This study explores the attitudes of raters of English speaking tests towards the global spread of English and the challenges in rating speakers of Indian English in descriptive speaking tasks. The claims put forward by language attitude studies indicate a validity issue in English speaking tests: listeners tend to hold negative attitudes towards…

A canyonesque gulf has long existed between open academia and many external subject communities. Since 2011, we have been developing and piloting the public open scholar role (Coughlan and Perryman 2012)--involving open academics discovering, sharing and discussing open educational resources (OER) with online communities outside formal education…

The low literacy rate of Scheduled Tribes is a serious threat to Indian education. It is significant even to Kerala, the state with highest literacy rate. The intensity of the problem is reflected by the SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) examination results of March 2010 where the Palakkad district has scored the less pass percentage of…

Background: Cultural and religious beliefs influence perceptions about health and illness. Data, from India, on perceptions about intellectual disability are scant. This study explored people's cultural beliefs and attitudes about intellectual disability, perceived needs and burden associated with care in Vellore, south India. Method: A…

The paper reports on a field experiment conducted among poor women organized in self-help groups in the north-east of India. The experiment tests in a simple game whether overly optimistic expectations with respect to the benefits of exercising agency reduces one's appreciation of remaining with agency in the future. If so, unrealistic…

Attitudes and concerns of pre-service teachers regarding implementation of inclusive education were examined. The participants consisted of 480 pre-service teachers enrolled in a one year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) program at Pune University, in the state of Maharashtra. The results of the study showed that participants had somewhat negative…

In contrast to the phenomenon of minority overrepresentation in special education in developed countries such as the United States, a paradoxical situation occurs in many developing countries, whereby majority populations are underrepresented in the educational system. The author examines some of the prevailing and traditional societal and…

This article is divided into two parts. Part 1 focuses on the events that took place in teaching the class as a whole. Part 2 presents a case study of five learners who, because they had serious problems, both attitudinal and other problems, received special attention and additional support. The study had two main aims. The first was to respond to…

Many countries mandate affirmative action in university admissions for traditionally disadvantaged groups. Little is known about either the efficacy or costs of these programs. This paper examines affirmative action in engineering colleges in India for "lower-caste" groups. We find that it successfully targets the financially…

Unfortunately, as far as the research on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals in India is concerned, the situation is almost the same as it was in the 1980s. Why have Indian psychologists and psychiatrists avoided researching LGB youth? And, more importantly, why does this silence continue? The first and the foremost reasons are the stigma…

Author points out areas of friction in India as young people face unemployment, substandard educational opportunities, and a rigid caste society. (SP)

The current study assessed the subjective well-being of a broad spectrum of homeless people. One-hundred-and-eighty-six homeless people from the streets of Calcutta (India), California, and a tent camp in Portland (Oregon) were interviewed, and responded to measures of subjective well-being. They answered questions about life satisfaction,…

Children with disabilities are a minority that are not prioritised in the context of education programmes in India, although they are often found in many marginalised groups that are catered for if non-disabled, for example, girls, scheduled tribe, scheduled caste, and other backward caste children. Inclusive education may be a way of merging…

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is steadily increasing in severity throughout the developing world. Recently, Southeast Asia has become a rising concern for health care professionals in the field of infectious disease (UNAIDS, 2004). Most of Southeast Asia is experiencing surging prevalence and incidence rates of HIV infection. One particular country of…