The paper traces the level of bilingualism in several highland villages of Daghestan (Northeast Caucasus) through the twentieth century. We show that historically, men were more multilingual than women, but this was not true to the same extent for all languages. Highlanders' repertoires suggest a correlation between the social function of the…

This book answers: (1) how do socially constructed concepts of race dominate and limit understandings and practices of multicultural education; and (2) since race is socially constructed, how do we deconstruct it? The author argues that multicultural education needs to move beyond racial categories defined and sustained by the ideological, social,…

This case study explores how a group of Grade 9 students engaged in sociopolitical discourses and actions in a science class in a mostly indigenous student school in Nepal. The study used sociopolitical consciousness (SPC) as a framework to document and understand indigenous students' SPC-oriented science interactions and subsequent social change…

This study with families caring for an individual with an intellectual disability in a mid-sized Indian city explored the diverse explanatory models that parents constructed of causes, preferred treatment approaches and perceived social effects of their child's intellectual disability. Seventeen mothers and three fathers rank ordered 48 disability…

This study explores the relationship between language selection and identity construction in contemporary Indonesia through an examination of the function of English, a language that still receives stigma from many Indonesians and the government, particularly in Indonesian popular texts published after 1998. Utilizing hybrid critical approaches…

Public and scholarly debates on what it means to be a successful teacher are characterized by increasingly pronounced differences in how various political, legislative, and professional groups define successful teaching. In response to pressures posed by these polarized discourses, critical pedagogic research on education contrasts contested views…

Purpose: To examine the relationships between "westernization" and nutrition and physical activity behaviors among older adolescents in Delhi, India. These relations have not been explored, despite increasingly strong and pervasive socio-cultural influences from the West. Methods: Students (n=1818) in 8th and 10th grades in 4 Private…

Colleges and universities have a long-standing tradition of preparing students to be civically engaged (Colby, Beaumont, Ehrlich, & Corngold, 2007; Jacoby, 2009; Kezar, 2002). In response to a decline in civic engagement among college students and the greater American public, colleges and universities began offering a wide array of civic…

The extent to which education can compensate for social disadvantage is a matter of political controversy, especially in the context of policies for social mobility. On the one hand, to blame poor achievement on social class or poverty was seen to dodge the professional responsibility of teachers. On the other, the strong correlation between…

The idea of spirituality is increasingly being used in the context of adult education. This paper will tentatively explore some of the implications of an emergent spirituality within the practice of adult education. It begins by situating our understanding of spirituality in an historical context. This is followed by a brief historical overview of…

Compares the characteristics of the life prospects of young men and women in Russia and the Ukraine with their attitudes toward societal reforms. Based on materials from a 1995 survey conducted in Orel (Russia), Moscow (Russia), Mtsensk (Russia), and Kiev (Ukraine). (CMK)

The social reform and opening-up in Chinese society in the last three decades have resulted in overall changes in almost every aspect of social life of its people. As an important indicator in these changes, English has become an important tool in education for students to move ahead to a higher level of schooling, and better jobs in the…

The purpose of the study was to determine the degree to which factors other than job skills, in particular mobility and social factors, are important for the success of students from vocational and technical training programs at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Data were gathered from interviews with selected center directors, from teacher…

This paper examines the impact of welfare reforms on several measures of child maltreatment. The authors use state-level data from 1990 to 1998 to examine whether recent welfare reforms have increased or reduced the incidence of reported and substantiated cases of maltreatment, the incidence of specific types of substantiated…

I develop a theoretical framework explaining how community social context affects attitude formation via nonfamily institutions and related behaviors. Empirical tests of the framework use data from a study of the Chitwan Valley in rural Nepal. The analyses focus on attitudes toward seven aspects of marriage: child marriage, arranged marriage,…