This dissertation examines teacher’s perspectives regarding the classroom strategies, behaviors, and approaches they believed best support the development of African American students. Educator perceptions are valuable to understand because perceptions and attitudes undergird behavior and practices. This study focused on perceptions of teachers toward pedagogical strategies, approaches, and teacher behaviors that perceived to best support African American students because of the persisting achievement gap between African American students and their White, middle class counterparts. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy was used as the theoretical framework for this study as it describes approaches to teaching students from historically marginalized groups in ways that are more relevant to their cultural strengths, assets, and knowledge-bases. Q methodology was selected for this study because it was designed to examine human subjectivity using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Forty-two teachers sorted 36 statements, each representing a practice, strategy, or behavior identified by participants as being culturally relevant to African American students, based on their perceived effectiveness. These 42 Q sorts were then correlated. Principal component analysis and Varimax rotation were used to examine the relationships among the correlations and extract 4 factors, 1 of which was bipolar, or containing two different, but mirrored perspectives. The factor arrays of these 5 perspectives were then examined, described, and named: Responsive to Students Cultural Backgrounds, Responding through Honoring and Exploring Culture, Responding through Structure, Routines, and Direct Advocacy, Conducive and Inclusive Learning Environment, Non-responsive Culture Free Pedagogical Practices. Implications and recommendations for practice, theory, and policy were also discussed.

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This qualitative study views international students as information-using learners, through an information literacy lens. Focusing on the experiences of 25 international students at two Australian universities, the study investigates how international students use online information resources to learn, and identifies associated information literacy learning needs. An expanded critical incident approach provided the methodological framework for the study. Building on critical incident technique, this approach integrated a variety of concepts and research strategies. The investigation centred on real-life critical incidents experienced by the international students whilst using online resources for assignment purposes. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews and an observed online resource-using task. Inductive data analysis and interpretation enabled the creation of a multifaceted word picture of international students using online resources and a set of critical findings about their information literacy learning needs. The study’s key findings reveal: • the complexity of the international students’ experience of using online information resources to learn, which involves an interplay of their interactions with online resources, their affective and reflective responses to using them, and the cultural and linguistic dimensions of their information use. • the array of strengths as well as challenges that the international students experience in their information use and learning. • an apparent information literacy imbalance between the international students’ more developed information skills and less developed critical and strategic approaches to using information • the need for enhanced information literacy education that responds to international students’ identified information literacy needs. Responding to the findings, the study proposes an inclusive informed learning approach to support reflective information use and inclusive information literacy learning in culturally diverse higher education environments.