Multiculturalism

This article presents an qualitative case study of a recent educational development project 1,2 Fellaskóli in Breiðholt, which took place during the 2012-2013 academic year. Fellaskóli is in many ways unique as nearly half of the student population speaks a language other than Icelandic at home. One of the main purposes of the project, 1, 2 and Fellaskóli, is to intertwine school and after-school programs in an effort to improve reading, language and social skills for six and seven year old students. The opportunity for greater exposure to an Icelandic speaking environment through the lengthening and combining of the school and after-school program is part of a broader project in the neighborhood to support and improve resident experiences. In the spring of 2012, the school received funding and subsequently lengthened the school day and hired classroom aides who were placed in the classrooms during the school day and who then took charge of the children during the after-school program times.
This article begins with a discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of the evaluation project, where the authors explore recent research on school and after-school care, its melding, the importance of socialization for children, as well as a discussion of education in a multicultural context and active bilingualism as it informs the discussion of the results of the research. The researchers interviewed employees, children and parents to better understand their school and after-school experiences as well as conducting a number of site visits which included tours of the school grounds lead by students and extensive document reviews. Student and parent interviews were audio recorded for further analysis and parent focus groups included interpreters in order to facilitate discussion. 
The findings indicate high parental satisfaction with the new program as parents noted the improved opportunity students had to build social contacts both with adults and other children. However, parent involvement was low and cultural and language barriers seemed to hinder active parent-teacher cooperation. Many parents noted they valued the multicultural learning environment the school offered although a few noted there had been small racial incidents between students. Both teachers and support staff found that the work day often did not allow for enough time to collaboratively work on development of curriculum and activities. Furthermore, support staff indicated that they would have liked more input in the development of the project. Classroom support staff indicated they often could not find enough time in the day to plan activities for the afterschool programs and were often left out of meetings relevant to the project. Over all, the children reported satisfaction with the changes in the program, and neither the parents nor the children reported significant tiredness due to the length of the school day. Children made a clear distiction between the role of the teacher and the support staff, and noted that they apprieciated that some of the staff was with them through out the day into the after school time. However, the children also pointed out areas for improvement, as they noted how loud and disorganized the transition between school and the after-school area was. Overall the researchers concluded that a signficiant effort was being made in regard to improving children´s language and readings skills as well as addressing the varied social and cultural needs of the students. The authors also noted various areas that the school administrators and teachers can focus on for improvement. The article concludes with a discussion of the practical and academic lessons to be drawn from this project.

In this chapter, we analyze the idea of “best practice” in early childhood education through a cultural framework. We explore the notion of best practice as a cultural construct, contextualized within discourses of developmental appropriateness, child-centerness, and individualism. Further, drawing upon cross-cultural evidence on theories and practices early childhood education, we suggest alternative assumptions about the nature of children’s selves and adult-child relations to those that are currently ground ideas about best practices in the US. Lastly, we urge educators to reconsider the position of children in adult discourses of literacy and early childhood by attention to the lens through which we view children, as well as by careful attention to the ways best practice is formulated in different cultures and societies around the world.

This article addresses girls' dress, which has become controversial, especially in contemporary multicultural Europe. Using the Dutch public debate about the headscarf, belly shirts, visible G-strings, and other forms of ‘porno-chic’, the authors show that these seemingly separate debates are held together by the regulation of female sexuality. Through their analysis of the headscarves and porno-chic debate, the authors argue that women's sexuality and girls' bodies in particular have become the metonymic location for many a contemporary social dilemma: of the multicultural society when it concerns the scarf, of feminism and public morality when it concerns porno-chic. They conclude that despite the widely different appearance of girls wearing headscarves or porno-chic, both groups of girls are submitted to the meta-narratives of dominant discourse: the state, school, public opinion, parents and other social institutions ‘resignify’ their everyday practices as inappropriate, and reprieve them from the power to define their own actions.

This study examines the influence of acculturation and language on the emotional response of three print advertisements (English, Spanish, Code Switched) through an experimental methodology founded on the Revised Hierarchical and the Conceptual Feature Models. The advertising treatments and surveys were administered to a convenience sample of 272 respondents in a large southwestern metropolitan area from five local Hispanic churches. The Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics was used to measure acculturation (Low, High, Bicultural). Emotional responses to the print advertisements were measured using the Emotional Quotient Scale and the condensed Reaction Profile. Results revealed some significant differences in advertising preferences. Results also suggested that a code-switched advertisement could be both culturally relevant and appropriate for reaching the majority of the Hispanic market. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

The rising trend of outsourcing IT projects to countries with more economical workforce and considerable time differential, has given rise to a host of problems relating teamwork. Co-location, which was once considered an effective teamwork tool is now getting lost in the crowd of telecommuters and offshore distributed teams. The reliance on electronic media has even replaced the need for face-to-face communication and even help desks are now located offshore. This paper focuses on the multinational and multicultural issues faced by outsourcing companies and their offshore partners, especially in IT projects. How to bridge the wide communication gap and make offshore IT Project a sure success is the theme of this paper. Case studies from India, Pakistan and other potential offshore partners are discussed to extract best practices. Asia is considered to be the offshore heaven for IT projects being outsourced from USA, Canada and even UK. Where cheaper workforce is one major consideration, the time zone difference of 8-10 hours contributes positively towards outsourcing medical/legal transcription and call center businesses. English being the second spoken language in Asia, the accent of people from Asia is very adaptable to the native accents of USA, Canada and UK. The problems rise when the cultural and national abnormalities and habits cause differences and such projects face disaster. Only if both the nations can understand each other better psychologically and culturally, this gap can easily be bridged, thus assuring success to such IT Projects.

Call for Papers:  Representation of race, ethnicity and culture in digital games

Asia Pacific Media Educator (Volume 26:1, June 2016) will explore the issues of race, cultural diversity, cross-cultural representations and inter-cultural dynamics in digital games.  This thematic issue will address three topic areas:
1) Representation in digital games:
Games like the Global Conflict series have been used to simulate the media’s role in fostering understanding and awareness of racial and ethnic conflicts.  One such example is Global Palestine in which Israeli students play as Palestinians, and Palestinian students play as Israelis.  What is the future of such games that deliberate on issues of political conflicts driven by race and ethnicity? Can games be used to foster cross-cultural understanding and enhance tolerance/acceptance of diversity in race and religion?  How do digital games incite racial hatred?  Besides entertainment, what other functions do games play in contemporary multicultural societies?

2) Discourse on race and culture in teaching journalism:
How can media academics recognise and respond to the discourse about race, religion, ethnicity and politics in digital games? What are the educational trends in teaching about multiculturalism in games? How are the issues of cultural diversity in digital games discussed in media studies and journalism courses?  What are the innovative practices in teaching cultural diversity with digital games?

3) Development of multicultural digital games
While the majority of high-profile titles are developed and distributed from the US and Japan,  the drive to reduce production costs has meant that development is frequently outsourced to countries  such as Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia. However, while game development is increasingly becoming a global enterprise, questions remain over the extent to which this diversity of production is reflected in the game content.

Commentaries and Q&As
This thematic issue also welcomes commentaries and book reviews, which take the form of Q&As with the book authors.  Book reviewers should inform the guest editors the books to be reviewed and whether the book authors are contactable for a Q&A. 

Deadlines are as follows:
Abstract for consideration:  30 September 2015
Paper for double blind peer review: 30 November 2015
Peer review period: November – December 2015
Submission of final paper:  15 January 2016

The word lengths for full papers are:
• Commentaries (3000 – 3500 words)
• Research papers (6000 words max including references)
• Book reviews (Q&A with book author) (1500 words max)

This issue will be guest edited by Dr Mark Finn (Swinburne University of Technology) and Dr Wajeehah Aayeshah (Charles Sturt University). 
Please email abstracts and paper to wajeehah@gmail.com, and copy to the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Eric Loo (University of Wollongong) at:  eloo@uow.edu.au