Explores the historical roots of universalistic thinking about children's nature, their needs, and what constitutes healthy development. Considers the opportunities for a new psychology of childhood to be reconstructed in ways that pay more attention to the cultural dimensions, as well as to the socio-cultural process, of the subject. (Author)

This study examines the interactive roles of social, cultural, and cognitive developmental factors in determining children's moral and achievement judgments. A total of 1485 male and female Iranian children/students of diverse social background (ranging in age from 4-18) served as subjects. Subjects were asked to evaluate (reward/punishment) the…

Discusses a proposed interconnectedness between the ecologies of ethnic minority families, adaptive strategies, socialization goals, and child development outcomes. (PCB)

This book explores how learning is the lifetime quest to understand personal identity, purpose, and meaning while conforming and adapting to the perceived and real confines of a paradoxical society. It examines the complex social experience of learning, revealing how culture, gender, race, and other societal factors shape and mold an individual's…

This paper is concerned with the role of speech in the development of control of cognitive processes, with particular attention paid to the nature of bilingualism. It is stated that exposure to a second language provides a way of overcoming the encapsulation of the mind that develops when an individual is exposed to only one language. In order to…

Examined the relationship between literacy development and sociocultural aspects. Identified some cognitive processes in biliteracy acquisition through categorizing children's work according to Piaget's active learner categories that show learners constructing knowledge for different purposes. Results suggest that these cognitive processes are…

Scholars, practitioners, and laypeople at one time or another have questioned what learning is and how it can be measured once it is defined. Many use the term interchangeably with growth, change, development, knowledge, education, cognition, or acquisition as it is commonly considered in educational practice. However, most generally assume a…

Though most definitions of literacy focus solely on the uses of reading and writing, a sociocognitive perspective that incorporates social practices, conceptions of reading and writing, and literacy as a way of thinking is more productive. Within this view, literacy is culturally based, involves the higher intellectual skills, and is learned by…

This study challenges the Toukamaa and Skutnabb-Kangas theory of semilingualism and suggests that an integrated set of sociological and sociolinguistic factors can predict the performance of minority bilinguals in school. Semilingualism is described as a low level of competence in the minority language, a linguistic handicap that prevents the…