This article is a cross-case study exploring two young African-American adolescent girls' experiences with school mathematics and the impact of the socio-cultural context upon their motivation and mathematical identity. Based on repeated in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation of their mathematics classroom, the researcher portrays…

Following an encounter with a student at the beginning of fall term, the writer reflects that today's student generation is a singular one: its members want to study, travel, make friends, make more friends, read everything (superfast), take in all the movies, listen to every hot band, keep up with everyone they've ever known. They live to…

Controlling "literacy processes" was a concern of members of the dominant culture during the Progressive Era (about 1890-1917). Educators wanted to set students on the "right" course before formal schooling was over. Four history textbooks from the era share a general sense of what is required for public literacy, but they…

For one Sansei (third-generation Japanese American) university student who had been brought up by her Japanese grandparents, questions of who she was and how much upbringing and personal experiences had molded her were with her constantly. She questioned how much of her grandfather's and her mother's high expectations had to do with her lack of…

This book presents spirited and thought-provoking conversations with 9 (10 including the interviewer) internationally renowned women scholars who share their insights on the social, political, and cultural contexts of education. The book recognizes the need for ongoing international dialogue in the field of English education. Following a prologue,…

Sara Powell Haardt, when she is remembered at all, is remembered as the wife of the newspaperman and critic, H. L. Mencken. Educators and scholars of history, writing, and literature may find Haardt's work interesting, as it centers on the conflict between the new South and the old. She taught high school English, and then taught at Goucher…

This paper summarizes studies conducted on ethnography and bilingualism that illustrate the occurrence of events in context, conducted using ethnographic methods, thereby permitting a fuller, more in-depth understanding of language acquisition and development. Studies reviewed include examples of English language acquisition by a 5-year-old…

Recently, rhetoricians have been trying to explain the absence of women from the history of rhetoric by locating female rhetoricians in classical era canonical texts. This effort, similar in intent to the movement towards redefining the literary canon, challenges the traditional Western rhetorical canon to create a more inclusive and accurate…

Videos, guest speakers, and case studies are all excellent ways to familiarize students with how advertising is managed in other cultures, but they are no substitute for experiencing international advertising firsthand. To plan for a trip abroad with students (and 12 is the optimal number): (1) identify learning outcomes for an international…

This paper analyzes the "University Grammar of English" by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum (1973) from the point of view of isolation of forms of language from meaning used to convey these forms, especially regarding gender differences and relations in the main characters, John and Mary Smith. It is suggested that females are underrepresented,…

Examining two very different contexts, a non-pastoral Quaker meeting and an AIDS hospice, offers insight into the complex nature of writing and literacy in spiritual contexts. Such a program is unapologetically comparative, seeking not the "right" view of spirituality but rather a view of how spirituality is expressed through language.…

A "schooling perspective" has become the foundation of the modern educational system. It portrays instruction-centered education in which the instructor is responsible for the success or failure of education. On the other hand, a "learning perspective" characterizes education as the learners' intentional activity to attain new knowledge, ways of…

This book argues against the politicization of literature and presents a guide to the great works and essential writers of the ages, the "Western Canon." The book studies 26 writers and seeks to isolate the qualities that made these authors canonical, that is, authoritative in Western culture. Noting that although originally the…

The genre of fairytales, one structured form of storytelling, has been labeled "Marchen." German culture is orally transmitted in this generic form, and can be traced to a collection of 210 fairytales, the Grimm brothers'"Kinder-und Taus-Marchen," first published shortly after 1800. For this study, research questions were posed…

For the student of American politics as well as for the student of Brazilian literature and culture, a close reading of a 70-year old Brazilian science fiction novel could provide some insights into the ongoing presidential campaign in the United States. In 1925, one of Brazil's most popular writers, Jose Bento Monteiro Lobato, wrote a novel…