The assessment of second language (L2) pragmatic competence typically involves questionnaires, such as discourse completion tasks. This article describes a novel approach to using questionnaires to assess L2 metapragmatic capacities while simultaneously promoting their development: engaging learners in cooperative interaction as they complete the…

Gay and lesbian parents are raising an increasing number of children, but little is known about how these parents are viewed by school personnel. In this study, preservice teacher attitudes toward gay and lesbian parents were assessed using implicit, explicit, behavioral, and behavioroid measures. Implicit measures indicate that participants rated…

Debate continues about the relationship between schools divided on ethno-religious lines and their implications for social cohesion. One argument against the existence of separate schools is that they limit opportunities for children from different groups to engage with each other, promoting intergroup suspicion and sectarianism. Using intergroup…

The study analyses teenagers' e-mail requests during academic cyber-consultation, exploring how the performance of request modifiers is influenced by participants' perceptions of the degree of imposition of the speech act and social distance with the recipient. A total of 295 e-mail requests, 145 produced by British English speakers (BES) and 150…

The purpose of this research study was to explore the influence of Confucian-heritage culture on Chinese learners' online learning and engagement in online discussion in U.S. higher education. More specifically, this research studied Chinese learners' perceptions of power distance and its impact on their interactions with instructors and peers in…

The purpose of this study is to comparatively examine the student-teacher relationships of preschool children with and without special needs (SN) and to identify the variables which predict student-teacher relationships. In order to collect data from 40 preschool teachers regarding 54 students with and 54 students without SN, the Student and…

Background/Context: Today, in the era of the first African American president, approximately one third of all African Americans live in suburban communities, and their children are attending suburban schools. Although most research on the education of African American students, particularly males, focuses on their plight in urban schooling, what…

In this article I discuss the way Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and reflexivity is employed in a university environment to address the question of how we can most successfully transfer knowledge about the presumed Other into our own cultural space without reducing, fragmenting, and exoticising complex knowledge systems. My goal is to stimulate in…

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and general learning disabilities (LD) are common difficulties for British primary school children. It has been found that characteristics associated with these difficulties can result in negative attitudes and stigma from other children, causing problems with peer relationships.…

The rise of English as an international language (EIL) has brought to light the needs of those who speak it as an additional language. This has in turn radically reshaped the role of culture in the EIL classroom, which may now aim at developing critical transcultural awareness. By reporting on a joint initiative undertaken by three schools in two…

In this study, researchers used a customized 360-degree method to examine the frequency with which 1,546 men and 721 women leaders perceived themselves and were perceived by colleagues as using 10 relational and 10 task-oriented leadership behaviors, as addressed in the Management-Leadership Practices Inventory (MLPI). As hypothesized, men and…

This study investigates how teachers interact with immigrant-origin youth in school-based contexts of reception that mediate youth's educational opportunities. One understudied context is sheltered instruction, where English learners (ELs) are placed into separate content-area courses to target their linguistic needs. This qualitative study…

Informal "teacher talk" about students is ubiquitous, but it remains largely unexamined. This study critically examines casual, everyday teacher discourse about students perceived to be racially or culturally "different." Data were collected through participants' journal entries, group discussion, and interviews. Findings…

Raising tolerance for people of different ethnic and racial groups is the goal of the Multicultural Mosaic program, a grass-roots multicultural education effort initiated by a small group of middle school teachers in a private school in the northeast. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of the first year of the Multicultural…

In 2002, Greenlandic reform leaders launched a comprehensive, nation-wide reform to create culturally compatible education. Greenland's reform work spans the entire educational system and includes preschool through higher education. To assist their efforts, reform leaders adopted the Standards for Effective Pedagogy developed at the Center for…