The purpose of this research was to examine the ways in which Korean families of English Language Learners (ELLs) and teachers supported literacy in young children, as well as the kinds of interactions between families and teachers that supported ELL children's literacy development. The sample for this study consisted of four Korean ELL students attending public early childhood programs in Texas, their teachers and families. A constructivist grounded theory-based approach to data generation was employed, utilizing a wide variety of data collection methods such as questionnaires, interviews, observations, photography, field notes, and video recording. Grounded analysis, content analysis, and narrative analysis were then used in order to analyze the data. The case analysis showed that the parents and teachers did their best using their own resources within their own contexts. However, their educational goals and practices were not noticed or shared by each other. The families' and teacher's challenges and limited resources resulted in the creation of invisible expectations of the other parties. However, by watching video clips about literacy practices and reading handouts about each person's literacy values, goals, experiences, and photo projects, the families and teachers recognized each other's literacy resources, negotiated different expectations, and mediated communication channels to facilitate ELL children's literacy development. In the cross-case analysis, one major theme emerged: the search for understanding two different social and cultural contexts to find an overlapping resource to support ELL children's literacy learning. In detail, the more sophisticated emergent description of literacy support of the Korean family participants was provided through the lenses of the sociocultural approach, bidirectionality, and intergenerational trajectories. With regard to the construction of literacy by the teacher participants, I found that behind their support is their own perception of a bilingual child: monolingual viewpoint vs. bilingual viewpoint. Furthermore, the teachers' bilingualism was related to parental involvement in the school curriculum. The analysis then found an overlapping resource to use to enhance ELL students' learning: the practice of classroom book reading. Finally, recommendations for future applications of the Intergenerational Literacy Connection (ILC) model and some future directions for research are also discussed.

Accessibility is a key tenet of the Canadian health care system. As many older persons, age 60 years and older, are managing ongoing chronic health conditions as part of their everyday lives, issues of access to health services are particularly important. Vancouver has a substantial number of older Korean immigrants, yet little is known about their experience and perceptions about accessing Primary Health Care (PHC) services. This study explored issues related to PHC access by older (aged 60 years and older) Korean immigrants. This qualitative study employed purposive sampling and interpretive description methodology. Open-ended interview data and field notes were gathered from 10 older Korean immigrants (five male and five female) recruited in Vancouver from mid-October 2006 to April 2007. The findings revealed that older Korean immigrants have had difficulty gaining access to appropriate PHC services because of the shifts in their social positioning and other barriers which contributed to an inappropriate use of PHC services, delays in care and lack of continuity in PHC. Also, the data revealed a number of ways the PHC system is unresponsive to the health care needs of older Korean immigrants. This study offers insights that may assist health care professionals to understand the nature of the challenges older Korean immigrants face when seeking health care and how they seek to resolve them. The analysis proposes a number of interventions that respect the older Korean immigrants’ values and interventions that may improve their access to PHC.

Metalinguistic awareness skills (i.e., phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, morphological awareness) contribute to children’s spelling as well as reading. Although the multidimensional nature of these metalinguistic awareness skills has been acknowledged, little research has been conducted on the simultaneous investigation of these three metalinguistic skills, and it is especially true for Korean Hangul. The purpose of this study was to simultaneously examine these three inter-related constructs and the unique and shared contributions of each construct to English spelling as well as Korean spelling of typically developing fourth, fifth and sixth grade Korean-speaking students (n= 287). Korean metalinguistic awareness skills represented by three-first order factors (i.e., phonological, orthographic, morphological awareness) predicted 83% of the total variance in Korean spelling, and 52% of the total variance in English Word Spelling. It was particularly noteworthy that Korean metalinguistic awareness skills determined 12% of the variance in English Word Spelling, even after controlling for English vocabulary, demonstrating that there was a transfer effect between the two different orthographies. Findings from the present study provide strong support for the relationships between first language and second language literacy skills in terms of spelling and the concrete relationship between morphological awareness and spelling.

Written about the time of the Golden Venture incident, Chang-rae Lee’s Native Speaker makes a particular reference to that incident, whereby implying that particular immigrants, on the grounds of their racial identities, are mistreated and considered as aliens by some Americas. While some whites discriminate against immigrants, there is widespread ethnic tension between Korean Americans and African Americans. Significantly, racial conflict between Koreans and blacks and the racist attitude of some whites toward immigrants are mirrored in the relationship between the Korean-American protagonist Henry and his American wife Lelia. That is, due to their different racial identities they do not understand each other and they always argue. However, toward the end of the novel, Henry and Lelia come to understand each other. While ethnic conflict between Koreans and blacks and certain whites’ discriminatory attitudes toward immigrants is serious one, the novel suggests the unimportance of racial identity. In other words, the novel concludes that there is no discriminatory treatment of immigrants and, in fact, every one is a native Speaker in America. In the novel there is no message of how racial conflict could be resolved. However, this essay suggests that by investigating how the tension between Henry and Lelia is resolved, one could suggest a solution for the ethnicity problem in America and in real life.

Some scholars argue that organized sport is a viable context for different ethnic and racial groups to learn about one another and experience positive intergroup contact. Other scholars insist that hierarchical arrangements and competitive natures may actually exacerbate existing tensions among ethnic and racial groups. Less is known about whether or not recreational sport settings can facilitate positive intergroup contact. These contexts are often free of hierarchical arrangement and competition among participants, which potentially secure the equality of participants and facilitate positive interracial contact. The purpose of this study was to gain richer insights into the phenomenon of interracial contact that Korean Americans experience in recreational sport settings. This study was guided by three research questions: (1) Do Korean Americans perceive the presence of contact hypothesis' optimal conditions in recreational sport settings? (2) What factors influence Korean Americans' perception toward the presence or absence of optimal conditions? (3) Can participating in serious leisure activity with different racial groups contribute to interracial harmony? This study adopted qualitative research methods with a phenomenological approach. Face-to-face, in-depth, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 Korean American males who participated or have been participating in recreational sports with racially mixed teams. The interviews were conducted in August and September, 2008, in two southern cities. Four findings are articulated. First, informants held variable perceptions toward the presence of contact hypothesis' optimal conditions. Second, informants supported the existence of friendship opportunities. This study identified six key factors that play a critical role in formulation of informants' perceptions toward the existence of each optimal condition. They were: (1) skill level, (2) racial stereotypes, (3) physical attributes of recreational sport participants, (4) language proficiency, (5) atmosphere or culture within different recreational sport contexts, and (6) longevity of contact. Finally, informants felt that participating in recreational sports with different racial groups contributes to harmonious interracial relations. The findings showed that it is problematic to a priori assume that recreational sports satisfy the optimal conditions of contact situations. Moreover, findings suggest that satisfaction of optimal conditions in recreational sport contexts may not be necessary for positive interracial contact to occur.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between self-directed learning readiness and the cultural values of individualism/collectivism in two sample groups drawn from different cultures. The research design used for this study was descriptive and correlational in nature. The target population for this study consisted of two sample groups: Korean and American college students who seek teacher certification in the field of agriculture. Data were collected using a web-formatted questionnaire. Results were computed statistically, including the means, standard deviations, effect size, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, bivariate correlations, and multiple regression. Findings indicated that in a hierarchical multiple regression analysis, scores for the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) (R2 = .03, adjusted R2 = .01, p = .30) in Step 1 was not statistically significantly related by gender, student classification, and GPA. Gender, student classification, and GPA accounted for only 3% of the variance and the three beta weights for the gender, student classification, and GPA variables were not statistically significantly related to the SDLRS. However, scores for SDLRS (R2= .34, adjusted R2 = .30, ¨R2 = .31, p =.00) in Step 2 was statistically significantly related by gender, student classification, GPA, nationality, vertical individualism (VI), horizontal individualism (HI), vertical collectivism(VC), and horizontal collectivism(HC). This model accounted for 34 % of the variance in the SDLRS (R2 change = .31). It appears that nationality, VI, HI, VC, and HC accounted for a further 31% of the variance. However, in Step 1, the gender, student classification, and GPA variables did not account for a significant amount of variance in Step 2. The beta weight for nationality and VI variables were not statistically significantly related to the SDLRS (E = -0.15, t = -1.67, p = .10; E = 0.01, t = 0.10, p = .92, respectively). However, the beta for the HI variable was statistically significant and positive (E = 0.40, t = 4.31, p = .00). The beta for the VC variable also was statistically significant and positive (E = 0.20, t = 2.12, p = .04). The beta for the HC variable also was statistically significant and positive (E = 0.21, t = 2.19, p = .03). These findings indicated that if HI, VC, and HC attitudes are high, the SDLRS scores tend to be high. That is, differences in the students’ SDLRS can be best explained through HI, VC, and HC among the cultural values of individualism/collectivism.

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-48).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-122).

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-200).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-120). Also available on the Internet.