The purpose of this article is to present an example of using research tools, involving multiple perspectives and situational analysis. Investigating the role of American missionaries in the spread of hegemony and colonization in the Kingdom of Hawaii between 1820 (the year the American missionaries arrived) and 1893 (the year Hawaiians lost their…

This interpretative study aims to offer metaphors that describe family meanings from the adolescent's perspective by encouraging them to give a metaphor with their own explanation on a self-administering essay form. This study has three objectives: to explore the family meanings as a metaphor from the Hong Kong adolescent's perspective; to reveal…

Contemporary Australia is an evolving nation of diverse cultures, but in the past various understandings of national identity were held, first as part of the British empire, then as part of an assimilationist monocultural British society and subsequently as a nation where integration allowed different cultures to be celebrated but within the…

This paper is a study of historical foundations of science education in Igboland, its nature and scope as well as the challenges facing its integration into the 21st century school system in a globalized world. The authors found that there were many scientific activities in Igbo culture, but many problems hinder their integration into the basic…

In this article, the authors describe the alternative approach to school development taken by the head teacher and staff of a primary school in Hertfordshire. Their approach is based on a resolutely optimistic and anti-determinist view of every child's capacity to learn, and their commitment to working as a school-wide community of learners. The…

Whether it was thought of positively or negatively, Italy is a popular topic of discussion in Elizabethan literature. Some Elizabethan writers mimic Italian writers and incorporate Italian ideas into their own works, while other writers alter Italian literary conventions and openly attack Italian morals. This range of positive and negative…

Many folk dances reflect the everyday activities of the people, celebrating the commonplace through physical forms of expression. The traditional Japanese folk dance, Tanko Bushi, is still performed in Japan and among Japanese-Americans today, and its theme of coal mining makes it relatable to many cultures around the world. With its traditional…

We report on international research that compares linguistic ecosystems, that is, socially constructed public attitudes and ideologies concerned with foreign-language (FL) learning, in Canada and Japan. Analyzing responses to three interview questions from 125 interviews with five categories of respondent in each country, we suggest that there are…

Throughout the world, young children are introduced to some form of nursery rhymes. In Japan, the first type of rhyme a child encounters is called "warabeuta"--songs created through play. The English translation fails to accurately capture the degree to which "warabeuta" include body movement, touch, and interaction with other…

A case study of the foreign cultures represented in two English language textbooks used by Hong Kong secondary schools was conducted. Its aim was to investigate whether the representation of foreign cultures in these textbooks reflected the status of English as an international language. In order to do this, references to foreign cultures were…

This is the exposition of a Western teacher working abroad in Thailand and his coming to terms with what it means to find a home and a sense of belonging while learning to teach in an unfamiliar land and culture. A foreign teacher finds himself isolated between feelings of perceived power (as an educated Westerner) and his all too real feelings of…

Students can have great difficulty reading scientific texts and trying to cope with the professor in the classroom. Part of the reason for students' difficulties is that for a student taking a science gateway course the language, ontology and epistemology of science are akin to a foreign culture. There is thus an analogy between such a student and…

Shimenkan is a remote and mountainous village in Weining county, Guizhou province, an area traditionally populated by Miao ethnic minority. The arrival of Christian missionaries just over 100 years ago began Shimenkan's transformation from an illiterate school-less place, to a "revered site of Miao education." Today, Shimenkan has…

This paper presents a critical analysis of the transnational interplay of cultural, educational and economic forces that culminated with the establishment of a Chinese language and cultural centre in Peru, the Confucius Institute. Confucius Institutes are government-sponsored cultural centres devoted mainly to Chinese language education around the…

This essay is a history that relates the Japanese tradition of accepting and adapting aspects of foreign culture, especially as it applies to the learning of foreign languages. In particular, the essay describes the history of English education in Japan by investigating its developments after the Meiji era. The author addresses the issues from the…