This paper presents an overview of some of Michael Cole's work, starting with his pioneering research in Liberia with the Kpelle (and later, with Sylvia Scribner, studies of literacy with the Vai, 1981), which was formative of his version of a cultural-historical psychology, his translation and interpretations of the work of L. S. Vygotsky and…

Adopting a broader dialogical conceptual lens on interactive listening, this study examines advanced adult learners' language use and thought processes during a problem-solving task. Twenty English as a second language (L2) students from a Scottish university participated in the study. They worked in pairs on the task before taking part in…

Discusses Benjamin Lee Whorf's belief that each man's language shpes his thoughts and experiences. (SW)

The performance of 114 New Zealand children of European and Polynesian descent on spatial relations tasks was examined, following their interaction with another child of either the same or different cognitive level. Nonconservers were found to benefit from interaction relative to no interaction more than were partial conservers. (AOS)

A comparison of freehand sketch maps of the world provides a simple but effective means of exploring images of the world. The maps of 60 high school students from Nogales, Arizona, and 60 from Nogales, Sonora, were analyzed according to number of map features included, percent of features for each continent, frequency of country identification in…

This study asks two questions: Is there intracultural variation among the Baganda of Uganda in the cognition of color terms; and if there is, what are the sociocultural correlates of this variation? The color terminology of the Baganda is described, and several psycholinguistic techniques are used to determine the cognition of these terms. These…

A study of similarities and differences between cultures based on analyses of the contents of children's dreams. The objective system developed by Rychlak is used to compare groups of children from different cultures. Data suggest that dream themes in literary sagas are characteristic of dream recall of secular societies. (AMH)

The task of unscrambling and reordering the sentences for six stories was completed by 455 third, sixth, and ninth grade students from three cultural groups (black, Anglo, and Hispanic) in a study of how sociocultural differences in story schemata affect reading comprehension. The results showed that the greatest effects were for grade level and…

Compares the performance of Black, Hispanic, and Anglo students on a story unscrambling task to determine if sociocultural differences in story schemata affect reading comprehension. Shows some effects suggesting that the three groups have somewhat different strategies for choosing initial and final sentences and for making narratives coherent.…

The goal of this report is said to be to review current approaches in psychological anthropology in such a way as to demonstrate what are perceived to be their relevance and importance to an adequate anthropology of education. Part One examines the trends seen emerging in the study of perception and cognition which those interested in education…

This paper analyses some changing aspects of learning and "cultures of learning" in China: these are related to meeting the needs of Chinese learners studying in higher education in the UK. We use the term "cultures of learning" to draw attention to the socio-cultural aspects of key practices, expectations and interpretations…

The traditional discussion of language issues is extended to multicultural settings by looking at how language shapes and is shaped by diverse cultural experiences. This review of existing studies shows that the acquisition of culture-specific communicative competence and socialization patterns plays a significant role in language acquisition and…

The research reported here seeks to explain communication failure between Whites and Aboriginals in Australia, based on an examination of fundamental concepts underlying the world view of each group. The research arose from the observation that in Aboriginal-White encounters, each group had different expectations of and conclusions about the same…

Reports on an action research study on improving equality of opportunity for students in a socially and racially mixed classroom. Finds that students were empowered by their involvement setting up and drawing conclusions from the study. Questions the extent to which research should focus on race, social class, or gender. (CFR)

Research pertinent to the adaptation of immigrant children is reviewed in a cross-cultural perspective. The report focuses on research that has yielded empirical data, although a number of other papers of basic importance have been included in the review. The first chapter discusses definitions and implications of various types of cross-cultural…