Noting that language minority and culturally different students are the fastest growing group of students in the public schools, this Digest offers practical strategies for language arts teachers to use when working with language-diverse students in the classroom and discusses some recent research on the subject. The Digest points out that…

As instructional philosophies proliferate, elementary teachers are increasingly active as curriculum makers. Interconnecting the elements of unit planning is essential to dynamic teaching and meaningful learning. To be effective, unit planning must: (1) focus on substance and identify major concepts and generalizations; and (2) design activities…

This paper presents an exploratory study, using an ethnographic approach, of linguistically and ethnically diverse parents interacting with their children. Subjects included three Persian-speaking families, three Chaldeans, and three Euro-American families; children were aged 4-5 years. Goals were to understand cross cultural communication,…

The Lilly Endowment's Research Grants Program on Youth and Caring explored the concept of caring, with the intention of effecting changes in settings and practices. This report is meant to give a brief account of the genesis and development of the Program, summarize the issues raised and findings gleaned from the research and investigation, and…

This study investigated the cross-cultural differences in American and Finnish elementary teachers' evaluations of their classroom teaching behaviors. The self-evaluation instrument developed for the study was administered to 167 American elementary teachers from Indiana and Texas and to 172 Finnish teachers (also elementary) from two different…

This paper focuses on the common sources of etiologies of conflict in multicultural contexts. Multicultural communication is the creation and sharing of meaning among citizens of the same geopolitical system who belong to divergent tributary cultures. The sources of conflict in multicultural relations can be grouped into five broad categories.…

The changing demographics in the United States have contributed to the increase of the preexisting multicultural nature of the American society. To actively participate in their meaningful civic function, individuals need to be more sensitive to the contextual demands of the communicative event as they relate to language, culture, ethnicity, and…

Resilience is the capacity of a person to do well facing difficult conditions in life. This implies capacities of resistance and of positive construction. Discovering the ways to contribute to resilience in children can begin with examination of resilient children. Research has suggested five interlinking bases for resilience: (1) social support…

A study was conducted to determine Asian American conceptualizations of parenting, focusing on socialization goals, parenting style, and parenting practices related to schooling, aspects of parental influences discussed by D. Darling and L. Steinberg (1993). It was suggested that the standard conceptualizations of parenting style, those of D.…

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students regularly face obstacles during the transition to high school and have the highest dropout rate of all U.S. racial and ethnic groups. Educational theorists and researchers have various explanations for this high failure rate, each with its own prescriptions. These explanations include: (1) deficit…

Over the last 15 years researchers have taken an increased interest in studying the large pool of recent Korean immigrants. This analysis concentrates on finding how first generation Korean Americans relate and interact with their second generation counterparts. Using studies on the adjustment of first generation Korean immigrants and the levels…

The western intellectual tradition promotes a unique style of thinking and writing that cannot readily embrace other ways of understanding human experience and communicating about it. Three fundamental differences in the ways east and west approach oral and written communication and the thinking that lies behind it are: first, a preference for…

The current promotion of diversity encourages people from assorted backgrounds and mutual goals to find compatible but not necessarily identical ways to work together. Each literacy program will have a different need to expand its circle. It must consider all the characteristics that might widen its constituency, analyze all participants, and be…

As many as 15 million people living in rural areas report one or more long-term impairments that significantly affect their quality of life. In general, disabled people living in rural areas receive fewer services than do people in urban areas. For example, counties in Montana with the largest population centers received significantly more…

This final report describes activities of a 3-year federally supported program designed to enable school systems to establish and implement systematic transition planning to meet the multicultural needs of preschool-aged children with disabilities and their families moving into kindergarten and other general education settings. The program model…