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This article examines the inclusion of a culturally relevant curricular practice of social identity papers within teacher education in the USA that incorporates the transnational lifeworlds of teachers. Using tenets of feminist interdisciplinary frameworks, we highlight how this curricular practice allows teachers and teacher candidates in urban and rural contexts to examine transnational lifeworlds and their influence on culturally relevant practices in relation to notions of oppression and privilege. We focus on linguistic border crossings and both/and perspectives of teacher's social identities. More research is needed to better understand the construction of teacher's social identities within and across transnational lifeworlds and the ways it impacts their practices and student's academic and social achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dominant positions in the debates on globalization in American social studies education. Specifically, the paper illustrates that, first, globalization is conceived of as more of an unprecedented new age and less of a historical development. Second, it is conceived of as more of a natural process and less as an ideological project. All in all, this paper argues that globalization should be approached as a historic and discursive condition in the field of social studies education. To do so, educators should include more skeptical perspectives and critical voices about globalization. Also, they need to approach the vocabulary used to frame globalization discursively, rather than as an objective fact. The paper contends that the different positions taken in the debates on globalization are part and parcel of the social imaginary of globalization. The paper has ramifications not only for American social studies education but also for related subjects such as civics and citizenship education elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores acculturative experiences and perceptions of Southeast Asian refugees residing in the Midwestern US through analysis of oral history narratives of Southeast Asian refugees representing the countries and/or cultures of Burma, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. Through this paper, I seek to add to the sparse research base on Southeast Asians residing in the US, to shed light on the experiences of young refugees' attempts to negotiate identities in the host society, and to inform educators and others who work with refugee populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper culturally responsive teaching is viewed as one way of implementing the concept of multicultural education in schools. In recent years, scholars have devoted considerable attention to the importance of aligning classroom experiences with students' home culture as a way of enhancing social, academic and cultural enrichment of all children. This study was, therefore, designed to identify perceptions of teachers toward the importance of culturally responsive teaching in elementary schools in the United States. The responses of 33 teachers were analyzed by using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The findings of this study, along with a summary and implications for future studies, are presented in this paper. The data analysis clearly indicated that over 96% of the respondents considered culturally responsive teaching to be an important part of working with culturally diverse students. It was significant to note that the way teachers reported their perception toward the importance of culturally responsive teaching matched the manner with which they responded to the characteristics of culturally relevant teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the major conclusions of a four-year study designed to measure the intercultural and second language learning of more than 1300 US undergraduates enrolled at 61 programs abroad. Focusing on the central research question - whether US students learn effectively when left to their own devices while abroad, or whether students perform better when educators proactively intervene in their learning - the paper identifies a series of program design elements and learner characteristics that are significantly associated with gains in intercultural learning abroad. The Georgetown Consortium study provides significant evidence that most students benefit through enrolling in programs abroad that are intentionally designed to promote their intercultural learning (that is, programs that feature key design features that are strongly associated with student learning). In documenting important gender-based learning differences (as measured by the pre- and post-test Intercultural Development Inventory, the study's male students made no more progress in their intercultural learning than did control students at campuses back in the US, while female students did show significant gains), the study also argues that focusing intentionally on learning abroad is especially important for male students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a research study of the long-term effects of a high school home-stay experience for German and American students who participated in the Youth For Understanding program in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. With emphasis on the German sample, this paper (1) briefly describes the study's methodology, (2) provides an overview of major findings, and (3) poses the question: what next? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the US student population becomes increasingly diverse, teacher education programs need to enable prospective teachers to meet the varied needs and expectations of students and families, while simultaneously creating viable classroom communities. Learning opportunities, such as travel and teaching abroad and the perceptions of 'otherness' this creates, lead to new perspectives regarding human differences. Such experiences, if wisely structured, can rectify misconceptions and reverse stereotypes. This paper explores the impact of teaching-related travel on novice teachers' cultural understanding and professional identity. The paper discusses how prospective teachers challenge their perceptions of their professional self through international field experiences. The goal is to begin a discussion that explores the internationalization of teacher training to the end of creating globally aware and culturally sensitive educators and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on a doctoral dissertation that examined various aspects of Holocaust education in two societies: the United States and Germany. This cross-national, ethnographic study attempted to shed light on the way in which the history of the Holocaust is taught in Germany. The observations made in this study are based on a longitudinal study of a 3[SUPrd] grade classroom in a New Jersey school. Rather than concentrating on the results of the dissertation, this paper discusses issues related to cross-national studies such as: analyzing US Holocaust Education as a German researcher (an outsider), communication between a German researcher and a US Teacher, and the relevance of the American Experience for German elementary school pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to international education in schools in the USA. Education professionals, business leaders, and politicians realize that schools and school leaders must identify multiple opportunities for students to interact with and experience a global society. Nationally, there has been a considerable investment of funds by several key foundations and much political talk about the need to push American education towards a model of schooling that expressly responds to the need for internationally competent citizens. Using mixed methodology design, this study is fueled by a desire to better understand several overarching elements in international education. In short, the authors of this paper posit that no further research, policy formation, or program development within the realm of international education for public schools can be undertaken until an understanding of the current state of international education and the capacity for internationalization is empirically explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the preliminary results of a research project 'Beyond immediate impact: Study abroad for global engagement (SAGE)', which examines the long-term impact of study abroad on various forms of global engagement. The study employs a retrospective tracer study and mixed methods research design. Survey results from 6391 study-abroad participants reveal that study abroad has had an impact on five dimensions of global engagement (civic engagement, knowledge production, philanthropy, social entrepreneurship and voluntary simplicity) as well as on subsequent educational and career choices. Sixty-three interviews were also conducted to provide more detailed life stories about the role of study abroad on global engagement, education and career paths. Three of these case studies are presented. Data were also gathered concerning study-abroad program characteristics and participant characteristics. In future analyses, the relationships among these variables will be examined. Ovaj clanak izvjestava o rezultatima istrazivackog projekta Poslije Neposrednog Uticaja: Studiranje u Inozemstvu za Globalno Angazovanje (Beyond immediate impact: Study abroad for global engagement - SAGE) koji proucava dugotrajan uticaj studiranja u inozemstvu na razlicite oblike globalnog angazovanja. Projekat je koristio retrospektivno istrazivanje, kao i dizajn mjesovitih metoda. Rezultati ankete sa 6391 sudionika studija u inozemstvu su otkrili uticaj tog studija na pet dimenzija globalnog angazovanja (građansko angazovanje, stvaranje znanja, filantropija, socijalno poduzetnistvo, i dobrovoljna jednostavnost zivota), kao i na izbor obrazovanja i karijere nakon studija. Dodatno je obavljeno 63 intervjua koji su pruzili detaljnije zivotne price o ulozi studija u inozemstvu na globalno angazovanje, obrazovanje, i tok karijere. Clanak ukljucuje analize tri takva slucaja. Podaci su takođe prikupljeni o sudionicima i karakteristikama programa u inozemstvu. Odnosi između ovih varijabli ce biti istrazeni u buduim analizama. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Transatlantic Orientation Exchange/Multiplikatorenschulung im transatlan-tischen Austausch is a collaboration between volunteers and staff in both the US and German AFS organizations. The goal of the project is to increase the level of intercultural learning of German and US secondary education exchange participants and their host families. Germany and the US are among the largest country groups in mutual exchanges within the network: every year around 450 American families host a student from Germany and around 100 German families welcome somebody from the USA. The project was conceived in part as a result of a paradigm shift within AFS in which participants and host family members are now viewed as equal partners in the intercultural learning process. The material presented in this paper was developed in a dialogue process between the work groups in both countries who met virtually and in person multiple times over the course of the project. This construct allowed for group members to engage in a parallel process of intercultural learning and discovery as they identified and applied to their own experience the concepts that would be useful to host families and participants in their respective countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities that promote a liberal education through creative, cross-cultural curriculum nurture the goals of democracy and assist students in becoming 'citizens of the world.' Democratic education for social justice and global consciousness are necessary tools in the peaceful transformation of today's violent conflicts, which now supersede national and cultural boundaries. This paper focuses on how a course in Conflict Resolution can assist a student's development of a democratic global consciousness. The author draws upon her experience as both a graduate student of peace and conflict studies and a professor of Conflict Resolution at a New York City university. Specifically, the article offers a framework for a transdisciplinary conflict resolution education that is cosmopolitan and promotes social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International exchange and training programs play a significant role in the development of international cooperation between educators from different nations. More and more teachers and school administrators participate in exchange programs and implement new curricular and instructional practices in their institutions. This paper presents findings of a phenomenological interpretive case study of the impact of international exchange programs for educators on their participants' pedagogical practices, social status and professional careers. The study was conducted in 2005 in the US and Russia. Through observations and in-depth interviews with 35 informants, the author compares the perception of exchange programs and their outcomes for American and Russian alumni. The findings demonstrate differences and similarities in participants' perspectives on their roles in international programs and on the application of program outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing a teaching practicum where university students preparing to be teachers can interact with children from different cultures has been widely praised as an effective means to improve teachers’ cross‐cultural sensitivity and teaching effectiveness. However, some research suggests that direct experience with minority children may in fact serve to confirm racist or stereotypical perceptions, particularly in school settings. This paper describes and analyses a community‐based practicum taking place in the USA, where university students and children at a Latin American Community Center completed long‐term collaborative projects. These projects provided the active focus around which we hoped that students and children would form relationships that transcended and transformed the kinds of relationships they might form in schools, where institutional constraints help structure the roles people play and the expectations they have of each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work of John Ogbu on 'minority education' has spawned a number of interesting and useful debates in the USA. Having been both an early admirer and critic of Ogbu's work, I reviewed his work in an earlier Anthropology and Education Quarterly article. Before discussing his new Shaker Heights study, I recapitulate the main points of the 1991 article, then offer some reasons why Ogbu is often misread as a deficit theorist. Finally, the paper closes with an assessment of how Ogbu's theory and ethnographic practice has evolved in his recent Shaker Heights study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a number of variables that teachers must consider before beginning a study of the Holocaust with their students. Since Holocaust education should look very different depending upon the grade level of the students, it discusses how these variables come into play for different grades, as well as theoretical considerations for teaching the Holocaust in the classroom. It traces the history of Holocaust education in America's schools, discusses major approaches to presenting the topic, and explores the connection between Holocaust education and the teaching of morality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we look at US experiences with bilingual education, both past and present. We especially focus on various theoretical models and their applications. After a discussion of these models and applications, we identify a number of best practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents some of the first findings from a cross-cultural analysis of student high-school cultures in two countries. The analysis presented here is part of PhD dissertation research being conducted for the University of Amsterdam. We take a close look at the differences and similarities between two schools in seemingly divergent contexts: a high school consisting of mostly African-American students in the Bronx, New York, and a so-called "zwarte" (black) school in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Despite contextual differences, we find that there are many similarities in the types of subcultures that are prevalent at both schools, and the consequences that these subcultures have for social variables such as identity formation, peer group influence, academic expectations, exclusion and acceptance variables, attitudes towards the school, etc. Both allow insight into emerging "Black Atlantic" youth cultural patterns, and the consequences these have for the educational institutions in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing diversity in higher education and the workforce requires undergraduate students to learn to work together effectively to address scientific and social issues. Our goal is to learn how best to facilitate teamwork among students from Historically Black Universities (HBU) and Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) to promote collaborative learning. We analysed the evolving knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of participating students as they developed close working relationships through a 'study-within-a-study' design where student pairs (one from an HBU and one from a PWI) conducted their own research project while we analysed how these students interacted with their partners. The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) rubric of Intercultural Knowledge and Competence was used to develop a set of codes for assessing transcripts of student meetings. AACU defines six attributes of this rubric including cultural self-awareness, cultural worldview frameworks, empathy, verbal and nonverbal communication, curiosity, and openness. Our pilot results suggest that students willing to engage collaboratively with others from different cultural or educational backgrounds can display attributes of intercultural competence, while those not willing to engage in the collaborative process may not exhibit such competence. We also learnedthat students require the same initial preparation necessary for the assigned project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the language minority student population in the US increases at a rapid pace, a larger number of teachers are pursuing a primary or secondary certification in English as a Second Language (ESL). This case study describes the professional development efforts to provide an ESL endorsement to a group of K-12 teachers in a large mid-western university. It describes the systemic nature underlying their professional development, highlighting the influence of different constituencies. These range from federal, state, county and district levels to the university teacher preparation program, as well as the teachers themselves. By understanding how these factors influence teachers' professional development, the authors identify important lessons that can be learned by teacher educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore levels of intercultural sensitivity in a sample of fourth to eighth grade students in the United States (n = 162).Intercultural sensitivitywas conceptualised through Bennett’s Developmental Model of Sensitivity, and assessed through the Adapted Intercultural Sensitivity Index. Follow-up interviews provided additional information regarding the views and understandings of individual student participants. Quantitative data analysis indicated many early adolescents in this sample were accepting of cultural difference. However, subsequent qualitative data analysis suggested thisacceptancewas largely hypothetical, due to the participants’ perceived isolation from diversity. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents findings from an exploratory study of the impact that one educational program had on public and private school participants from high schools on the west coast of the United States of America. Students interacted with Holocaust survivors and created cultural products in the form of short films relating to present-day events. Students transferred what they learned about the past into a message about the present. This article presents the educational impact that learning from survivors had on teenage students. I also argue that similar methods could be transferred, or exported, for use with a number of different, more local, ‘difficult history’ education initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explores how pre-service teachers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States perceive educational diversity in relation to students’ academic achievement by means of qualitative content analysis. It takes cultural psychological perspectives to revisit the attribute reasoning embedded in individualist and collectivist orientations. Pre-service teachers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore are found to attribute academic failure of low social economic status (SES) students to personal factors, such as individual effort, intelligence, and motivation. Pre-service teachers from the United States tend to attribute academic failure of low SES students to situational factors, such as family, school, and community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While intercultural competence is commonly a goal of university study abroad programmes, debates around criteria for assessing this competence have highlighted the challenges in appropriately identifying students’ intercultural learning in relation to specific university programmes. To overcome these issues, this research moves beyond conceptualising the intercultural in terms of ‘competence’ and instead proposes a framework termedCultural Responsivenessto illustrate students’ intercultural learning.Through questionnaires and interviews, the experiences and perceptions of undergraduate students after a year of exchange in France or Switzerland were collected and analysed. Using theCultural Responsivenessframework, three parameters of students’ intercultural experiences emerged: Awareness, Engagement and Bringing Knowledge Home. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The following article outlines research conducted to examine cross-cultural sensitivity in a sample of 949 incoming university students in the USA. The study was conducted during the process of updating an existing measure of cross-cultural sensitivity known as the Inventory of Cross-Cultural Sensitivity (ICCS), and to examine the various levels of understanding among the students. Additionally, data were gathered to determine whether there was any relationship between the results and the demographic factors commonly cited in the literature. Results of the study indicate that the updated version of the ICCS, the ICCSv2, is a more robust and reliable measure of intercultural sensitivity for a specific group of freshmen students. Recommendations are made for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article highlights how course material on 'culture' and 'intercultural communication' faces a distinctive challenge in crafting an engaged power-focused positionality for students. I discuss the importance of incorporating a 'critical intercultural communication perspective and practice' into an upper-division diversity/intercultural communication course in the US academic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversity and intercultural awareness initiatives are increasingly common at institutions of higher education in the USA. Although students recognize and appreciate the diversity of their surroundings, studies show that intercultural interactions at the social level are lacking. This study focuses on how English language learners, multilingual students, and monolingual students of English perceive themselves as able to adapt their communication styles to unfamiliar social encounters. Results of a survey on communicative adaptability (N = 1128) reveal both differences and similarities in communication styles among these three groups. Implications for intercultural education as well as language learning and teaching are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States' civil rights history provided the impetus for changes in schools regarding multicultural education. However, definitions and theoretical perspectives of multicultural education remain convoluted. No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the legislation in place purported to equalize achievement, and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), an accreditation agency which sets standards by which teacher education programs prepare future teachers, have elements which maintain and/or fail to change schooling conditions which leave children in the status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a discourse analysis of problematic communication in office hour interactions between international teaching assistants and American college students. The goal of the article is to explicate what is termed here as 'understanding uncertainty', something which has received little attention in existing studies. The data under consideration consist of a number of dyadic interactions that naturally occurred during office hours. The data analyses revealed that the type of understanding uncertainty as defined here was displayed and managed in six types of reformulations. The findings suggest that reformulation may be used as an interactive strategy to achieve mutual understanding across linguistic and sociocultural boundaries in educational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a recognized need for a global mindset, opportunities for US business school students to gain hands-on diversity training regarding intercultural issues remain rare. The reasons for this neglect include a lack of agreement on how to teach intercultural awareness and a paucity of faculty qualified to do so. In order to introduce intercultural education into a core business course, students were offered the opportunity to participate in an extra-credit project that required the development of a proposal for an international joint venture and afforded them the chance to learn about each other while pursuing a superordinate goal of value to each. Thirty-nine cross-cultural teams were created, each of which had a partner from the US and a partner from a different country. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed that the value of the project was closely related to the amount of learning that reportedly took place in both the business and cultural realms. Importantly, 73% of the students reported a strong interest in meeting people from different cultures as a result of participation in the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]