Cultural dynamics in school may contribute to disaffiliation and inhibited academic performance among diverse student populations (Marx, 2008). We queried 16 special education students in a low-income, ethnically diverse English Language Learner-cluster middle school about their perceptions of the cultural dynamics at their school and the…

Given the importance of postsecondary institutions partnering with community agencies and groups to meet a variety of essential goals such as access and success of students, this study investigated one such partnership with the aim of attempting to understand the experience of community-led partnerships and the role of culture in partnerships…

Teaching a course in multicultural education at a largely white, middle-class, suburban liberal arts college has its challenges. Among those challenges is a prevailing naivete among the student population regarding the role sociocultural structures have in creating the kinds of opportunities that afford social privileges; likewise, the students…

International students in higher education represent a diverse population with unique mental health needs. Foreign students commonly experience a host of adjustment issues, including acculturative stress, language difficulties, cultural misunderstandings, racial discrimination, and loss of social support. Despite their challenges, few…

This paper is aimed at analyzing verbal and nonverbal strategies in terms of body contact, face-to-face contact, and discourse style during the first three months of life in two cultural communities that have been characterized as embodying different cultural models of parenting: German middle-class, and Nso farmer families. It can be demonstrated…

This paper examines two topics understudied in higher education: the within group diversity of ethnic subgroups subsumed by the label Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and minority-serving institutions. Using structural equation modeling, this paper examines the college pathways of community college students in Hawai'i through the…

This study explores college students' reactions to engaging in experiences with diverse others that students found uncomfortable, interactions that disrupted students' current beliefs or values. Our examination of these experiences was grounded in theory and research on intergroup contact and anxiety and developmental models of self-authorship…

I use the metaphor "zebra crossing" in my reflective narrative to describe my plight and struggle as a non-white person growing up and working in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the apartheid era. This article considers and compares the notions of culture, diversity and identity as I now work in a tertiary institution in Melbourne,…

This article is based on a focus group study of staff and students in UK higher education institutions, where "internationalisation" was the topic for debate. The perspectives of academics and students at five UK universities were examined to determine how they perceived their own culturally mediated approaches to learning. Evidence for…

This article presents findings of small-scale in-depth qualitative research into the perspectives on history amongst adolescent children of minority ethnic backgrounds living in inner-cities in England. The research aimed to elicit, first, the narratives of British history that children from minority ethnic backgrounds hold; and, second, the…

Educators of international students are frequently challenged to cope with a clashing diversity of cultures in a classroom setting. This study examined what sorts of themes and images might resonate across nationalities and cultures, which could then be used as transcultural tools for international educators. The study employed mixed qualitative…

This article aims to provide evidence that "rote learning" or "memorisation" is a complex construct and is deeply embedded in the East Asian culture. An in-depth understanding of this learning approach is increasingly crucial considering the complex demography of contemporary higher education nowadays. Not only is there a rise…

This paper reports a small-scale study exploring the communicative interactions of secondary teachers and community educators with colleagues and learners in educational environments. This research is conducted in a changing educational landscape where there is a more holistic approach to education being adopted and where an extended Scottish…

Student resistance to critical thinking emblematic of a liberal arts curriculum is often painfully obvious in freshman writing classes that impose a process-based approach to writing and thinking. Criminal justice students, like their peers in other majors with strong vocational orientations, often resist taking any more than the required liberal…

The perspectives of immigrant youth are important to be aware of because they can reveal the powerful role society has in framing and forming the range of possibilities available to them. Culturally speaking, immigrant youth often face mismatches between home and school values, but they sometimes encounter intracultural struggles as well. This…