African Americans are underrepresented in full-time faculty and administrative positions at Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) institutions. This study examined the perceptions of 11 Maxine Smith Fellows on the underrepresentation at TBR institutions and provides recommendations that could assist in increasing representation of African Americans in full-time faculty and administrative positions. A qualitative method was used for the study. Each participant was required to participate in a recorded SKYPE interview. The researcher transcribed the interviews and analyzed the data using coding to derive overarching themes that provided findings based upon the research questions. Based upon the analysis of data, the researcher found that participants perceived a lack of intentional efforts, lack of recruitment, racism, and the devaluing of diversity in the workforce to be contributing factors to the underrepresentation. The researcher further determined that participants perceived the trainings and the program’s ability to prepare individuals for future positions as two factors that separated their success from individuals who did not participate in the program.

Short-term intercultural exchange programs provide a wealth of information and experiences for participants. Participants are given the opportunity to travel out of their native country and are exposed to new languages and cultures. This case study looks at the Japanese sojourners in the Northwest/ Pacific Rim {NWPR) summer program. The purpose was to examine the language use of the Japanese sojourners throughout the course of the NWPR program. This case study sought to determine when the Japanese sojourners used English and/or Japanese, in which situations, what strategies the Japanese sojourners employed and who initiated contact with whom. All of the data was gathered from a participant observer who also employed various ethnographic methods. The Japanese sojourners were observed informally and six were interviewed formally. All four of the ESL teachers were also formally interviewed to provide as wide a range of information as possible. The results showed that the Japanese sojourners did, in general, have a positive experience in the NWPR program but they did not learn as much English and intercultural sensitivity as they could have. Although this case study was focused on the language use of the Japanese sojourners aspects of program evaluation inevitable infiltrated in.

Because teacher I student interactions provide opportunities for correction and comprehensible input, a major component of successful language learning, equitable distribution of teacher I student interactions in the language classroom is an important element for the success of all second language students. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether differences in teacher I student interactions based on student gender occurred in four college English as a Second Language instructors' classrooms. The role of instructor gender and student ethnicity in teacher I student interaction content and frequency were also examined. Informal interviews were designed to determine the instructors' awareness of their classroom behaviors as they relate to equality in teacher I student interactions. The subjects in this study were two male and two female ESL instructors and their students from two private Portland area universities. Interaction frequency data were collected using a seating chart instrument which placed interactions into three categories. Interaction content was determined through the use of a modified Equivalent Talk Category Classroom Interaction Inventory (ETC) (developed by Bentley and Miller, 1971) which classified the interactions into eight separate categories. All data were analyzed using a factorial ANOV A for which the mean behaviors per fifty minute observation acted as the dependent variable and student gender, student ethnicity, instructor gender, and category type served as the independent variables. The analysis revealed that one male and one female instructor interacted significantly more frequently with their male students than they did with their female students and one female instructor interacted significantly more frequently with her female students. Student ethnicity was a major contributor to the disparity in interactions in both classrooms in which males interacted more than females. Middle Eastern and African male students were found to interact with their instructor significantly more frequently than Asian male students. No difference in interaction content was found in interactions between instructors and their male and female students. Instructor interviews revealed that all instructors believed they used a variety of methods to ensure interaction equality in their classrooms indicating that they were not aware of the differences in interaction frequencies which were discovered.

Although many researchers have studied language attitudes in the last three decades, none of the studies have been conducted in the hospital setting, where there are more serious consequences for those working with patients being labeled linguistically "incompetent," as charges of incompetence in language are apt to lead to charges of incompetence in other areas of mastery as well (e.g., Ryan, 1983). This study examines the attitudes of a sample of nurses from three Portland-area hospitals towards nonnative English speaking physicians. The subjects, 156 medical-surgical nurses, listened to three anonymous audiotaped physicians who were from three different ethnic backgrounds: American, Japanese and Persian. The physicians were first all recorded reading a short patient history and giving a verbal order directed toward a nurse. This was the formal context. For the informal context, the physicians gave an impromptu response to a question regarding their future plans. The nurses rated each physician twice, once for each context, using the Speech Evaluation Instrument (SEI), a semantic differential scale using bipolar adjectives developed by Zahn and Hopper (1985). Results indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between a physician's pronunciation and a nurse's perceptions of his medical competency, as measured by the SEI, with the native English speaking physician receiving a higher rating than the two nonnative English speaking physicians. The native Japanese speaking physician, who had the strongest accent, received the lowest ratings on the SEI. There was also a significant positive relationship between the context the physician was speaking in and the ratings he received on the SEI, with the informal context receiving a higher rating for all three physicians than the formal context. If a physician's pronunciation or speech style causes nurses, not to mention patients, to evaluate him/her negatively, then one implication of this study is for the need for more pronunciation work and accent reduction exercises not only in the English as a second/foreign language classroom, but also as a continued offering for nonnative English speaking hospital personnel in teaching hospitals. Another implication relates to the need for better preparing nurses to work and communicate successfully with nonnative English speaking physicians, other hospital personnel, and patients by offering transcultural nursing classes in nursing school and making it a mandatory part of every nurse's education.

International students at our institutions of higher education have educational and personal needs which extend beyond the classroom. These needs are supposedly provided for by student personnel services, but little data has been collected which examines how international students use student services, and if their use differs significantly from use by American students. If their perceptions of students services and use of these resources does differ, what does that signify? This study measures the use and perceptions of student services by international and American students at Southern Oregon State College. Twenty-one philosophical objectives were examined for levels of importance, effectiveness, and resultant need. A list of twenty resources at the College were compiled and respondents were asked to rate the helpfulness of each resource. Demographic data on students included residence, length of time on campus, involvement in extracurricular activities, and other characteristics and was compared to knowledge of student services resources. International students were asked to identify their English language proficiency and this was compared with their need for student services objectives. All three hypotheses that there would be no differences between American and international students; in their perceptions cf the;:, importance, effectiveness, and helpfulness of student services were rejected at the . 05 level of significance. International students found three objectives to be ineffective, and the focus of these objectives suggested that cultural differences may contribute to student problems. A correlation between self-reported English language proficiency and satisfaction of needs for student services objectives was noted, while no relationship between TOEFL score and satisfaction of needs was found. Southern Oregon State College may want to reconsider its orientation procedures in light of the number of "don't know'' responses from students when asked about a variety of student services. Awareness of student services and the effectiveness of those services for both American and international students are issues which this study aims to help the college address.

The English textbooks evaluated are used to prepare students for the competitive high school entrance examinations in Taiwan, thus students spend a great deal of time studying them. Though the textbooks were stated to be designed for language and cultural learning purposes, it seems no study exists that examines to what degree there is clear articulation between the government's stated culture learning goal and actual textbook content. Therefore, this study examines to what degree the textbooks allow students to reach said goal, that is, "to increase culture awareness of the societies and cultures of foreign countries and our own" (Junior High English Language Curriculum 1985, p.l). This study intends to answer five major questions: (1) what is the scope of the cultures presented?; (2) what sub-cultures represent Chinese and foreign cultures?; (3) what is the nature of inter and intracultural interactions between characters?; ( 4) what level( s) of culture do the textbooks deal with?; (5) how is the socio-cultural information presented? Hernandez's dissertation (1986) was followed in developing this study: the coding system was developed to correspond to the five questions above, and content analysis was the study method used. Data was gathered from two textbooks. Research revealed that the textbooks did not reflect the stated cultural study goal. The textbooks provided a narrow spectrum of socio-cultural elements, presenting the American culture as the only representative of foreign cultures. Both American and Chinese socio-cultural elements were portrayed on the surface level. Little interaction existed between Chinese and American cultures, with relationships confined to primarily acquaintances, and the issues discussed limited to daily life and trivial issues. The readings emphasized surface level culture with few attempts at linking more overt behavioral and cultural features. Most of the readings discussed information from a historical view, and the post-reading questions presented in the textbooks focused on a factual nature.

How teachers perceived and experienced the implementation of a multilingual approach in their classrooms during the first year of implementation in Switzerland is poorly understood by policy makers and teachers. Findings from three pilot studies conducted before the implementation indicated that teachers had transferred only few aspects of the new multilingual approach into practice. Guided by constructivist learning and third language acquisition theories, this study explored how teachers perceived and experienced the implementation of the multilingual approach. A purposeful criterion sample of primary school English language teachers at Grade 5 who had completed a professional development program was targeted for this qualitative case study. Data were collected from interviews with and classroom observations of 8 teachers. Data analysis, conducted using initial and axial coding, revealed that teachers implemented the multilingual approach by closely following the instructions provided in a teacher manual, but needed more time to conceptualize the teaching and learning materials and to collaborate with other language teachers. These results prompted the development of a project to establish professional learning communities (PLCs). In PLCs, teachers will have time to engage in reflection, collaborate with colleagues, and strengthen teachers' classroom practices. This study has implications for social change as teachers who engage in collaboration with colleagues and reflective practice will positively affect student achievement. Students may be taught by teachers who have the knowledge, skills, and attitude required for a successful implementation of a multilingual approach.

The purpose of this thesis is to convey and to support my belief that learners' affective domain, which consist of their personalities, attitudes, and motivation are responsible for causing the variation in the levels of second language proficiency of second language learners. My concern is to point out or support others who believe that second language learners are not machines that are able and willing to be programmed; they have feelings and attitudes which in turn govern their personalities and motivation. I also believe that the main focus of second language teaching should be on the "persons" learning the language, instead of merely on the forms, rules, and structures of the second language itself. I hope that this study will provide insights to all second language teachers.

The number of African-American students studying a foreign language has continually persisted to be low (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009), thus eliminating them from the benefits gained from the study of foreign language. This study explores the experiences of African-American students in a partial Spanish Immersion Program (SIP) in Central Kentucky from their parents’ perspectives. Data were collected via a survey and a focus group. Findings revealed that data gleaned from the focus group corroborated responses from the survey. Moreover, themes from content analysis of the qualitative data arose as to why parents chose to continue or discontinue their child(ren) in the SIP including varying levels of academic achievement, social integration in the program and the perceived lack of cultural responsiveness from school staff. The researcher’s initial intent was to use Tinto’s (1993) theory of student departure to discuss how his model could transfer to this K-12 partial immersion setting and show how parallels could be drawn. Results from data analysis led the researcher to develop her own Parent Perception Continuation Model (PPCM) as it was determined that in the K-12 partial immersion setting, it was not a question of student persistence, but rather the parents’ decision about student continuation. Subsequently, the PPCM discusses the process that parents use to make the decision as to whether their child(ren) will continue in the SIP once enrolled which includes a discussion about reasons for enrolling, completion goals, student program experiences, integration and outcomes. Findings from the study can be used by school districts and administration for planning and policy making when attempting to capitalize on effective academic and social practices that influence whether a student continues in a partial immersion program through his/her high school graduation. In addition, K-12 systems can also use these findings to address the concerns raised by the parents of African-American students who discontinued the program in an effort to increase program graduation rates among this demographic.

Reconceptualization is needed for English language teaching as a response to English-as-an-international language (EIL) contexts. Correspondingly this will lead to what is called “an ecological approach” that invites accommodation of language-learning instruction to the local needs within discourse communities. In this research, the researcher will investigate the English for specific purposes (ESP) needs of business students to explore how best to address their expressed needs through subsequent tutoring. The ecological approach along with vocabulary teaching approach may look deeply into students’ needs. To assess their needs, a questionnaire was developed and administrated to international students in the College of Business and Public Administration (CBPA) at California State University, San Bernardino to investigate what students feel are their strengths as well as needs, in order to succeed in their business studies.