This was an exploratory study which used Flanagan's Critical Incident Technique to find out the factors which hinder or facilitate the psycho-socio adjustment of students from The People's Republic of China to Canada. The 21 subjects for the sample were drawn at random from a name list provided by the Chinese Visiting Scholars and Students Association at University of British Columbia. All of the subjects were graduate students or visiting scholars and had been in Canada for 9-12 months at the time of the interviews. All subjects were able to identify incidents which hindered or facilitated their first year psycho-socio adjustment to Canada. The total of 385 incidents, 175 facilitating and 210 hindering incidents, were reported. The average number of incidents reported per student was 19.2. Ten major categories which facilitate or hinder PRC students' psycho-socio adjustment to Canada have been found through this research. Considering the number of incidents reported by the participants, Academic Study & Research was ranked the first place among 10 categories. According to the rate of participation, Language Barriers & Improvement was listed the highest among 10 categories. Considering the number of facilitating incidents reported by the participants, Initial Settlement was placed the highest. In the number of hindering incidents, category of Language Barriers & Improvement was listed the highest among the 10 categories. The explanation of the research findings and suggestions for how the findings might contribute to the understanding PRC or other Oriental international students are included in the discussion. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This research was concerned with integrated nonformal education programmes in Zambia. The purposes of the research were: (1) to identify factors thought by administrators to facilitate and hinder the implementation of integrated nonformal education programmes; (2) to establish the relative influence of each factor; (3) to determine the perceived degree of integration from the perspective of four administrative levels; and (4) to determine skills and knowledge acquired from integrated nonformal education programmes through the perceptions of participants. Critical incident interviews and questionnaires were used to gather data from administrators, extension workers and programme participants in Chipata District of Eastern Zambia. Integrated Rural Development Programmes had been in operation since 1972. The critical incident technique was used to interview seventy-seven administrators and extension workers at four administrative levels -national, provincial, district and local. Data from the interviews were used to identify a total of eight factors that were thought to facilitate implementation of integrated nonformal education programmes and nine factors that were thought to hinder implementation of integrated nonformal education programmes. Both facilitating and hindering factors were ranked for each administrative level. Data from questionnaires were used to determine the perceived degree of vertical and horizontal integration from the perspectives of four administrative levels as well as to determine outcomes of integration, through perceptions of programme participants. A total of 106 administrators and extension workers responded to the Administrators' Questionnaire; 50 responded to the Local Level Questionnaire; and 77 selected participants around three local sites answered the Participants' Questionnaire. Survey questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance to determine whether there were any differences between administrative groups. The major findings that emerged from the study were these: 1. Factors perceived as facilitating and hindering implementation of integrated nonformal education programmes rank differently according to the administrative level of respondents. For administrators at three administrative levels (national, provincial and district) seminars/workshops and training facilities is a powerful facilitating factor. At local level, however, administrators ranked seminars/ workshops fourth as a factor facilitating successful implementation. In this research, inadequate skilled personnel ranked as the highest hindering factor at three administrative levels (national, provincial and district) but ranked fourth at local level. 2. Vertical integration is positively correlated with horizontal integration. 3. Administrators at the national level believe that a higher degree of vertical and horizontal integration exists in integrated programmes than do administrators of the other three administrative levels. 4. The small number of extension workers and their inability to adequately cover their constituency, seriously affect the impact of integrated nonformal education programmes. Based on the results of the study, recommendations for theory, further research, and for practice are presented. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

A qualitative - exploratory study was conducted to investigate the experiential consequences of underemployment for Chinese immigrants who were former professionals in their country of origin. Twelve male immigrants aged 28 to 63 who have resided in Canada 1 to 4 years were interviewed. For the most part, the study was existentially based using a phenomenological - content analysis format to derive results. Results indicated that Chinese immigrants' problematic responses to underemployment differed greatly depending upon their initial place of origin i.e., familiarity with and adaptability to the host society being the significant factor. Counseling suggestions to assist these individuals followed the existential paradigm. Finally, several possibilities that exist for further research into this topic of the underemployed immigrant are described. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Feminist community organizing involves members of a geographic locale or social network coming together to address a shared issue or problem affecting the lives of women in order to find a collective solution (Dominelli, 1995; Israel, Checkoway, Schulz & Zimmerman, 1994; Selsky, 1991). While the organizational theory literature has traditionally focused on the exchange of financial and material resources as the main reason for forming partnerships (Gulati, 1998; Kanter, 1989; Oliver, 1991), a growing body of feminist literature (Acker, 1995; Brown, 1992; Eisenstein, 1995; Feree and Martin, 1995; Reinelt, 1994) and community development literature (Dominelli, 1995, Israel et al., 1994; Kretzman & McKnight, 1993; Minkler & Wallerstein, 1997; Selsky, 1991) emphasizes the importance of other types of resources such as skills, lived experience, knowledge, information and social networks. In addition, feminist collectivity offers a promising alternative to hierarchy in terms of valuing and mobilizing the diverse pool of resources brought to a feminist community-based initiative by participants from varied social locations (Callahan, 1997; Dominelli, 1995; Reinelt, 1994). The purpose of my study was to investigate participant understandings of the resources they brought to a feminist community organizing initiative designed to increase the access of women on low-incomes to community recreation, and how emergent organizational practices affected resource utilization. A case study analysis of 'Women Organizing Activities for Women' (WOAW) that is comprised of a diverse group of women on low incomes, community partners, and university-based researchers was conducted. The research methods for this project included the analysis data obtained in Interactive Research Meetings (n=3) with each of the WOAW participant groups to determine individual and collective resources. Observations of Phase I WOAW meetings (n=9) were recorded using fieldnotes and verbatim transcripts and served as the data source for examining patterns of resource utilization given emergent feminist collective organizing practices. Fieldnotes and transcripts were analyzed using Atlas.ti data computer software. Participants from the three groups identified over 200 examples of resources they were bringing to WOAW and described a number of connections between resources, as well as multiple meanings of single resource types, which differed based on their roles and locations in the organization. These findings contribute to the literature by linking resource identification in new ways to the process of resource utilization. The results also contribute to practice by challenging assumptions about the types of resources brought by different collaborators and by identifying organizational practices that enhance or inhibit resource utilization. My analysis revealed that there was ambiguity between participant groups about who was bringing what resources, which led to assumptions being made about who would take on certain tasks in the group. I also found that while feminist collective organizing practices enabled participants to name and share resources in an empowering and respectful environment, that time constraints, ambiguity about roles and participants' lack of familiarity with the process were challenges to mobilizing available resources. / Education, Faculty of / Kinesiology, School of / Graduate

National multicultural and multiracial pluralism is a reality of modernity. In Canada multiculturalism has been an official policy since 1971. As a settler society the concepts, values and principles entrenched in multiculturalism, citizenship and immigration reflect a history of racialization. Uncritical views of nation building and citizenship assume that all Canadians have equal opportunity to participate and contribute to the social, economic, cultural and political life of the country. Given the current milieu of globalization, transnationalism and internationalism in an era of interconnectivity, market economies and of focus on economic capital, there is a challenge for Canada to consign a sense of place and equal participation to all its citizens. This is a conceptual thesis that looks at how government policy and dominant hegemony in Canada mediate relationships and identities within and among immigrant communities and other marginalized communities be they bound by geography, economics race, gender, religion or sexuality. Personal-narratives from my own experience as an immigrant are used to highlight how social relations are constituted, synthesized, merged, enacted, intersected, transpired and inspired. The objective is to interrogate the ubiquity of racially esssentialized and exclusionary practices that continue to inform and guide our development as a settler society, no matter how rigorously we may deny or how we frame the practice of racialization. The key issues to be examined are, first, the development of group and individual identity in its relational, political, historical and cultural contexts. The second issue is the development of social relations between marginalized communities as they are affected by government policies in areas of immigration, multiculturalism and citizenship. And finally the thesis examines the practice of Adult Education as contributing to social relations between communities. Identity and identity politics circumscribing the Canadian psyche provides a powerful location for adult learning in general but particularly in situations serving immigrant and newcomers. This thesis develops a lens that contributes to a critical approach to the provision of Adult Education in settlement services, health education, work place training, language acquisition and other services that shape social relations between communities. These programs should incorporate critical theories to make transparent the 'real' history of Canada and students place in the nation. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This thesis examines the social history of the Vancouver Korean community from 1965 to 1997. Within the Canadian context, first generation immigrant Koreans have experienced two key phenomena which have challenged their social status and made for a unique immigrant experience in Canada. First, there has been a negative estimation of Korean cultural merit by the host society. Second, first generation Koreans were highly educated professionals who could not find employment commensurate with their educational and professional backgrounds. Prestige is extremely important for all individuals and groups. In light of the two challenges of cultural devaluation and downward occupational adjustment, the question that this thesis investigates is how Vancouver Koreans have historically reestablished lost prestige within their own community. It is concluded that immigrant generation Koreans have contested for personal status in two ways: by promoting Korean cultural heritage and by pursuing positions of authority within the structure of the Korean community. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

Interpretations of the Nationalist Revolution in modern Chinese history, especially the so-called “Nanjing decade” (1927-1937) are dominated by theoretical notions which see the state as autonomous in its relationship to society. This autonomous state model, the dissertation argues, finds its roots in the voluntaristic ideas of Talcott Parsons. Arguments based on Parsons’s ideas view the Nationalist Revolution as abortive. The dissertation rejects these views and develops an alternative perspective based on the construction of a quasi-market model of social relations. The theoretical underpinnings, in contrast to Parsons’s ideas, are termed “de-voluntaristic.” These arguments suggest that individuals participate in, and have influence on, the operation of the state. The application of a quasi-market model suggests that there was a major transformation in Chinese society during the Nationalist period. The dissertation argues that the Nationalist Government after 1927 did not continue to achieve the initial objectives of the Nationalist Revolution which, it is suggested, aimed to build a quasi-market society. The revolution, however, was not abortive. It transformed the political system. In the Imperial tradition of government, local elites protected local communities against state encroachment through their involvement in property management. After 1927, the Nanjing Government adopted a “free market” approach to political affairs, and centralized the use of military and legal power to protect property against labour and the peasants. Peasant demands for rights to the land they tilled, a key element in Sun Yat-sen’s programme for the revolution, questioned the brokerage market economy, in which local elites acted as the intermediaries of contractual partners. Workers, in the context of industrialization, and with support from Communist organizers, attempted to improve working conditions. Peasants and workers contested the power of active elites that grew in the new political order established by. the Nationalist Government. The Nationalist State abandoned the traditional role of the Chinese state to protect the well-being of society. Deeply influenced by new elites, it protected capital accumulation and safeguarded the sanctity of contracts. The Nationalist Revolution ultimately failed as it was unable to resist the invasions of the Japanese, or the alternative social formulations of the Communist movement. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

This dissertation is a video ethnography of the enculturation and learning patterns among children on three school playgrounds in the Central Region of Ghana, West Africa. It includes a) a discussion of colonialism on the redefinition of Ghanaian cultural identity in relation to play culture and the school curriculum b) performance-based case studies of six singing games, which comprise a description of sound and structural features and an explanation of cultural forms evident in singing games and c) a discussion on the role multimedia technologies (video, audio, and computer technologies) played in configuring my explanations and the explanations of all participants: children, teachers, and community members. Goldman-Segall' s "configurational validity" is the conceptual basis of this ethnography of Ghanaian children's music cultures. Configurational validity is a collaborative theory for analyzing video documents that expands on the premise that research is enriched by multiple points of view. Performance stylistic features of singing games emerge that reflected the marriage of two music cultures, indigenous Ghanaian and European. These include: speech tones, onomatopoeia, repetition and elaboration of recurring melodic cliches, portamentos or cadential drops, syncopations, triplets, melisma, polyrhythms, vocables, anacrusis, strophic, circle, lines, and partner formations. During play, the children were cultural interlocutors and recipients of adult cultural interlocution as they learned about accepted and shared social behavioural patterns, recreated their culture, and demonstrated the changing Ghanaian culture. The culture forms that emerged include community solidarity, inclusion, ways of exploring and expressing emotions, coordination, cooperation, gender relations, and linguistic code switching. For children in Ghana, knowledge is uninhibited shared constructions; knowledge grows when every one is involved; and knowledge is like "midwifery." I recommended a teaching style that encouraged the expression of children's wide ranging knowledge by a) offering opportunities for cooperative learning through group work, b) encouraging continuous assessment, c) establishing stronger ties with the adult community, and d) recognizing that the ability of children to hear, interpret, and compensate for dialectic differences in closely related languages can be used to enrich the language arts curriculum and also e) recognizing that the cultural studies curriculum can be enriched by the ability of children to re-create hybrid performing arts cultures. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This study is an analysis of Malay urban participation in one locality. It includes a discussion of urbanization, ethnicity, and government policy in a Malay context. The study discusses social cohesion and differentiation in a Malay locality and how they influence the urban participation of the group studied. The discussion of the urbanization process in the Malay peninsula shows that the Malays are late-comers in urban development. This is a result of their colonial history. Immigrant Chinese and Indians developed the towns on the west coast of the Malay peninsula under British colonial administration. It was only after the Second World War that rural Malays increased their participation in urban activities by migrating to urban areas. The Malaysian government is encouraging the increased participation of Malays in urban activities, particularly in the commercial and industrial sectors. This study shows that the Malays in the locality studied are unlike the classic rural to urban migrants. The Taman Malays are urban to urban migrants. They have brought with them other urban experiences and skills. In spite of this, however, their occupations are still similar to the type of occupations Malays have filled during the colonial period in urban areas, i.e. they are mostly teachers, clerks, policemen, and laborers. This is attributed to the limited opportunities and structural constraints faced by Malays in urban areas. The study shows that Malays utilize ethnic institutions and government support in gaining a foothold in their urban environment. Malays are a minority in west coast towns in terms of population distribution, settlement pattern, and economic participation. The kampung is the territorial manifestation of Malay presence in towns. Handicapped by the presence of a majority of non-Malays in urban areas, the Malays do not find it easy participating in urban activities. They depend on government support for housing, jobs, business premises, and loans for their economic development. Ethnic institutions are the primary institutional framework for the participation of Taman Malays. This is shown by the types of associations found in the locality. The associations serve to mobilize ethnic interests and unify the Taman residents. The associations serve as links between the kampung and the rest of the urban community, as well as between the kampung residents and the government. The need for expressive social interaction through associations is viewed in this study as a result of the difficulties posed by the multi-ethnic, economic, and political structure of urban areas on the west coast. The urban participation of Taman Malays is described as incorporating both traditional and non-traditional patterns of social relationships. This is shown by the analysis of their social networks. Networks within the locality reinforce participation in the traditional social order, while those which extend beyond the locality or ethnic group facilitate change and participation in the larger urban system. The differential involvement of the Taman Malays was influenced by such factors as geographic mobility, ownership or rental of houses in the locality, and social status. The friendship pattern and social networks of the Taman Malays shows the declining significance of the neighborhood in the social relationships of urban Malays. The kinship patterns of the Taman Malays show the traditional preference for the nuclear family type of household, but conditions of urban living have limited the interaction with extended kin. Household relationships are also being influenced by urban conditions where the husband and wife are both working, greater sharing of decision making about the household and child care is evident among the Taman Malays. The Taman Malays are unified by ethnic institutions and interests. They are vertically organized to the government through community and associational mechanisms. Stratificational differences among the Taman residents have not disrupted the ethnic unity which has characterized Malay urban neighborhoods. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Understanding the processes that allow all students to successfully learn mathematics has been an important objective for most education systems including those in Canada. Educational systems however, have not achieved this goal as many students with low socioeconomic status, females, and minority students fail to achieve an adequate knowledge of mathematics. Much of the discussion regarding this lack of achievement concerns classroom resources and practices, school policies within educational systems, and the specific domain of mathematics achievement considered. This study conceptualizes a successful mathematics classroom in terms of its level of mathematics achievement and how equitably achievement is distributed. The study employs multilevel models and the Canadian data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study to address three main research issues: 1) the extent to which differences in mathematics achievement is attributable to gender, family background, classrooms, and the province where a student attends school; 2) whether the variation in achievement is specific to a mathematics domain; and 3) whether the variation among six provinces (Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec) in the levels of their mathematics achievement is associated with various aspects of school policy and practices. The analyses indicate a slight male advantage in mathematics achievement, and a large, significant gap in achievement associated with the socioeconomic status (SES) of the students' families. Students from low SES backgrounds are disadvantaged as they tend to have relatively low achievement in mathematics within classrooms, especially in Proportionality, Measurement, and Fractions. The most successful classrooms are those in which students from disadvantaged backgrounds excel in mathematics. Disadvantaged students excel in mathematics classrooms in which there are fewer groupings, the mathematics teachers are specialized, and in schools with lower pupil-teacher ratio. Mathematics achievement is equitably distributed in provinces with high mathematics achievement levels. Provincial achievement levels are stable across mathematics domains; that is, provinces with high achievement levels in one domain also tend to have high achievement levels in other domains. On average, Quebec's mathematics achievement is higher than the other provinces in all mathematics domains, and at all levels of SES. This high achievement level in Quebec is partially attributed to higher teacher specialization, lower pupil-teacher ratio, and lower withinschool remedial tracking. The study recommends a comprehensive longitudinal study employing multilevel models with a focus on what other provinces can learn from Quebec's advantage in mathematics. Such a study should conceptualize successful mathematics classrooms as those in which an average student excels in mathematics and where mathematics achievement is equitably distributed. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate