This article employs narrative analysis to examine how the media in 12 different countries characterize the "Teach for All" (TFA) teacher. Examining mass media narratives in these 12 countries illustrates that there are some remarkable commonalities in the narratives and character portraits co-constructed and propagated by the media. At…

Recent research provides evidence that individuals shift in their perception of variants depending on social characteristics attributed to the speaker. This paper reports on a speech perception experiment designed to test the degree to which the age attributed to a speaker influences the perception of vowels undergoing a chain shift. As a result…

This article examines the association between perceptions of neighborhood problems and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a sample of New Zealand residents (n = 692). A modified version of the Neighborhood Problems Scale (originally developed by Steptoe and Feldman, 2001) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) were…

New Zealand Pakeha (of European descent) and Samoan school children were asked to name both positive and negative reference to others on three dimensions (general worth, academic success, and popularity). Results confirmed that social and cultural status influence the ways in which children select social information. (KH)

Although recognized as being out-of-date, two characteristics of New Zealand's outlook on the world (a monocultural attitude and isolationism), have played a significant part in forming community opinions and attitudes on national and international development questions. Attitudes toward Third World countries are narrowed by lack of information,…