moyens privilegie de la cooperation internationale, la cooperation technique est decrite et un bilan, tire de la litterature, est degage. La notion de l'efficacite interculturelle et les qualites requises d'un conseiller technique efficace interculturellement sont exposees et un continuum de sensibilite culturelle est explique. Une grille est developpee afin de pouvoir analyser les objectifs d'apprentissage de sessions de formation interculturelle. Une correlation, decoulant de l'analyse des objectifs d'apprentissage, est faite entre l'efficacite interculturelle, le developpement de la sensibilite culturelle et la formation interculturelle.