IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume 5 – Issue 2 – Summer 2017
participation. These findings were discussed in the context of a framework for reducing negative emotional states, employing self-efficacy theory. This framework was applied to the interview results and the author’s observation of international students’ behavior at dormitories and university offices. These findings suggest a possible intervention approach for educators to help international students express themselves in the classroom. The eighth article, written by Singhanat Nomnian, is entitled “Politician-Turned-Doctoral Student’s Narrative Identity at an Australian University: A Case Study”. The study highlights the participant’s transition from politics to academia that requires his action, reflection, and experimentation through venturing himself into his new role, adapting himself to the academic and research community, and negotiating his previous professional political experiences with his imagined academician. The participant’s academic and social contexts in living and studying in Australia are connected by using academic and communicative English. As a mature-age learner, he reconstructs his academic self into the Australian higher education and employs his former political experiences and connections as a strong foundation to gain his imagined expectations. His narratives of life and career transitions through investing in higher education have illustrated that his personal growth and satisfaction have been enhanced. In an era of aging society, higher education can enhance adult learners’ life-long learning that can enlighten their life and career aspirations. The ninth article, entitled “Hearts Grow: Contemplative Learning for Inner Stability Development in Female Prison Inmates”, is co-written by Somsit Asdornnithee and Proetphan Daensilp. Due to great risks of emotional stress, including as serious as suicide found in female prison inmates in Thailand, there have been a number of projects introduced to make a change in the quality of life in prisons. However, works that can count for much in long-term development of the quality of life with the decrease in the recidivism rate are those associated with the inner skills. Inner stability is one of the important qualities signifying one’s own sustainable wellbeing. This is why applying contemplative learning process with female prison inmates could respond to such needs and allow inner transformation to happen in them. This article will elaborate on the details of the learning process facilitation appropriate for the inner stability development in female inmates, and also on their inner experiences, including some transformation found during and after the program. The tenth article, authored by Stefan Battle, is entitled “White Teachers’ Reactions to the Racial Treatment of Middle-School Black Boys”. It recounts a study of White teachers’ responses to provocative fictionalized vignettes of classroom interactions between White teachers and middle-school Black boys. These vignettes reveal levels of stereotyping and chastising exploitation that seem to perpetuate a belief that young Black males are not as academically proficient as their White counterparts. Originating from Battle’s professional experience as a middle-school School Social Worker/Guidance Counselor in the United States, the vignettes are suggestive of racial, social, and cultural differences between White teachers and their Black male students. The study participants were White teachers who were asked to talk and write about the actions and behavior of the teachers in the vignettes. Their analyses of how the fictional teachers behaved toward their students considered familial, social, and professional influences on teacher-student interactions. Study participants, who indicated they had received multicultural training through professional development in their school district, overwhelmingly condemned dehumanizing practices. The results indicated that such professional development likely led to an appreciation and awareness of students’ racial, social, and cultural differences and an increased sensitivity to fairly and respectfully working with Black male students.
25