Lao folk opera is a unique blend of popular theatre and sung poetry performed among Lao-speaking people of rural Southeast Asia for a wide range of social and religious purposes. As a traditional medium for popular education, its primary function has been to preserve the cultural identity of the ethnic Lao by re-enacting ancient myths, local folk legends, and morality tales based on the penultimate lives of the Buddha. This dissertation explores the role of Lao folk opera as a medium for constructively addressing problems of cultural conflict and acculturative stress that have arisen among lowland Lao refugees and their children in urban America. The central focus of the inquiry is on the ways Lao folk opera currently functions as a learning medium in the resettlement context. The need for validation of such locally produced endogenous media has become increasingly apparent as long term resettlement issues continue to emerge as threats to linguistic and cultural identity. The review of literature encompasses the role of oral specialists in traditional societies, Buddhist epistemology in the Theravada tradition, and community education in rural Lao culture. These sources provide the background necessary to an understanding of the medium's capacity for encapsulating culture and teaching ethical values in ways that connect past to present, distant to near. The field research, which was accomplished in collaboration with a Lao folk opera troupe based in New England, adapted the action research model originally proposed by Kurt Lewin to the principles of Buddhist community education. The videotaped performance of a drama based on the refugee experience and subsequent audience reactions formed the main body of qualitative data. Group reflections revealed that the medium provides a viable context for performance artists to assume the role of critical culture makers with a potent educational agenda. Recommendations include the encouragement of local media producers to take advantage of community access facilities to counteract the homogenizing influences of the dominant media and the more active inclusion of elders in the transfer of language and culture across generational borders.

This dissertation aims to foster a discussion among adult education practitioners on the connections between transformative learning theory and ethnoculture-based community service learning. Based on the concept of perspective transformation described by Jack Mezirow (1991), the study explores how perspective transformation occurs in a ethnoculturally based community service-learning course whose focus is on helping students to understand themselves within the context of their ethnic and cultural identity. As a practitioner of adult education I am looking for ways that my research, teaching, and practice are connected. The dissertation employed qualitative research, in particular drawing on ten in-depth interviews, and participant observation, and reflection papers to examine a variety of perspectives in order to analyze the implications of transformative learning theory for practitioners working with refugee and immigrant students. My research data consistently speaks of a heightened sense of cultural identity and personal development, a greater mastery of leadership skills, an enhanced self-esteem, and more complex patterns of thought in the form of critical reflection. Most of the immigrants and refugee students expressed that CIRCLE expose to a large and diverse immigrants and refugee community had significant and positive effects on their identity development process. In summary, my study suggests that the ethnoculturally-based community service can and often does have a transformational impact on participants.

Sealed adoption records support the notion that adoptive families are the same as biological families and that adoptive parenting should mirror biological parenting. Whether adoptive parents subscribe to these beliefs is not really known, since they have had few opportunities to tell about this way of being a family. The research involved a narrative analysis of the stories told conjointly by six couples in the formation stage and six couples in the launching stage of the adoptive family life cycle; this reflexive research demonstrates the collaborative nature of social constructionism. The research subject (the storyteller) and the research interviewer (the listener) create meaning together through the questions and responses, the interviewers interpretation of the narrative and then the checkback which allows the storyteller to indicate disagreement or enlarged understanding. Adoptive couples with young children were found to believe that their family is not very different from biological families while the couples with children leaving home were assessing their parenting and the strength of their family ties. Overall, the couples seem to be constrained by their cultural understanding of parenthood.

The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the extent of difference in effectiveness of three non-formal education approaches in helping women acquire literacy skills and/or health knowledge in Nepal, and to propose hypotheses about factors or "influences" that might explain these differences. This exploratory study provides insights that program planners, researchers and policy makers can use for focusing further research on which non-formal education program designs for women will bring about the greatest increase in literacy skills and health knowledge. Four sample groups of women were compared: (1) 74 women in three different sites who attended monthly Mothers' Group health education meetings (with no literacy instruction); (2) 38 women in two different classes who completed a 6-month basic literacy course (with no health instruction); (3) 65 women in three different classes who completed a 6-month health/literacy course and 38 of these women who completed a 3-month post-literacy/health course; and (4) 50 women in two different sites who attended neither literacy course nor Mother's Group meetings. Data related to "acquisition" included literacy test scores and health knowledge oral interview scores; data related to possible "influences" included demographic data, and information about community and classroom context. Data were coded and analyzed by standard statistical procedures. The findings indicate that non-formal education of any kind is effective in helping women acquire some degree of both literacy skills and health knowledge. Type of non-formal education approach was not significantly related to greater literacy skills acquisition but it was related to greater health knowledge acquisition. Participation in the integrated health/literacy course was related to higher levels of health knowledge than was participation in health only or literacy only non-formal education approaches. Participation in the post-literacy course was associated with greater literacy skill and health knowledge acquisition than participation in either schooling or other types of non-formal education at a basic level. In addition, literacy skill acquisition appeared to be influenced by class or community factors (hours of instruction, facilitator characteristics, economic status of the community) and health knowledge acquisition was influenced by individual factors (marital status, age, radio ownership, number of children).

A macroeconomic policy framework of structural adjustment designed to address problems of international indebtedness, adopted by CARICOM countries in the 1980s, has been associated with a major setback in the process of broad-based socioeconomic development that had been launched in the context of representative government and independence. The study examines the influence of these global/regional trends on state policy, with special reference to how the altered political vision of the state, inherent in structural adjustment policies, appeared to impact the welfare and livelihood of rural women and families in St. Vincent. The study also assesses the extent to which an innovative non-formal education project aimed at community development through the empowerment of women in a rural community, served to mitigate detrimental aspects of these policies and related state practices. The study utilized a feminist research methodology with a combination of interviews, focus groups and observation that provided multiple vantage points on macro and micro dimensions of the study. The author's personal involvement in various aspects of development and the non-formal education project during this period serves as an additional lens. The study argues that a policy framework of structural adjustment severely weakens rural and social development, and is inappropriate to goals of broad-based socioeconomic development in a small island state. The non-formal education project which linked university continuing education to community organizing, served to increase human, physical and social capital, as well as enhance community norms and people's capacity to cope in a deteriorating socioeconomic environment. While this intervention was circumscribed by application to a community's immediate context, it does provide clues as to the kinds of intervention required for a fundamental reassessment of policies. The study further argues that non-formal education interventions can be applied to both micro and macro level situations and that their effectiveness in addressing social change depends on their inclusion of political education about macro/micro links and gender conscientization. Such interventions can strengthen advocacy for policies prioritizing human development within a women's human rights framework.

Citizenship education is a traditional tool for establishing the roles that newcomers are expected to take on as citizens. As such it is shaped by assumptions of what defines "good citizenry." Although it is commonly assumed that a good citizen participates in the political and social life of the community, notions of narrowly defined citizen participation such as voting have frequently prevailed in citizenship education programs. Opposing this restrictive tradition are empowerment-oriented citizenship education programs emphasizing a citizen participation that encompasses a view of citizenship as personal and community empowerment. This study examined the definitions, skills, and contexts of citizen participation in the words of the directors, facilitators, and participants of a Massachusetts community-based citizenship education program. Examples of how citizen participation was promoted through the curricula are offered. Internal and external challenges to the full participation of newcomers in their new society are also identified. Research strategies included multi-site case studies and historical and theoretical literature review. Data collection techniques included participant observation, interviewing, and document analysis. Research participants were found to be collectively creating varied and meaningful definitions of citizen participation. The citizenship education program examined was found to be contributing to the development of rationale, motivation, and skills for citizen participation by (a) providing opportunity for newcomers to investigate and connect historical and contemporary events; (b) facilitating the acquisition of critical tools including literacy, English, and information collecting and sharing skills; (c) providing support for the development of greater self esteem; and (d) offering opportunities to interact and act collectively within their local and greater communities. In the final chapter, the concept of critical civic literacy is discussed in the context of the research findings. Suggestions for empowerment-based citizenship education program development are offered. Citizenship education programs can make constructive use of participants' backgrounds as they begin the process of social, collective construction of the meaning of participatory citizenship.

Return to education is as an intervention in the life course that produces changes in sense of self and relationship. This study investigated the subjective experience of adult women who returned to school and completed an undergraduate degree after age 25. Thirteen women who returned to school and earned a Bachelor's degree were interviewed at least two years after graduation; their retrospective evaluations and understandings of changes initiated by return to school constituted a perspective missing from the literature. Analyses of interview themes were based on the principles of grounded theory. Relationships between codes representing participants' experiences were investigated to understand motivation before returning, experiences while in school, including stress, coping, and support, and evaluations at interview of change and stability in perceptions of senses of self and relationships with others. There was considerable support for the idea that education fostered developmental progression, rather than developmental stagnation or regression, in terms of increased capacity for independence and individuation, and in terms of increased capacity for relatedness and connection. Further, the perspective of retrospect and a qualitative approach added considerable richness and depth to understandings of experiences of return to education.

During the past two decades, out-of-country development assistance training programs have emerged in response to the need to promote peoples' self-determination through increased participation at the community level. Participatory training based on an empowerment ideology has been advanced by some practitioners. Yet, little emphasis has been placed on evaluating the efficacy of this strategy as it pertains to applying training experiences in program participants' home setting. When this is attempted, the traditional evaluation procedures typically used render information which is of limited value to planners, practitioners, and program participants themselves. Thus, the development field operates with a distorted understanding of the complexity involved in applying empowerment training principles in actual community settings. The study investigates the possibilities and limitations of participatory evaluation (PE), and alternative evaluation approach, as a research strategy. A training case for Guatemalan community development workers referred to as the Central American Peace Scholarship Project sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development provides the program background. The PE strategy is based on a theoretical perspective rooted in critical theory and a methodological perspective derived from a participatory research paradigm. By focusing the PE process on participants' questions critical insights that might not appear in traditional evaluation findings are revealed. Further, PE increases the possibilities for evaluation to serve a developmental role for program participants and an informational role for program planners. In application, the process moves through three key stages: (1) a collaborative assessment of the Guatemalan research context, (2) the emergence of participants' evaluation questions through a series of informal interview encounters, and (3) critical reflections, the creation of alternative solutions and action-taking. PE provides participants with training reinforcement in their home setting while informing program planners of the efficacy of a particular training methodology from a Guatemalan perspective. Findings challenge policy makers, planners, practitioners, and researchers to acknowledge multiple field realities as well as contextual and structural impediments to applying an empowerment based methodology in various socio-political contexts.

In a small but growing number of adult literacy programs across the United States, adult beginning readers have begun to write about their lives and publish their work as individual books, newsletters and anthologies. The use of the writing process in adult literacy classrooms is part of a more general trend toward greater learner participation and has been initiated primarily at the grassroots level. Although this practice is spreading, to date no comprehensive studies of its history, nature or potential value to learners yet exist. This exploratory study begins by gathering together information about the history of writing and publishing by adult beginning readers in the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, England and Canada, based on expert interviews, a mail survey and collections of local publications. The second, central phase of the research involves a qualitative study of the experiences of authors in three literacy programs in New England. Eighteen authors were asked to describe their life histories with respect to literacy and how they had changed as a result of becoming an author. Specific indicators included: authors' purposes for writing, their audiences, their beliefs and self-concept in relationship to literacy, learning and knowledge, their beliefs about writing and how it is learned, changes in everyday literacy practices, and plans for the future. Factors which influenced these changes, including aspects of the writing context and people in the authors' lives who helped or got in the way of their literacy acquisition were also considered. Six authors' stories are presented as life history narratives. Findings indicate that authors used writing as a means to re-examine their life histories, reflect on the stigma of illiteracy, overcome internalized beliefs they are unable to learn and advise others. The writing process facilitated authors' growing ability to speak out and recognize the authority of their own knowledge. This was further validated by opportunities authorship provided for taking the role of teacher and expert. Finally, the wider implications and constraints to the entry of adult beginning readers into the public sphere are examined, along with the potential role of learners in the creation of knowledge about literacy.

What are the differences of freshman experience between local students and non-local students? In this study, Local Students (LS) are defined as students who lived within two hours’ drive from East Tennessee State University's Main Campus. Non-Local Students (NLS) are defined as students who lived further than two hours’ drive from ETSU Main Campus. My hypothesis is that LS have a better freshman experience than NLS. The data set from Dr. Richards and Dr. Hoff is used for the analysis to test if my hypothesis is going to be accepted or rejected. There are different aspects of the freshman experiences that are going to be compared.