In a multicultural society, there should be a pressing need to acknowledge the cultural heritages and social variations of its members in order to validate their experiences and realities. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore how Muslim parents interpreted the influence of the Islamic culture on their children's daily lives. The study addressed this influence by examining Muslim children's daily funds of knowledge. This study also aimed to examine how Muslim parents suggested their children's fund of knowledge to be addressed in a culturally responsive pedagogical model at public schools. Muslim parents in five ethnically diverse households were interviewed, and observational notes about physical surrounding during the interview sessions were recorded. A qualitative multiple case study was designed to answer research questions and understand the influence of the Islamic culture in these households. Data was analyzed through the integration of the analysis framework adapted from Stake (2006) while using Nvivo computer software for analyzing qualitative data. Eight themes emerged from the study and allowed for a discussion on the centrality of the religion in these households, the collective cultural paradigm, and the scope of identity negotiation taking place on a daily basis. For the purpose of this study, implications to educators were incorporated into Gay's (2000) characteristics of cultural responsive teaching in order to integrate Muslim students into classroom pedagogies.

As part of their academic activities, English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) graduate students in North American universities are expected to engage in a range of literacy practices of which writing is a major component. This study investigates the attitudes, perceptions and practices of five Iranian ESL students and the expectations of their professors in the context of disciplinary writing in higher education. In response to a recent call in the field of contrastive rhetoric for broadening the scope and revisiting the research methods in cultural studies of second language writing (Atkinson, 2004; Connor, 2004; Panetta, 2001), this qualitative inquiry is informed by a social theory of language (Bakhtin, 1986), a semiotic theory of culture (Lotman, 1990/2001), a situated literacies perspective of academic writing (Barton, Hamilton, & Ivanic, 2000), and a view of reasoning and argumentation as a socio-historic construct (Toulmin, 2001, 1964/2003). Data sources include text-based interviews with students, interviews with their professors, observation of tutoring sessions, and the analysis of textual artifacts as well as the written feedback provided on student writing. The findings point to a common perception of cultural differences between the textual practices of the students and those practices that are dominant in the context of their disciplines. The differences are discussed in terms of the educational background of the students, their past and present membership in various communities of practice, as well as a view of texts as historical constructs. The study further highlights some of the initial encounter experiences of the participating students in academic contact zones (Pratt, 1991), questioning the effectiveness of certain approaches that readers/evaluators adopt in responding to student writing. The research contributes to a re-conceptualization of the notion of culture in studies of second language writing, challenges the assumed homogeneity of argumentation as an academic literacy practice, and helps promote a dialogic view that is responsive to the textual practices of an increasingly diverse student population in North American academic settings.

As a fairly new and emergent construct, there remain many gaps in our knowledge about how to integrate notions of culture and cultural context into evaluation theory and practice, as well as gaps in our knowledge about how to conduct and implement evaluations in immigrant and indigenous communities. This research explores how culture influences the evaluation and the program setting, and how it mediates the relationship between evaluators and diverse community stakeholders. Through an interconnected three-phase study (a comprehensive literature review, interviews with scholars and practitioners and focus groups with community-based program managers), this research develops a six dimensional framework (relational, ecological, methodological, organizational, political, and personal) depicting the inter-related dimensions and components that surface in interactions between evaluators and community-based stakeholders in cross-cultural program and evaluation contexts. The findings suggest that culture and cultural context influence every dimension of the evaluation, including the relationships we develop with stakeholders, the evaluation and program context, the methodologies and methods that we select, the politics and power dimensions surrounding the program and evaluation setting, the organizational constraints, and the evaluator's personal values and biases. The findings also suggest that relationships have far-reaching consequences, particularly given the predominant use of participatory and collaborative approaches in cross-cultural settings. While the findings also suggest that a participatory approach to evaluation cannot alter the broader social, economic, political and cultural systems that continue to create and sustain inequities in our society, understanding the dynamic, unfolding and ongoing connections and relations between evaluators and stakeholders is essential.

From 1947 to 1996, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operated a foster program that placed Native American children into Latter-day Saint (LDS) homes to attend public schools and be immersed in Mormon culture. This program, the Indian Student Placement Program, is described through LDS perspectives as being generally successful. The children were baptized into the LDS church, removed from the reservations, and relocated to live with white Mormon families where they attended public schools and were expected to conform to white cultural life ways. Critics charge that the program was a missionary tool used to assimilate children into white Mormon society, often at a great cultural, familial, and psychological cost. Although historians and scholars are writing more about Native American education experiences as of late, little has been recorded about this particular phenomenon. This study pulls together what has been recorded about the program and adds additional perspectives and information provided by past participants via an interview process. There are both negative and positive outcomes suggested by past program participants and researchers. Perhaps the most important contributions this study makes, however, concern the Native Americans themselves and their responses of accommodation, resistance, and, ultimately, resilience in the face of acculturating and assimilating forces.

This explanatory sequential mixed methods study explored how and why dual language (DL) teachers used technology and the extent to which their use of technology supported the goals of DL of bilingualism, biliteracy, academic achievement, and sociocultural competence. The study was guided by Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) technological pedagogical content framework, Bunch’s (2013) pedagogical language knowledge, Biesta’s et al. (2015) teacher agency framework, and Moersch’s (1997) levels of technology implementation framework. In the quantitative phase, data was collected with an original survey, and in the qualitative phase, data was generated through observations, interviews, and artifacts. Survey responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The qualitative data was analyzed using descriptive and in vivo coding. Codes were used to develop emergent themes. Overall, the DL teachers leveraged technology in various ways for planning, instruction, and assessment supporting their students’ academic achievement by building background knowledge, introducing concepts with comprehensible input, and providing vocabulary practice. They also used different digital tools to develop students’ sociocultural competence by building a strong classroom community, incorporating students into the curriculum, and teaching about different cultures. Moreover, the participants used technology to communicate with parents and seek professional development opportunities. DL teachers’ technology use was influenced by contributing and inhibiting contextual factors. Practical implications stipulated include providing DL teachers with appropriate planning time, supporting teachers with professional development that is relevant to DL and encouraging effective technology integration, allowing for curriculum flexibility, and investing in resources in the partner language.

The present study was conducted to ascertain undergraduate views about the effectiveness of International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) in the American classroom. The study was administered to a stratified cluster sampling by college of the target population, undergraduate students at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, Florida. The instrument used, Questionnaire of Undergraduates about International Teaching Assistants (QUITA) as developed by Wanda Fox (1990), is composed of a total of 40 items regarding personal and academic background, cultural exposure to and views about non-native speakers of English, and ITA-classroom effectiveness and problem-solving strategies. On the basis of data from the Fall 1998 semester, approximately 15% of the total number of ITA-taught course sections per college were surveyed. The subjects responded anonymously using computerized answer sheets. Upon completion of the data collection phase, all surveys were analyzed for response frequencies. In addition, background and demographic information regarding the participants and information regarding undergraduate exposure to IT As and IT A instruction were also summarized. The Likert-type items were combined to reveal an overall ATITA (Attitude toward International Teaching Assistants) score. The results of the ATITA portion of the study indicate that undergraduate student views toward IT As and IT A instruction are between neutral and mildly positive. Furthermore, survey responses indicated that undergraduates resolve conflicts involving IT As through personal means. The closing recommendations suggest maintaining open lines of communication between undergraduates, ITAs, and administrators alike.

Bilingual education is controversial in many places in the U.S. Some traditional bilingual education programs only stress teaching a second language to non-native English speakers. Sometimes in these programs, non-native English speakers remain separated from native English speakers, have low expectations placed upon them, and do not learn English proficiently. Diverse groups have proposed eliminating bilingual education, and bilingual education was banned in California and Arizona. Hillcrest Elementary School, located in Orlando, Florida, has a large percentage of students who speak English, Spanish and Vietnamese as their first languages. Hillcrest Elementary is distinctive, since it teaches bilingual education to both non-native and native English speakers. Second-language instruction at Hillcrest Elementary differs from the standard model; for example, students are taught science in their second language. Students also have what is called "Community Time," where students who speak different native languages are mixed together, and are taught subjects in English. The purpose of my research was to gain an understanding of the type of bilingual education taught at the school, including how the curriculum is set up and taught. I began ethnographic fieldwork using the cultural anthropology method of participant observation by volunteering in an after-school program at Hillcrest Elementary starting in Spring 2004. I also observed language classes at Hillcrest, carried out interviews with administrators, faculty members, teachers, parents and students at the school, and examined FCAT scores. My analysis shows that students are succeeding at learning a second language, and that Hillcrest Elementary has an effective bilingual program.

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In the past ten years, the number of English cram schools has tripled in Taiwan and more than 70% of fifth and sixth graders claim they attended cram schools before receiving formal English education in primary schools. In response to pressures of both globalisation and localisation, the government introduced a school policy of learning a Taiwanese minority language, in addition to Mandarin, in 2005. The majority of parents, however, are not keen to encourage their children to learn a Taiwanese second language compared to the ‘trend’ of learning English (as a foreign language). This study explores family language policies using a multiple-case-study strategy with twelve families whose children attend a language school in Taichung, Taiwan, with two additional cases from different geolinguistic areas. The main focus is on how parents form their ideologies about language and language learning. The data were gathered using semi-structured interviews. The macro- and micro-factors which underpin the parents’ language ideologies are the central focus of analysis. Amongst these families the process of ideology formation involves more than three languages, English, Mandarin, Minnan and Hakfa (which, in this study, is the only representative of other minority languages spoken in Taiwan). The three Chinese languages appear as ‘mother tongue’ in various combinations amongst the parents in the study. The findings indicate that the influence of macro- and micro-factors on parents’ language ideologies is complex and interactive, rather than linear. Significant macro-factors identified include the local, national and global sociolinguistic environments, government policies and economic factors, notably the labour market. Macro-factors, as well as micro-factors, do not influence parents’ ideologies in isolation from each other. Similar, shared macro-contexts are responded to in diverse ways by the parents in the study, with familial mother tongue, educational experiences and different perceptions of the social roles of language all playing a part. Parents’ language ideologies are, therefore, clearly not structurally determined, but neither do the parents act as ‘free agents’ in their ideological choices which, in turn, have an impact on family language management and language practices. The complexity and fluidity of the Taiwanese language situation and the rapid social, political and economic changes that are taking place in the community make this study particularly valuable in enhancing our understanding of how personal language ideologies evolve.

K–12 schools’ rapidly changing demographic compositions urge us to envisage the ways in which school curricula can support epistemological diversity for an increasingly bi- /multilingual and racially diversifying world. Using ethnographic methodologies, my dissertation explores the experiences of Chicanx and Latinx emergent bilingual learners (EBLs) enrolled in a high school Chicanx/Latinx Studies class. In this course, the teacher employed translanguaging pedagogies where languages are not seen as separable phenomena but as cooperating in fluid and sophisticated ways in the practices of bilingual people (García, 2009). I examine how and in what circumstances Chicanx and Latinx youth draw on and develop multilingual and multiliterate practices including oral, visual, and print channels to cultivate academic, counterhegemonic, and civic literacies. Of significance, this study documents the ways in which school curricula can support epistemological diversity and foster bi-/multilingual literacies of agency, civic engagement, and academic achievement. Toward this end, this study asks: How does student participation in the Chicanx/Latinx Studies course influence the language and literacy practices of emergent bilingual learners (EBLs)? While the institutionalization of secondary Ethnic Studies courses swiftly expands across California school districts, more research is necessary to understand the pedagogical and curricular nature of these courses, especially when enacted with bi-/multilingual youth. This study adds to the nascent empirical scholarship on secondary Ethnic Studies teaching and translanguaging practices in secondary “English-medium” courses, underscoring pedagogical processes of nourishing Chicanx and Latinx students’ fluid language and literacy practices. Since Latinxs remain one of the fastest growing school-aged populations in the United States, the future of this nation depends, in part, on how successfully this vital community is educated. This study’s findings feature what I call “literacies of power,” meaning the various forms of reading and writing that lead to the self-actualization of young people. These literacies of power contribute to four sets of important conversations: (a) the development of enriched literacy learning for Latinx students in the digital and media age; (b) pedagogical innovations, including translanguaging pedagogical practices, for EBLs in Ethnic Studies classrooms and other nonremedial, college-preparatory “English-medium” classrooms; (c) the identity development of Latinx youth that spans social worlds; and (d) the growing research on Ethnic Studies curricula and pedagogies in high school classrooms, especially as these courses increasingly become a high school graduation requirement throughout California and have been recently sanctioned by California Governor Jerry Brown’s signing of landmark Assembly Bill 2016.