Understanding the processes that allow all students to successfully learn mathematics has been an important objective for most education systems including those in Canada. Educational systems however, have not achieved this goal as many students with low socioeconomic status, females, and minority students fail to achieve an adequate knowledge of mathematics. Much of the discussion regarding this lack of achievement concerns classroom resources and practices, school policies within educational systems, and the specific domain of mathematics achievement considered. This study conceptualizes a successful mathematics classroom in terms of its level of mathematics achievement and how equitably achievement is distributed. The study employs multilevel models and the Canadian data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study to address three main research issues: 1) the extent to which differences in mathematics achievement is attributable to gender, family background, classrooms, and the province where a student attends school; 2) whether the variation in achievement is specific to a mathematics domain; and 3) whether the variation among six provinces (Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec) in the levels of their mathematics achievement is associated with various aspects of school policy and practices. The analyses indicate a slight male advantage in mathematics achievement, and a large, significant gap in achievement associated with the socioeconomic status (SES) of the students' families. Students from low SES backgrounds are disadvantaged as they tend to have relatively low achievement in mathematics within classrooms, especially in Proportionality, Measurement, and Fractions. The most successful classrooms are those in which students from disadvantaged backgrounds excel in mathematics. Disadvantaged students excel in mathematics classrooms in which there are fewer groupings, the mathematics teachers are specialized, and in schools with lower pupil-teacher ratio. Mathematics achievement is equitably distributed in provinces with high mathematics achievement levels. Provincial achievement levels are stable across mathematics domains; that is, provinces with high achievement levels in one domain also tend to have high achievement levels in other domains. On average, Quebec's mathematics achievement is higher than the other provinces in all mathematics domains, and at all levels of SES. This high achievement level in Quebec is partially attributed to higher teacher specialization, lower pupil-teacher ratio, and lower withinschool remedial tracking. The study recommends a comprehensive longitudinal study employing multilevel models with a focus on what other provinces can learn from Quebec's advantage in mathematics. Such a study should conceptualize successful mathematics classrooms as those in which an average student excels in mathematics and where mathematics achievement is equitably distributed.

The purpose of this study is to explore the adjustment experiences of McGill University graduate students from the People's Republic of China (PRC). Following a qualitative approach to research, interviews were conducted with 10 graduate students from the PRC using semi-structured and open-ended methods. More structured interviews with McGill University administrative staff provided background to the study as did government and university registration statistics. This study explores student involvement and interaction with Canadian society, avenues and barriers to interaction, and communication between professors/supervisors and students. It focuses on the overlapping relationship between communication skills and culture learning as part of how students define adjustment. Students identify the particular challenges in adjusting to Canadian society as becoming more self-reliant and feeling comfortable with uncertainty in their futures. Women students discuss issues of independence and freedom and how these factors sometimes conflict with their traditional social roles. This study also includes some recommendations for further research.

This was an exploratory study which used Flanagan's Critical Incident Technique to find out the factors which hinder or facilitate the psycho-socio adjustment of students from The People's Republic of China to Canada. The 21 subjects for the sample were drawn at random from a name list provided by the Chinese Visiting Scholars and Students Association at University of British Columbia. All of the subjects were graduate students or visiting scholars and had been in Canada for 9-12 months at the time of the interviews. All subjects were able to identify incidents which hindered or facilitated their first year psycho-socio adjustment to Canada. The total of 385 incidents, 175 facilitating and 210 hindering incidents, were reported. The average number of incidents reported per student was 19.2. Ten major categories which facilitate or hinder PRC students' psycho-socio adjustment to Canada have been found through this research. Considering the number of incidents reported by the participants, Academic Study & Research was ranked the first place among 10 categories. According to the rate of participation, Language Barriers & Improvement was listed the highest among 10 categories. Considering the number of facilitating incidents reported by the participants, Initial Settlement was placed the highest. In the number of hindering incidents, category of Language Barriers & Improvement was listed the highest among the 10 categories. The explanation of the research findings and suggestions for how the findings might contribute to the understanding PRC or other Oriental international students are included in the discussion. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Understanding the processes that allow all students to successfully learn mathematics has been an important objective for most education systems including those in Canada. Educational systems however, have not achieved this goal as many students with low socioeconomic status, females, and minority students fail to achieve an adequate knowledge of mathematics. Much of the discussion regarding this lack of achievement concerns classroom resources and practices, school policies within educational systems, and the specific domain of mathematics achievement considered. This study conceptualizes a successful mathematics classroom in terms of its level of mathematics achievement and how equitably achievement is distributed. The study employs multilevel models and the Canadian data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study to address three main research issues: 1) the extent to which differences in mathematics achievement is attributable to gender, family background, classrooms, and the province where a student attends school; 2) whether the variation in achievement is specific to a mathematics domain; and 3) whether the variation among six provinces (Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec) in the levels of their mathematics achievement is associated with various aspects of school policy and practices. The analyses indicate a slight male advantage in mathematics achievement, and a large, significant gap in achievement associated with the socioeconomic status (SES) of the students' families. Students from low SES backgrounds are disadvantaged as they tend to have relatively low achievement in mathematics within classrooms, especially in Proportionality, Measurement, and Fractions. The most successful classrooms are those in which students from disadvantaged backgrounds excel in mathematics. Disadvantaged students excel in mathematics classrooms in which there are fewer groupings, the mathematics teachers are specialized, and in schools with lower pupil-teacher ratio. Mathematics achievement is equitably distributed in provinces with high mathematics achievement levels. Provincial achievement levels are stable across mathematics domains; that is, provinces with high achievement levels in one domain also tend to have high achievement levels in other domains. On average, Quebec's mathematics achievement is higher than the other provinces in all mathematics domains, and at all levels of SES. This high achievement level in Quebec is partially attributed to higher teacher specialization, lower pupil-teacher ratio, and lower withinschool remedial tracking. The study recommends a comprehensive longitudinal study employing multilevel models with a focus on what other provinces can learn from Quebec's advantage in mathematics. Such a study should conceptualize successful mathematics classrooms as those in which an average student excels in mathematics and where mathematics achievement is equitably distributed. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

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The purpose of this study was to come to an understanding of the meaning and experience of community for undergraduate students at a research-intensive university. It was assumed that exploring community bounded by disciplinary affiliation would be a valuable approach to understanding this phenomenon within the context of the researchintensive university. In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 third year Psychology students pursuing either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree, and a survey designed to explore key aspects of interviewees' experiences was administered to a larger cohort of such students. Students' experiences were examined through the lens of constitutive and individualistic community frameworks, and ideal and actual experiences were compared. The results of this study show that a focus on disciplinary affiliation was a useful approach to understanding the meaning of community. Results document the significant influences of disciplinary affiliation on community membership and belonging. This exploration revealed that issues of community membership, involvement, and belonging were longitudinal processes that entailed complex patterns of participation and modes of exclusion that were influenced by students' aspirations and obligations as well as structural characteristics of the Psychology department and of the research-intensive university.

The purpose of this study was to come to an understanding of the meaning and experience of community for undergraduate students at a research-intensive university. It was assumed that exploring community bounded by disciplinary affiliation would be a valuable approach to understanding this phenomenon within the context of the researchintensive university. In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 third year Psychology students pursuing either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree, and a survey designed to explore key aspects of interviewees' experiences was administered to a larger cohort of such students. Students' experiences were examined through the lens of constitutive and individualistic community frameworks, and ideal and actual experiences were compared. The results of this study show that a focus on disciplinary affiliation was a useful approach to understanding the meaning of community. Results document the significant influences of disciplinary affiliation on community membership and belonging. This exploration revealed that issues of community membership, involvement, and belonging were longitudinal processes that entailed complex patterns of participation and modes of exclusion that were influenced by students' aspirations and obligations as well as structural characteristics of the Psychology department and of the research-intensive university. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The present study focused on changes over time in university-level Japanese students' sociocultural perceptions of social status during their year abroad in Canada, and the impact of such altered perceptions on their perceptions at subsequent time points. The sociocultural perception to be examined was perceived "social status" which Brown and Levinson (1987) discussed as a contributory factor in the perception of social asymmetry, power and authority. The study attempted to examine (1) whether (and to what extent) Japanese students, before they came to study in Canada, had recognized English native speakers' understanding of social status and had learned how to offer advice appropriately in English to individuals of various social statuses, (2) what proportion of differential pragmatic development among Japanese students in Canada was accounted for by their English proficiency and amount of exposure to English, and (3) whether (and to what extent) living and studying in Canada facilitated Japanese students' pragmatic development, which was assessed by the degree of approximation to native speech act behavior in various advice-giving situations repeated during the course of an academic year. To this end, the study compared the development of Japanese exchange students' pragmatic competence during their year abroad in Canada with peers in Japan who did not undertake a year abroad.

The present study focused on changes over time in university-level Japanese students' sociocultural perceptions of social status during their year abroad in Canada, and the impact of such altered perceptions on their perceptions at subsequent time points. The sociocultural perception to be examined was perceived "social status" which Brown and Levinson (1987) discussed as a contributory factor in the perception of social asymmetry, power and authority. The study attempted to examine (1) whether (and to what extent) Japanese students, before they came to study in Canada, had recognized English native speakers' understanding of social status and had learned how to offer advice appropriately in English to individuals of various social statuses, (2) what proportion of differential pragmatic development among Japanese students in Canada was accounted for by their English proficiency and amount of exposure to English, and (3) whether (and to what extent) living and studying in Canada facilitated Japanese students' pragmatic development, which was assessed by the degree of approximation to native speech act behavior in various advice-giving situations repeated during the course of an academic year. To this end, the study compared the development of Japanese exchange students' pragmatic competence during their year abroad in Canada with peers in Japan who did not undertake a year abroad. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate