Economic Development In Urban Areas

Economic change has helped lead America into urban crisis for the following reasons. First of all, because urban problems are no longer confined to the inner city, but are regional in nature. The federal government has, also, largely drawn from the urban policy arena, thereby having cities and sates to develop their own solutions to local problems. Furthermore, the economy of cities is no longer organized around a central business district, but is dispersed throughout a metropolitan region. Next, the national economy has experienced a fundamental reorganization and many cities have experienced the direct effects of deindustrialization and disinvestments. Additionally, the fiscal crisis within the public sector is unprecedented and has seriously negative effects for the provision of services at all levels of government. Finally, the nature of work itself has changed within cities as more women enter the labor market; the changing nature of work has affected the urban family in many ways, many of which have direct ramifications for social welfare and family policies. There is a great amount of inequality of income in some cities. Most of the those who fall bellow the poverty line are African Americans and Hispanics. This is because they are placed in low paying jobs. As more and more people immigrate into the country, there are less and less jobs to go around. This creates a larger poverty gap. People just coming here to America are placed in very low-income jobs. This is all they can get if they don’t speak any English. For example, here at Rider the cleaning people are all Spanish. They don’t speak any English, and their job is to be the cleaning crew. These are the only types of jobs that these people can get most of the time, and this makes our percentage of people who are in poverty go up. Another problem that is contributing to the urban crisis is the rise of single-parent families and ‘present-orientated’ values. The problem here is that the divorce rate in America is getting higher and higher, and also the amount of children being had out of marriage is greatly increasing also. This creates one parent raising a child. The problem here is that there is no proper care for children in this situation. The parent has too much responsibility. They are to provide for the family, as well as adequately care for their children. When the single parent has to go to work, to get money to pay for a place to live, food, and clothing, there leaves no time to watch and take care of the children, meaning children are left to take care of themselves after school is over, and this results in a lot of problems for the communities. These children cause trouble. They are the ones who commit most crimes in an urban environment. This is why in an urban city there is a lot more crime. There are a lot of children left unsupervised for most of the day and night. Another problem is the ethnic tensions that there are in America. There are many things that are wrong with this. The first problem is that because of racism, people are secluded. They are pushed to all live together, because people don’t want to live next to them. This is how a ghetto is started, and slums. All the people of low incomes live in the same neighborhood together. They also contain the high crime rates because these are the people who are also of single parent families and their children are left unsupervised. Another problem with racism is that people are given lower paying jobs because of their race, and also, they aren’t able to have to same amount of experience as other people. They don’t go to as good of schools, and they then might not be able to go to college, so they are stuck. They can only get a low paying job. This creates families to be stuck in poverty for generations, they can never get out, unless with government assistance of some sort. Then this makes the inner cities all full of low-income families, and creates a poverty stricken area that cannot be fixed in any way. If there were more integration within neighborhoods, then we wouldn’t have these areas. Another reason why urban America is in crisis is because of the underground urban economy. This also causes a lot of crime in urban cities. The people in these cities who are poor, and are trying to find a way out, usually try by doing something illegal. A big example of this is drug sale. People start selling drugs to get money. This creates a lot of problems. The selling of illegal materials results in murders, and robberies, to either get the drugs, pay for the drugs, or avoid getting caught selling them. Another example of this is people stealing things, like car parts, and selling it on the black market. All of these illegal acts always result in something that makes the cities look worse and worse to live in. I know that when I go into Trenton I am really afraid, because I know that there is a really high amount of crime there, and I am always thinking that someone is going to try to shoot me for my car, rob a store that I am in, or something else. Stereotypes of cities are easily created, and this doesn’t help the situation. Also, the advancement in technology has lead many people to be left without jobs. This technology had created more unskilled labor, and putted skilled labor to a minimum. People, who had been specialists at doing certain skilled work, are constantly being replaced by machines that can do the same work faster and cheaper. This creates a huge economy gap. It makes the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, by giving all the money from the profit of sales to the company owners, rather than to employees. So, the people who were already well off, have even more money, and those people who were middle class citizens are now jobless, and can not afford to take care of their families. The problem here is obvious, the more jobs that are lost because people are replaced by machines, the greater the amount of people who become in poverty. The numbers keep increasing.

Japanese fiction works are better than Western ones Essay

Q:What kind of Japanese fiction works? A:This presentation is mostly about comics and animation produced in Japan, but it covers also TV Shows and movies Topic: Japanese fiction General Purpose: To persuade Specific Purpose: To persuade you that Japanese fiction is better than western fiction regarding comics, animation, movies and TV shows Thesis statement: Although Western people see Japan as a calculating land with brutally efficient workers, they are in fact individualistic, expressive and sentimental if we can judge them from their works of fiction who surpass our own in various aspects Introduction: I. How other countries think of Japan II. Thesis statement III. Reminding the meaning of the terms manga and anime Body: I. First argument: Japan’s tendency to mix various influences from all over the world A.Japan borrows various foreign things and merges them with other elements B.Example regarding religion of Japan C.This tendency in regards to fiction II.Second Argument: How Japanese portray life, human relations, nature and the world in their fiction works A.Human nature is portrayed as it is B.Japan’s popular culture has a tight closeness to the ordinary, everyday lives of its audience C.Manga on any theme imaginable and toward any age range D.How human relations are portrayed III.Third Argument: Heroes’ fate after their struggle, death and the morality of the universe in Japanese fiction A.What defines a hero in Japan B.Death in japanese fiction C.View of the universe as amoral IV.Opposition/Refutation A1. Pornographic themes in manga and anime A2. Refutation B1. Japan’s cultural insularity robs it of relevance for other societies B2. Refutation Conclusion: I. Quote from Antonia Levi If someone will say that Japanese people are imaginative, sentimental, expressive and individualistic might earn him strange glances in most countries of the world. Many Westerners see Japan as a cold, calculating land of ant-like workers with brutal efficiency. Students are seen as oppressed slaves to their studies, pounded down like nails until their imaginations and individuality are crushed, or until they are driven to suicide. Japanese social culture is often seen as blanketed under stifling layers of politeness and formality, characterized by endless bowing. However, underneath all these there is the hidden Japanese soul. Almost all of the Japanese escape from reality through fiction works. These domestically created fiction works be it comics, animation, movies or TV shows enjoy great popularity not only in Japan but also in many countries of the world. Therefore, because these specific works are strikingly different from what we’re used to here in the Western world, it is inevitable to compare these two: the Western fiction works and the Japanese ones. Hello, everybody, my name is †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ I will talk to you about Japanese fiction works and I will compare them to Western ones so as to enforce my opinion and persuade you of course, that Japanese fiction is better than Western fiction. Before starting, I want to make you acquainted with two terms. Manga, which is used to refer to the Japanese comics and anime, which refers to the Japanese animation. As a first argument, I have to inform you that Japan has the tendency to borrow various foreign things and to tinker with them, merging them with native or other elements so that they become something new and often quite distinct from the original. As an example, regarding religion, Taoism was the original religion of Japan but this didn’t stop Japanese people from accepting Buddhism as well, and even acquiring some aspects of other religions in addition, like Christianity. In works of fiction this tendency of the Japanese means new and non-static entertainment through mixing different influences from around the world without having to suffice only to the myths and the influences of their own country. For my second argument supporting Japanese fiction, I want to inform you about the way Japanese portray life, human relations, nature and the world in their fiction works. The world and human nature in Japan’s pop culture can be portrayed as they are, not as they should be. This allows Son Goku, Dragonball’s raised in the wild, central character, to be drawn naked, without the private parts-covering fig leaf that had to be added for American TV. It allows as well, the darker side of life to be portrayed. In an episode of Naniwa Kin Yudo, which is an anime TV series, the protagonist Haibara encourages the girlfriend of a customer, who cannot repay his loan, to work as a prostitute to cover her boyfriend’s debt. Scenes such as this can be disturbing but they are part of life and are neither denied nor hidden. Kazuhiko Torishima, editor of Japan’s best-selling comic magazine Shonen Jump states: â€Å"I feel sorry for U.S. kids, who live in an adult-filtered Disney world.† Moreover, Japan’s popular culture has a tight closeness to the ordinary, everyday lives of its audience. American comic artist Brian Stelfreeze has said: â€Å"Comics in the U.S. have become such a caricature. You have to have incredible people doing incredible things, but in Japan it seems like the most popular comics are the ones of normal people doing normal things.† Part of the normalcy is that the characters that populate Japan’s manga, anime and TV dramas display plenty of character flaws and weaknesses along with their strengths and good points. Furthermore, as Ian Reader, a scholar of Japanese religions and popular culture, has noted: â€Å"Manga are simply too fascinating, colorful and rich a literary medium to be left solely to children. In Japan one can find manga on any theme imaginable and toward any age range.† which is certainly not the case with American comic books. In addition, Timothy Craig which is an author, writes in his book entitled â€Å"Japan Pop!† that, human relations are a pervasive topic in Japanese pop culture, as one would expect from a society that places great importance on the group, harmony, and the smooth management of conflict. Human relations are also portrayed with a sophistication that does justice to the complexity of human affairs. Issues are many-sided, emotions are mixed, solutions are neither easy nor obvious, and outcomes are often ambiguous – not unlike real life. He continues by saying that, in Japanese fiction the human characters are more real. They  exhibit a fuller range of human emotions and are put into more realistic situations, sometimes with unpleasant outcomes, than allowed by Disney’s â€Å"perfectly preserved, stiflingly safe fairytale-based storylines.† For my last argument I will talk about heroes’ fate after their struggle, about death and the morality of the universe and therefore god, in Japanese fiction. We here in the Western world, are used to good being only good and be rewarded in the end and evil being only evil and be punished in most of the cases. This is not the case in Japanese culture. It’s not unknown in Japan for heroes to become villains and vice versa. Moreover, the Japanese hero is defined by motivation than in the West where heroism is more dependent on result. The ideal Japanese hero is not only self-sacrificing, but also unconcerned with personal gain or survival. The hero’s willingness to give his or her all to it is what counts. Winning doesn’t matter either. Losing and gaining nothing confirms the hero’s altruism and renders his or her sacrifice all the more tragic. Many characters also, meet meaningless, undeserved ends. And fans love that aspect, the fact that bad things , even death, can happen to any character at any time. It doesn’t matter how brave, how good, or even how popular they are. According to my opinion, this fact is absolutely in accordance to how our own world works. Death and bad things generally, can be around the corner for any person, no matter how kind or good-willed he or she is. According to a book by author Antonia Levi titled â€Å"Understanding Japanese Animation† that doesn’t happen on American TV where virtue is rewarded and evil is punished. That’s mainly because America is a Christian culture that believes that the universe is, or it should be, a moral place. The Japanese peoples’ take on this is that universe is amoral. Shinto as well, has no moral code at all! It simply celebrates life. Heroism and self-sacrifice may define a japanese character as a hero, but they will not save him or her. The universe simply doesn’t care. On the opposing side now and regarding manga and anime specifically, some of you may have noticed and may say that a lot of these works have pornographic themes. Wrong. According to the author of the book â€Å"Understanding Japanese Animation† these works are actually a very small portion of the total production of Japan in manga and anime that is disproportionately exported  to the Western world. Another opposition stated by quite a few people, expresses that Japan is a one-dimensional economic power marked by a cultural insularity that robs it of relevance for other societies. Wrong again. The success and presence of Japan’s cultural exports in countries apart from Asian ones such as U.S.A, Canada and most of the European countries is strong evidence that Japan’s culture does have relevance for other societies. To conclude, and quote author Antonia Levi, it’s not just that Japan’s pop culture deals with dilemmas in a more realistic fashion, or that it raises issues considered taboo in other countries. Its willingness to show death and other bad stuff restores a kind of tension, a genuine dramatic emotionality that Hollywood and TV seem to have forgotten about. Bibliography: Clements, Jonathan and Helen McCarthy. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 Stone Bridge Press, 2001. Craig, Timothy. Japan Pop: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture East Gate, 2000. Levi, Antonia. Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation Carus Publishing, 1998. Patten, Fred. Anime Stereotypes. Newtype, Issue Dec.2003 A.D.Vision Publications. For my third argument supporting my opinion, I will talk about the presence of female heroes in Japanese fiction. In the Western world apart from such exceptions as Wonder Woman, She-ra and Xena the role of superhero has traditionally been reserved for males, and targeted a predominantly male audience especially in comic books. This is not the case with Japanese  fiction. Japanese don’t neglect females be it on the starring roles of their fiction works or as a target group audience. In manga specifically, there exists a separate genre called shoujo manga with many sub-genres itself, which raises issues and has stories related and devoted to women. The presence of females as featured heroes in manga, animation and TV shows has been much stronger in Japan than in the western world. As the book â€Å"Japan Pop† specifically reports: â€Å"in Japan girl heroes are now as common and popular as boy heroes. The reasons for this are complex and, while hardly due to a greater feminist consciousness in Japanese society, are clearly linked to the increase in recent years of female artists.

Australian Involvement In Wwi History Essay

Australian Involvement In Wwi History Essay Australia was involved in the world war one for many reasons. The most important reason was to help its mother country Britain. They thought if they helped Britain they will help them in any problem. Reasons for enlistment in 1914: In 1914, Australia became involved in world war one because of Britain declaring the war on Germany. When Britain declared the war, the Britain Empire should go to war including Australia and New Zealand. At this time Andrew Fisher (the future prime minister) promised Britain to help the in the war. Australia has entered the war for three reasons:http://web.grinnell.edu/individuals /kapilas/talks/Introduction_to_Indian_Writing_in_English_files /slide0005_image002.jpg They will be known as a nation of its own; The other countries will have greater respect for the new nation; The British Empire in 1914.Andrew Fisher promised that Australia will help its mother country. Approximately 98% of Australia’s population are non aborigines and most of them ar e from the British Empire like Scotland and Wales. That’s why the men have volunteered to go to war and help their mother country. There were other reasons to go to war cause the thought it would be a great adventure, and the will give them a great wages and the thought they will come back in Christmas.http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/images/GRG32_16_7Illust.jpg Australia’s relationship with Britain: After Australia was federated in 1901 it was still a part of the British Empire Australia was found by Britain and Australia language and culture has come from Britain. Australian political, justice, education, fashion and sport system are British. An Australian Poster Used to Make the Australian to Go to warAustralia’s import marketing is from Britain. Australia economy is to tie to Britain’s. Australia’s defence was the British Navy. Australia was scared by the â€Å"Asian Hordes† but British power was its defence. Australia was part of the British Empire. The Australian children learned about the England kings and queens. From 1905, Australia celebrates the queen’s birthday. First the children go to the school in the morning and they sing patriotic song and they have the rest of the day as a public holiday. Australia’s involvement with Britain in 1914 or world war one was quite all over the place, they were like rivals but not enemies, they kind of despised each other but when it came to danger they would ark up and protect each other no matter the cost. Opposition to Involvement: Many were against the war some of them are conscientious objectors from religious groups Society of Friends who defeat the human life. The conscription is forcing men to go to war even if they don’t want to do there.118F824B The anti-war movement included: The Industrial Workers of the War; The Society of Friends; An extract from a letter written by F.J. Roberts in 1914 saying how he is against the war.The W oman’s Army Peace;

This is about my engineering class PowerPoint Presentation

This is about my engineering class - PowerPoint Presentation Example In such circumstances, people look forward to kitchen appliances that are more efficient and time saving. A vast majority of people aged between 20 and 35 frequently shift from one place to another in order to accord with their workplace. Therefore, modular home furniture suits them the most. However, they have conventionally had hard time furnishing their kitchens because of lack of modular kitchen appliances and furniture. Needs of the working class married couples can best be addressed by proposing a smart â€Å"mobile kitchen furniture assembly† model. This paper presents a noble concept in order to ease the mobility of the kitchen as a whole from one place to another. The conventional kitchen: Kitchen is a place meant for cooking food and storing raw ingredients as well as the cooked food. A gas or electric stove is a must feature of the contemporary kitchen in urban houses. Most of the modern day kitchens do have a microwave oven in them. The kitchen has a refrigerator t hat is a fundamental means of storing food and raw ingredients. A deep freezer accommodates frozen food and ice. A sink is necessarily employed as a place of dish washing, thus necessitating the facility of fresh clean tap water. In addition to that, kitchens have cupboards and wooden cabinets that are meant for placing utensils, and various culinary dishes. An exhaust fan is provided in the kitchen for regulating the air. Some families prefer to have their kitchen large enough to accommodate dining table as well. The Conventional Kitchen (Gowtham Enterprises). Guidelines for design of kitchen furniture: Before developing a model for â€Å"mobile kitchen furniture assembly†, it is customary to study the guidelines that are conventionally laid for designing the kitchen furniture. The kitchen furniture is fundamentally made up of wood, plastic, and steel (stainless or mild). Wood is protected with varnish or plastic lamination. For pans, shelves made in metal remain the best. I n order to increase the usable space, doors and windows can be made sliding. Cutting is facilitated by such utensils as cutting boards and knives, all placed in pull out drawers. Location of draining boards is considered most convenient in floor units. Dishwashers should be on either side of the sink. Preferred kitchen furniture design: A survey was conducted to establish a kitchen furniture design according to the choice of consumers. In order to achieve this, he carried out a survey in which he proposed three design models for the respondents to choose the best from. The three models along with the graded response are shown in the figure below: Kitchen furniture design models (Thakur 46). As evident from the picture above, maximum respondents chose model A as their preferred kitchen furniture design. The kitchen furniture design model should provide the consumers with the following facilities: 1. The counters’ height should be adjustable. 2. The furniture should be capaciou s enough to accommodate consumers’ culinary appliances. 3. Furniture should not be fixed, and should be stylish, and lightweight. 4. A compact kitchen furniture assembly was high in demand among the consumers. 5. The look should be modernistic and price should be affordable. 6. The system should be as user friendly as possible, and should avoid requirement of multitasking which may complicate the kitchen works. 7. There should be centralized interaction between the furniture appliances and the consumers. 8.

Communication Theory Applying Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Communication Theory Applying - Essay Example Many theories try to explain the enigma of relationships. The rules theory tries to understand the expectations that the two entities of a relationship have for their partner and how it affects relationships (Baxter, 289). The phenomenon of heterosexual relationships is uncovered through exploring the rules of interaction in relationships. Two research areas have been covered to try to decipher the rules of interaction and breakup. The two areas include the study of interaction rules, and the study of closed relationships. Here, the studies are carried out using information accounts of couples on why their relationships broke up. The study employed of the accounts given by the couples, the most prominent reason given was it was due to relationship rules when one party deviated from the norms of this set of rules since couples feel that the partner is obligate to fulfill these expectations (Miller, 171). In this study, we also realize that relationship differ with commitment. Expectat ions for couples in a marriage and a romantic relationship out of marriage are different. Complains of this two relationships are different since the roles of the parties are different in the two. Therefore, the reasons for their breakups are also significantly different. It is also revealed that women are more pragmatic on in relationship than males. Males are said to be entertain more the notion of true love and romance. They entertain fantasies on love and relationships than their female counterparts (Young, 4). The Structural Theory in Work Communication theories are also applicable in trying to understand the formation, and functions of structures in the society. The structural theory is a vital theory in trying to understand how societal hierarchies work and how they are formed. In theories of communication and sociology, structural theory is defined as the formation of social issues using the analysis of two factors that include structures and agents that lead to the formatio n of these structures. These two factors are indistinguishable in that they are a prerequisite of each other. Although the structure theory is considered complex, it gives valuable insight of work and life balance in an organization (Hoffman, Renee, 206). Communication is a key element, in the formation of societal structures and this is evident through the structural theory. In societies, structures are crucial since, without structures in place: there will be anarchy. It is in human nature to look for a leader, hence leading to the formation of a command chain. This translates to all areas of the human life, from the family to bigger social groupings like communities. These structures are also employed in the workplace where there is a structure of authority (Gilsdorf, 25). Structures come as result of the interaction between resources and rules. Rules are predetermined guidelines that may be learned through life’s experience or may be official (Giddens, 455).rules guide ou r actions in work, certain rules are expected to be followed, for example, an employee should never miss work without permission. This is an example of an official rule. In this theory, recourses are a prominent determinant of power. Another important factor to consider in the structure of life is the duality in life. Life always has two sides to it, in the workplace; we have the employer and employee. In the workplace, the employer is rarely willing to make exceptions for the employee. The

Asset pricing models (CAPM and APT) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Asset pricing models (CAPM and APT) - Essay Example The information of risk observed in similar types of the asset in the market will help the investor to get a true picture towards acquiring the asset. The observed risk factors will help in determining the real value of that asset (Kerzner & Saladis, 2010). There are many small investors who are the price taker. There is no tax on the asset. Investment should be of public related assets for example: shares and bonds. All the investors are adopting same strategy and provide combine information about the asset (Fabozzi et al., 2006). Investor can get information from the market to apply CAPM model, but it is also possible that the information is incomplete or not at large practiced. The investors in market applying CAPM pricing model are basically small investors. Small investors usually buy little bit stocks of asset and sell if the price of that asset increased (KÃ ¼rschner, 2008). The risk factor cannot be perfectly determined by the small investors because they acquire the assets on equilibrium price set by the market. Small investors can take risk but valuable risk factor can be determined by the large investors. Although tax on the asset is generally added to the cost of the asset but in determining the price model of CAPM, the tax factor will not be included. The information regarding the particular asset does not contain the information of tax imposed on it (Loskamp, 2007). APT is the model which can provide well diversified information about the risk factors as well as expected returns of that asset. Agents are appointed under this model to get information quite reliable regarding the risk and returns of an asset. Agent provides the expected returns of the asset depending on his experience. Risk factor calculated by the agent is more preferable because it is actually based on the whole market review (Focardi & Fabozzi, 2004). The agents charge price for providing information of the asset. Investor has to choose the agent which has the

Exam Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Exam Case Study - Essay Example However, skilled employees may not tolerate it because they are mobile and can effectively secure employment elsewhere. The nature of work that the employees are engaged in is equally important. For instance, routine work calls for a different approach from a new or a creative job. Bureaucratic leadership could work well in routine work but fail in jobs requiring creativity. In addition, the environment under which the organization works under is of paramount importance. Organizational environment could be stable or changing, conservative or adventurous. A good leader should therefore be flexible and change leadership styles depending on the type of employees and the prevailing environment (Collins 2008). The type of leadership exhibited by the Zinn Company is exclusively autocratic. The owner of the company commands high level of authority over his employees and team members. In this regard, he is the sole decision maker and does not tolerate opinions, ideas or criticism from the employees. He runs the organization by inculcating fear and dismissing disobedient employees. Therefore, employees dread making suggestions even if they are in the company’s interests. This has resulted to low motivation, which affects their productivity adversely. In addition, he does not offer incentives or rewards to the employees when they attain targets; those who fail to meet targets are laid off at the whim of the owner. Since the owner is also responsible for hiring new employees, nepotism characterizes these appointments. Friendship and favoritism rather than professionalism results in appointment of inefficient employees, who compromise the quality of the company’s products particula rly in the manufacturing department. Though this style would work if applied to illiterate and unskilled employees, it does not yield good results and can lead to high employee turnover,

Criminal Justice System Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Criminal Justice System - Case Study Example In the first section of the report I will also summarize not just the role and approach of the consortium I represent but also the organization's response to the overall consultation. To describe the British Retail Consortium, an introduction of the organization would be based on what is given on the website of British retail consortium. It is one of the leading associations representing all kinds of retailers from all parts of Britain. According to the website, 'The British Retail Consortium is the lead trade association representing the whole range of retailers, from the large multiples and department stores through to independents, selling a wide selection of products through centre of town, out of town, rural and virtual stores' (brc.org, 2008). The mission statement of the company focuses on the vision and mission of the company that aims at creating a vibrant and sustainable retail industry and also defends the retailers' interests. Improving retail services in general and providing advice and other kind of help services to the retailers are also equally important. The actual mission and vision of the organization as available on the organization website is given here: from brc.org, 2008 The British Retail Consortium also works closely with governments on campaigning and policy issues and maintains constructive relationships with governmental departments. The BRC has strong ties with governmental and non-governmental organizations including the DFID, the Department of Health, Revenue and Customs, Home Office, Health and Safety Executive as well as several non governmental organizations (BRC.org, 2008). The Policy Action Group of the BRC provides responses to government on policies that would be burdens to the retail sector and recommends changes for smoother working of public and private sector. BRC undertakes regular consultation responses and policy consultation is an essential part of BRC's wide ranging activities. The Policy Action Group of the British Retail Consortium has been especially established to tackle responses and consultations with Government departments and this particular exercise on policy appraisal of the Criminal Justice System falls within BRC's responsibilities on providing the right kind of consultation and responses to policies dealing with sentencing cases of theft from a shop. CONSULTATION RESPONSE: The consultation response to the policy on theft from a shop that the British Retail Consortium provides for the Criminal Justice System would be aimed at maintaining the best interests of the consumers, retailers from all sectors, the government, the sentencing guidelines council and the criminal justice department. According to

New media technology, the umbrella philosophy and relationship Essay

New media technology, the umbrella philosophy and relationship marketing - Essay Example Issues of customer relationship management, internal politics and customer-centric strategies will be identified. New media technology The most significant outcome of relationship marketing is the connection between marketer and the customer that is based on understanding the long-term motivations, desires and values of customers to provide them with a trusted and valuable proposition (Cameron, Miller & Frew, 2010). This requires segregating the tangible benefits of the product with the attitudes and behaviours of potential or loyal customers by providing extended non-product offerings that fit their psychological, sociological or cultural principles. For example, ISS Facility Services’ Healthcare, a cleaning organisation for medical environments, identifies the importance of giving employees an image that is not perceived subordinate by design. The company therefore only employs what are referred to as healthcare cleaning assistants when working with hospital staff in a critical role that involves complex cleaning dimensions (hefma.org.uk, 2010). If the employees are given a reputation as cleaning crew or ot her subordinate labels, the staff in the hospital will respond to employees under this perception and thus impact long-term relationship or cooperative strategies. Now that the elements of relationship marketing and understanding customer attitudes and perceptions have been identified, it is important to isolate the different new media technology tools that are utilised to improve sales revenues and meet with customer demands and lifestyle. British Airways and other large-scale airline companies utilise the Internet as a means of incentives marketing that assists in building more loyalty and brand preference as a long-term outcome. One current reward methodology that takes advantage of interactive self-service website provision is an airline reward strategy from British Airways where e-ticketing, priority check-in and transferrable points can be redeemed or structured online (Whyte, 2003). Some customer segments require a rapid transaction in order to be satisfied based on lifestyle or their personalized preferences regarding interaction with online or physical support tools. The Internet provides this quality interactive forum that maintains the ability to house significantly different, yet related services to meet multi-market demands. New media technology can include secondary links to benefits redemption sites hosted by the company in a forum with interactive videos such as YouTube. Any web-based media source or outlet that provides extended value, negating the costs associated with set-up and monitoring, give companies an opportunity to build more brand loyalty if they first understand what drives customers to choose one airline (or other industry brand) over another. As customer relationship management (CRM), tools to support this effort are necessary in order to efficiently sell and promote product. New media technologies to support electronic CRM are an inbound and outbound chat strategy that allows for personalized service. â€Å"With outbound chat, you can see that someone is trying to make contact and can send out a message before the customer even begins to draft a

ENDOSCOPES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ENDOSCOPES - Essay Example In operative endoscopes, an additional channel to allow entry of medical instruments to biopsy or to facilitate tissue and other operations (Wikipedia, 2006). The endoscope also provides visual examination of the interior of the body through a natural body opening such as the throat or rectum. Since the endoscope can be inserted through a very small opening, it is a less invasive method than other surgical techniques, causing less scarring and a quicker recovery time. A camera or video recorder is often used during an endoscopic procedure to provide permanent records of internal organs, which may be used for later reference (rosemont.com., N.D). Endoscopic surgery has been used for decades in a number of different procedures, including gallbladder removal, tubal ligation, and knee surgery. However, in recent years endoscopic instruments are also used for plastic surgery. As important research continues, endoscopy is being used on a limited basis for both cosmetic and reconstructive procedures (ASPS, 2006). There are two main uses of endoscopy - diagnostic and therapeutic. In case of a suspected tumour or other disorder in the stomach, bladder, lungs or other organs endoscopy can be used for examination. In addition to studying the organ, the physician is able to take a biopsy sample (a small piece of suspicious tissue) for testing. In earlier days biopsy required major surgery. Endoscopy is valuable in the removal of polyps (small growths), treatment of knee joint and other joint disorders, and inspection as well as treatment of the bronchi, colon, female reproductive organs and gastrointestinal tract (rosemont.com., N.D). All surgery carries risks and every incision leaves a scar. However, with endoscopic surgery, the scars are likely to be hidden, much smaller and some of the after effects of surgery may be minimized. As the incisions are shorter with endoscopy, the risk of sensory loss from nerve damage is decreased. Also, bleeding, bruising and

Dorothy and the Tree Essay Example for Free

Dorothy and the Tree Essay Dorothy and the Tree: A Lesson in Epistemology Stanley Fish discusses how we in society base our lives off of assumptions. Using the example of Dorothy and the tree, Fish is able to show how with our assumptions, we as people categorize others and things into what we believe to be correct. Whether or not we have actually taken the time to figure out if we are right is irrelevant. He notes that we should just â€Å"keep trying to expand our sense of ‘us’ as far as we can†, so we can avoid judgments and isolating ourselves from the rest of society. Even though Dorothy realizes her mistake, she doesn’t realize that it is not a failure, but her consciousness assuming the classification of things in the world. Fish later on defines thought as the â€Å"structure that at once enables perception†, meaning that within categories things emerge, limiting perception and nothing can allow one to see everything because that is God’s job. Fish uses many Bible allusions to create justification for his assertions. He uses Genesis 1:26, and Paul’s road to Damascus to show that people can be persuaded to change their placement of things in society. Despite all of his valid points, Fish states that it is nearly impossible for one to change just on realizations. He believes it takes practice to accept the fact that there are things that we cannot comprehend because there is no limit on the conceptual trappings of society.

Branding Universities Essay Example for Free

Branding Universities Essay The end of the 1990s witnessed the corporatization of public universities in Malaysia resulting in the publication of corporate literature in these universities and the type of writing Fairclough (1993) refers to as the marketization of academic discourse. Marketization is necessary in public universities due to stiff competition in attracting students among the public universities as well as from the increasing number of private universities. This article reports how Malaysian universities re-brand themselves using the results of an investigation on corporate brochures from these universities. The investigation employs a structural analysis and a textual analysis. Although informative in nature, these corporate brochures exhibit the use of promotional elements in the texts as seen in the contents and the language use. The communicative functions of university brochures are viewed to be more promotional than informative. ABSTRACT KEY WORDS: brochures, corporate culture, genre analysis, re-branding, universities Introduction Academic institutions, particularly public universities, used to be regarded as the pinnacle of learning. Most of these universities were reputed for providing the best tertiary education and the mere mention of their names lit up the faces of those who had the privilege of learning from these fountains of knowledge and those who aspired to be associated with them. There was a time when admission was ‘by invitation only’, otherwise young men and women were seen struggling to gain admission into these prestigious institutions. These public universities acquired a promotional value (Wernick, 1991) without having to promote or market themselves. In advertising terms, these universities did not go through the process of branding. Branding is a fundamental strategic process of effectively marketing a product or service which includes creating a brand name and identity, designing Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 58 Discourse Communication 2(1) the packaging and promoting the product or service (Randall, 1997). Although Randall (1997) argues that ‘brands (and therefore branding) are so fundamentally important to the survival and success of many firms’ (p.2), this was not the case in public universities in the past. This is significantly due to the fact that these academic institutions were claimed to be free from other influences as evidenced by Cardinal Newman’s view of universities cited by Wernick (1991) as: . . . the high protecting power of all knowledge and science, of fact and principle, of inquiry and discovery, of experiment and speculation; it maps out the territory of the intellect, and sees that . . . there is neither encroachment nor surrender from any side . . . (Cardinal Newman, 1847, cited in Wernick, 1991:151) That was the traditional image of public universities, independent of political or societal influence and this image was not built by advertising or branding. As centres of academe, public universities were known for their quality education based on the results of their graduates and their performance in the careers they embarked on upon graduation. As years passed, more aspiring young people would apply for admission in certain universities due to their reputation. This reputation in turn became the  image of the universities which automatically created the promotional value (Wernick, 1991) of these universities, mentioned earlier as the pinnacle of learning. Each university was identified by its name or logo and no further promotional strategies were required. By providing quality education, these universities successfully built ‘a distinct brand personality’ (Randall, 1997: 67) for themselves as the success of branding is justified when people are reminded of a particular brand just by looking at the logo or hearing its brand name. The traditional role of public universities was to manage society (Jarvis, 2001) by producing scholars in the various fields of study so that they can go out to make the world a better place to live or join the academia to continue producing scholars. However, towards the end of the 20th century, the role of universities started changing from serving the state in managing society to serving the industry and commerce in ensuring that people are employable (Jarvis, 2001). This is partly due to the demands of the contemporary knowledge-based society (Veitch, 1999) where consumers have become more knowledgeable and have started demanding for better education and improved quality of life. Changes started taking place in public universities in the West as early as the 1980s where the governments were forced to abolish academic tenure and decrease funding for these universities. This was when many traditional universities started transforming into corporate universities (Jarvis, 2001) where they have to assume a more corporate form and function more like a corporation. From being the centre of academe, universities have become business-like entities (Connell and Galasinski, 1998). In Malaysia, a number of public universities have recently been corporatized, a move taken by the Malaysian government in its effort to inculcate better and more efficient management of these institutions. As corporate culture (Treadwell and Treadwell, 2000) is a new culture in all these universities, most of them Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising have set up corporate communications departments (Hajibah Osman, 2005) to handle corporate matters. Among the functions of these departments are managing corporate information and publication and projecting a positive image of the universities which are part of corporate advertising. Corporate advertising Business corporations use corporate advertising to enhance the image of the whole organization, or of the general brand in order to influence social values or to establish a connection between the corporation/brand and an already established positive value and in this era of identity, a lot of emphasis has been put on the importance of brand and corporate identities (Richards et al. , 2000). Unlike business organizations, universities are non-profit institutions. Public universities are viewed to use corporate advertising to enhance the strong foundation and to highlight the quality of these institutions of higher education. While it is common for business corporations to publish informative or promotional literature from time to time to inform the public about new developments in the organization (monthly or yearly reports) or to introduce new products or services (product launch leaflets), the use of promotional literature in academic institutions is a recent development. Malaysian public universities have started producing informative literature in the form of university brochures and special booklets in conjunction with certain celebrations in the universities as well as promotional literature in the form of leaflets providing brief information on academic programmes offered by the universities or introducing new programmes (Hajibah Osman, 2005). By employing new strategies to market their traditional image, from the advertising perspective, these universities are re-branding their products and services. Re-branding is the process of marketing an existing product or service of one brand with a different identity involving radical changes to the brand name, logo, image, marketing strategy and advertising themes (Wikipedia, 2006). In the advertising industry, re-branding is often referred to as re-positioning, that is, re-positioning a product or service in order to improve sales. Although there was no actual initial branding taking place in universities, being non-profit making institutions, the term ‘re-branding’ is used in this article to illustrate the change in the image of these universities particularly since the late 20th century. Significantly, this change has been effected without compromising the traditional characteristics and values of these institutions as the pinnacle of higher learning. The process of re-branding is aimed at improving the image of the universities by focusing on the facilities and highlighting the quality of the academic programmes. This article attempts to investigate the process of re-branding in public universities in Malaysia by conducting a genre analysis on university brochures, one type of print materials published by the institutions that represent corporate advertising. Analysing genres can lead to a ‘thick description’ (Bhatia, 1993) Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 59 60 Discourse Communication 2(1) of the texts contained in these genres, explaining why certain texts have been constructed the way they are. The specific objective of this article is to identify and discuss the strategies used in the re-branding process based on the structural organization of university brochures and the communicative functions of this type of brochure. Previous investigations of advertising genres mostly focused on straightsell advertisements of products or services. Bruthiaux (2000), for instance, investigated how advertisers make use of a limited space available to them to create successful advertising copies by examining the syntactic features in an undisclosed number of display and classified advertisements. His results show that the degree of syntactic elaboration ‘varies substantially even when content of equal simplicity/complexity or familiarity to readers is being presented. This variation appears to correlate with perceptions of status on the parts of both writers and readers’ (p. 298) and the persuasive elements lie in the vacuous displays of linguistic sophistication designed to create a largely artificial sense of exclusiveness among status-conscious readers (p. 369). Investigations have also been conducted on the language of advertising in Asia, for instance, Tej Bhatia’s (2000) investigation of language of advertising in Rural India and Henry and Roseberry’s (1998) investigation of the linguistic features in tourist information brochures from Brunei. Thus far, there have been very few linguistic analyses conducted on the genre of corporate advertising. Therefore, the genre selected for analysis in this article is brochure, specifically corporate brochure from academic institutions. A brochure is a printed document of six or more pages, used to introduce an organization, published only once and distributed to special publics for a single purpose (Newsom and Carrell, 2001). The discourse community of Public Relations (PR) specifies five characteristics of brochures, three of which are related to the present article: always having a singular message statement; having a purpose – to persuade or to inform and educate; and attracting and holding the attention of the audience. Brochure genre makes an interesting study because, first, this genre is viewed as a ‘blurred genre’ (a term borrowed from Scollon et al. , 1999) in that the term ‘brochure’ has been used to refer to other forms of publications including booklet, flyer, leaflet and pamphlet (Newsom and Carrell, 2001). Second, a brochure is a genre of persuasive discourse shaping the thoughts, feelings and lives of the public (Dyer, 1993) placing it under the field of advertising. However, according to Newsom and Carrell (2001), brochures are produced by PR practitioners rather than advertising practitioners. This is probably due to the fact that PR, among other things, incorporates looking after the reputation of an organization ‘with the aim of earning understanding and support, and influencing opinion and behaviour’ (Beard, 2001: 7). The question of ownership arises placing brochures in an even more ‘blurred’ state as the communicative functions of brochures have been set by the discourse community to which the genre belongs. In the context of this article, brochures are categorized as a corporate genre (basically PR) involving the principles of corporate writing (Treadwell Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising and Treadwell, 2000). Brochures are readily available, particularly in print version, and are easily accessible electronically. Finally, brochure genre needs to be investigated because brochure format is one of the most frequently used information formats in advertising and PR but is ironically the least written-about (Bivins and Ryan, 1991). Corporate genre in academic institutions This article establishes that any publications from universities, particularly those produced by the Corporate or Public Relations Office, are referred to as corporate genre. Corporate brochures are usually categorized as informative brochures (Richards et al. , 2000) providing all the necessary information about the organizations they represent. There are certain corporate elements present to qualify them as corporate brochures, but mostly these brochures are informative. However, an analysis of corporate brochures from multinational corporations by Askehave and Swales (2001) prove that these brochures also function to promote the organization. This is evident in the presence of promotional elements selected as syntactic choices in these brochures. Corporate brochures also function to establish long-lasting trading relationships which are in fact paramount in today’s industrial market. Hajibah Osman (2005) also notes that corporate brochures from academic institutions are promotional in nature with the use of promotional strategies apart from corporate and informative strategies. Another corporate genre in academic institutions, the university prospectus, started changing in form in the 1990s (Fairclough, 1993) where apart from providing information on the core business of the university, that is, the academic programmes, the prospectus has also included information on other aspects of the universities. Based on a critical discourse analysis of prospectuses from a number of British universities, Fairclough notes that these universities started promoting their programmes because they have come increasingly under (mostly government’s) pressure to operate like other types of businesses competing to sell their products to consumers. The university prospectus has become a ‘genre of consumer advertising colonising professional and public service orders of discourse on a massive scale, generating many new hybrid partly promotional genres’ (Fairclough, 1993: 139). Academic institutions in Malaysia have also published promotional leaflets (Hajibah Osman, 2005) to advertise their academic programmes and these are circulated to potential students particularly before a new academic year begins. These leaflets are no longer the plain, boring information sheets but colourful and interesting ones. This article concurs with Askehave and Swales (2001) that corporate brochures function as promotional brochures more than projecting the corporate image and providing information. Thus, the investigation in this article attempts to identify and discuss the strategies that realize the promotional functions in this type of brochure as part of the re-branding process in public universities. Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 61 62 Discourse Communication 2(1) Methodology In 2005, there were 11 public universities in Malaysia (currently, there are 20). Brochures were obtained from the 11 universities and were initially analysed to identify the possible structural organization. Based on the organization, the communicative functions of these brochures were determined. The 11 public universities included in this investigation are: International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM/UIA); Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM); Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM); Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS); Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS); Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM); Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI); Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM); Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM); Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM); University of Malaya (UM). A textual analysis was conducted to examine the strategies used in the rebranding process. The strategies in the context of this article are tactical choices (Bhatia, 1993) which are cognitive processes ‘exploited by the writer to make writing more effective keeping in mind any special reader requirements, considerations arising from the use of medium or constraints imposed by organizational and other factors’ (p. 20). The strategies used by universities in re-branding the institutions are discussed within the framework of the sociolinguistic theory which considers writing as ‘part of the overall activities of a group and organization’ (Gunnarsson, 1997: 140) and in relation to the corporate culture (Hagberg and Heifetz, 2000) practised by the universities. As a genre is a typical form of utterances, it should be studied in its social contexts of use (Berkenkotter and Huckin, 1993). Sociolinguistics does not only describe linguistic variation and the social context in which such a variation occurs, but also shows how linguistic differentiation reflects social structure (Coupland, 2001). The sociolinguistic perspective in this article considers the existence of factors underpinning the construction of university brochures and the concept of promotional culture (Wernick, 1991). Re-branding academic institutions It has been established that university brochures form part of the corporate advertising strategies in Malaysian universities which in turn are part of the rebranding process in these traditional institutions. The structural organization in these brochures consists of 10 sections identified as moves (Table 1). Some of the moves are exemplified with extracts from the university brochures in Figure 1 (see Appendix). In identifying the moves, the term ‘service’ is used to refer to the educational services and the support services offered by the universities. All the brochures from the 11 universities include Moves I, C, L, D, J and S, indicating that these six moves are obligatory. Ninety-one percent of the brochures include Moves A, T and E, while 81 percent include Move V, making them optional moves. The 10 moves have been used to realize three communicative functions of the university brochures which are: †¢ To inform the public about the academic programmes offered in the university and the facilities and other services available to support the academic programmes; Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising †¢ †¢ To portray a corporate image of the university; and To promote the university as an academic institution based on the quality and the variety of academic programmes offered as well as the facilities available. These communicative functions of university brochures correspond with the general functions of brochures (Newsom and Carrell, 2001) set by the discourse community of PR. Re-branding strategies The 10 sections in university brochures have been identified as moves and these moves are realized with the use of strategies, and for the purpose of discussion in this article, re-branding strategies. The article discusses how the strategies contribute to the re-branding process and what their communicative functions are. NAME AND LOGO The first move in university brochures is called identifying the service which presents the name and the logo of the university. Although the brochures are in English language, the names of the universities are in Malay, the national language of Malaysia except two universities, International Islamic University Malaysia and University of Malaya. The names of the public universities were officially changed to Malay when the national language was made the medium of instruction in the mid-1970s. In the case of IIUM, however, the acronym by which it is commonly referred to by Malaysians is the Malay version, UIA. Similarly, University of Malaya is now popularly known as Universiti Malaya (UM). Interestingly, alumni up to the early 1980s still refer to this oldest university in the country as MU (Malaya University). TA B L E 1. Structural organization of university brochures Section Move identification Name of the university University slogan or motto Vision/Mission statement Profile or background of the university Location and size of the university Academic programmes offered at the university Facilities available to support the academic programmes Entry requirements, fees charged and duration of the programmes Career opportunities and recognition received by the university Contact addresses and telephone numbers Identifying the service (I) Attracting reader attention (A) Targeting the market (T) Establishing credentials (C) Locating the service (L) Describing the service (D) Justifying the service (J) Indicating the value of service (V) Endorsing the value of service (E) Soliciting response (S) Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 63 64 Discourse Communication 2(1) In the past, universities were identified by their crests but now these crests have been generally referred to as logos. Although it cannot be ascertained when the change exactly took place, this is the first re-branding strategy. However, this is not an obvious re-branding element because some of the established traditional universities in the world still use the term crest, for example, Oxford University (http://www. ox. ac. uk/web/crest.shtml). As far as Malaysian universities are concerned, both terms are similar and a recent survey of the university websites shows that most of the public universities in Malaysia refer to the crest as the logo while two universities (UKM and USM) refer to them as emblems. Most of the websites also provide the rationale for the design of the logo (e. g. UiTM, UPM). Whether used as crest, logo or emblem, interestingly, there are two common shapes observed: the shape of a shield (six universities) and a round shape (five universities) (Figure 2, see Appendix). The shape of USM’s emblem differs significantly from other logos in that it resembles a state emblem. This qualifies for the use of the term ‘emblem’ (a heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge of a nation, organization or family – Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, 2001) by the university. Although the current shape of UPSI’s logo is round, it once had the shape of a shield (Figure 3, see Appendix). Compared with the logos of established universities which include traditional designs representing the academe, the current logos of Malaysian public universities include elements of modern designs. In fact, some of these logos have gone through some kind of ‘evolution’ as in the case of UiTM, UPM and UPSI. UPM ‘evolved’ from a training school to a college to a university focusing on agriculture. Later, the university started including more disciplines and the name was changed from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Malaysia University of Agriculture) to Universiti Putra Malaysia (Putra University of Malaysia) in 1997, taking after the name of the first prime minister at the same time keeping the same acronym. UPSI and UiTM underwent almost similar ‘evolution’; from a centre to a college to an institute and finally to a university. Throughout the ‘evolution’, the logos have also gone through many changes where the concept incorporated in the logos mainly represents the focus of the university. While UPSI’s logo changed in shape but not in concept, UiTM’s and UPM’s logos underwent a total facelift (Figure 3, see Appendix). This is probably due to the fact that UPSI’s focus of training teachers remains throughout. MOTTO AND SLOGAN A motto is a short sentence or phrase that expresses a rule for sensible behaviour, especially a way of behaving in a particular situation (Collins Cobuild Dictionary, 2001). Most of the university logos have the motto inscribed on them as the motto represents the culture or the way of life in the university. Once again, all the mottos of the public universities are in Malay. The more established universities still retain this culture inscribed in the logo as seen in UM’s motto (translated as) ‘Knowledge, the Source of Development’, UPSI’s ‘Knowledge, the Beacon of Pure Character’, UTM’s ‘By the Name of God for Mankind’ and UUM’s ‘Scholarship, Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising Virtue, Service’. UPSI keeps the same motto inscribed on the logo throughout its ‘evolution’ but UiTM left out its motto of 39 years from its new logo. The newly established universities (UMS and UNIMAS) do not have a motto inscribed in their logos. While a motto is a traditional feature of a public university, having a slogan is a new phenomenon. A slogan is a distinctive catchphrase that serves as a motto for a promotion campaign (Wells et al., 2003) used to sum up a theme for the benefit of the product or the service in order to deliver a message in a few words which are easily remembered. There are two types of slogans (Russell and Lane, 1990): hard-sell slogans are strongly competitive, epitomizing the special significant features of the product or service being advertised. Institutional slogans establish a prestigious image for companies which they need in order to enhance their products or services. Slogans in university brochures fall under the category of institutional slogans. Again, it cannot be ascertained when universities started creating slogans but there is a strong probability that they started at the same time when Malaysian public universities were undergoing corporatization in the late 20th century. Slogans started appearing on brochures and prospectuses of these public universities. The use of slogans has been viewed as a significant re-branding strategy as slogans represent the most promotional element in advertising. The purpose of having a slogan is to attract the reader’s attention and to let it linger on the reader’s mind. According to Russell and Lane (1990), the memorability of slogans can be enhanced by making use of literary techniques. These techniques consist of certain types of words including: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Boldness – use of strong powerful words, and startling or unexpected phrases; Parallelism – use of a repeated structure of a sentence or phrase; Rhyme, rhythm, alliteration – use of repeated sounds; Aptness – use of appropriate, direct words (Russell and Lane, 1990). Slogans in university brochures have been created based on good advertising principles as they have been observed to make use of the literary techniques, for example: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ boldness: Garden of Knowledge and Virtue (IIUM) parallelism: The National University with an International Reach (UKM) aptness: Your Inspiration parallelism: Contemporary and Forward Looking (UNIMAS) boldness: Towards a World-Class University (UPM) boldness: Towards Excellence and Supremacy (UPSI) Boldness is exemplified with words such as ‘virtue’, ‘world-class’ and ‘supremacy’ where the universities are bold enough to associate themselves with such high stature. Traditionally, public universities are centres of academe which do not portray an image of flaunting. Slogans using parallelism aim for jingle-like sounds so that readers can remember them easily while aptness acts like punchlines, strong and effective to be easily remembered. The bottom line is that a slogan is an Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 65 66 Discourse Communication 2(1) advertising concept and a marketing tool. The fact that public universities as nonprofit making academic institutions use slogans place them in a different light. They are currently functioning more like business entities. MISSION STATEMENT This move is identified as targeting the market based on the communicative functions of the mission statements. A mission statement provides information about what type of organization it is and what it does (Falsey, 1989) at the same time highlighting the positive factors in the organization. Stating the mission of the university is viewed as one of the two crucial strategies (the other being using slogans) in re-branding academic institutions as this move never appeared in academic genres before. This move has placed public universities in the same league as other successful corporations. Mission statements of public universities in Malaysia are observed to provide information as to what and how they can contribute to the public in terms of tertiary education as highlighted (underlined) in the following examples: (10) To become a distinguished university, aspiring to promote academic excellence in higher education and professional training necessary for the country’s socio-economic development (UiTM). (11) To be a premier university seeking excellence in the advancement of knowledge to meet the aspirations of the nation (UM) (12) To become an exemplary university of internationally acknowledged stature and as a scholarly institution of preference and choice for students and academics through the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and scholarship (UNIMAS) (13) To lead in the development of creative human resource and technology in line with the aspirations of the nation (UTM). The words ‘distinguished’, ‘premier’, and ‘exemplary’ are used to emphasize the quality of the universities. Other words like ‘excellence’, ‘advancement’ and ‘stature’ as well as ‘to lead’ are all bold words of promise by the universities. PROFILE OF THE UNIVERSITY This section is identified as the move to establish the credentials of the university as it provides information on the background and/or the current status of the university. The background information includes the date of establishment and the reason for the establishment while information on the current status of the university usually includes the achievements of the university in terms of academic programmes and physical development as well as the quality of the programmes offered. This move is supposed to be informational but there are a number of instances where the brochures provide the information on the current status of the university using ‘promotional’ words and phrases. For example: (14) UNIMAS is an ISO-certified university . . . Its undergraduate programmes have been designed to suit the needs of society and industry. Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising An ISO certification for an organization confirms the quality of that organization and it is now a common practice among public universities to obtain such certification to convince the public about the quality of the university, particularly the academic programmes on offer. Universities with ISO certification usually highlight it in their brochures as a strategy to promote the institutions. Other instances of promotional words can be observed in the following examples: (15) The university is the catalyst for regional growth in the northern region of Peninsula Malaysia (UUM) (16) From these humble beginnings, UM grew hand-in-hand with the young nation to become the nucleus for producing graduates of the highest quality and calibre. The word ‘catalyst’ denotes the importance of the university in the regional growth of the northern region of the country, without which there would not have been much growth in that region, thus promoting the significance of the university. Similarly, the word ‘nucleus’ conveys the significance of UM to the developing nation. Another instance is when a university states the commitment of the university to the public or the nation. UPM boldly states its commitment to become a worldclass university to convince the public to come and enrol in this university. (17) Named Universiti Putra Malaysia in honour of the pioneering Prime Minister of Malaysia, . . . has adopted this pioneering spirit and is committed to become the world class Univers.

Health and Nutrition of Developing Nations

Health and Nutrition of Developing Nations Timothy Lee It may seem as an overwhelming task when attempting to understand the factors that are related to the health and nutrition of many, if not all, of the developing nations around the world. There is though one reoccurring factor that is constantly mentioned no matter where you begin your research into the issue, poverty. The mentioning of the term â€Å"developing nation† has become synonymous with the term poverty in my own mind. The issue at hand is how to turn these nations from developing to developed, which in turn would also contribute to the improvement of proper health needs and adequate nutrition standards for all. From malaria stricken nations to malnourished nations across the developing spectrum poverty plays a role. It is becoming more difficult now though to just blame poverty since there has been such a large influx in foreign aid to these developing nations[LL2]. Help is being offered, and it is upon the citizens of these unhealthy nations to take full advantage of these benefits, even if that means teaching the local populations the benefits of say sleeping under a bed net or feeding your children proper nutritional meals even on the low income budget that they have, as a few of the Millennium Development Goals have referenced. Source[LL3]: http://ih887.pbworks.com/w/page/5284039/Micronutrient%20Deficiency One of the biggest health related diseases that impacts such a large number of people and yet can be prevented is that of Malaria. In the case of providing bed nets to all families of developing nations to help in the prevention of malaria, the cost of providing the nets is very small and are in rather ample supply[LL4]. The benefits from using the bed nets, those being less infected citizens, stronger workforce due to the advancement of the individuals’ health, etc.., greatly outweigh any monetary cost[LL5]. The individuals that would use the bed nets would get sick less often, be able to work harder, and the overall income gains would easily cover the initial costs plus more. There are two sides to the argument of providing these simple bed nets for free. The first being that in developing nations where malaria is rampant, the poverty trap is so deep that they are to the point where they can’t even afford to purchase the necessities for the prevention of the disease, thus people like Jeffery Sachs suggests that if we were to finance malaria eradication for these developing nations then they would end up on the right side of his S-shaped curve on the road to opulence. The other side of the argument is that skeptics are not positive that malaria is the actual cause for that countries poverty and that maybe it is because of a corrupt government for their failure to eradicate malaria, and if that is true, then getting rid of the disease wouldn’t help. In my opinion, both arguments make valid points. It is reasonable to assume that a country is poor because of the health of its citizens and if health improved then so to would its economy[LL6]. That being said, it could also be seen as being naà ¯ve to think that the health of a nation would be the only factor in that nation’s economic well-being[LL7]. Despite the size, governments of all countries play an enormous role in their citizens well-being health wise, economic wise, and etc. b ut to look at a poor country and determine that one cause, that being malaria in this case, is the reason for that nation’s poverty, in my opinion, would be a misinterpretation of the causes of poverty as a whole. Note that Malaria is not the only disease that is rampant and plaguing developing nations but is by far the easiest example to point to and say, â€Å"It can be done†, the â€Å"it† being the prevention of the disease, the repossession of several million able body workers into the workforce, and ultimately the building of a weak economy. The next step for a developing nation would be to tackle the nutritional standards of its population and ensure that those needs are being met in a way to guarantee that the population stays healthy. â€Å"Just as micronutrient deficiencies can lead to increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, infectious disease can also contribute to micronutrient deficiencies since the body requires increased micronutrients when combating disease. Worldwide, between 140 and 250 million children suffer from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD[LL8]).Primary VAD is usually caused by prolonged dietary deprivation, in particular lack of vegetables and animal products, and is particularly endemic in areas where rice is the staple food (Muller Krawinkel, 2005).† The absence of adequate vegetables and animal products cannot be blamed on the average citizen but rather on the lack focus on the ecology, the economy, and the culture of the regions being observed[LL9]. Sachs view on the health of developing nations is that we should begin â€Å"scaling up† our efforts on the international side and support community health workers. While in previous Sachs arguments, that being about the poverty trap, I would’ve agreed with his views, but when it comes to providing educational matters related to health, or providing all the tools to a nation to improve their own health care system then when would that nation become self-sufficient and no longer need aid, educational help regarding nutrition, or their basic needs be met? [LL10]How long would we as the international community stand by and continuously pour money into these nati ons? In conclusion, there is without a doubt a definite need for foreign aid when it comes to the health and nutritional standards of developing nations[LL11]. These countries are in a rut, also known as â€Å"The Poverty Trap†, and can only climb out of such trap when the proper ladder is offered to help bring them out from the hole they find themselves in as Sachs explains it. This doesn’t however excuse these developing nations from all responsibilities involving their population and the providing of proper education, food, and economic well-being for its citizens. When a nation [LL12]has so called â€Å"low-hanging fruits† available to them but doesn’t or won’t take full advantage of these â€Å"fruits† even after the international community has exhausted its capabilities to educate, influence, and integrate proper health and nutritional standards then in my opinion said nations should be coerced [LL13]into following the protocol that other de veloping nations are following by having some sort of aid reduction policy implemented so that countries would feel obligated to begin doing for themselves what they should be doing all along[LL14], and until they show evidence of taking advantage of the â€Å"low-hanging fruits†. Works Cited[LL15] Banerjee, Abhijit V., and Esther Duflo. Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. New York: Public Affairs, 2011. Print. â€Å"Micronutrient Deficiency.† Ih887 /. Web. 25 June 2015. Muller, O., Krawinkel, M., (2005)Malnutrition and Health in Developing Countries.CMAJ, 279-286. Sachs, Jeffrey. A Call to Scale-Up Community Health Workers. The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 25 June 2015. [LL1]Nice job Tim. Organization needs a little more work though. It’s a little hard to tell if your focus is on aid or health, or both and you’re missing a few opportunities to apply more critical analysis. Esp. conclusion seems a bit abrupt and doesn’t seem to link closely to your intro. It’s a bit short of the word count laid out in the syllabus, and a bit short on analysis and discussion in a few places. Otherwise, a nice project. Grade: 80 [LL2]Can you develop this more? How does the influx of aid make this more difficult? [LL3]Need to discuss/explain/introduce this graphic as part of your discussion. This is a bit choppy. [LL4]Need to cite these two claims. [LL5]According to who? So why don’t more people use them? [LL6]Develop this argument a bit more. [LL7]Good point. [LL8]Citation? And why is this bad? [LL9]Can we blame any other factors? Why are there fewer elephants in Kenya than in Zinbabwe? [LL10]I think I get your basic point, but the wording /structure is making it hard to follow you. [LL11]Not sure you’ve established this point†¦ your intro seemed to suggest that you saw merit in the idea that aid might hurt more than help†¦ [LL12]Do you mean the government/members of government or the population at large? [LL13]By who? We should send in the army? [LL14]Need to develop this idea a bit more in the preceding paragrphs†¦ what are some things that can be done, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of these proposals? Do they seem reasonable to you? Etc. [LL15]Works cited doesn’t seem quite uniform

Research on early fathers and mothers involvement and childs later educ

In 2004, the British Journal of Educational Psychology releases a report on a research that was conducted by Eirini Flouri and Ann Buchanan dealing with the correlation of early interaction of parents and the future assessment of their children in school. Previous to this article, little research was given to the individual long-term contribution that early parent involvement had in a child’s success in school. Flouri and Buchanan had three particular goals in mind while completing this research: (1) To explore the role of early father involvement in children's later educational attainment independently of the role of early mother involvement and other confounds, (2) to investigate whether gender and family structure moderate the relationship between father's and mother's involvement and child's educational attainment, and (3) to explore whether the impact of father's involvement depends on the level of mother's involvement (www.Ingentaselect.com). The study was provoked by t he considerable amount of research presented by the United States that suggested that early father involvement would lead to positive outcomes in children; Flouri and Buchanan wanted to evaluate if this was the case in the United Kingdom (www.literacytrust.org.uk). The researchers had positivistic basis for obtaining their study. It was solely an attempt to reveal patterns and regularities dealing with the subject manner. They gave a secondary analysis of work that was deductive of longitudinal data coll...

Misunderstandings in Culturally Diverse Workplaces Essay -- social iss

This essay will explain issues that occur in culturally diverse workplaces and describe how personal conceptions may contribute to misunderstandings when working with others in culturally diverse workplaces. This essay will also discuss the impact of cultural differences when conflict occurs and it will give suggestions on how to resolve and manage this conflict. An explanation of who to discuss the conflict with in a work environment will also be discussed in this essay. The issues that arise in a culturally diverse workplace need to be known and identified by counsellors to ensure they are aware of any obstacle forming. Cross-cultural conflict can arise from a range of issues. These issues include language barriers, customs, roles and status, differences in non-verbal behaviour, personal space, appearance, gender, religion and responses to authority (Open Colleges, 2012, p.47-49). While working as a professional in a multi-cultural country it is important for counsellors to understand the influence these issues can have on relationships in the workplace with both clients and colleagues. Fontes states, when the client and counsellor come from different cultures, obtaining correct basic demographic information can be challenging due to atypical family configurations, facts that have been lost or changed in the process of immigration and lying (2008, p.282). These issues may be overcome with honesty and confidence once the counsellor and client have strong rapport. It is important for counsellors to understand their own cultural concepts and how they may contribute to conflict when working with others. As a young female, I understand that in many cultures I would be recognised as incompetent and unhelpful. However, by using le... ...of how to resolve it successfully. A reflection on my own cultural concepts has enabled me to understand how personal values and beliefs may contribute to misunderstandings when working with others and how the impact of cultural differences can affect conflict. It has also explained where to get assistance if needed if conflict arose. This information will be used in my work when counselling clients from a different cultural background. Works Cited Open Colleges (2012) Student Workbook: Work within a structured counselling framework. Open Colleges Sydney, Australia Geldard, D., and Geldard, K. (2012) Basic Personal Counselling: A training manual for counsellors (7th Ed.) Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia Fontes, Lisa Aronson, May 23, 2008, Interviewing Clients across Cultures: A Practitioner's Guide Guilford Press, New York, ISBN: 9781606230534

Teaching Philosophy Statement :: Education Teachers Teaching Essays

Teaching Philosophy Statement There have been many teachers come and go in my life, but only a few really stand out. The reason I want to teach is because of these few teachers that have touched my life. A unique world of opportunity rests within an educational system. The ability to influence minds is a wonderful thing. I don’t want to be one of those ordinary teachers; I want to become an exceptional teacher. I want to be the teacher that everyone values. I understand that it will take a lot of hard work to become this type of teacher, but I’m willing to do so. I hope to be a positive influence on my students. I want to be able to motivate my students, and give them a full opportunity to learn. I wish for the students who leave my classroom to have accomplished independence, knowledge, and self-discipline. I think these three aspects are the aspects of an effective classroom environment. My philosophy on education is an eclectic philosophy. I find that I lean toward the essentialist philosophy. Wanting to be a science teacher, I believe that natural sciences should be a core curriculum. Although I feel that lecture and discussion are great ways to lean, I think a variety of methods should be used. I think an effective classroom should obtain other methods of learning such as cooperative learning, mastery learning, project based instruction along with direct instruction. I believe that academic rigor is an essential component of education. I believe students should master certain key materials before being passed on to the next grade level. Other than essentialism, I find another philosophy I lean toward is perrenialism. What makes me lean toward perrenialism is that I believe that methods such as: problem solving, discussion, lecture, critical thinking, and questioning should be used in every classroom. As a science teacher I would think that problem solving would be the best way to educate my students. My goals for the future are to graduate from Concord with a Bachelor’s in Science Education of grades 9-12. I then intend on maybe teaching and then going on to obtain a Master’s degree.

Applied Linguistics Essay

Second language learning has always become an important work-field both in schools and other private sectors dealing with language teaching and learning process especially in the time of global integration. It is a complex activity involving a mix of internal factors such as age, aptitude, motivation, personality, or learning strategies†¦and external factors such as socio-economic and cultural background, learning and teaching contexts†¦ All these factors play a very important role in learners? success in acquiring and using a second language. Thus, learners’ second language achievement can be greatly improved when teachers have a better understanding of the learner, of the learning process and of the variables that may help or hinder learner’s language achievement. Because of the limited size of this article, I am going to discuss some of the most important factors affecting learner’s second language achievement: motivation, age, personality, social and cultural factor in order to analyze what stimulates successful language learning and what places obstacles in the learner’ s path to language proficiency. II. DEVELOPMENT II. 1. Some factors affecting learner’s L2 achievement II. 1. 1. Internal factors II. 1. 1. 1. Motivation It is undeniable that motivation is one of the major factors in deciding the learner’s failure or success in second language achievement. Motivation is a kind of desire for learning. It is very difficult to teach a second language in a learning environment if the learner does not have a desire to learn a language. Reece & Walker (1997) stress that a less able student who is highly motivated can achieve greater success than the more intelligent student who is not well motivated. In this article, we are concerned with motivation related to foreign language teaching and learning. Wilkins (1972) points out that â€Å"motivation is not a general covert term for possibly distinct concept such as energy, interest and enjoyment, but instead, restricted to the degree of willingness to learn which depends largely on the learner’s needs in learning the language. Psychologists have distinguished two major types of motivation which play an important role in determining how willing the learner is to persevere with the task: instrumental and integrative motivation The first motivation will be discussed is instrumental motivation. It is generally characterized by the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of a second language (Hudson 2000). With instrumental motivation, the purpose of language acquisition is more utilitarian, such as meeting the requirements for school or university graduation, applying for a job, requesting higher pay based on language ability, reading technical material, translation work or achieving higher social status. Instrumental motivation is often characteristic of second language acquisition, where little or no social integration of the learner into a community using the target language takes place. According to Richards (1976) simply learning a language to acquire course credits, or to carry out a limited range of tasks that do not involve the learner in close face – to – face interaction ( for example a person learning enough English to sell souvenirs to tourists does not generally lead to a high degree of accomplishment in learning). However, in recent years, according to Brown (1977), he stated that Indian English is one example of a variety of English which can be acquired very successful for instrumental reasons alone. Another motivation will be taken into consideration is integrative motivation. According to Gardner and Lambert (1959), this kind of motivation means learning a language because the learner wishes to identify himself with or become integrated in the society whose language it is. It has generally been thought that integrative motivation is the more powerful of the two because it implies a desire to integrate with speakers of the target language. Instrumentally oriented students would be expected to acquire the second language only to the point where their instrumented goals were satisfied. It is likely that when the learner merely wanted to be able to buy food and take public transportation he could achieve those goals with a very low level of proficiency in the second language and if the learner had to use the target language in his professional life, his level of learning would be much higher. Learners with integrative motivation view the language as a key to social and cultural enrichment through the opportunities to provide for association with members of a different culture. Then their goal in learning the language is to be able to use the language as a means of  communication and also for acceptance by the people who speak the language. Such motivation often leads to high accomplishment. In settings such as Vietnam, learners who learn English for special purposes have a great deal of instrumental motivation to acquire English in order to be able to be applied for a good job with a high salary. They learn English very fast just because they want to communicate orally, in a very simple English with other speakers of English. In Vietnam, English is a compulsory subjects so almost all of students learn English just to pass the exam. Thus, the type of language learned namely forms as mainly for communicative use will be directly affected by the type of examination students need to pass. As a result, it is likely that learners will not achieve a high standard of English. II. 1. 1. 2. Language aptitude As has been discussed in the previous section, success in mastering a foreign language depends very much on the learner’s motivation. Beside the motivation factor, social psychologists have also found out that whether a student can learn a foreign language very successfully or not also depends on his language aptitude. This section is an attempt to discuss an intrinsic factor influencing foreign language learning that is language aptitude. Aptitude for language learning is usually composed of four different types of abilities: the ability to identify and memorize new sounds, the ability to understand the function of particular words in sentences, the ability to figure out grammatical rules from language samples, the ability to memorize new words. Many tests of language aptitude have proven extremely effective in predicting which learners will be successful in learning. However, considerable controversy remains about whether language aptitude is properly regarded as a unitary concept, an organic property of the brain, or as a complex of factors including motivation and short-term memory. Research has generally shown that language aptitude is quite distinct from general aptitude or intelligence, as measured by various tests, and is itself fairly consistently measurable by different tests. Language aptitude research is often criticized for being irrelevant to the problems of language learners, who must attempt to learn a language regardless of whether they are gifted for the task or not. This claim is reinforced by research findings that aptitude is largely unchangeable. In addition, traditional language aptitude measures such as the Modern Language Aptitude Test strongly favor decontextualized knowledge of the sort used in taking tests, rather than the sort used in conversation. For this reason little research is carried out on aptitude today. However, operators of selective language programs such as the United States Defense Language Institute continue to use language aptitude testing as part of applicant screening. In my opinion, as a teacher of English, aptitude plays an important role in learner’s language achievement. How is it that some people can learn a foreign language quickly while others, given the same opportunity experience utter failure? Does this depend on how language is taught? Partly this is true as when the teacher is equipped with a better language teaching method, his students can learn faster. But partly it is not true as in the same group there always exists fast and slow learners. Another answer to the question is the problem of â€Å"motivation† but not all students with the same motivation can have the same accomplishment. Another possible answer to the question is that some people have language aptitude while others do not. II. 1. 1. 3. Learner’s age The previous section dealt with the learner’s language aptitude, a factor that influences language acquisition a great deal. This section will take into consideration another factor – age which has received a number of opinions so far. In the past few decades, the comparisons among child, adolescent and adult learners have been made by many researchers, and the different findings as well as explanations have been reported. Traditionally, research in Critical Period Hypothesis and other variables has derived two major aspects of language learning–the younger = the better and the older = the better. However, recently the scholars in the fields of linguistics, psychology and psycholinguistics have reported their study or experiment results continually, resulting in completely different points of view so the argument for or against the Critical Period Hypothesis has never stopped. The question of how developmental stages interact with individual learning differences is still a question of great debate. Is there an optimal age, a critical period or a sensitive period? How does the age factor affect the development of linguistic abilities? Are adults really inferior to children and even to adolescents? There exists a belief that younger learners have certain advantages over older learners in language learning. According to Ellis in 2008; Larsen-Freeman in 2008; Mayberry & Lock in 2003, Robert Dekeyser in 2000, younger children learn L2 easily and quickly in comparison to older children. Larsen-Freeman & Long in 2008 also suggest that there is a period of time, between birth and somewhere around the age when a child enters puberty, exists in which the learning a second language can be accomplished more rapidly and easily than times falling outside of this period (i. e. post puberty). This is because children are in the most flexible condition learning a foreign language. This stage might be strongly impressed on their brain, which can stimulate nervous function system, and the further learning can help them to form language habit and competency easi1y. however Researchers also disagree with withdrawing home language support too soon and suggest that although oral communication skills in a second language may be acquired within 2 or 3 years, it may take 4 to 6 years to acquire the level of proficiency needed for understanding the language in its academic uses (Collier, 1989; Cummins, 1981). So children who are taught L2 intensively too early will damage their L1 acquisition. Another belief reported by Johnson and Newport, Dekeyser, Asher and Price, Politzer and Weiss, Olson and Samuel, Lightbown and Spada (2008) that older learners have a higher level of problem solving and metalinguistics abilities than younger learners.. The young learners are considered fluent in communication of the second language and achieve native like accent. Learners after the age of puberty do not acquire native like accent of a second language but have complex learning pattern. Research suggests that children and adults L2 learners pass through different developmental states in second language learning. Learning depends on the cognitive maturity and neurological factors. Adults’ cerebra nerve network has come into being completely, and their thinking habits have become mature in this period. They can deal with complicated language form and contents easily, because their meta-language consciousnesses, common sense and literary knowledge are better than children. In general, age is important but not everything in second language learning. There are some factors related to the age, for example the learning opportunities, the motivation to learn, individual differences, and learning styles, are also important determining variables that affect the rate of second language learning in various developmental stages of the learners. II. 1. 1. 4. Learner’s personality We have mentioned some important factors influencing learner’s second language achievement such as motivation, language aptitude and age. In this section we continues with some specific personality factors in human behavior in relation to second language acquisition. The psychological factors to be discussed here are self-esteem, inhibition, extroversion/ introversion. Self –esteem is the degree of value, a worthiness which an individual ascribes to himself. According to Schuman in 1978 and Brown in 1980, there are three kinds of self- esteem: global, specific and task self – esteem. How is self –esteem related to second language acquisition? Brown (1980) states that specific self- esteem might refer to second language acquisition in general but task- esteem might approximately refer to one’s self-evaluation of a particular aspect of the language process: speaking, writing†¦ A study by Adelaide Heyde (1979) revealed that all three aspects of self-esteem correlated positively with performance in oral production and student with high self –esteem actually performed better in the foreign language. Inhibition – sets of defences built to protect the ego, a concept closely related to self-esteem and of course has to be considered by teachers. Language learners, children or adults, make progress by learning from making mistakes but at the same time, making mistakes can be viewed as a threat to one’s ego. As a result, the learner tends to build a certain degree of defence to protect himself. Guiora et al†¦ (1972a) produced one of the few studies in inhibition in relation to second language learning, and the experiments have been high-lighted a possibility that the inhibition, the defence which we place between ourselves and others can prevent us from communicating in a foreign language. . Another factor which also needs some examination is extraversion and introversion. Language teachers often assume that the extraverts are better language learner than introverts. In a language class, the teacher tends to prefer to have more students with an outgoing and talkative personality. At an early stage, extroverts seem to speak the language better than the introverts, but this does not mean that the proficiency of a more introverted student will be lower. This depends very much on the goal of learning. It can be argued that the reserved learner may be very quiet but he can be a good language learner in the sense that he is good in aural and reading comprehension even though he cannot speak. Thus, it is not clear then that extraversion or introversion helps or hinders the process of second language acquisition and it is hard to say which is ideal for language learning. II. 1. 2. External factors The previous section examined some aspects of internal factors. This section accounts for some equally important external factors which also affect learner’s second language achievement. As language teachers we are faced with factors such as the social context of learning, the cultural differences between two language involved. The learning environment of the educational context and the teaching method being used. Most of these are largely beyond our control but nevertheless they are important because they can affect, sometimes decide the learner’s internal factors in learning. To improve teaching and stimulate better learning, these factors should be taken into consideration. II. 1. 2. 1.  Social factor The child’s acquisition of his mother tongue is affected by the condition under which it takes place. The same influence is also relevant to learning of a second or foreign language. The classroom itself is a kind of social setting where each student has a role, so his success of learning a foreign language is, to some extent, determined by the teacher- student relationship and the student- student relationship. The teacher’s love for his job is often an encouragement to his students in their learning. According to Cheatain (1976), student is also strongly encouraged to learn the language when his teacher is always hopeful. The student- student relationship is no less important. This instance concerns face- saving. No students likes to let his errors be known to his friends, so correction of errors by the group is helpful when there is non- hostile trusting climate in the classroom. In addition to the classroom features of the learning situation itself, there are factors in the wider social context that influence language learning. Teaching never occurs in a vacuum. Any subject occupies a position in the syllabus in order to meet a need of all part of the school population. Second language or foreign language teaching is not an exception. As the political, economic and historical conditions change, the course objectives are altered. In a great number of countries it so happens that shifting political economic and social conditions often bring about the change in status of a second or foreign language. For example, English was not introduced into the school curriculum in Vietnam until 1971. Nowadays, when Vietnam is a member of WTO, English becomes a compulsory subject as it is an international language of commercial and official communication. Political factors are not the only ones that influence second language learning. Other attitudes towards language learning which are characteristic of the society to which the learner belongs are particularly important to the success of language learners. In Vietnam, the ability of using English fluently is a special qualification for certain favored jobs, but in others like the UK or the USA, learning another language is little more than a hobby. Obviously, all the different attitudes, which actually stem from political, economic or historical causes play an important part in the overall achievement in foreign language learning. II. 1. 2. 2. Cultural factors It is obvious that knowing a second language no longer means merely having acquired some linguistic competence: the ability to construct grammatically correct sentences. It also includes the acquisition of communicative competence: the ability to communicate the second language. To the extent that language is culturally acquired, one can never learn a second language successfully without learning the culture of that language. In the article â€Å"Talking across culture† in 1981, Richards argues that those who are supposed to know a foreign language must have linguistic competence, communicative competence and social competence as well. By social competence, he means that the learner is expected to know how to behave in a speech community of speakers of the target language. In other words, he must be familiar with the culture of the native speakers otherwise, he will be shocked, or fail to understand native speakers even though he is linguistically competent. It can be concluded that anyone decides to learn a certain language properly, culture is something he cannot avoid in the process. In teaching English, we need to be aware of the cultural assumptions that the students already possess. We also need to be aware of the cultural assumptions that surround the use of English. Functions and structures used to be examined for cultural content, it cannot be assumed that they are neutral. II. 2. Language teaching implications. For the reason that motivation plays a very important role in second language achievement, the task of the teacher is to maximize the motivation. Teachers should raise students’ interest in learning English so that they no longer learn English to pass the exam or to fulfill curriculum’s requirement but for the desire to interact and communicate with foreigners†¦ In order to achieve these goals, teachers should vary the activities, tasks and materials, provide students with opportunities for interaction in the target language in and outside the language learning environment through preplanned, and authentic activities. As a result, students will be more interested in learning English. Not many researchers have carried out research about language aptitude because it is something that teachers are powerless to alter. Students vary in terms of aptitude so teachers should categorize them according to their aptitude profiles. For example, one group was identified as having particularly good memory abilities (relative to other abilities), and another group was identified as being high in verbal analytical abilities. It is the duty of teachers to select appropriate teaching approaches and activities based on learners’ aptitude profiles to accommodate their differences in aptitude. If the methodology matches students, they will learn better otherwise it may decrease students’ second language achievement. We all know that different ages have different ways of learning and different ways of achieving language. The differences among the three age groups (children, adolescents and adults) are really existent and the biological L2 learning conditions are unchangeable. Learners of different ages and stages should use different strategies. Thus, the teacher’s duty is different in the three groups and the teaching approaches and strategies should cater for the traits of students. For example, children use strategies unconsciously and their teacher should help them form good learning habits in this period. Some adolescents might be unable to be aware of using learning strategies, and others use too many complex and sophisticated learning strategies in L2 language learning, which might not ensure to achieve high level. Adult learners prefer analytic-style strategies such as comparative and contrastive analysis, generalization rules learning, and dissecting words and phrases. As a result, teachers should manipulate a number of options according to the aim of the teaching and learning, such as different reading materials, the speed of teaching procedures, etc†¦ Suitable approach and strategies for each trait of age will help learners achieve language better, compensate the shortcomings and take good advantage of in three groups. As the results listed in the previous part indicate, learners differ in terms of personality. Some students are very reserved, some are self- confident, some are ready to take a risk but others do not. Understanding each student’s personality is extremely important to every teacher not except for teacher of English. When teacher know students’ characteristics, they can use appropriate methods for each of them. For example, most of Vietnamese students are still basically shy and withdrawn. Then teachers should involve a lot of pair and group work instead of using the teacher- students questions and answers. Teachers should use cooperative rather than competitive goals to create a supportive and non-threatening learning atmosphere. Besides, teachers should encourage and support students all the time especially when they are struggling or lacking confidence in certain areas. Good teachers will know how to adapt their methods of teaching to different learners’ personalities to have best results in second language achievement. It cannot be denied that social context has a big influence on situation of second language teaching and learning of each nation. Thus, in order to create a good learning condition for second language learning to flourish is the duty of everyone: parents, authority of school, community, ministry†¦ For example, parents should give children favorable condition to learn second language, school should be concerned about students’ language learning and teaching to make it better, ministry of education should pay more attention to the quality of language teacher, textbooks and facilities necessary for effective second language teaching and learning to happen. Culture is very important in second language learning so the duty of teachers is to raise students’ awareness of cultural differences between countries. When teaching a foreign language such as English, teachers should teach students language competence along with socio- cultural competence. Both teachers and authorities should bear in mind that learning about other cultures does not mean changing one’s own values and world outlook. On the contrary, by comparing some aspects of cultures in different societies, students may better appreciate their own culture and tradition and avoid false stereotypes which may result in either prejudice against other culture or blind belief that other cultures are superior. A successful language learner is a person who not only knows how to make grammatical and meaningful sentences but also knows how to use them in appropriate situations and a good language teacher is a person who knows how to help them do so successfully. III. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the success in second language acquisition depends largely on many factors but some of the most important factors can be mentioned are motivation, language aptitude, learner’s age and personality, social and cultural context. Thus, knowing these factors and how they influences learners’ second language achievement is very crucial to teachers of foreign languages in general and English in particular. Their language can be greatly improved when teachers have a better understanding of the learner, of the learning process and of the variables that may help or hinder learner’s language achievement. IV. REFERENCE Krishna K.  B , â€Å"Age as an Affective Factor in Second Language Acquisition†, Troy Universityn Press. HIDASI, Judit, (2005) â€Å"The Impact of Culture on Second Language Acquisition†, Annals of the International Business School. Hoan, P. K, (1985), â€Å"Psychological and cultural factors related to methodologies to Hanoi foreign languages Teachers’ college student†, Sydney Zhang . J, (2006) Sociocultural Factors in Second Language Acquisition, Sino-US English Teaching, Volume 3, No. 5 (Serial No. 29) Mehmet, N. G, (2001) â€Å"the effects of age and motivation factors on second language acquisition† F? rat University Journal of Social Science. tic