This survey study utilized two self-report questionnaires for the purpose of clarifying the interdependent relationship among the following variables: (a) the academic aspirations of junior and senior secondary school students (b) their knowledge about British Columbia public college and university general academic admission criteria, (c) the geographical location of the students (urban or rural). Over all, the students who participated in the study showed high academic aspirations, but little awareness of the nature of post-secondary admissions policies. Few students were fully aware of the open admissions policies of their local community colleges and most students incorrectly identified most of the non-academic items (such as attitude and fitting in socially) as being important for admission. Students with post-secondary academic aspirations and urban students were more aware of the academic expectations of their local universities and colleges. Among males, grade nines, and students not planning to attend college or university, rural students were less knowledgable than urban students about post-secondary admission criteria.

This survey study utilized two self-report questionnaires for the purpose of clarifying the interdependent relationship among the following variables: (a) the academic aspirations of junior and senior secondary school students (b) their knowledge about British Columbia public college and university general academic admission criteria, (c) the geographical location of the students (urban or rural). Over all, the students who participated in the study showed high academic aspirations, but little awareness of the nature of post-secondary admissions policies. Few students were fully aware of the open admissions policies of their local community colleges and most students incorrectly identified most of the non-academic items (such as attitude and fitting in socially) as being important for admission. Students with post-secondary academic aspirations and urban students were more aware of the academic expectations of their local universities and colleges. Among males, grade nines, and students not planning to attend college or university, rural students were less knowledgable than urban students about post-secondary admission criteria. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Ethnocentrism is a cognitive bias whereby people and practices of other cultures are viewed and judged according to what is right and wrong in one's own cultural group. Social studies teachers, when teaching about peoples and cultures, implicitly, if not explicitly, try to prevent the development of an ethnocentric attitude in their students. The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable ethnocentrism scale for use by social studies teachers to gain feedback of how a particular unit of study effected their students. The scale can be used as a pre-post test measure before and after a course or unit of study. The known California E-scale, British Ethnocentrism Scale, and Australian Ethnocentrism Scale became the models for the construction of this scale. The developed ethno-centrism scale is a 30 item Likert summated rating scale using six response steps ranging from "agree very much" to "disagree very much". To insure content validity, test items were based on interviews with members of several minority groups in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia to gather information about practices and customs particular to their culture. The whole study was conducted using grade eight and nine students from four junior high schools in one Lower Mainland School District. The pool of test items were administered to approximately 550 subjects to gain data for item and factor analysis. Two ethnocentrism scales were constructed using items with high reliability rankings. The two forms were administered to groups of students to establish whether the forms were statistically parallel. The forms were not statistically parallel. One form using items with high item reliability rankings was constructed. An intervention study was conducted to check for construct validity. Eight social studies classes in one school were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental classes were exposed to a three day lesson on ethnocentrism. The developed scale was used as a posttest measure. A significant difference between the two groups was reported. The experimental group means were significantly lower (p < .05), less ethnocentric, than control group means. Finally, the scale was administered to 215 students to gather data for test-retest reliability. At this stage the students were also administered a dogmatism scale and a self concept scale to check for concurrent and construct validity. Test-retest coefficent was high (p = .83) and the Hoyt reliability coefficent for test consistency was high for all administrations of the form ranging from .87 to .94. Recommendations for use of the developed ethnocentrism scale and areas for future research were based on the findings. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This study investigates the adjustment experiences of 23 Chinese-speaking foreignborn students in a social climate where they form the largest cultural group in a secondary school setting. The study's objectives were to determine initial adjustment issues, to examine adjustment issues of international and satellite students as sub-groups within this population, to identify students' lived experiences concerning racism and discrimination; to identify adjustment concerns subsequent to graduation and to examine student perception of Canada's multicultural policy. Ethnographic interviews were conducted over a four-week period. Data were subsequently categorized into 14 different categories: Agency, Chinese Population Concerns, Comparing Education Systems, Cultural Considerations, Current Adjustment Issues, ESL Program, Facilitating/Hindering Issues, Friendship/Peer Relationships, Initial Observations and Concerns, Language, Mental Health Issues, Multicultural and Assimilation Issues, Racism and Discrimination, and Satellite and International Students. Adjustment issues were divided into two main categories: those pertaining to the large numbers of Chinese-speaking foreign-born students and those that are independent of their large numbers. Issues that seem to stem directly from the large numbers of Chinesespeaking foreign-born students are language development, developing friendships outside the Chinese cultural group, assimilation/integration issues, and EAL program concerns. Language, peer relations, cross-cultural concerns and education and the school environment are the adjustment issues identified in this study. Satellite student results, further divided into satellite and full-satellite categories, produced somewhat different findings. While mental health issues began to emerge in the satellite category, they overrode the adjustment concerns of full-satellite students. Students do not identify racism and discrimination as adjustment issues though they are part of their everyday lives. Students were aware of Canada's reputation as a multicultural country and understood the concept of cultural pluralism. Most students could see the benefits of this policy to them as Chinese-speaking foreign-born students. Some students felt the policy was good for Canada; others did not. Recommendations included reviewing the current provincial EAL Policy in view of the changing demographics in some of British Columbia's school districts, placing a priority on identifying/addressing the needs of satellite students and increasing funding to develop and implement a more comprehensive program concerning racism and discrimination.

This study investigates the adjustment experiences of 23 Chinese-speaking foreignborn students in a social climate where they form the largest cultural group in a secondary school setting. The study's objectives were to determine initial adjustment issues, to examine adjustment issues of international and satellite students as sub-groups within this population, to identify students' lived experiences concerning racism and discrimination; to identify adjustment concerns subsequent to graduation and to examine student perception of Canada's multicultural policy. Ethnographic interviews were conducted over a four-week period. Data were subsequently categorized into 14 different categories: Agency, Chinese Population Concerns, Comparing Education Systems, Cultural Considerations, Current Adjustment Issues, ESL Program, Facilitating/Hindering Issues, Friendship/Peer Relationships, Initial Observations and Concerns, Language, Mental Health Issues, Multicultural and Assimilation Issues, Racism and Discrimination, and Satellite and International Students. Adjustment issues were divided into two main categories: those pertaining to the large numbers of Chinese-speaking foreign-born students and those that are independent of their large numbers. Issues that seem to stem directly from the large numbers of Chinesespeaking foreign-born students are language development, developing friendships outside the Chinese cultural group, assimilation/integration issues, and EAL program concerns. Language, peer relations, cross-cultural concerns and education and the school environment are the adjustment issues identified in this study. Satellite student results, further divided into satellite and full-satellite categories, produced somewhat different findings. While mental health issues began to emerge in the satellite category, they overrode the adjustment concerns of full-satellite students. Students do not identify racism and discrimination as adjustment issues though they are part of their everyday lives. Students were aware of Canada's reputation as a multicultural country and understood the concept of cultural pluralism. Most students could see the benefits of this policy to them as Chinese-speaking foreign-born students. Some students felt the policy was good for Canada; others did not. Recommendations included reviewing the current provincial EAL Policy in view of the changing demographics in some of British Columbia's school districts, placing a priority on identifying/addressing the needs of satellite students and increasing funding to develop and implement a more comprehensive program concerning racism and discrimination. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This study explored three aspects related to ESL students in a mainstream grade 11 biology classroom: 1) the nature of students' participation in classroom activities, 2) the factors that enhanced or constrained ESL students' engagement in social interactions, and 3) the role of language in the learning of science. Ten ESL students were observed over an eight-month period in this biology classroom. Data were collected using qualitative research methods such as participant observation, audio-recordings of lessons, field notes, semi-structured interviews, short lesson recall interviews and students' written work. The study was framed within sociocultural perspectives, particularly the social constructivist perspectives of Vygotsky (1962,1978) and Wertsch (1991). Data were analysed with respect to the three research aspects. Firstly, the findings showed that ESL students' preferred and exhibited a variety of participation practices that ranged from personal-individual to socio-interactive in nature. Both personal-individual and socio-interactive practices appeared to support science and language learning. Secondly, the findings indicated that ESL students' engagement in classroom social interactions was most likely influenced by the complex interactions between a number of competing factors at the individual, interpersonal and community/cultural levels (Rogoff, Radziszewska, & Masiello, 1995). In this study, six factors that appeared to enhance or constrain ESL students' engagement in classroom social interactions were identified. These factors were socio-cultural factors, prior classroom practice, teaching practices, affective factors, English language proficiency, and participation in the research project. Thirdly, the findings indicated that language played a significant mediational role in ESL students' learning of science. The data revealed that the learning of science terms and concepts can be explained by a functional model of language that includes: 1) the use of discourse to construct meanings, 2) multiple semiotic representations of the thing/process, and 3) constructing taxonomies and ways of reasoning. Other important findings were: talking about language is integral to biology teaching and learning, ESL students' prior knowledge of everyday words does not necessarily help them interpret written questions on worksheets, and ESL students' prior knowledge of concepts in their first language does not necessarily support concept learning in the second language.

This study explored three aspects related to ESL students in a mainstream grade 11 biology classroom: 1) the nature of students' participation in classroom activities, 2) the factors that enhanced or constrained ESL students' engagement in social interactions, and 3) the role of language in the learning of science. Ten ESL students were observed over an eight-month period in this biology classroom. Data were collected using qualitative research methods such as participant observation, audio-recordings of lessons, field notes, semi-structured interviews, short lesson recall interviews and students' written work. The study was framed within sociocultural perspectives, particularly the social constructivist perspectives of Vygotsky (1962,1978) and Wertsch (1991). Data were analysed with respect to the three research aspects. Firstly, the findings showed that ESL students' preferred and exhibited a variety of participation practices that ranged from personal-individual to socio-interactive in nature. Both personal-individual and socio-interactive practices appeared to support science and language learning. Secondly, the findings indicated that ESL students' engagement in classroom social interactions was most likely influenced by the complex interactions between a number of competing factors at the individual, interpersonal and community/cultural levels (Rogoff, Radziszewska, & Masiello, 1995). In this study, six factors that appeared to enhance or constrain ESL students' engagement in classroom social interactions were identified. These factors were socio-cultural factors, prior classroom practice, teaching practices, affective factors, English language proficiency, and participation in the research project. Thirdly, the findings indicated that language played a significant mediational role in ESL students' learning of science. The data revealed that the learning of science terms and concepts can be explained by a functional model of language that includes: 1) the use of discourse to construct meanings, 2) multiple semiotic representations of the thing/process, and 3) constructing taxonomies and ways of reasoning. Other important findings were: talking about language is integral to biology teaching and learning, ESL students' prior knowledge of everyday words does not necessarily help them interpret written questions on worksheets, and ESL students' prior knowledge of concepts in their first language does not necessarily support concept learning in the second language. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate