See instructions Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

See instructions - Research Paper Example With its fastly growing population rate and sprawling cities, economic disparity between the social classes is increasing. Moreover, the high population growth poses several other problems to development including poverty, living conditions, health, social progress, and most importantly economic progress. Although Brazil has always been â€Å"bullish† about their population rise (Merrick, 1976), it is true that its population is constraining its economic development. Despite its high incomes and drop in unemployment rates, Brazil still struggles to keep economic inequality to a low level. Income inequality is high and these are reflected in the historical trends that show an unequal distribution of wealth and resources among the rich and the poor. There are much evidences to show that income inequality has detrimental impacts on the economic growth and development of a particular country. These factors go beyond the usual effect on poverty but relatively more important is that fact that it essentially curbs growth (Meier and Rauch, 2000). Although Brazil’s economy is apparently doing well with high incomes and a decline in the unemployment rates however these figures are not good determinants of its general well being (Baer, 2001). Historical figures of income distribution suggest that a high percentage of the income goes to the pockets of the rich while the poor only get a small share of the income. Coupled with the increasing population, economic disparity is increasing among the people. Moreover, the migration from rural to urban areas of Brazil has created severe health and sanitary problems. It is pleasing to see, though, that Brazil has made rapid progress since the Great Depression in the 1930s in terms of demographic transformation (Baer, 2001), to doing spectacularly well between 1968-73 during the Brazilian Miracle

Tata case - pricing Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tata - pricing - Case Study Example This is in addition to the research and development situated in those same parts of countries. Its first commercial vehicle was manufactured in 1954 with a company called Daimler- Benz (Bhaktavatsala, 1993). After acquiring stakes in a Hispano Carrocera which specializes in manufacturing buses and coaches and from then, decided to also venture in bus and coach manufacturing. The company has been involved a spree of acquiring stakes in companies or forming joint ventures with other car manufacturing and then doing the same production. Examples of the companies it has partnered with through acquiring their stakes or through joint ventures or even buying include, jaguar Land rover, Hispano Carrocera, Marcopolo, Daewoo, Trilix and many others. This is in a bid to cut on the cost of having to start a new product altogether. Tata is an Indian company that with a vision to manufacture cheap and affordable vehicles targeting Indian population whose middle class has been rising with time. Its first fully indigenous passenger car was launched in the year 1998 and nick named it the Indica. In an attempt to manufacture even more cheap and affordable cars for the Indian population who prefer travelling together with their family members, Tata launched in 2008 a small but spacious car called Tata Nano. This car was the cheapest world-wide by the time it was launched. The company in trying to set affordable but right prices for its Nano cars seem to have had some considerations in mind including profitability to the company, economic status of Indians, the prices of Nano Parts, and the installations that are put in it. The company’s design of the car makes the car cheap by not having expensive stereos that normally accompany expensive cars. The company worked from top downwards to arrive at this affordable car to many. They first set the highest price then worked downwards to design and develop a car with materials that would add up to this amount. The

Language acquisition Essay Example for Free

Language acquisition Essay Psychological principles of SLA form the foundation stones for building a comprehensible understanding of the acquisition of the linguistic system. The studies was centered on the contrasts between the native lang and the target lang (contrastive analysis) and the effect of the native on the target lang (cross linguistic influence). 1-The contrastive analysis Hypothesis It’s the study of two languages in contrast. Based on the behavioristic and structuralism approaches, it claimed that the principal barrier to SLA is the interference of the FL system with the SL system, and that a scientific, structural analysis of both lang in question would shield a taxonomy of linguistic contrasts between them which in turn would enable the linguist to predict the difficulties a learner could encounter. This would enable the linguist to accurately describe the two langs in question, and to match those two descriptions against each other to determine valid contrasts between them. Behaviorism contributed to the notion that human behavior is the sum of its smallest parts and components, and therefore that lang learning could be described as the acquisitions of all of those discrete units. Moreover, human learning theories highlighted interfering elements of learning, concluding that where no interference could be predicted, no difficulty would be experienced since one could transfer positively all other items in a lang. (SL basically involved the overcoming of the differences between the two lang systems-the native and target langs) Some rather strong claims were made of the CAH by lang teaching experts and linguists. A well-known model was offered by stock-well, Bowen and martin who posited what they called a hierarchy of difficulty by which a teacher could make a prediction of the relative difficulty of a given aspect of the target lang. They suggested eight possible phonological degrees of difficulty and they also constructed a hierarchy of difficulty for grammatical structures which included 16 levels of difficulty. Clifford Prator captured the essence of this grammatical hierarchy in six categories of difficulty which was applicable to both grammatical and phonological features of lang. * Level 0: Transfer. No difference or contrast is present between the 2 langs. The learner can simply transfer positively a sound, structure, or lexical item from the native lang to the target lang. EG: mortal, inteligente, arte, Americanos, etc. *Level 1-coalescence. Two items in the native lang become coalesce into one item in the target one. This requires the learner overlook a distinction they have grown accustomed to. EG: English 3rd person possessives require gender distinction while in Spanish they don’t. *Level 2-underdifferenciation: an item in the native lang is absent in the target lang. The learner must avoid it. EG: auxiliaries: DO. *Level 3-Reinterpretation: an item that exists in the native lang is given a new shape or distribution. *Level 4-Overdifferentiation: a new item entirely must be learned. English speakers learning Spanish must learn to include determiners in generalized nominal. (Man is mortal/El hombre es mortal); to learn Spanish grammatical gender inherent in nouns. *Level 5-Split:one item in the native lang becomes two or more in the target lang, requiring the learner to make a new distinction. E. g. an English speaker learning Spanish must learn the distinction between â€Å"Ser† o â€Å"estar† (TO BE). Prator and Stockwell both claimed that their hierarchy could be applied to virtually any two langs and make it possible to predict SL learner difficulties in any lang with a fair degree of certainty and objectivity. 2-From the CAH to CLI However, The CAH was not accepted for various reasons. First, it was oversimplified because it didn’t account for subtle phonetic, phonological and grammatical distinctions. Secondly, it was difficult to determine exactly which category a particular contrast fit into. That’s why Ronald Wardhaugh called the attempt to predict difficulty by means of contrastive analysis, the Strong version of the CAH due to the fact that it was quite unrealistic and impracticable and also it was built on sound theory to contrast the forms of langs. Nevertheless, he also noted that CA had intuitive appeal, and that teachers and linguists had successfully used the best linguistic knowledge available in order to account for observed difficulties in SL learning. He termed such observational use of CA the WEAK version of the CAH which recognizes the significance of interference across langs, the fact that such interference does exist and can explain difficulties and also recognizes that linguistic difficulties can be more profitably explained after the fact. This WEAK version is what now is called CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE. (implies much more than simply the effect of one’s first lang on a second: the second lang also influences the first). 3-Markedness and universal grammar  Fred Eckman proposed a useful method for determining directionality of difficulty. His markedness Differential hypothesis accounted for relative degrees of difficulties by means of principles of universal grammar. It distinguishes members of pair of related forms or structures by assuming that the marked member of a pair contains at least one more feature than the unmarked one. E. g. indefinite articles (a/an), an is the more complex or marked form (it has an additional sound) and a is the unmarked form with the wider distribution. Eckman showed that marked items in a lang, which are acquired later, will be more difficult to acquire than unmarked In recent years, the attention of some SL researchers has expanded beyond markedness hypothesis alone to broader framework of linguistic universals in gral, some of which focus on the applicability of notions of UG to SLA. Many rules acquired by children learning their FL are presumed to be universal. By extension, rules that are share by all langs comprise this UG. Such rules are a set of limitations or parameters of lang. Different langs set their parameters differently, thereby creating the characteristic grammar for that lang. The hope is that by discovering innate principles that govern what is possible in human langs, we may be better able to understand and describe contrasts between native and target langs and the difficulties encountered by adult SL learners. However, we do well to remember that describing and predicting difficulties amidst all the variables of human learning is still an elusive process. 4-Learner Language. The CAH, as we said before, ignores the intralingual effects of learning and other factors. This is the reason why researchers and teachers have come more and more to understand that SL learning is a process of the creative construction of a system in which learners are consciously testing hypothesis about the target lang from a number of possible sources of knowledge. They, in acting upon their environment, construct what to them is a legitimate system of lang on its own right-a structured set of rules that for the time being bring some order to the linguistic chaos that confronts them. By a gradual process of trial and error and hypothesis testing, learners slowly and tediously succeed in establishing closer and closer approximations to the system used by native speakers of the lang. A number of terms were coined to describe this process: Selinker: interlanguage: refers to the separateness of a SL learner’s system, a system that has a structurally intermediate status between the native and the target langs; Nemser-Approximate system; Corder-Idiosyncratic dialect: refers to the idea that the learner’s lang is unique to a particular individual, that the rules of his lang are particular to the lang of that individual alone. But we can highlight the importance that SL learners form their own self-contained linguistic systems. The most obvious approach to analyzing interlanguage is to study the speech and writing of learners or also called Learner Language. Production data is publicly observable and is presumably reflective of a learner’s underlying competence. Comprehension of a SL is more difficult to study since it is not directly observable and must be inferred from overt verbal and non-verbal responses, by artificial instruments, or by intuition of the teacher or researcher. It follows that the study of the speech and writing of learners is largely the study of errors of learners which is known as ERROR ANALYSIS. 5-Error analysis Human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the making of mistakes, by using mistakes to obtain feedback from the environment, and with that feedback to make new attempts that successively approximate desired goals. Lang learning, is in this sense, like any other human learning. Many of these mistakes are logical in the limited linguistic system within which children operate, but, by carefully processing feedback from others, children slowly but surely learn to produce what is acceptable speech in their native lang. SL learning is a process that is clearly not unlike FL learning in its trial-error nature. Inevitably learners will make mistakes in the process of acquisition, and that process will be impeded if they don’t commit errors and then benefit from various forms of feedback on those errors. 6-Mistakes and Errors. A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a slip, in that it’s a failure to utilize a known system correctly. All people make mistakes, in both native and Slang situations. Native speakers are normally capable of recognizing and correcting such lapses or mistakes. (hesitations, slip of the tongue). So mistakes can be self-corrected. An error, a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflects the competence of the learner. An error cannot be self-corrected. However, the learner’s capacity for self-correction is objectively observable only if the learner actually self-corrects, therefore, if no such self-correction occurs, we are still left with no means to identify error vs mistake. 7-Identifying and describing errors The first step in the process of analysis is the identification and description of errors. Corder provided a model, and according to it, any sentence uttered by the learner and subsequently transcribed can be analyzed for idiosyncrasies. A major distinction is made at the outset between Overt(sentence level) and Covert (discourse level) errors. Overtly erroneous utterances are unquestionably ungrammatical at the sentence level. E. g. â€Å"Does john can sing? † Covertly erroneous utterances are grammatically well-formed at the sentence level but aren’t interpretable within the context of communication. E. g. â€Å"I’m fine, thanks. † Is grammatically correct at the sentence level, but as a response to â€Å"Who are you? † it is obviously an error. A number of different categories for description of errors have been identified in research on learner lang. 1-errors of addition, omission, substitution, and ordering: eg: in English a do auxiliary might be added (Does john can sing? ), an item substituted (I lost my road). 2-levels of lang: phonology or orthography, lexicon, grammar, and discourse. It’s difficult to distinguish different levels of errors because a word with a faulty pronunciation might hide a syntactic or lexical error. 3-errors may also be viewed as Global or local. The global ones hinder communication: they prevent the hearer from comprehending some aspect of the message. Local errors don’t prevent the message from being heard, usually because there is always a minor violation of one segment of the sentence, allowing the hearer/reader to make an accurate guess about the intended message. (a scissors). 4-Lennon suggests that two related dimensions of errors, domain and extent, should be considered in any error analysis. Domain is the rank of linguistic unit that must be taken as context in order for that error to become apparent, and extent is the rank of linguistic unit that would have to be deleted, replaced, supplied, or reordered in order to repair the sentence. (a scissors: the domain is the phrase and the extent is the definite article) 8-Sources of errors It has been identified 4 sources of errors. 1-interlingual transfer: The beginning stages of learning a SL are especially vulnerable to interlingual transfer from native lang or interference. We have all heard English learners say â€Å"the book of Jack† instead of â€Å"Jack’s book†. These errors are attributable of interlingual transfer because before the system of the SL is familiar, the native lang is the only previous linguistic system upon which the learner can draw. 2-intralingual Transfer: (within the target lang itself) is a major factor in SL learning. As I say before, the early stages of lang learning are characterized by a predominance of interference (interlingual transfer), but once learners have begun to acquired parts of the new system, more and more intralingual transfer(generalizations within the target lang) is manifested. As learners progress in the SL, their previous experience and their existing subsumers begin to include structures within the target lang itself. (eg: the omission of THE: before unique nouns: the sun-sun) 3-Context of learning: context refers, E.g. to the classroom with its teacher and its materials in the case of school learning or the social situation in the case of untutored SL learning. In a classroom context the teacher or the textbook can lead the learner to make faulty hypothesis about the lang. (Richards: false concepts; Stenson: induced errors). Sts often make errors because of a misleading explanation, faulty presentation of a structure, word in a textbook, or even because of a pattern that was rotely memorized in a drill but improperly contextualized. 4-communication strategies: learners obviously use production strategies in order to enhance getting their message across, but at times these techniques can themselves become a source of error. (word coinage: creating a non-existing SL word based on a supposed rule e. g. vegetarianist-vegetarian; circumlocution: describe or exemplify the target object of action: the thing you use to write on the board: chalk; prefabricated patterns: use memorized stock phrases, usually for survival purposes) 9-Stages of learners lang development. There are many different ways to describe the progression of a learner’s linguistic development as their attempts at production successively approximate the target linguistic system. Based on observations of what the learner does in terms of errors alone, we can say that there 4 stages: 1-random errors: (corder: presystematic) the learner is only vaguely aware that there is some systematic order to a particular class of items. Inconstancies like â€Å"She cans sing†, and â€Å"she can singing†, all said by the same learner within a short period of time, might indicate a stage of experimentation and inaccurate guessing. 2-Emergent: the learner has begun to discern a system and to internalize certain rules. These rules may not be correct by target lang standards, but they are nevertheless legitimate in the mind of the learner. In gral, the learner is still unable to correct errors when they are pointed out by someone else. (Avoidance of structures and topic are typical) 3-Systematic: the learner is now able to manifest more consistency in producing the SL. While those rules that are sorted out in the learner’s brain are still not well-formed, they are more internally self-consistent and, they more closely approximate the target lang system. The learner can correct some errors when they are correct by someone else. 4-stabilization: the learner has relatively few errors and has mastered the system to the point that fluency and intended meanings are not problematic. (The learner’s ability to self-correct). At this point learners can stabilize too fast, allowing minor errors to slip by undetected, and thus, manifest fossilization. All the stages, however, don’t describe the learner’s total SL system because they do no account for sociolinguistic, functional, pragmatic or nonverbal strategies of which are important in assessing the total competence of the SL learner. 10-Fossilization It refers to the relatively permanent incorporation of incorrect linguistic forms into a person’s SL competence. It’s a normal and natural stage for many learners, and should not be viewed as some sort of terminal illness, in spite of the forbidding metaphor that suggests and unchangeable situation etched in stone. How do items become fossilized? It could be the result of the presence or absence of internal motivation factors, of seeking interaction with other people, of consciously focusing on forms, and of one’s strategic investment in the learning process. By using conditioning, reinforcement, need, motivation, self-determination, and others. It takes place by means of the same process as the internalization of correct forms. The latter is referred as learning, but the same elements of input, interaction, and feedback are present. When incorrect forms are produced, feedback that says â€Å"I understand you† reinforces those forms. 11-Form-focused instruction. It refers to put emphasis on lang forms and also to any pedagogical effort which is used to draw the learner’s attention to lang from either implicitly or explicitly (Spada). It has been used for many decades. But its practices (grammatical explanations, rote practice, etc) is clearly nor justified. ministerio. [emailprotected]. com. ar Telefono: (0362) 423637 directo – 453017/16 – 448014 – 53001/02 / Fax: 423637 – 448014 Error treatment and focus on lang forms appear to be more effective when incorporated into a communicative, learner-centered curriculum, and least effective when error correction is a dominant pedagogical feature, occupying the focal attention of sts in the classroom. Another important issue is whether the teacher should interrupt a student in the middle of an attempt to communicate. The answer is no because it should be after the sts finishes with the e? intended message. 12-Error treatment One of the major issues involved in carrying out FFI is the manner in which teachers deal with sts errors. Should errors be treated? Vigil and Oller proposed a model called The feedback model. The green light of the affective feedback mode allows the sender to continue attempting to get a message across; a red light causes the sender to abort such attempts. The traffic signal of cognitive feedback is the point at which error correction enters. A green light symbolizes non-corrective feedback that says I understand your message. A red one symbolizes corrective feedback that takes on a myriad of possible forms and causes the learner to make some kind of alteration in production. A yellow one could represent those various shades of colour that are interpreted by the learner as falling somewhere in between the green and the red lights, causing the learner to adjust, to alter, to recycle, to try again in some way. The most useful implication of this model for a theory of error treatment is that cognitive feedback must be optimal in order to be effective. Too much negative cognitive feedback- a barrage of interruptions, corrections, and overt attention to malformations- often leads learners to shut off their attempts at communication. They perceive that so much is wrong with their production that there is little hope to get anything right. On the other hand, too much positive cognitive feedback,- willingness of the teacher-hearer to let errors go uncorrected, to indicate understanding when it may not have occurred-serves to reinforce the errors of the speaker-learner. The result is the persistence, and perhaps the eventual fossilization of such errors. The task of the teacher is to discern the optimal tension between positive and negative cognitive feedback: providing enough green lights to encouraged continued communication, but not so many that crucial errors go unnoticed, and providing enough red lights to call attention to those crucial errors, but not so many that the learner is discouraged from attempting to speak at all. Set II: Communicative Competence The term was coined by Dell Hymes who was convinced that Chomsky’s notions of competence were too limited. Chomsky’s rule-governed creativity that so aptly described a child’s mushrooming grammar at the age of 3 or 4 didn’t account for the social and functional rules of lang. So he referred to communicative competence as that aspect of our competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts. Savington noted that communicative competence is relative, not absolute, and depends on the cooperation of all participants involved. It’s a dynamic, interpersonal construct that ca be examine only by means of the overt performance of 2 or more individuals in the process of communication. In the 70s, research on CC distinguished between linguistic and communicative competence to highlight the difference between knowledge about lang forms and knowledge that enables a person to communicate functionally and interactively. James Cummins proposed a distinction between Cognitive/Academic lang proficiency (the dimension of proficiency in which the earner manipulates or reflects upon the surface features of lang outside of the immediate interpersonal context, it is what learners often use in classroom exercises and tests and that focus on forms) and Basic Interpersonal communication skills (is the communicative capacity that all children acquire in order to be able to function in daily interpersonal exchanges. Later he modified his notions I the form of context-reduced and context-embedded communication considering the context in which lang is used. A good share of classroom, school-oriented lang is context-reduced, while face-to-face communication with people is context-embedded. In Canale and Swain’s definition, 4 different components make up the construct of CC. The first 2 reflect the use of the linguistic system itself and the last 2 define the functional aspects of communication: A-Grammatical competence: is that aspect of CC that encompasses knowledge of lexical items and of rules of morphology, syntax, sentence grammar semantics, and phonology. (the mastery of the linguistic code of a lang). B-discourse competence: the ability we have to connect sentences in stretches of discourse and to form a meaningful whole out of a series of utterances. (from simple spoken conversation to lengthy written texts, it has to do with the inter-sentential relationships) C-Strategic competence: the verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate from breakdowns in communication due to performance variables or due to insufficient knowledge (Canale); the strategies that one uses to compensate for imperfect knowledge of rules (Savington); It’s the competence underlying our ability to make repairs, to cope with imperfect knowledge, and to sustain communication through paraphrase, circumlocution, repetition, hesitation, avoidance, and guessing. However, this model has undergone some other modifications over the years. Backman places grammatical and discourse (textual) comp under one code, which he called organizational competence: all those rules and systems that dictate what we can do with the forms of lang: whether they may be sentence level rules (grammar) or rules that govern how we string sentences together (discourse). The sociolinguistic competence is now broken down into two separate pragmatic categories: functional aspects of lang (Illocutionary comp, or, pertaining to sending and receiving intended meanings) and sociolinguistic aspects (which deal with such considerations and politeness, formality, metaphor, register, and culturally related aspects of lang). 1-Language Functions They are essentially the purposes that we accomplish with lang, e. g. , stating, requesting, responding, greeting, etc. They can’t be accomplish without the forms of lang (words, morphemes, grammar rules) because they are the outward manifestation of lang while functions are the realization of those forms. Communication may be regarded as a combination of acts, a series of elements with purpose and intend, it’s functional, purposive, and designed to bring about some effect on the environment of the hearers and speakers. It’s a series of acts or speech acts which are used systematically to accomplish particular purposes. (consequences=perlocutionary force: the effect that utterances achieve). The functional approach to describing lang is one that has its roots in the traditions of British linguist Firth, who viewed lang as interactive and interpersonal, a way of behaving and making others behave. Michael Halliday used the term to mean the purposive nature of communication and outlined 7 different functions: A-The instrumental function serves to manipulate the environment, to cause certain events to happen (This court finds you guilty, danger: they are communicative acts that have a specific perlocutionary force, they bring about a particular condition. B-The regulatory one is the control of events, e. g. approval, disapproval, behavior control, setting laws and rules. C- The representational is the use of lang to make statements, convey facts and knowledge, explain and report; to represent reality as one sees it (The sun is hot). D-The interactional serves to ensure social maintenance (Phatic communion-Malinowsky- refers to the communicative contact between and among human beings that simply allows them to establish social contact and to keep channels of communication open and this requires knowledge of slang, jargon, jokes, folklore, cultural mores, politeness, and formality expectations, and other keys to social exchange. E-The personal allows a speaker to express feelings, emotions, personality. A person’s individuality is usually characterized by his/her use of `personal function of communication. F-The heuristic involves lang used to acquire knowledge, to learn about the environment which are often conveyed in the form of questions, that will lead to answer. (Children’s why questions) G-The imaginative serves to create imaginary systems or ideas (Telling fairy tales, joking, or writing a novel). Through this we are free to go beyond the real world to soar to the heights of the beauty of lang itself, and through that lang to create impossible dreams if we so desire. 2-Functional syllabuses The functional part of the notional-functional syllabus corresponded to lang functions. Curricula were organized around such function as identifying, reporting, denying, declining an invitation, asking permission, apologizing, etc. 3-Discourse analysis It is the relationship between forms and functions of lang which encompasses the notion that lang is more than a sentence level phenomenon because we string many sentences together in interrelated, cohesive units. In most oral lang, our discourse is marked by exchanges with another person or several persons in which a few sentences spoken by one participant are followed and built upon by sentences spoken by another. Both the production and comprehension of lang are a factor of our ability to perceive and process stretches of discourse, to formulate representations of meaning not just from a single sentence but from referents in both previous sentences and following sentences. Without the pragmatic contexts of discourse, our communication would be extraordinarily ambiguous. 4-Conversation Analysis. Conversations are excellent examples of the interactive and interpersonal nature of communication. They are cooperative ventures. What are the rules of our conversations? How do we get someone’s attention?. Very early in life children learn the first and essential rule of conversation: attention getting. If you wish linguistic production to be functional and to accomplish its intended purpose, you must of course have the attention of your audience. The attention getting conversations within each lang-both verbal and nonverbal- need to be carefully assimilated by learners. Once learners have secured the hearer’s attention, their task becomes one of topic nomination. Rules for nominating topics in conversations which involve both verbal and non-verbal cues, are highly contextually constrained. Once the topic is nominated, participants then embark on topic development, using conventions of turn-taking to accomplish various functions of lang. Aside from turn-taking itself, topic development, or maintenance of a conversation, involves clarification, shifting, avoidance, and interruption. Topic termination is an art that even native speakers of a lang have difficulty in mastering at times. 5-Pragmatics It constraints on lang comprehension and production may be loosely thought of as the effect of context on string of linguistic events. 6-Lang and GenderThe effect of one’s sex on both production and reception of lang is one of the major factors affecting the acquisition of communicative competence in virtually every lang. Among American English speakers, girls have been found to produce more standards lang than boys, a pattern that continue through adulthood. Tanner and others have found that males place more value, in a conversational interaction, on status and report talk, competing for the floor, while females value connections and rapport, fulfilling their role as more cooperative and facilitative conversationalists, concerned for their partner’s positive face needs. 7-Styles and Register Another important issue is the way we use lang in different styles depending on the context of a communicative act in terms of subject matter, audience, occasion, shared experience, and purpose of communication. A style is a variety of lang used for a specific purpose. When you converse informally with a friend, you use a different style than you use in an interview for a job with a prospective employer. Native speakers, as they mature into adulthood, learn to adopt appropriate styles for widely different contexts. Adult 2nd lang learners must acquire this styles in order to be able to encode and decode the discourse around them correctly. Martin Joos provided one of the most common classifications of speech styles using criterion of formality: there are five levels: 1-An oratorical style is used in public speaking before a large audience; it is planned in advance intonation is somewhat exaggerated and numerous rhetorical devices are appropriate. 2-A deliberative style is also used in addressing audiences to permit effective interchange between speaker and hearers, however, it is not as polished as the previous style: a typical university classroom. 3-A consultative style is typically a dialogue, through formal enough that words are chosen with some care. E. g. business transactions, doctor patient’s conversations. 4-Casual conversations are between friends or colleagues or sometimes members of family. Words don’t need to be guarded and social barriers are moderately low. 5-an intimate style is one characterized by complete absence of social inhibitions. Talk with family, loved ones, and very close friends. Styles are manifested in both verbal and nonverbal(how you say sth) features. Difference in styles can be conveyed in body lang, gestures, eye contact and they are very difficult aspects of lang for the learners to acquire. A-Body lang or kinesics: all cultures throughout the history of humankind have relied on kinesics for conveying important messages. However, there is a tremendous variation cross-culturally and cross-linguistically in the specific interpretation of gestures because sometimes a gesture that is appropriate in one culture is obscene or insulting in another. Nodding the head, for example means â€Å"yes† among most European lang speakers. But among japan, â€Å"Yes† is expressed by bringing the arms to the chest and waving them. B- Eye contact: the gestures of our eyes are in some instances keys to communication. Eyes can signal interest, boredom, empathy, hostility, attraction, understanding, misunderstandings and other messages. C-proxemics: physical proximity is a meaningful communicative category. Cultures vary widely in acceptable distances for conversation. Sometimes objects- desk, other furniture- serve to maintain certain physical proximity and tend to establish both the overall register and relationship between participants.

Leadership styles example: Virgin

Leadership styles example: Virgin The term leadership can be defined as â€Å"influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts towards goal setting and goal achievement (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004, p.716). Leadership styles for that reason acts as a mean of motivation since employees are working collectively with management through delegation and empowerment. Consequently, ways in which employees are managed have an effect on their ability, motivation and attentiveness. Motivation is thus defined as â€Å"wanting to do something or wanting to achieve a certain result (Thompson and Machin, 2003, p.154). In my perception, motivation within a workforce is subsequently valuable given that it helps to increase productivity along with output over a period of time helping to meet business objectives. With reference to Virgin; a multinational company established by Richard Branson, his style of leadership is shown to entail certain characteristics in relation to the question seeing â€Å"all enterprises are linked by the single powerful central image of the founder and the characteristic red livery   (Mullins, 2010, p.37). Styles of management therefore are shown to influence motivation and perceptions within a workforce. Branson style is thus exposed to motivate; even though Virgin pays staff with low salaries, employees within Virgin complete work to a high standard to the extent employees are important projectors of the brand image. The suggestion of visionary, inspirational and participative style can therefore be considered as essential in motivating workforces in achieving their goals and in giving a good corporate reflection. A participative style of leadership is directed towards democratic management whereby managers permit workers to key in views or ideas transversely before making decisions. From experience, this seems essential in motivating depending on the type of organisation, here employees participate in the decision making process and feel part of the progression. According to Billsberry J â€Å"this style can thus lead to better quality decisions which are then more effectively implemented autocratic may stiffly creativity, not use available expertise and fail to establish motivation and commitment   (1996 p.43). Having a sense of entered ideas can add towards job satisfaction and allow management to listen to workers views and ideas. In good judgment, it is seen to enhance and increase motivation as workers enjoy work through a logic sense of contribution which is an intrinsic source of motivation (motivation from inside the individual). In addition, when I was working within a restaurant as a waitress, we were managed in an autocratic route, where everyone was given instructions on what tasks to perform without having any insights on decisions. In my opinion this was fundamental to motivate me as I knew what to do and what was expected of me, whereas the idea of participative would mean I wouldn be motivated as personally I am motivated by factors such as rewards e.g. money. In a situation where crucial decisions needed to be made, for example when lots of customers came in, decisions are made quicker than being participative as this slows down the business through consultation making it inflexible for management and patrons. De-motivation could therefore take place as customers may complain possibly having an impact on employees in the sense jobs aren „ ¢t done well. The reason why workers are motivated then depends on the type of organisation the business is. Within Virgin it could be viewed being participative is appropriate because of the nature of the industry. For instance, management at Virgin Atlantic and their cabin crew are there to be helpful and welcoming, a participative style could motivate as cabin crew are an important feature as well as feeling part of Virgin. Virgin shows aspect of a participative manner seeing that Branson stated â€Å"I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me (McDermott, 2010). By stepping back and encouraging participation workers would feel trust is being implemented upon them, effectively this could individually motivate as they feel valued. A sense of involvement also makes employees feel they are contributing to Virgin „ ¢s success. Nevertheless, although ideas are shared, management may not take any form of action to each proposal as workers have diverse views as well as it being difficult to implement all ideas. In planning for the organisational behaviour event (group activity) we had a participative style to which everyone contributed on what we were going to do. This leadership style was good in the sense members coming up with several ideas, during the process however; I felt this caused some minor confusion as during the night part of the group didn „ ¢t turn up, which could be reference to the range of ideas recommended. In improving the event, we should have assigned a leader with more direct control over the group; this for me would have motivated me more as fewer mistakes are made in relation to more control, though other people may prefer a participative style. An early idea on motivation in the 19th century was by Frederick Taylor who â€Å"was a believer in the rational economic concept of motivation workers would be motivated by obtaining the highest possible wages   (Mullins L, 2007, pg.43). An inspirational and visionary style may well be undermined in motivating as Frederick Taylor states workers are only motivated by money and it is a manager „ ¢s job to tell employees what to do. In supporting his judgment Taylor did an experiment with a group of workers linking altered factors with output, drawing up the conclusion money is linked to higher output. In this sense money could be seen as a vital way for motivating; if workers work harder and produce higher production, higher pay would be rewarded as a result, making employees achieve a set target. A participative, visionary and inspirational leadership is thus unessential in motivating workforces as in Taylor „ ¢s observation employees are motivated by monetary rew ards. Incorporating Taylor „ ¢s concept within Virgin could conversely motivate staff, as employees like high pay linked to performance. Except the negative aspect is quality of service may be affected as not all workers are liable to be motivated by money and would want visions along with inspirations to motivate. As a result if workers are unhappy the Virgin brand may be pretentious as Virgin cabin crew are an important projector of the brand image. Although scientific management is viewed as outdated and has been criticised for being too bureaucratic towards workers and the lack of flexibility involved, many organisations still use this as a mean of motivation as workers are motivated by extrinsic factors such as reward, which I personally am motivated by partially. Visionary leadership â€Å"involves having clear goals, being sensitive to stakeholder needs and interests and inspiring them with passion and determination   (Buchanan and Huczynski 2010 p.609). Richard Branson is disputed to have implemented visionary within virgin as he provides goals to employees on what Virgin is accomplishing, Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic stated â€Å"corporations should put their employees ahead of customers and shareholders to build sustainable businesses   (Rex Mathew 18 November 2005), giving visions that Virgin couldn „ ¢t be successful without its employee, so would motivate as workers feel appreciated and have the visions to work towards their goals. In effect â€Å"visions seem to bring about confidence on the part of employees, confidence that instils in them a belief that they are capable of performing to their full potential   (Bennis and Goldsmith, 1997, p.108). By having clear goals employees feel motivated as they will kn ow what is expected of them as well as what they are capable of. In this sense visions are essential in bringing out the best within employees. According to Nanus â€Å"Vision, if properly selected and implemented, is so energizing that it in effect jump starts the future by calling forth the skills, talents and resources to make it happen   (Robbins, 2003 p.344). When applying idea of visions to my employment, this generally would motivate me as having a sense of direction makes me feel determined to achieve a certain goal set. For example, if my manager gave visions about sense of direction and where they are heading with enthusiasm this would inspire me to work harder to fulfil the satisfaction we may gain by accomplishing something. Just by managers stating their goals and the strategic action to achieve them would be a sense of vision personally. Inspirational in an organisation is a perceived importance as an online journal titled, The Role of Inspirational Leadership in Geographically Dispersed Teams â€Å"the positive relationship between inspirational leadership and individuals commitment to the team and trust in team members was strengthened in teams that were more dispersed suggesting that inspirational leaders are important in all contexts but that their importance is underscored in highly dispersed contexts   (Joshi, A, Lazarova, M. Liao, H, 2009). This illustrates inspirational leadership is vital during motivating as management relationship are strengthen with employees to feel appreciated by the company, making workers work hard in giving something back. In my view, by being motivated workers are more satisfied producing quality services and products which can be demonstrated at Virgin. Furthermore according to a survey conducted by the chartered management institute â€Å"The power to inspire is rated highes t and desirable leadership qualities. The inspirational leader connects with the led, appreciates the capabilities of others and through trust will unlock the power in others   (Mullins 2005 p. 304).In context, inspirational can motivate as when working in a group for my marketing presentation it was the inspirations of the group and the connection that motivated me personally as we had to work together to achieve a fine advertising campaign. Having inspirations from individuals motivated me to work harder as we all strived to achieve a good end result of the advertising campaign giving me self satisfaction. A participative, visionary and inspirational style of leadership isn „ ¢t necessarily essential in motivating, for example a content theory of motivation is Maslow „ ¢s hierarchy of needs; what motivates the individual. Workers need to satisfy their basic physiological needs such as pay and condition, individuals would then work towards each level to gain self satisfaction in the form of motivation. When applying this conjecture to Virgin, the strength of Maslow „ ¢s theory is individuals have basic needs so applies to the majority. In theory, this resonance an effective way to motivate staff within Virgin as employees could fulfil their needs slowly working towards self actualization, for example a cabin crew may work hard to gain promotion. Yet, when applying Maslow „ ¢s theory into practice, it could be a difficult process as different people have diverse needs as well as the theory being too simplistic, which may be hard to apply within an organisa tion. If this presumption was applied to my job, it wouldn „ ¢t really work for me as it isn „ ¢t a job I want to be in for a time period, therefore I wouldn „ ¢t work to self actualization but personally money, as a result, some levels would motivate me in the short term though not in the long term; in future a job that motivates me personally is something of interest to me. In talking about motivation, the human relations theory can be shown to motivate in regard to leadership styles. The human relation theory has its heredity in the Hawthorne study conducted in the late 1920 „ ¢s and into the early 30 „ ¢s by Elton Mayo; employees were now accepted as having social needs and interests, not as being motivated machines visualized by Taylor. The suggestion of â€Å"participative, visionary and inspirational style of leadership is essential to effectively motivate the workforce   can then be deduced as Elton Mayo experiment showed having an interest in workers boosted their motivation level even if it was only changing lighting settings, it also outlines importance of teamwork in an organisation. When applying this theory into Virgin, the repercussion shows employees would be motivated; in the lecture a video was shown when Richard Branson visited his stores which he talks to employees and takes an interest in them, in return employees are more motivated as Virgin pays staff with a low wage, however staff produces work to a high standard to the degree it is a valuable brand name in society. In conclusion, participative, visionary and inspirational is seen to effectively motivate, however because of convolution in different organisations and ways in employees are organised/ managed other methods are shown to motivate as alternatives to leadership styles. If Virgin were to adapt the characteristic as stated, the outcome may be a quantity of employees will perhaps not feel as motivated in comparison as all workers are different. The theories of motivation are thus dissimilar to management in practice; a theory may sound good in principle, but when applying to organisations there will be issues arising such as employees having different needs and because of this are motivated by different aspects. In addition, not all motivation of employees is to be achieved because of dissimilar desires. Businesses therefore need to consider employee motivation as an important process in achieving their objectives. MODULE FEEDBACK FORM Reference list Bennis W and Goldsmith J. (1997) Learning to lead, page 108 Billsberry J (ed.) (1996) The effective manager: perspectives and illustrations, page 43 Buchanan and Huczynski (2004) Organizational behaviour an introductory text, fifth edition, page716 Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) Organizational behaviour, seventh edition, page609 Joshi A, Lazarova M Liao H (2009) Getting Everyone on Board: The Role of Inspirational Leadership in Geographically Dispersed Teams. Organization Science, 20(1), 240-252. [Online]Retrieved from Business Source Complete database, Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1hid=8sid=5fb20d14-bd45-4d39-8de5-204dcc9235f8%40sessionmgr14bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bthAN=36606878#db=bthAN=36606878 [Last accessed 5th Nov 2010] Mathew R (2005) Put employees first: Sir Richard Branson. Available: http://www.domain-b.com/people/in_the_news/20051118_richard_branson.html [Last accessed 13th Dec 2010] McDermott, F (ed.) (2010) To be a Leader: lessons from Richard Branson and Jesus Christ. Available: http://mcdermottsmiscellany.blogspot.com/search/label/Richard%20Branson. [Last accessed 4th Nov 2010] Mullins L. (2005) Management and organisational behaviour, seventh edition, page 304 Mullins L. (2007) Management and organisational behaviour, eighth edition, page 43 Mullins L. (2010) Management and organisational behaviour, ninth edition, page 37 Robbins S. (ed.) (2003) Organizational behaviour, tenth edition, page 344 Thompson and Machin (2003) AS business studies, page 154

Mountain Biking Essay -- Observation Essays, Descriptive Essays

Mountain Biking I have come to love bicycles in the course of the past year. I am especially fond of mountain bikes, including my own. Riding it opens up a whole new world of opportunities and challenges for me. I am still fairly fresh to the whole mountain biking scene, so I push myself to become better with more experience. Riding is an outlet; it is something I can channel pent up energy through. I love the sport because it is a full body, soul, and mind experience that affects all five of the senses. I see the bike. I notice its worn, but once clean and pristine frame that beckons me to ride. Its sharp, bright colors are like a simple painting, only on aluminum, not canvas. Its aggressive look tells me that I can ride with authority and do what I want on the bike. It inspires more confidence in my head than I will actually have on the trail. I walk over touch the bike. I place my hands on the handlebars and feel the soft and sticky texture of the grips. I push down on the handlebars a few times to remember the plush shock in front that is like a little angel o...

Four Dead in Ohio :: essays papers

"Four Dead in Ohio" On Thursday, April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon told the American people that we were sending troops into Cambodia. This upset many Americans because Nixon was brought into office due to his promise to end the war. In his first year of presidency it looked like the end of the war was near, but with this announcement the end of the war was not evident. This pro-war decision by Nixon upset many people and led to riots all over the country. How could the President make the decision to continue war when he promised to end it? Among the riots caused by Nixon’s decision were revolts at many universities, such as Kent State. Young students were upset because they were the ones being drafted and the sooner the war ended the less chance they had of seeing war. On Friday, May 1,1970 anti-war rallies began to take place at Kent State University. Students gathered and burned a copy of the constitution. Also many riots broke out in downtown Kent. The extent of the damage done in Kent was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars. Upon learning about these problems the mayor, Leroy Satrom, called a state of emergency and contacted Governor James Rhodes for assistance. On May second, the ROTC building at Kent State was burnt down during a protest. The next step was calling in the National Gaurd as ordered by the Governor. The national guard helped on campus by seeing that the new eleven o’clock p.m. curfew was followed by all students. This caused more anger among the students, and added more peopl e to the rebellion that would otherwise not have become involved. On May 4th 1970, when rallies surfaced again in the commons area, tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. The conflict between students and the National Guard had begun to expand, and the cursing and rock throwing were increasing the tension in the air. The Guard ordered the students to retreat and as the crowds began to break up, it appeared the Guard was also retreating. Then shots were heard. The Guard for reasons unknown had to turn back and open fire at a crowd of students. Within thirteen seconds, four students were dead and nine wounded. One student who was killed was Allison Krause, who had been the only one of the four killed that was actually involved in the demonstrations.

Evolution as Fact and Theory Essay

A ‘theory’ according to American vernacular is understood as an uncertain approach to the world’s mysteries. It is seen as an idea that is not yet actually confirmed but if proven to be true, can shed light on the reasons behind certain phenomena. This vague notion of the meaning of theories is utilized by Creationists to diminish the impact of the Evolution, (Gould, 1981) dismissing it as a ‘mere’ theory. Scientifically however, a theory is an explanation or model based on careful observation, rigid experimentation, analytical interpretation and sound reasoning, especially something that has undergone testing and has been confirmed as a general principle that helps in clarifying and predicting natural occurrences. A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the physical world; a well structured system of accepted knowledge that could be applied in many circumstances to explain or clarify a set of phenomena, theories can incorporate factual data, tested hypotheses and established laws. 2) What does Gould mean when he says evolution is a â€Å"fact†? A ‘fact,’ as Gould discussed, is something so significantly probable that it is ridiculous not to recognize its importance. Gould says that evolution is a fact as it is body of knowledge consisting of the world’s data; the ‘theory’ of evolution is a structure of thoughts and ideas that could explain facts. Gould has expressed the general view of the scientific community, that evolution is a fact but the mechanism by which evolution has occurred consists of theories. The scientific community endeavors not to prove the truth of evolution, rather the goal is to explain how it has occurred. He goes on to argue that the occurrence of Evolution is not dependent upon humankind’s ability to come up with a sufficient theoretical explanation to support it. Humans have evolved whether or not Darwin’s theory of natural selection is an accurate theoretical justification for the phenomena. Evolution has occurred and is still occurring. 3) In what way is scientific creationism not scientific? Science is committed to proof and evidence. Creationism is blatantly committed to doctrine. Since creationism is primarily a subject of Biblical faith and religious conviction, verification from the natural world is no more than secondary in its significance. Gould (1981) observes that ‘scientific creationists’ claim to be scientific because they follow the Popperian model in attempting to obliterate the rationality of the evolutionary theory. Yet Popper’s argument has to be applied in two directions. An idea does not automatically become scientific by the mere act of attempting to falsify an adversary, an alternative system which satisfies Popper’s criterion must also be presented, and it must be falsifiable as well. ‘Scientific creationism’ is self-contradictory in its phrasing because it is incapable of being falsified, there are interpretations and experiments that can refute any evolutionary supposition, but no possible data could make a creationist discard solid beliefs in dogma (Gould, 1981). 4) What are the three arguments for the fact of evolution? First is the presence of unswerving proofs that substantiate evolution in field observations and laboratory experiments. One example is the recent discovery in 2004, a fish with transitional features was seen in Canada; the said fish had four finlike legs that permitted the creature to drag itself all the way through shallow water onto land. Scientists around the world see this as evidence that support evolution and an important discovery in identifying the transition from ocean creatures to land animals (NAS, 2008). Another example is the well-known specie of British moths that changed color and become black when the trees which the moths inhabited were darkened with industrial soot. Moths gain safety from predators, usually visually superior birds, by blending and disappearing into the backdrop. It must be noted that major evolutionary changes require a great deal of time that is not compatible with the usage of direct observation in the scale of documented human history (Gould, 1981). Second, the imperfection in nature exposes evolution; evolution is seen in the obvious flaws which record an account of descent. As Gould (1981) discusses, an engineer, designing from the beginning could plan more superior limbs suited for every living thing. All native hefty mammals from Australia are marsupials because they descended from an ancestor isolated in the isle continent. These marsupials are not really more suited for the environment of Australia; many have actually been pushed out by other (placental) mammals introduced by man from different places and continents. This standard of deficiencies and imperfections extend to every historical science. And finally the undeniable evidence of the transitions found in fossil records, there is a continuous temporal succession of increasingly more modern human features: increased cranial capacity, reduced teeth, large body mass (Gould, 1981). 5) How has Gould and Eldredge’s theory of punctuated equilibrium been used against them by the scientific creationists? Gould and Eldredge’s punctuated equilibrium theory proposes that the majority of evolution is marked by lengthy periods of evolutionary constancy, which is then interspersed by infrequent occasions of branching progression This theory was contrasted alongside phyletic gradualism, which is the popular notion that evolution is marked with a pattern of even and constant change in the fossil record. Gould (1996) has favored the particular argument that evolution does not have an inherent drive towards long-standing progress. Many interpretations often refer to evolution as a hierarchy of development, leading to better, quicker, and smarter life forms; the assumption is that evolution is in some way driving organisms to be more complex and intricate, and ultimately more akin to humankind. Evolution’s progress is not for complexity, but for diversification. Because life is inhibited to start with a simple preliminary point, any diversity ensuing from this side may be seen as a shift to the path of higher complexity. But life forms, can adapt towards simplification with no difficulty, an example is the case of parasites (Gould, 1996). This theory has been used by creationists as a citation to support their argument that the scientific community has actually admitted that fossil records does not incorporate transitional forms to support the theory of Evolution. Gould (1981) has clarified and reiterated that transitional forms can generally be found lacking in the level of species, but can be found abundantly among larger groups. Also, the famous creationist Luther Sunderland discusses the punctuated equilibrium theory and tells his readers that it is basically a tacit admission that Creationists are accurate in their assumption that no fossil verification can be found supporting the hypothesis that every life form descends from a common forebear (cited in Gould, 1981). The distortions and oversimplifications of Gould and Eldredge’s theory have been used as a caricature of the beliefs of Richard Goldschmidt, an early yet inaccurate geneticist. References: Gould, S. J. (1981). â€Å"Evolution as Fact and Theory,† Discover 2, May 1981: 34-37; Reprinted with permission from Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994, pp. 253-262. Gould, S. J. (1996). Full House: The Spread of Excellence From Plato to Darwin. New York: Harmony Books. NAS: National Academy of Sciences. (2008). Science Evolution and Creationism. National Academies Press