This study compared the performance of four groups of children--two Indian groups and two non-Indian groups--on a test of commonly used idioms. The Indian subjects, all bilingual, were differentiated on the basis of school setting, uni-ethnic or multi-ethnic. The non-Indian subjects, all from multi-ethnic schools, were differentiated on the basis of linguistic background, bilingual or monolingual.<p>The sample consisted of 465 children in grades five, six, and seven from six schools in Northern and Central Saskatchewan. The Yandell Idioms Test was administered to all the children. Differences among mean scores of the groups were tested with an analysis of variance. In addition, to minimize the effects on the Idioms Test results of very high or very low reading ability, a second analysis was done involving a selected sample identified from within the total sample by excluding all subjects who scored below the 4.0 grade level or above the 7.9 grade level on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests.<p>Analysis of Idioms Test scores revealed that Indian children in multi-ethnic schools scored higher than Indian children in uni-ethnic schools, but that non-Indian children, whether bilingual or monolingual, achieved significantly better than Indian children. in either multi-ethnic or uni-ethnic settings. Monolingual non-Indian children scored higher than bilingual non-Indian children, although for the selected sample, the differences were not statistically significant.<p>In both analyses, there seemed to be few sex differences of importance. Between-group differences generally reflected the trend for the whole-group analyses, while within-group differences were not significant except for the bilingual. non-Indian group.<p>In general, the study showed that not only did Indian children have difficulty with the comprehension of English idioms but that many English idioms used in basal readers were not familiar even to monolingual English-speaking children.

This study compared the performance of four groups of children--two Indian groups and two non-Indian groups--on a test of commonly used idioms. The Indian subjects, all bilingual, were differentiated on the basis of school setting, uni-ethnic or multi-ethnic. The non-Indian subjects, all from multi-ethnic schools, were differentiated on the basis of linguistic background, bilingual or monolingual.<p>The sample consisted of 465 children in grades five, six, and seven from six schools in Northern and Central Saskatchewan. The Yandell Idioms Test was administered to all the children. Differences among mean scores of the groups were tested with an analysis of variance. In addition, to minimize the effects on the Idioms Test results of very high or very low reading ability, a second analysis was done involving a selected sample identified from within the total sample by excluding all subjects who scored below the 4.0 grade level or above the 7.9 grade level on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests.<p>Analysis of Idioms Test scores revealed that Indian children in multi-ethnic schools scored higher than Indian children in uni-ethnic schools, but that non-Indian children, whether bilingual or monolingual, achieved significantly better than Indian children. in either multi-ethnic or uni-ethnic settings. Monolingual non-Indian children scored higher than bilingual non-Indian children, although for the selected sample, the differences were not statistically significant.<p>In both analyses, there seemed to be few sex differences of importance. Between-group differences generally reflected the trend for the whole-group analyses, while within-group differences were not significant except for the bilingual. non-Indian group.<p>In general, the study showed that not only did Indian children have difficulty with the comprehension of English idioms but that many English idioms used in basal readers were not familiar even to monolingual English-speaking children.

The aim of this study was to discover whether a value-based typology could be established that was applicable to all South African adults. It was predicated on the basis of a literature review and previous research findings that there were two major underlying dimensions of values: collectivism versus individualism and inner- versus outer-directed. The parameters of these dimensions were hypothesised within the framework of a common social structure, based on a number of related propositions. It was also hypothesised that the South African adult population consisted of five types. Five value measures were examined and found to have disadvantages for South Africa. A value measurement technique had been developed in South Africa for an on-going study titled Sociomonitor. The core of this study was the measurement of values of relevance to marketing and media. Over the period 1976 to 1993 separate value based typologies were identified for urban Blacks and Whites. In 1995 both races were covered in the same year and a common typology was found. In 1997/8 Sociomonitor was extended to the total adult population of South Africa. Respondents were sub-divided into Collectivism, Individualism, Inner- and Outer-directed groups. The characteristics of which were found to be substantially as had been expected. South African adults were categorised into five value types. Three of which were as had been hypothesised, two were in place of one of the five anticipated and one wasn't found. It is concluded that the values of adults from all ethnic groups fall within the parameters of collectivism versus individualism and inner- versus outer-directed. Furthermore, there are five different value types in the South African adult population that transcend ethnic boundaries. The implications of a multi-ethnic typology for marketing, social and political decision-making, research and the formulation of scenarios are outlined. It is recommended that this type of research be extended to other African countries and small communities. / Dissertation (PHD)--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Psychology / unrestricted

Research studies have revealed that African-American women are disproportionately underrepresented in senior and executive leadership positions compared to European-American female and male counterparts at public and private predominantly White institutions, despite their increased representation in university senior leadership positions. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to discover the meaning and understanding of African-American women's career pathway experiences ascending to executive positions at these institutions. Critical race theory and Black feminist thought lenses were used as frameworks to understand participants' career pathways, barriers, and facilitating factors advancing toward leadership. LinkedIn recruitment and snowball sampling led to 9 participants who self-identified as African American/Black multi-ethnic women currently or previously worked in senior and executive-level roles. Each participant's interview was analyzed for codes and themes. Seven themes that emerged suggested that although participants experienced barriers and challenges as impediments, facilitating factors of a strong support system of mentors, role models, and faith enabled them to persevere. The participants reported having inherited a legacy of self-determination, self-reliance, resilience, family, community, and church preparing them for their career pathways. This empowered them to navigate barriers and challenges while taking advantage of facilitating factors into leadership. The positive social change implications of this study provide recommendations to both prospective African-American women aspiring career pathways in senior and executive leaders and the institutions themselves that may increase such leadership at higher education institutions.

yes / This report is a summary of the views of a range of practitioners working in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham on the challenges of building community interaction in these three northern `cities¿ which experienced disturbances in 2001. Practitioners from a variety of professional backgrounds from each of the locations met in Burnley on January 12th 2007 to reflect together on the key challenges that they had faced since 2001 and the progress, or lack thereof, that has been made. Their observations were recorded and form the basis of this report. Despite the significant differences between the `cities¿ in their size, location and demographics, practitioners from the three locations seemed to broadly share the analysis of the progress made and of the threats to progress since the disturbances in 2001. Information-sharing between organizations in the `cities¿ has improved. Some organizations are able to move more quickly to reduce/prevent tensions building. More young women, particularly young Muslim women, are becoming involved at a community level bringing new perspectives and ways of thinking. Yet practitioners also identified a variety of conditions which continued to make the `cities¿ vulnerable to fresh disturbances in the future. Perhaps chief among these was the concern over the high levels of discontent expressed by young people in each of the locations. The relatively low levels of educational attainment and engagement, high levels of crime which young people can get `sucked into¿ and the low level of mixing between young people from different ethnic groupings were all seen as underlying factors which could lead to fresh disturbances. Added to this were serious concerns about the levels of racism in each of the `cities¿, a lack of equal opportunities and the pressures on particular communities from the press and the police. One participant articulated the basic question running throughout the practitioners¿ discussions, ¿We are probably ready to deal with the 2001 disturbances now, but are we ready for 2007?"

As women began to establish themselves in the United States workforce in the first half of the twentieth century, one especial group of career women, women writers, began to use the space of their self-authored life writing narratives to inscribe their own understanding of themselves. Roundly criticized for not adhering to conventional autobiographical standards, these women writers used purposeful political strategies of resistance to craft self-authored life writing works that varied widely from the genre of autobiography. Rather than employ the usual ways critiquing autobiographical texts, I explore a deeper understanding of what these prescient women sought to do. Through revision of the terminology of the field and in consideration of a wide variety of critics and approaches, I argue that these women intentionally employed resistance in their writings. In Dust Tracks on A Road (1942), Zora Neale Hurston successfully established her own sense of herself as a black woman, who could also comment on political issues. Her fellow Southerner, Eudora Welty in One Writer’s Beginnings (1984), used orality to deliberately showcase her view of her own life. Another Southern writer, Lillian Smith in Killers of the Dream, employed an overtly social science approach to tell the life narrative of all white Christian Southerners, and described how she felt the problems of racism should be overcome. Anzia Yezierska, a Russian émigré to the United States, used an Old World European understanding of storytelling to refashion an understanding of herself as a writer and at the same time critiqued the United States in her work, Red Ribbon on a White Horse (1950). Mary Austin, a Western woman writer, saw Earth Horizon as an opportunity to reclaim the fragmentation of a woman’s life as a positive, rather than a negative space.

Countless millions of people in the world have little formally recognizable means for receiving any form of social justice. Laos, a small landlocked country in Southeast Asia, is a place that has seen some of the most brutal forms of poverty and violence. Over centuries, ethnic groups have been polarized and used by foreign powers to support their own agendas. In spite of this, the Lao people have consistently managed to recreate the peace and harmony that support their social relationships. Through the development and use of appropriate grassroots conflict resolution structures that do not require a formal court system, and exist outside the political arena, they have been able to resolve conflicts within and across cultural groups. Using in-depth interviews with different ethnic groups in Laos, this research examines traditional conflict resolution processes used in their communities. It identifies and discusses a Lao Conflict Resolution Spectrum, bringing particular attention to the Village Mediation Committee (Neoy Gai Geer). Laos' unique and most recognized conflict resolution ceremonies and rituals,the baci ceremony (soukhouan) and the reconciliation ceremony (soumma), are examined as tools for peacebuilding. These conflict resolution practices are significant in addressing conflict, repairing harm, rebuilding relationships, and restoring harmony to communities in conflict. The systems incorporate principles of effective conflict resolution, including transparency, accountability, inclusivity, flexibility, familiarity, accessibility, support networks, and relationship building. This research discovers how the conflict resolution systems of Laos are embedded in the fabric of grassroots life, and operate independently of the hierarchical structures that dominate governing institutions. It presents a case study of how people from a violent and impoverished past still manage to find ways to address their need for social justice and interconnectedness. The results provide greater understanding and appreciation of the contributions from diverse groups of people who are working daily to establish positive relationships, constructive and appropriate conflict resolution systems, and overall peace in their world. It demonstrates where peace can be found in difficult situations, among people who care little for political agenda and care a great deal about existing harmoniously with the people in their communities in order to mutually raise their quality of life.

Countless millions of people in the world have little formally recognizable means for receiving any form of social justice. Laos, a small landlocked country in Southeast Asia, is a place that has seen some of the most brutal forms of poverty and violence. Over centuries, ethnic groups have been polarized and used by foreign powers to support their own agendas. In spite of this, the Lao people have consistently managed to recreate the peace and harmony that support their social relationships. Through the development and use of appropriate grassroots conflict resolution structures that do not require a formal court system, and exist outside the political arena, they have been able to resolve conflicts within and across cultural groups. Using in-depth interviews with different ethnic groups in Laos, this research examines traditional conflict resolution processes used in their communities. It identifies and discusses a Lao Conflict Resolution Spectrum, bringing particular attention to the Village Mediation Committee (Neoy Gai Geer). Laos' unique and most recognized conflict resolution ceremonies and rituals,the baci ceremony (soukhouan) and the reconciliation ceremony (soumma), are examined as tools for peacebuilding. These conflict resolution practices are significant in addressing conflict, repairing harm, rebuilding relationships, and restoring harmony to communities in conflict. The systems incorporate principles of effective conflict resolution, including transparency, accountability, inclusivity, flexibility, familiarity, accessibility, support networks, and relationship building. This research discovers how the conflict resolution systems of Laos are embedded in the fabric of grassroots life, and operate independently of the hierarchical structures that dominate governing institutions. It presents a case study of how people from a violent and impoverished past still manage to find ways to address their need for social justice and interconnectedness. The results provide greater understanding and appreciation of the contributions from diverse groups of people who are working daily to establish positive relationships, constructive and appropriate conflict resolution systems, and overall peace in their world. It demonstrates where peace can be found in difficult situations, among people who care little for political agenda and care a great deal about existing harmoniously with the people in their communities in order to mutually raise their quality of life.

Des vagues d’immigration successives ont fait du Québec le lieu d’une grande diversité linguistique et culturelle. De nombreux élèves bi/plurilingues sont maintenant scolarisés dans les classes ordinaires des écoles francophones, notamment au secondaire. Pour ces élèves, l’apprentissage de l’écriture est souvent un défi de taille. L’apprentissage de l’orthographe grammaticale (OG) du français, plus spécifiquement, constitue un obstacle important au développement de leur compétence à écrire. Cet obstacle se présente d’ailleurs pour l’ensemble des élèves scolarisés dans cette langue.Conçues en réponse aux difficultés des élèves en contexte de langue première, certaines interventions tendent à avoir des effets positifs sur leur apprentissage de l’OG, telles que les dictées métacognitives (Nadeau et Fisher, 2014) et une approche intégrée d’enseignement de l’orthographe (Allal et al., 2001). Dans notre thèse, nous avons conçu un dispositif qui s’inspire de ces interventions et nous y avons intégré des approches plurilingues. Ces approches sont susceptibles d’engager les élèves bi/plurilingues dans leurs apprentissages et de favoriser le développement de capacités métalinguistiques (Cummins, 2009 ; de Pietro, 2003).C’est ainsi que nous avons conçu un « dispositif plurilingue » d’enseignement de l’OG française. Ce dispositif allie la production de textes identitaires plurilingues (Cummins et Early, 2011) et la mise en œuvre de dictées métacognitives soutenues par des approches plurilingues, qui prennent la forme d’activités d’éveil aux langues (Armand, 2014 ; Auger, 2014) et de pratiques translinguistiques (Candelier et de Pietro, 2008 ; García et Kano, 2014). Nous avons testé l’hypothèse selon laquelle ce dispositif plurilingue favoriserait le développement de la compétence des élèves en OG en français. À cette fin, nous l’avons mis à l’essai auprès d’élèves bi/plurilingues de première secondaire (groupe expérimental 1), puis nous avons comparé ses effets avec ceux d’un « dispositif monolingue » (groupe expérimental 2), qui allie approche intégrée et dictées métacognitives, en français seulement, et avec ceux de pratiques habituelles d’enseignement de l’OG (groupe contrôle). Nous avons évalué la compétence en OG de l’ensemble des élèves au moyen d’une dictée et d’une production écrite. Des entretiens métagraphiques réalisés auprès d’un nombre ciblé de participants des trois groupes ont également permis une compréhension plus fine de l’évolution de leurs procédures graphiques. La passation de ces outils s’est effectuée à trois reprises : avant l’intervention (prétest), immédiatement après l’intervention (posttest immédiat) et cinq semaines après l’intervention (posttest différé).Nous constatons que le dispositif plurilingue apporte une contribution significativement plus grande au développement de la compétence en OG en français que des pratiques habituelles d’enseignement de l’OG. De plus, ce dispositif contribue tout autant, voire plus, à ce développement que le dispositif monolingue, alors que les effets propres au dispositif plurilingue se présentent notamment sous la forme d’un ancrage des apprentissages des élèves dans la durée. En effet, au posttest différé, seules les performances à la dictée des élèves du groupe expérimental 1 sont significativement supérieures à celles des élèves au groupe contrôle. Quant aux performances à la production écrite, celles des élèves des groupes expérimentaux 1 et 2 sont significativement supérieures à celles des élèves du groupe contrôle. Enfin, nous constatons l’existence d’un lien entre les plus grands progrès dans les performances des élèves des groupes expérimentaux 1 et 2 et l’augmentation du recours à des procédures morphosyntaxiques et à des procédures de remplacement, une tendance qui ne se dégage pas des résultats obtenus dans le groupe contrôle. / Successive waves of immigrants have turned the province of Quebec into a place of great linguistic and cultural diversity. Many bi/plurilingual students are now attending regular classes in French-language schools, particularly in high school. For these students, learning to write is often a challenge. The grammatical morphology (GM) of French, more specifically, constitutes an important obstacle to the development of their writing skills, an obstacle shared by all students of French regardless of their mother-tongue.In order to address students’ difficulties in a first language learning context, certain teaching practices, such as an integrated approach to teaching spelling and metacognitive dictations, tend to have positive effects on students’ GM development (Allal et al., 2001; Nadeau & Fisher, 2014). In our thesis, we designed an approach inspired by these practices. Furthermore, we integrated plurilingual pedagogical practices to this approach. Those practices are likely to engage bi/plurilingual students in their learning and to promote the development of metalinguistic abilities (de Pietro, 2003; Moore 2006; Cummins 2009).Thus, we tailored a “plurilingual approach” for teaching French GM. This approach combines the writing of plurilingual identity texts (Cummins & Early, 2011) and metacognitive dictations supported by plurilingual pedagogical practices. Those practices consisted of language awareness activities (Armand, 2014; Auger, 2014) and translinguistic practices (Candelier & de Pietro, 2008 ; Garcia & Kano, 2014). We verified the hypothesis according to which our plurilingual approach would promote the development of student’s GM in French. To this end, we tested this plurilingual approach with bi/plurilingual first-year secondary students (experimental group 1). We then compared its effects with those of a “monolingual approach” (experimental group 2), which combines an integrated approach of teaching spelling and metacognitive dictations, in French only, and with those of usual GM teaching practices (control group). We assessed the GM skills of all students through a dictation and a guided written production. Metagraphic interviews with a targeted number of participants from all three groups also provided a deeper understanding of the evolution of their graphical procedures. These data collection tools were used three times: before the experimentation (pre-test), immediately after the experimentation (immediate post-test) and five weeks after the experimentation (delayed post-test).We found that the plurilingual approach makes a significantly greater contribution to the development of GM in French than usual teaching practices. Moreover, this approach contributes as much, if not more, to this development as the monolingual approach, while the effects specific to the plurilingual approach involve the rooting of the skills learned by students over time. Indeed, at the delayed posttest, only the dictation performances of students in experimental group 1 are significantly higher than those of students in the control group. As for written production performances, both those in experimental groups 1 and 2 are significantly higher than those in the control group. Finally, we find a link between the greatest progress in the performances of students in experimental groups 1 and 2 and the increase in the use of morphosyntactic procedures and substitution procedures, a trend that does not emerge from the results obtained in the control group.

No description available.