The educational environment in Estonia schools tends to celebrate European and national identities while pushing local identities to the periphery. In this northern Baltic state, the emphasis on using schools to reinforce the Estonian language and national identity takes place in the context of government-supported initiatives to use education…

The goal of the study was to determine the relative strength of four major explanations for the rise of elder abuse among a population in transition from traditional to modern culture. The study compared a sample of 120 abused elderly Arab Israelis with a control group of 120 nonabused older adults from the same background. The abuse status…

The purpose of this article was to investigate the factors that affect the dropout of adult learners in e-learning through an in-depth literature review. Although many studies related to e-learning have been conducted in the field of adult education or human resource development, relatively little concern has been given to why adult learners drop…

The phrase "in times of war" suggests that there are also times of peace. War and peace are much more complex social and political phenomena than simply armed militaristic conflict between and among nation states or the lack thereof; their complexity lies in the fact that victors of "war" inevitably determine the substance of "peace." As such the…

This paper first examines the New Labour government's redefinition of equality of opportunity in Britain, mainly with regard to education and the ways in which it mediates "opportunity". In doing so, it also draws on wider social policy issues, such as the use of education policies to combat social exclusion. Second, the paper reviews…

Moroccan Immigrant Children in a Time of Surveillance: Navigating Sameness and Rooted in twenty months of ethnographic fieldwork in Southwestern Spain, this dissertation analyzes the socio-cultural and linguistic lifeworlds of 8-11 year-old Moroccan immigrant children as they navigate family, school institutions, and peer groups in Spain. To…

This paper outlines the ongoing construction of a speech corpus for use by applied linguists and advanced EFL/ESL students. In the first part, sections 1-4, the need for improvements in the teaching of listening skills and pronunciation practice for EFL/ESL students is noted. It is argued that the use of authentic native-to-native speech is…

Background: The social inclusion of tenants living in two forms of supported living schemes--those clustered on one site and those dispersed in neighbourhoods--is contrasted with more traditional provision found on the island of Ireland, namely, small group homes, residential homes and campus-style settings. Methods: A standard pro forma based on…

Learning communities, designed primarily to increase student persistence and academic achievement, are a common first-year initiative on university campuses. Assessments of learning communities frequently examine indicators that are easily quantifiable such as student persistence and academic achievement, but also examine factors thought to affect…

Active learning, which entails any class activity that "involves students doing things and thinking about the things that they are doing," stands as an important pedagogical practice. Discussion, the types of questions faculty ask students in class, role playing, cooperative learning, debates, and the types of questions faculty ask on examinations…

Student progression and retention is an area of increasing social importance and concern around student non-completion rates is expressed in many arenas. Research suggests many reasons for student non-completion, including the balancing of social and academic integration into university life. The increasing diversity of the student body…

Purpose: The main goal of this article is to present a new taxonomy of contingent employment that better represents the wide variety of part-time, temporary, and contract employment arrangements that have emerged since Feldman's review. Design/methodology/approach: Reviews the literature over the past 15 years. Findings: The paper suggests that…

The study examines educator beliefs and practices of parent involvement for English-language learners. Central-office personnel, building administrators, and classroom teachers in 6 northeast Texas districts with rapidly growing enrollments of language-minority students were interviewed and observed. We identified 2 approaches for understanding…

This guide provides instructions on implementing a low-budget public relations (PR) program to improve acceptance and integration of students with disabilities. Sixteen steps for a PR program and the use of multiple methods of publicity are outlined. Topics covered include: using appropriate terminology when writing or talking about disability…

The history section of the Proceedings contains the following 17 papers: "A Bid for Legitimacy: The Women's Press Club Movement, 1881-1900" (Elizabeth V. Burt); "'Securing the Affections of Those People at This Critical Juncture': Newspaper Portrayal of Colonial-Native American Relations, 1754-1763" (David A. Copeland);…