The purpose of this research was to explore gender differences and cultural differences in school motivation among students from eight culturally diverse groups from Western and non-Western societies. The selected groups come from Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, the Netherlands, and Qatar. More than 10,000 secondary school…

Will my children's creativity be hindered if I place them within the rigidity of an East Asian school? Conversely, could my children's math and science skills benefit from the high expectations of an East Asian curriculum and teacher? The purpose of this study is two-fold. Firstly, it aims to demonstrate that comparison between Eastern and Western…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore practitioner and post-colonial perspectives on the implementation of learning organisation theory and practice in a non-Western setting. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative interpretive study, using in-depth interviews and participant observation, was conducted in two public organisations in…

With the global economy becoming more integrated, the issues of cross-cultural relevance and transferability of leadership theories and practices have become increasingly urgent. Drawing upon the concept of parallel leadership in schools proposed by Crowther, Kaagan, Ferguson, and Hann as an example, the purpose of this paper is to examine the…

Southeast Asian Studies programs arose in American higher education after World War II, creating special problems for university and research libraries. The major problems were and still are acquisition and cataloging. The Donn V. Hart Southeast Asian Collection, founded in 1963, is unique in Illinois and contains 21,000 Indonesian; 15,000 Thai;…

An overview of Singapore's history and culture is discussed in this learning guide. A study of the history of Singapore, including Temasek to Singapore, the Raffles Years, and the Straits Settlements, is given. Information about the transition of Singapore as a British Colony to the modern independent state of today, and the effects of World War…

A disturbing gulf between the culture of the United States and that of Singapore, was noted by an American English professor after spending the 1986-87 academic year as a Fullbright lecturer in Singapore's Department of English and Literature and again after returning for the 1991-92 academic year as a visiting professor. Cultural differences were…

Increased use of English in Singapore, a multiracial, multilingual country, especially its use for cultural purposes, has met with some controversy. This article traces the historical development of Singaporean literature in English and the sociocultural and political problems such literature faces in a country where the official languages and…

The proceedings of the Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development's seminar and the meaning and implications of social commitment in higher education are reported. The welcoming address (S. Nasution) and the opening address (Y. B. Dato' Murad bin Mohd. Noor) welcome the participants and set the tone for the discussions to follow. The…

Many English tests based on Western culture are inappropriate for regions where English use differs from that of Europe and North America. In these non-Western settings, it is desirable that English assessments be based on real-world English use. Therefore, identifying tasks of non-Western English language use is a beginning step in developing…

Sixteen papers are presented. Topics covered include language teaching, discourse analysis, code switching, phonetics, language and cultural identity, and descriptive and comparative studies. All presenters were from the Asia-Pacific area of the world. Papers include: "The Baba Malay Lexicon: Hokkien Loanwords in Baba Malay" (Anne…