This study explored metacognition of sixteen adult learners enrolled in an advanced level community college ESL writing course. The ESL participants reflected on three topics concerning thoughts and feelings about writing and themselves as writers: attitude towards writing (feelings and motivations), writing identity, and self-direction (self-evaluation and planning). Using a participatory research approach, data were collected from three semi-structured interviews and numerous written responses during one semester. Participants were from the Hispanic and Korean cultures with a majority Puerto Rican (75%) and female (81%). Overall, feelings towards writing were complex (both positive and negative) and changed throughout the semester. Positive feelings energized and appeared related to an individual awareness of progress rather than an outside measure of proficiency. Motivations for learning to write were also complex (including both external and internal orientations) and changed over the semester. External utilitarian motivations seemed to be primary initially. Internal motivations such as expression of feelings, joy in self-expression, and expansion of cognition surfaced as the semester progressed. Participants' descriptions of themselves as writers changed from incredulity, negativity, and denial to a relatively positive and distinct sense of writing identity. Self-direction changed from global (or very general) self-evaluations and planning to more specific and empowering self-evaluations and planning. Encouraging interviewing language and subsequent dialogue fostered self-direction. Both positive and negative global self-evaluations indicated powerlessness while increased specificity (either positive or negative) indicated potential for improvement through concrete planning. Suggestions for modifications to a traditional ESL writing class include acknowledgement of strengths, focus on progress in a noncompetitive workshop environment, and inclusion of metacognitive topics that acknowledge the affective or emotional component to learning to write. Student-participants reported benefits of the metacognitive approach: clarification, opportunity for verbal expression, time for thinking and understanding, awareness of progress through comparison of work, and increased awareness of the instructor (or researcher). The researcher also reported benefits of the metacognitive approach: a harmony of student-centered methods and goals, data for researchers and curriculum developers, "encouraging" and "enabling" of participants, and growth of self-awareness and autonomy of participants.

The purpose of this study was an exploration of the process(es) of Jewish American Identity Development in Conservative Jewish women. It sought to explore the development of Jewish identity among women of the Conservative sect. Since there were no known studies on the process of Jewish American identity development, this study was considered exploratory research in this area. Therefore, instead of specific hypothesis testing, the present study sought answers to a set of general research questions: How do women describe their Jewish experience? Do or did Jewish women try to hide their Jewishness? How do women resolve the fact that they are Jewish? What precipitated the decision to accept/reject their Jewishness? Are there any specific patterns and/or sequential stages of development that appear with regard to the Jewish identity development process for this sample? Methodology. A qualitative research method was used since this was an exploratory study aimed at generating a theory of the process of Jewish American identity development. As its methodological framework, the study utilized the work of Glaser and Strauss (1968) in The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Twelve Conservative (second or third generation Ashkenazim) Jewish women made up the sample. Results and Conclusions. Findings from this study did not reveal a sequential model of Jewish American identity development within this population. What did emerge was a picture of a continuum of responses related to racial identity development issues. Further analysis also seemed to indicate that exposure to diversity increased the likelihood of a different pattern of responses than if one remains closely and consistently associated and identified with members of one's own group. This pattern of response was typified by a higher degree of acceptance of people who are different, an awareness of the oppression of one's own group, a realization that one's oppression connects with the oppression of other groups and there appeared a certain level of political consciousness.

The primary goal of this dissertation is to examine the impact of Spanish as a Second Language instruction within a bilingual setting. The first chapter provides an overview of those issues which must be considered when developing and implementing a second language program. These issues are too often addressed in isolation by foreign language, English as a Second Language and bilingual educators. All three disciplines are concerned with language acquisition and literacy development. To date, not enough has been done to bring about collaboration among the three disciplines. The sharing of ideas and resources can only help to promote language development for all students. The second chapter reviews the literature in four specific areas: theories of second language acquisition, methodology and techniques used in the study of a second language, attitudes towards foreign language teaching and learning, and foreign language study within a bilingual setting. The exploration of these four areas provides information about theoretical frameworks on which many second language programs are based. It also emphasizes the value of integrating a second language into the overall education of youngsters. In addition, it provides one example of an educational schema which shows promise in promoting bilingualism for all children. The third chapter provides an analysis of the process followed in this study to arrive at some conclusions about the benefits of an SSL Program within a bilingual setting. The findings of the study are reported in chapter four. Results indicated that children participating in SSL made important gains in the acquisition of oral proficiency. Also, educators who were surveyed favored the approach that was used in the SSL Program because it considered the following characteristics: (1) The value of learning a second language; (2) Curriculum; (3) Methods and techniques; (4) Assessment; (5) Support for SSL instruction; (6) SSL instruction within a bilingual setting. Chapter V offers a summary of the study, the conclusions, the recommendations for applications of the findings and possible further research.

This study was designed to explore through two surveys and interviews the question of confidence levels of practicing professional nurses in giving quality care to ethnically diverse client populations. One questionnaire to nursing faculty in 170 colleges and universities across the United States was concerned with the transcultural educational preparation of students, and the second questionnaire to 40 community health agency and inpatient (hospital) facility nurses pertained to their present level of confidence. The comments on situations encountered by practicing professional nurses and how they handled the situation were sought. These nurses also discussed how transcultural education would have helped them to either prevent or solve the problems. Faculty were surveyed regarding the inclusion of transcultural nursing concepts in their nursing curricula, their transcultural education background, and the ethnic background of their student and client populations. The practicing professional nurses were surveyed as to their personal and professional backgrounds and their knowledge of and perceived confidence levels in giving holistic nursing care to three different ethnic groups--Asians, Blacks, Southeast Asians and Spanish-speaking people. Three variables were assessed; namely, family organization, health care beliefs and lifestyles. Results indicated that in the surveys of the colleges and universities 96.3% of the nursing programs included some general transcultural nursing concepts in their courses and 31,5% offered them in theory, seminar and clinical components of the program. Only 26% of those who responded offered specific courses or certification classes. In order to assist students in developing cultural awareness 74.1% of the colleges and universities offer clinical experiences with ethnically diverse populations. The second part of the survey (Self-efficacy) illustrated a definite lack of confidence in giving holistic nursing care to Asian/Southeast Asian clients. Although there appears to be no significant relationship between the three major ethnic minorities and the inclusion of transcultural nursing concepts or the number of years since graduation, there are definite levels of significance between the variables of family organization, health care beliefs, and lifestyles and background information as to the type of nursing program, length and place of employment, and past clinical experiences with ethnic minorities.

Extreme professional nurse shortage exerts stress upon the conventional recruitment and retention efforts of administrators in health care institutions, causing administrators to seek alternative solutions, including the recruitment and hiring of foreign nurses. The productivity of the foreign nurse alternative, as evidenced by pass rates on registered nurse licensure examination and by retention of the recruited nurses at sponsoring institutions is low, raising questions about factors that contribute to lack of success and promulgate improvement of foreign nurse recruitment and orientation initiatives. This study describes and analyzes an attempt to assimilate Filipino nurses at a medical center in western Massachusetts of just under 1000 client beds during an 18% professional nurse position vacancy crisis, occurring in the mid 1980's. The initiative, involving the recruitment and socialization of a group of 37 graduate nurses from the Philippines to fill staff nurse position vacancies on a variety of clinical service units, is summarized in a case description. This study identifies significant factors to be considered by administrators who have responsibility for the planning and implementation of similar initiatives. The literature review relates cultural information in two areas necessary to understand the transcultural socialization of a Filipino nurse, the pre professional socialization and the professional socialization contexts. The literature review of the professional socialization area discusses important contextual factors in Filipino nurse employment, nursing practice and nursing education. The Wolf-Welsh Linkage Methodology and the Wolf Knowledge Diffusion/Utilization Inventory provided the framework for the study. The seven interrelated parts of the Methodology provided the basis for data collection and ex post facto analysis of the case data. Data sources included the researcher's own participant observations, available medical center documents, and interviewed persons. Periodicals and external reports supplemented these data. The analysis clarified key characteristics of the Filipino nurse socialization and related linkage activities that might have contributed to greater success in the medical center case. Nineteen recommendations for successful linkage in future foreign nurse initiatives comprise the concluding chapter of the study.

This study explored the educative impact of a music study abroad program, specifically, what role music plays in encounters between students from diverse cultural backgrounds, and how such programs can help shape the identity of a global citizen and lead to a more socially just global community. If programmatic efforts can be impactful, preparing young people for life in a more interdependent, complex, and fragile world, then how can such values be informed, fostered, and even stimulated by engaging in international music travel? How is “difference” experienced and rendered meaningful? This qualitative case study followed U.S. music and music education students on a trip to Malaysia where they collaborated with Malaysian peers in bamboo instrument-making as well as music-making in traditional Malay styles. Perspectives, commentary, and reflections of and by all participants were recorded and investigated. Pre-trip interviews were conducted two months prior to embarking on the international trip. During the program abroad over the course of three weeks, I interviewed four U.S. music students, five Malaysian music education students, and both a U.S. and Malay music professor. Additionally, a focus group was conducted with the Malay student-participants. This study posited two primary benefits to studying music abroad and then analyzed data that would illuminate to what degree these benefits were achieved. The first of these benefits is the well-known enhancement in broader experience and new knowledge that will inform students’ practice and musical life going forward. The second class of benefits has to do with building agency as global citizens, along with an appreciation of the entailed challenges. The interaction between visitors and residents, between students and a diverse cohort of educators, all begin to construct a sense of interconnectedness that goes far beyond the accumulation of musical knowledge. The findings substantiated the initial hypotheses and created new avenues of inquiry as well. One finding that went beyond the original scope of the study was that in reflecting on their experiences, participants began to build on a sense of global citizenship and a broadened civic consciousness. This in turn leads to investigations into the broader definition of education itself.

Drawing on historical case study methodology informed by critical perspectives of education, this study examines the decision by Tucson United School District (TUSD) to ban its nationally recognized Mexican American Studies (MAS) program in 2012. Framing public education as a site of contestation for equality and democratization, the ban is examined within a five-phase historical context of the struggles of Chicanos for equity in the USA. The research questions address the dismantling of the program in terms of the ongoing historical disparities between the education of Chicanos and Anglo Americans in Tucson, diverse stakeholders’ perspectives on equality and inequality in the decision making, and the response of stakeholders who supported the program to the attempts to dismantle it. The theoretical framework of this study intersects Critical Race Theory and its corollary Latino Critical Theory, Critical Multicultural Pedagogy that centers Critical Pedagogy and Historical Discourse Analysis that focuses attention to the use of power in educational decision making. The interview data from nine study participants who were closely affiliated with the MAS program and selected historical documents and archival data were analyzed to uncover Anglo and Chicano perspectives on education for Mexican Americans in Tucson. The analysis revealed that the differences between Chicano and Anglo perspectives on equity and the role of education in facilitating equality for Chicanos laid the groundwork for the conceptualization of the MAS program by its supporters, and the rationale for its banning by its opponents. The interview data revealed that all participants contextualized their work in the MAS within the history of struggle for Chicano education, they represented a cohesive “Dream Team” committed to implementing a program grounded in critical and culturally relevant pedagogies, and that initial marginalization provided them the space for unimpeded development of the program. Participants’ responses further revealed evidence of the deep psychological toll, intellectual energy demands, and civic engagement required of MAS supporters in the face of this particular episode in the ongoing history of the struggle for Chicano educational equity. The implications for critical multicultural education programs operating within culturally hegemonic policy and social contexts are examined. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This mixed methods case study sought to understand cultural competency in the students of a service-learning based course, “Citizenship and Social Activism (HDFS 310),” taught at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. Cultural competency refers to how people interact with those who are of different cultural groups. For the purposes of this study, cultural competency was also defined by four components: attitudes, knowledge, awareness, and skills. Using a pre- and post-test survey, the participants showed statistically significant changes in the levels of self-reported cultural competency in the overall scores and in the subsection scores that correspond to the four components. Survey data was complemented by qualitative data collected by coding participants’ reflective journals. The qualitative data provided situation-specific information about what levels of cultural competency participants were demonstrating; additionally, the journals provided information about how participants define, perceive, and struggle with the concept of cultural competency.

Cultural competence in evaluation has different meanings for different evaluators. As evidenced by the literature the term "cultural competence" in itself conjures various definitions and implies certain assumptions. Given the elusiveness of an agreed upon definition, or even consistent terminology in evaluation, this research sought to understand cultural competence from a Black perspective. The goal of understanding cultural competence in evaluation from a Black perspective led to the use of a phenomenological research framework. While this research is not reflective of the collective perspectives and opinions of all Black evaluators, this exploration does attempt to provide information about the specific issues covered in this study. The purpose of this research is (1) to assess key characteristics about Black evaluators, (2) to identify the defining characteristics of cultural competence in evaluation, as identified by Black evaluators, and (3) to identify the skills one needs to become a culturally competent evaluator. A mixed-method approach, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods was used for data collection and analysis. For this study, quantitative data were collected through questionnaires and qualitative data were collected through interviews. These methods were chosen to help support the research purpose of better understanding the population of Black evaluators as identified in the Directory of Evaluators of Color and interviewing a sample of those evaluators. A questionnaire was developed using yes-no dichotomous responses, structured response items, and open-ended questions. In-depth interviews were also conducted during and after the administration of the questionnaire. The use of both survey data and in-depth interviews allowed the researcher to gain access to more descriptive information and thus provided more insight into the perspectives of Black evaluators. A review of the recent evaluation literature discloses several terms used when discussing the role of culture in evaluation. Despite the field's lack of agreement on the terms used to identify the role of culture in evaluation, the researcher adopted the use of cultural competence. In all survey and interview materials, cultural competence was the chosen terminology. The agreement of both the survey respondents and the interviewees in identifying essential components of cultural responsiveness and cultural competence, despite the use of different terms, indicates the impact of the interchangeable nature of the two terms. The inconsistency in the field signals not only the lack of consistency among evaluators and researchers, but also serves to weaken the overarching argument of the importance of culture in evaluation. This research contends that the terms cultural responsive evaluation and cultural responsiveness be adopted and used when referencing the incorporation of cultural context in evaluation. Clear distinctions between cultural competence and responsiveness should be used and enforced. The survey respondents and interviewees both included the knowledge of the evaluator (personal and cultural), as well as technical evaluation skills, in identifying the defining principles of culturally responsive evaluation. These principles overlap with and help to support the existing literature on culturally responsive evaluation. Blacks in evaluation have been an untapped research resource. Their professional and personal experiences help to add another dimension to the evaluation field. Their educational experiences show that they are credentialed and experienced in a variety of areas, including education and psychology. Their voices on cultural competence/responsiveness in evaluation are those that seem to lead the discussion in the field. Their scholarship creates a base from which to draw what we know about culture in evaluation. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2006. / March 16, 2006. / Black Evaluators, Culturally Responsive Evaluation, Evaluation, Culturally Competent Evaluation / Includes bibliographical references. / Marcy Driscoll, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Linda Schrader, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Robert A. Schwartz, Outside Committee Member; Joy Gaston-Gayles, Committee Member.

The purpose of this single-subject case study was to explore how a Muslim teacher made sense of her life and work in two different contexts, the United States and Egypt. This topic is important because an increasing number of women are converting to Islam and scant research explores religious conversion among teachers. The data I collected and analyzed used a sociological framework that explored the life and work of teachers through the constructs of context, culture, religion, religious conversion, gender, social class, interpersonal relationships, daily work, and work rewards (Barker, 2000; Butt, Raymond, McCue, & Yamagishi, 1992; DeMarrais & LeCompte, 1998; Goodson, 2000; Hargreaves, 2003; Ingersoll, 2003 Lortie, 1975; McAdamis, 2007; McNay & Graham, 2007; Pajak & Blase, 1989; Viadero, 2007; Westheimer, 1998). These nine sociological constructs allowed for a detailed, thorough, and nuanced exploration of a teacher's complex life and work in the United States and Egypt. I conducted multiple interviews with the participant as well spent time observing her teach in both the United States and Egypt. Conclusions drawn from the study indicated that context and social class outweighed the other factors that the sociology of teaching literature suggests are salient to understanding teaching and religious conversion. Context mediated Amy's experiences as a Muslim-American, teacher, wife and expatriate. As a teacher, Amy's success was dependent on school contexts. She was scared to reveal her faith and felt isolated from her coworkers in the American public schools. When she did reveal herself to be a Muslim, she was frustrated by their ignorance of Islam. Amy was most successful teaching at an Islamic school, where she used both her American background and her Islamic faith to her advantage. In this context, Amy thrived as a "whole person" where she merged her personal and professional life. Amy was less successful in a cross-cultural environment. In Egypt, Amy did not reflect on her teaching or adapt it to an Egyptian context. She was critical of her principals and viewed her American citizenship, teaching experience, and academic credentials as giving her the authority to voice oppositional opinions to the school leadership. Her overconfidence hindered her ability to create caring professional relationships with both teachers and students. In effect, the interplay of her ego with school contexts greatly influenced her success as a teacher. In her personal life, Amy embraced gender complimentarity and strove to follow gendered expectations. She viewed her role as wife as equal in importance to the work of her husband. In Egypt, Amy placed great importance on caring for her home and family and spent as little time as possible at her places of work. Consequently, her workplace relationships suffered. Although Amy limited the amount of time at work, her sense of self-importance made it possible for her to outwardly criticize both Egyptian society and her workplaces. She actively separated herself from the lower classes, looked down on a class she termed nouveau riche, and blamed the problems she faced in the classroom on the lower classes' lack of education. Yet, she continued to teach because of financial need. Although Amy earned more money as a teacher than her husband did as a pathologist, she viewed her American nationality and her marriage to a doctor as providing them entrée into the Egyptian upper class. Amy's religious conversion to Islam was a long process that changed both her career trajectory and outlook on life. She faced learning to navigate her American heritage, new Islamic identity, and the nuances of Egyptian culture. Her personal and professional relationships were met with varied success, illustrating the complexities of religious change and cross-cultural acculturation. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Education Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2009. / April 8, 2009. / Religious Conversion, Teacher work, Teacher Life, Cross-Cultural, Egypt / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey Milligan, Professor Directing Dissertation; Sherry Southerland, Outside Committee Member; Peter Easton, Committee Member; Thomas Luschei, Committee Member.