For centuries, the Bajau people sailed the seas between what we now refer to as Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines on houseboats of their own construction. Adept sustenance divers, they forage the sea floor for sea cucumber, fish, black coral and more, often spending over 60% of their working day underwater. On a single breath, the best of…

This 3-article dissertation seeks theoretical and pedagogical alternatives for English Language Teaching (ELT) within a linguistic ecology of knowledges in plurinational Ecuador. The main concern is how teacher educators of the hegemonic English language define knowledge in constructing a knowledge-based society and what initiatives are undertaken…

This study addresses common assumptions about women of the borderlands while embracing a transformative consciousness in understanding, making, and reclaiming the meaning of citizenship for Mexican American women from the Rio Grande Valley. This critical ethnography recognizes Chicana Feminist epistemologies as a form of knowledge. Therefore, this…

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to develop a theory that explains the process of self-authorship development of college students in China. Little research exists that explicitly explores the integrated development of college students in China and influences on that development from the educational environment. Despite the extensive…

This project is a regional case study of higher education institutions, employees, and students in the occupied Palestinian town of Bethlehem. A three-article format, this project employs autoethnography to explore the ways the author's religious community conceived of the holy land; mapping and photo documentation to explore the infrastructures…

Computer-based assessments allow practitioners to collect rich process data by logging students' interactions with assessment tasks. In addition to providing final responses to test questions, computer-based assessments promise to furnish more evidence to support claims about what a student knows and can do through logging process data in log…

This qualitative study aimed at exploring the way North African Muslim female teachers make meaning of their teaching experience in relation to the socio-cultural and political factors, which in in this context is through epistemological dimensions (how Muslim female teachers know), intrapersonal dimensions (how Muslim female teachers define their…

Drawing on theories from Applied Linguistics research, this doctoral dissertation brings together European perspectives on "language," "identity," and "voice" in an examination of English as the international language of science (EILS). Using the theoretical frame of Dynamic Systems Theory (DST), each of the chapters…

The study reported in this dissertation is a response to the call for school science argumentation interventions to shift from a focus on argument framework towards epistemic criteria valued by the scientific community, and to focus on the practice of critiquing in addition to constructing arguments, as both practices are part of scientific…

In this dissertation, I develop an instructional design strategy for emerging young adult leaders (EYAL) in the Swaziland Leadership Academy (SLA). The study was prompted by my desire to evaluate and improve the learning within the SLA. In Part I, I review literature related to adult education, the Swazi epistemological context, and instructional…

Writing Studies has flourished as a field in Latin America during the last two decades. Its development has been fostered by an exponential growth of college enrollments and processes of expansion and democratization of the educational offer in the region. The renewed attention received by higher education writing has fueled new research efforts…

This dissertation examines a pedagogy called Soka education that was founded in early 20th century Japan. Specifically, this dissertation offers an empirical and conceptual study that examines the application of Soka education in present day. After examining the historical and political context of Soka education, I explicate on Ikeda's (1928- )…

International mindedness is a recent and evolving research topic in language education and other fields because of its significance in promoting global relations, ethical leadership, intercultural understanding, global engagement, and world communication. This study explored the conceptions and practices of international mindedness of four English…

There is broad consensus amongst scholars across a wide range of disciplines that digital technologies are having profound effects on micro- and macropolitical processes across the world. However, research into digital geographies has not rigorously examined the role of the Internet in bridging epistemological difference. Rather, most of this…

How does higher education contribute to finding workable and lasting solutions to complex social issues that face communities globally today? How does higher education contribute to global sustainable development goals? The scholarship of engagement encourages faculty, scholars, and students to work together with communities on solutions to…