An alternative in language testing research

An alternative in language testing research Free Online Research Papers Validation in language testing in general and in cloze testing in particular has been mainly based on criterion-related validity in addition to construct and content validity. As the validity of the former validation technique in which tests are considered either valid or invalid based on their correlations with other supposedly valid criterion tests is seriously under question, the present study introduces a new qualitative technique for validation purposes. Researcher research, as it is called here, refers the researcher’s investigation of his/her own internal thought processes at the same time as he/she is taking a test. The idiosyncratic feature of this technique is that while researching others, the inferences of what is happening are only made indirectly and may therefore be wrong, using this technique, the researcher, being involved in the task, himself/herself directly experiences what others can only observe. Such a technique was applied to 11 cloze tests, constructed out of the researcher’s previous writings. The cloze-taking processes as experienced by the researcher reveal that different cloze items make different demands on the test-taker. Further applications of the technique and also implications for cloze validity as a measure of reading comprehension are discussed. ________________ Background Validity which refers to how far an instrument really measures what it is intended to is one of the characteristics of a good test, others being reliability and practicality. Traditionally validity has been discussed and researched in the forms of content validity, construct validity, and criterion-related validity including concurrent and predictive validity. Content validity refers to the degree a test measures a representative sample of the content area it is intended to measure. Construct validity deals with whether a testing instrument really measures the underlying construct the test is supposed to measure. The criterion-validity refers to the degree a test measures what another test measures either at the same time (concurrently) or at a later time (predictively). While the two former validity types have been used to study the validity of a test per se without comparing it to others, in criterion-related validity, one tests validity has been researched based on another measure . This latter kind of validation studies has prevailed language testing research, and as a result, newly constructed tests have been claimed to be either valid or invalid measures of the criterion tests used. In criterion-related validation research, the validity of a test has been established based on the degree of correlation between the new (experimental) test and the old (criterion) test. Namely, if the observed degree of correlation between two tests has been high and significant, the new test has been regarded as valid, and if the correlation has not been high enough, the test being validated 86 has been considered invalid. Based on such a validation procedure, the new test, if concluded as valid, could replace the older test and be used for exactly what that test had been or could be used. Such a validation procedure has been a norm in language testing research and has been practiced by many well-known testing researchers including Taylor (1957), Carroll at al. (1959), Bormuth (1967), Rankin Culhane (1969), Oller Conrad (1971), Oller (1973), Stubbs Tucker (1974), Irvine et al. (1974), Jonz (1976), Alderson (1979a, b), Hinofotis (1980), Shohamy (1983), Hanania Shikhani (1986), Illyin et al. (1987), Hale at al. (1989), Stansfield Hansen (1989), Chapelle Abraham (1990), Fotos (1991), and Greene (2001) to name a few. (For a review of these studies, see Sadeghi, 2002c). Serious doubts have been cast on this kind of validation in which one test has been proposed to substitute the other simply because they are moderately to highly correlated. The concern over the validity of criterion-validation stems from the fact that the statistical technique of correlation, which is the main statistical tool used in this kind of validation, has been devised and intended to show the degree of association between two variables, and that the presence of a high degree of relationship or even a perfect correlation coefficient between two variables is not intended to mean that they are of the same nature or that they are interchangeable. Although no such thing has been claimed in the underlying concept of correlation, the technique has been vastly used for this improper purpose, whereby based on high correlations between two tests, for example, cloze and reading tests, they have been concluded to be measuring the same thing, and thus being interchangeable. The arguments against this research trend in language testing have been put forward by Sadeghi (2002a, b, and c). The application of correlational techniques for validation purpose whereb y one test is suggested to be a valid measure of another, and therefore, to be able to replace that test is, however, possible only if three conditions are met: 1) The tests are of the same nature and character (for example, if both are tests of language proficiency with similar item types); 2) The tests are intended for the same purpose (both intended to measure language proficiency, for example); and 3) The degree of correlation and the variance overlap between two measures is near perfect, and if we need to lose no significant information by substituting one test for another, the correlation should be +1.00. (For further discussion, see Sadeghi, 2002c). As a result of his dissatisfaction with criterion-validation in language-testing and particularly in cloze testing where attempts of content-validation and construct validation have been in vain because it is not at all clear what cloze tests are measuring, the present researcher suggests a new validation technique, called ‘researcher research’, which is hoped to clarify more about what cloze tests are exactly doing and whether claims made on cloze tests as to what they measure are substantiated or not. ‘Researcher research’ refers to the active and conscious engagement of a researcher in the test-taking process and is a kind of research in which the researcher and the subject of the research both refer to the same individual. Instead of indirectly observing the test-taking process in others, the researcher becomes an insider and gains direct access to first-hand data by directly experiencing the problem under investigation. The application of the technique to a few cloze tests are presented below, and suggestions are made as to how the technique may be applied in other testing contexts. 87 Method Subjects. The only subject of this study was the researcher himself. Materials. The research and measurement tools used in this study were 11 cloze tests. The cloze tests, with the deletion rate of every 7th word, were made from the researcher’s previous writings which ranged from three months to one year old. Another person was instructed to make cloze tests form extracts that the researcher had already selected so as not to contain much quoted material. To allow what is called lead-in and lead-out, the first and the last sentences of each passage were left intact. The cloze tests constructed varied in length: while the shortest cloze test contained 34 items, the longest had 53 blanks. A sample of the cloze tests used in the study appears in the appendix. Procedure. After cloze tests were constructed, the researcher sat half of the tests in one session, and the other half in another session and made a note of the time used for each cloze test separately. After completing the blanks, cloze tests were scored using both exact-word scoring and acceptable-word scoring methods by the researcher himself. Although there is contradiction in research findings as to whether allowing acceptable-scoring makes significant differences to the results and mismatching conclusions seem to have been arrived in different studies, using acceptable-scoring, at least for non-native speakers of the language, seems to be fairer even if the differences are not large enough. Based on such a justification, the cloze tests used here were also scored using acceptable-scoring procedure. Findings Quantitative data. The following table represents the observed mean score in both exact- and acceptable-scoring for all of the tests used, and also the mean score that could be obtained if all items in all tests were answered correctly. Table 1: mean observed and expected score on cloze tests in exact- and acceptable-scoring Descriptive characteristic Scoring method Observed mean Expected mean Exact-scoring 34.36 43.18 Acceptable scoring 42.00 43.18 A comparison of the average for exact-scoring (observed mean) with the total possible average (expected mean) indicates that if exact-scoring only was to be allowed, and if cloze was to be regarded as a measure of reading comprehension, the results obtained would mean that the researcher was very far form understanding what he had himself written. As the table above shows, the scores have improved a lot with acceptable scoring. This was very much expected especially because the texts were the researchers own previous written samples, with the content and the written style of which the researcher was well familiar. To give more meaning to the quantitative data in the above table, the following findings should also be taken into account. 88 Acceptable answers that could be counted unacceptable. As the following examples show, some of the answers regarded as acceptable were acceptable taking the contextual clues in the text into account, but if the meaning intended by the original word was to be the criterion for acceptability, most of the items considered ‘acceptable’ here would have been counted as unacceptable and thus distancing the observed acceptable score mean even further form the expected score mean, lead us to the conclusion that even acceptable-score average may not be significantly high. Such a consideration will further reduce the chances of cloze being a proper measure of reading comprehension as far as statistics are concerned. Instances of such cases in which scores have been counted as ‘acceptable’ in the context in this study but could be counted as ‘unacceptable’ if the criterion for acceptability was stating the same information as expressed by the original word are the following: 1) Although the beginning of reading dates back to the invention of writing, and since †¦ [original: 5000; acceptable: many] years ago people have been dealing with reading (Orasanu Penny, 1986: 1), the real nature of reading remained uninvestigated until the mid 19-th century (Vernon, 1984: 48). 2) During this period of research on reading, different people (†¦ [original: psychologists; acceptable: i.e.,], linguists, psycholinguists, educators, second-language researchers, language teachers, etc.) have looked at the same entity from different angels. 3) †¦it is not clear at all what the cloze tests are intended to measure and that they turn out to measure different things based on †¦ [original: correlational; acceptable: different] analyses. 4) In real-life reading, the reader has a purpose and an interest in reading a passage, and because he/she chooses to read one text rather than the other, he/she has an idea of what the text is about and expects to find some †¦ [original: expected; acceptable: specific] information in the text. 5) There is no doubt in the fact that communication whether in spoken or written mode does not occur in a vacuum. The implication for the comprehension of the †¦ [original: communicated; acceptable: written] message is that all elements present in that particular event have their share in affecting the success of communication. 6) K. Brown (1994: 61) points out that different types of lexical sets can be chosen to transfer the meaning †¦[original: of; written: and/] or the perspective on the same event. As the above examples illustrate, an ‘acceptable’ answer may not convey the meaning originally intended and can therefore be regarded as ‘unacceptable’ if the comprehension of the original meaning is of interest. In such cases where the word is counted as acceptable, there seems to be a meaning loss, and something is conveyed either less or more than what was originally intended by the writer. And because it cannot be said that the writer has been unable to understand what he has originally written, it can be concluded that cloze procedure may not be an appropriate technique for this purpose, for measuring the comprehension of a written passage. 89 Acceptable answers that could not have been provided without the researcher’s familiarity with the content of the quoted material. Sometimes the different processes involved in cloze-taking (i.e., stopping and thinking about what the whole thing was about) led to giving acceptable answers and other times despite really engaging with the problem, the researcher was unable to make sense of what was originally meant. This latter case led to giving inappropriate and irrelevant answers, clearly showing the lack of comprehension in that part. Has it not been for the researchers familiarity with the content of his own writing, instances like these where the flow of reading was interrupted would have been even greater. Instances of the blanks which produced real challenge to the present researcher, leading to inappropriate answers or no answer and could therefore be interpreted as miscomprehension or the lack of comprehension are as follows: 1) One group sat the test in the normal way; with the other group however, after each subject gave his/her answer to an item, the correct word was revealed. Brown (1983: 247) called the first cloze-type †¦ [independent-item original word] cloze and the second type †¦ [dependent-item] cloze. In this item, had it not been for the researchers familiarity with what Brown had called such cloze-tests, he would have been unable to fill in the blank correctly. The problem in this case and the following one is more related to the fact that the omitted words are the original writers words being quoted: 2) Discourse-level knowledge has also been called ‘formal’ or †¦ [original: textual; written: content] schema (Singhal, 1998: 2). Similarly, in the following example, had it not been for the researchers familiarity with the original writer’s focus of study, the omitted word could not have been restored correctly: 3) Khaldieh (2001: 427), for example, working on reading comprehension of †¦[Arabic] as a foreign language, found that reading comprehension was a direct result of knowledge of vocabulary. Answers that were unacceptable and produced challenge leading to miscomprehension and/or incomprehension. In the following cases, obviously the researcher understood the text differently. Reflecting on the actual test-taking process, the researcher remembers how challenging it was to understand the relationships between sentences in these cases where miscomprehension was the result. Comprehension was achieved in other similar cases after much effort and challenge while the same texts would have provided no challenge in normal reading: 4) The implication of these lines for testing reading comprehension is that due attention should be given to selecting those kinds of texts for measurement purposes that are culturally unbiased. [original: Otherwise; written: However], our estimates of the reader’s comprehension may be incorrect because they will include results gained for testing the subjects understanding of L2 cultural knowledge rather than L2 linguistic knowledge. 5) That is to say, the content validity of the cloze procedure, whether it is supposed to measure reading ability, language proficiency, etc. is under question, because in neither case is a content area identified a priori from which a representative sample may be selected and †¦[original: whatever; written, the] sample is taken by the cloze procedure is just a random selection of a text or at best influenced by the test-constructors judgements of its suitability for the context he/she is working in. 90 6) Generally, context variable refers to all reader-, writer-, and†¦[original: text-external; written: text?] factors, such as environmental and situational elements, which may affect reading comprehension. The sign ‘?’ after the word written in the blank shows the reader’s doubt on what he has written and indicates that he had difficulty in getting at the intended meaning at that part. Answers considered unacceptable but which do not show the researcher’s inability in comprehension or lack of related grammatical knowledge. There were a few other instances which would be considered incorrect responses in both exact- and acceptable-scoring of cloze tests, meaning that comprehension had not taken place if cloze scores are accepted as evidence of showing comprehension. Reflecting on such cases, the researcher research process allows the researcher to note that such wrong or unacceptable answers are perhaps some type of mistakes, and he is not satisfied that he did not comprehend the part in which he made the mistake. A few such cases are as follows: 1) He also notes other scoring methods like form class scoring where any word coming from the same form class as the original word †¦[original: is; written: are] deleted. 2) Taylor (1956: 48) found a high negative correlation between exact scoring †¦[original: and; written: a] clozentropy scoring (r= -0.87), which was taken to mean that cloze scores are dependable estimates of negative entropy†¦ 3) Validity of a test †¦[original: means; written: refers] the degree to which a test actually measures what it is intended to measure. 4) Different camps have chosen to look at the same thing from different angles and have focused their attention on particular aspects of language. As a result language has been viewed †¦[original: as; written: a] a system by some and as an institution or a social act by others. These examples clearly prove that they are simply mistakes showing the test-taker’s slip of the pen or mind, and they do not show that he did not have relevant knowledge to answer correctly or that because he did not give correct answers, so he was not able to comprehend the relevant parts. Discussion The argument in this paper is that if cloze tests measured reading comprehension as a lot of studies based on correlational research claim, then it is expected that a person who is doing cloze tests based on his/her own writing should be able to complete all blanks with no errors, at least in acceptable scoring. Such an argument is based on the assumption that somebody who writes a text has an ability beyond comprehending what he/she writes because without proper comprehension one cannot produce a coherent piece of text. Based on this argument, it can be concluded that somebody who writes something is able to comprehend it completely because otherwise he/she would not have been to write the text. So it follows that if a cloze test can properly measure reading comprehension, it should not present any challenge to somebody who is doing a cloze based on what he/she has written. The fact that the scores of the cloze-taker in this study did not amount to the total possible score expected in neither exact-scoring nor acceptable-scoring gives us some quantitative evidence that cloze may not be testing 91 reading comprehension properly and that it may be testing something below and beyond mere comprehension. The validity of cloze procedure to measure reading comprehension in such a context is under question not only because the cloze-taker was unable to fill-in all the blanks correctly but also because of the other challenges it produced to the test-taker. Furthermore, not all the blanks which the cloze-taker completed successfully required real comprehension of the passage. Some were either parts of clichà © phrases or idioms; others were function words which required some grammatical knowledge only. Not all blanks, however, were like these. It should also be stressed that the familiarity of the texts to the researcher was a great help and he sometimes remembered a whole sentence before he saw it on the paper (and this is why it was decided to select texts written at least three months earlier so as to lessen the role of memory). Reflecting on test sessions, the researcher remembers that cloze did produce some challenge. First of all, the time for cloze-testing was about one and a half times longer than the time he spent on reading the texts in non-cloze format. In addition to the time-factor, while in the majority of cases in many of which either function words or words frequently used in his writings (such as reading, comprehension, cloze, procedure, measure, test, etc.) were needed to complete the blanks, cloze-taking involved no further challenge, resembling a normal-reading in which the flow of reading was not blocked, in a few other cases, the process of cloze-taking was really very different from that of normal reading. In other words, if the researcher read the original version of the text he had written, he would no doubt have understood every bit without his reading being blocked or the flow disturbed. While taking some cloze-tests, however, the researcher was stopped in some cases and needed to thi nk about what ideas were being talked about and what words should have been inserted into the blanks. Such cases blocked the flow of reading compared to the way the same text would be read with no blanks. Although it is accepted that if somebody is reading a text for the first time, his/her reading may not be so fluent, and he/she may need to stop and think to understand what he/she is reading before he/she can move forward, such a consideration seems unacceptable in this research context because the text was the readers own, which he had already read (and understood) several times. Reflecting on what it was that the researcher was doing when he was taking cloze-tests constructed from his own writing and comparing it with normal reading fallow him to conclude that cloze-tests as used in this study may not be proper testing instruments for measuring ones degree of reading comprehension. The researchers direct involvement in taking cloze-tests allows him to claim that cloze tests may measure some degree of superficial comprehension where the blanks are completed by structural words or frequently used content words. They do not seem to be able to appropriately measure high-level and overall comprehension as shown to the researcher through the researcher research process. The fact that proper comprehension is expected to take place only after reading a text in its complete and undeleted format, and that only after we have provided the reader such a chance, can we then talk about how we are going to assess his/her degree of comprehension of what he/she has read, force the researcher to conclude that cloze tests are unsuitable for assessing reading comprehension. The reason for this conclusion is 92 mainly that cloze tests put a double-task on the shoulder of the reader. Namely, they require the readers to reconstruct an incomplete passage, and reproduce something that has not been presented to them. No doubt this reproduction may be far away from the original text. Based on such a reproduction which needs as much thinking and intelligence as knowledge of language, concluding that the original text has been comprehended or not does not seem to be logical at all simply because the reader has been prevented from access to the total meaning from the very beginning. Requiring the reader to produce something that is partly unknown to him/her and then to comprehend it is a different thing from giving him/her the text in full and then asking him/her to read and understand something which has already been produced. It is not, however, implied here that all the meaning resides in the written text, but that some elements are missing in the negotiation of meaning between the reader and the text in cloze reading. Supporting this argument are the results from this study in which cloze-taking was found as a different process from normal reading and challenging at times. The application of a technique called researcher research here to the cloze tests in this study clarified to the researcher that concluding cloze tests as valid tests of reading comprehension simply based on score correlations with other tests of reading cannot be sustained. A similar finding was arrived based on both qualitative and quantitative data from 213 Iranian EFL students who took different forms of cloze tests as part of the researcher’s PhD project (Sadeghi, 2003). Conclusions and Suggestions The paper began with a short review of the dominant validation techniques used in the field of second/foreign language testing research. Casting doubt on the validity of the most widely used validation technique, i.e., criterion-validation, in which the technique of correlation is used for improper purposes, a new technique was introduced in which the validity of a testing instrument could be directly accounted for by the researcher. The technique called ‘researcher research’ was applied to a few cloze tests constructed out of the researcher’s previous writing samples. The conscious involvement of the researcher in the test-taking process allowed him to understand better what it was that was required for the successful completion of cloze items and how cloze reading could be compared to normal non-cloze reading. The findings indicated that contrary to normal reading in which the flow of reading is less interrupted, cloze-reading blocked the access to meaning in so me cases, producing serious challenge and leading to miscomprehension or the lack of comprehension in a few cases. In the majority of the instances where blanks produced no interruption and challenge, the deleted words were either function words needing a minimum degree of inter-sentential comprehension or content words which the researcher frequently used in his writing and could therefore be regarded as clichà ©d words for him. Based on the evidence produced through ‘researcher-research’, the cloze tests studied were regarded as testing something below and beyond mere reading comprehension. The validation technique presented here is not intended for use with cloze tests only. ‘Researcher research’ can guide the researcher in finding out whether other tests intended to measure reading and listening comprehension or to test knowledge of vocabulary and grammar appropriately serve what they are intended to. The evidence 93 such produced may be combined with other qualitative and quantitative data to support the validity of a test for a particular purpose. References Alderson, J. C. (1979a). The cloze procedure and proficiency in English as a foreign language. TESOL Quarterly, 13 (2), 291-228. Alderson, J. C. (1979b). Scoring procedures for use on cloze tests. In C. A. Yorio, K. Perkins, and J. Schachter (Eds), On TESOL ’79: The learner in focus (pp.193-205). Washington, D.C.: TESOL. Bormuth, J. R. (1967). Comparable cloze and multiple-choice comprehension test scores. Journal of Reading, 10, 291-299. Carroll, J. B., Carton, A. S., Wilds, C. (1959). An investigation of cloze items in the measurement of achievement in foreign languages. Cambridge, MA: Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Laboratory for Research in Instruction. (ERIC ED 021-513) Chapelle, C. A., Abraham, R. G. (1990). Cloze method: What difference does it make? Language Testing, 7 (2), 121-146. Fotos, S. S. (1991). The cloze test as an integrative measure of EFL proficiency: A substitute for essays on college entrance examinations? Language Learning, 41 (2), 313-336. Greene, B. B. (2001). Testing reading comprehension of theoretical discourse with cloze. Journal of Research in Reading, 24 (1), 82-98. Hale, G. A., Stansfield, C. W., Rock, D. A., Hicks, M. M., Butler, F. A., Oller, J. W. (1989). The relation of multiple-choice cloze items to the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Language Testing, 6 (1), 47-76. Hanania, E, Shikhani, M. (1986). Interrelationships among three tests of language proficiency: Standardized ESL, cloze and writing. TESOL Quarterly, 20 (1), 97-110. Hinofotis, F. B. (1980). Cloze an alternative method of ESL placement and proficiency testing. In , J. W. Oller and K. Perkins (Eds), Research in language testing (pp. 121-128). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Ilyin, D., Spurling, S., Seymour, S. (1987). Do learner variables affect cloze correlations? System, 15 (2),149-160. Irvine, P., Atai, P., Oller, J. W. (1974). Cloze, dictation, and the test of English as a foreign language. Language Learning, 24 (2), 245-252. Jonz, J. (1976). Improving on the basic egg: The M-C cloze. Language Learning, 26 (2), 255-265. Oller, J. W. (1973). Cloze tests of second language proficiency and what they measure. Language Learning, 23 (1), 105-118. Oller, J. W., Conrad, C. A. (1971). The cloze technique and ESL proficiency. Language Learning, 21 (2), 183-195. Rankin, E. F., Culhane, J. W. (1969). Comparable cloze and multiple-choice comprehension scores. Journal of Reading, 13, 193-198. Sadeghi, K. (2003). An investigation of cloze procedure as a measure of EFL reading comprehension with reference to educational context in Iran. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Norwich: University of East Anglia. Sadeghi, K. (2002a). The judgmental validity of cloze as a measure of reading comprehension. Paper presented at the 7th METU International ELT Convention, METU, Ankara, Turkey, 23-25 May. Sadeghi, K. (2002b). The criterion validity of cloze as a measure of EFL reading comprehension. Paper presented at BERA Research Student Symposium, The University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, 11-12 September. 94 Sadeghi, K. (2002c). Is correlation a valid statistical tool in second language research? Paper presented at the 12th European Second Language Association Conference (EUROSLA12), Basel University, Basel, Switzerland, 18-21 September. Shohamy, E. (1983). Interrater and intrarater reliability of the oral interview and concurrent validity with cloze procedure in Hebrew. In J. W. Oller (Ed.), Issues in Language testing research (pp. 229-236). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Stansfield, C., Hansen, H. (1983). Field dependence-independence as a variable in second language cloze test performance. TESOL Quarterly, 17 (1), 29-38. Stubbs, J. B., Tucker, G. R. (1974). The cloze test as a measure of English proficiency. Modern Language Journal, 58, 239-241. Taylor, W. L. (1957). ‘cloze’ readability scores as indices of individual differences in comprehension and aptitude. Journal of Applied Psychology, 41, 19-26. Karim Sadeghi holds a Ph.D. in TEFL/TESOL (Language Testing) from the University of East Anglia in the UK. He has several years of teaching EFL at various levels. After he finished his Ph.D. in August 2003, he returned to Iran and since then has been teaching and researching in Urmia University. 95 Appendix A: The sample cloze test used in the study There is no doubt in the fact that communication whether in spoken or written mode does not occur in a vacuum. (1)The implication for the comprehension of the (2)communicated message is that all elements present (3)in that particular event have their share (4)in affecting the success of communication, i.e., (5)the comprehension of the intended message. The (6)most obvious of all is the knowledge (7)of the linguistic elements involved such as (8)lexicon and syntax. Although some superficial comprehension (9)may take place in spoken language as (10)a result of contextual clues present, it (11)can be argued that without a certain (12)degree of linguistic competence the achievement of (13)proper comprehension will be out of reach. (14)Knowing the meanings of vocabulary items has (15)been regarded as the most important element (16)of linguistic competence. However, knowing word meaning (17)is no guarantee that comprehension will take (18)place and the knowledge of how words (19)are relate d to one another and how (20)sentences or utterances are related to one (21)another are crucial in shaping the outcome (22)of communication. The second important factor in (23)determining the success of communication is knowledge (24)of the context or situation in which (25)the communicative event is taking place. The (26)same sentence or utterance may have totally (27)different and unrelated and sometimes opposite meanings (28)if spoken or written in different situations. (29)Apart from immediate physical context, a knowledge (30)of the larger socio-cultural context in which (31)the message is being conveyed may also (32)shape the way a reader/listener approaches the (33)massage and will therefore lead to the (34)kind of comprehension and interpretation motivated by (35)that context. No doubt, the lack of knowledge of such contextual conditions may sometimes lead to misunderstanding of the message despite having no problem in decoding the linguistic elements present in the message. Research Papers on An alternative in language testing researchStandardized TestingResearch Process Part OneMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseGenetic EngineeringOpen Architechture a white paperThe Project Managment Office System

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Critically examine the role of international credit in contemporary economies - Essay Example One of the major developments after the Second World War period was the internationalization or liberalization of the financial markets with United States of America on the front. The multinational corporations of USA spread their financial dealings and operation to different bases across nations. Simultaneously a large amount of funds were allocated for purchase of treasury bills of USA. The banks of USA have also spread their operations worldwide during the seventies. International operations contributed to around 20 percent of the total income of the American banks. International credit provides certain distinct benefits to the people of the borrowing nation. These funds obtained through international credit help in financing the projects of local firms and the government. International financial system offers different opportunities of diversification to an investor, which might not be locally available. However, when an economy joins the global financial markets, certain economi c variables may be restricted as well as the effectiveness of certain basic economic and national policies. For instance the capital mobility across the world has automatically restricted the movements of domestic interest rates and also the control of money supply becomes so difficult under fixed exchange rates. Before economic transactions occur between the residents of different nations, certain arrangements are require making payments effective as well as bringing about the exchange or transaction successfully. The arrangements required need to address the political regimes, legal systems and the customary process of doing business in various countries. The basic of the international monetary system centers on the barter system prevalent in history. To make the exchange procedures convenient and easy to handle, a rage of monetary arrangements came into operation.

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 16

Essay Example Every year organizations adopt various strategies, launch different products and services, run recruitment process and pursue various other activities. All these activities are basically either or indirectly directed to one goal which is making profit. These activities are very usual in business environment. However, the interesting fact is that there are several unusual activities which are pursued by the organizations in order to make profit. In simple language profit is nothing but the excess of revenue after deducting the total expenses from it. Profit of an organization depends on various internal and external environmental factors. If current world business environment is concerned, organizations from all over the world have seen how difficult it could be to make profit in adverse situations like financial meltdown. The global financial turmoil that started from mid 2008 and still continuing has been proved to be the most difficult period for most of the organizations in the world especially in the developed countries. Many of the global companies which are operating for several years have struggled to make profit and most of them have failed to make profit in this period. The main reason behind this is the sudden fall in demand of almost all the goods and services as the financial condition of the people around the world was badly affected. As a consequence of lowering of overall demand organizations’ revenue has fallen drastically and hence they struggled to make profit. In order to overcome this situation and get the organization back to profit making track managements have performed several activities. They came up with new pricing strategies; they reduced the workforce of the organization, they even sold one or two of their units. What is important to notice is that organizations were involved in several activities which they usually do not perform and

Leiningen Essy Essay Example for Free

Leiningen Essy Essay Throughout the ages, man has constantly been forced to battle with nature. Leiningen versus the Ants by Carl Stephenson is about a landowner, Leiningen, in Brazil who is warned by a Brazilian official that an army, ten miles long and two miles wide, of ants is headed straight for his plantation and are expected to reach his plantation in two days at the latest. But Leiningen believes that the Brazilian official is pulling his leg when he advises him to evacuate the plantation because of ants. Against all odds, Leiningen is able to defeat a twenty square mile army of ants by ossessing leadership, confidence, and intelligence. One of the key reasons that Leiningen is able to defeat the army of ants is his great leadership skill because with a great leader who everyone trusts in, the group or army will be united as one and work as one. After Leiningen has been informed of the ants that are approaching his plantation, Leiningen prepares for the battle by moving the women and children and cattle to safety. The women and children, then the herds of cattle, were escorted by peons on rafts over the river, to remain on the other side in absolute safety (2). Leiningen is keeping the people and animals that cannot fght safe, which demonstrates his leadership and control over the plantation and everything living there while also illustrating his care for the women, children, and cattle. After the battle has begun, Leiningen is forced to make quick decisions, including the decision to drop a match into the petrol-filled ditch. Everyone back from the ditch! roared Leiningen. The men rushed away, without the slightest idea of his plan(9). Leiningens men show great obedience to Leiningen when they rush way from the ditch without details of his plan demonstrating that Leiningen is a reliable leader who they can trust. Finally, Leiningen displays that he is a respected leader who will put his own life at risk to save those of his men. Listen, lads! he shouted. Theres still a chance to save our lives†by flooding the plantation from the river. Well, Im not going to let you try it; if I did Id be worse than one of those ants. No, I called the tune, and now Im going to pay the piper(11). There are few leaders in todays society, or even in history, that would put their own life at risk nstead of the life of one of their men. Leiningen shows absolutely incredible leadership in this instance where he is basically willing to give his life for the lives of his men. Leadership played a key role in Leiningens success because Leiningen was able to lead his men and bring them together as one unit as oppose to individuals working by themselves. In addition to leadership, Leiningen possesses a vital element of success, confidence. Leiningen believed that he could defeat the ants, which gave Leiningen and his men confidence in every precaution, and action they were taking in he steps towards defeating the ants. Leiningen had made every precaution his mind could think of, And now he was sure he would prove more than a match for the irresistible ants(2). Leiningen believes that he will defeat the ants due to the great precaution that he has taken to stop them. By believing that his precautions would be successful, Leiningen illustrates confidence not only in him, but also in his actions. Speaking to the Brazilian officer about the claim he had made about the ants being an act of God, Leiningen replies, Act of God, my eye! Anyway, Im not an old woman; only needs confidence in what he has done, but also in what he is capable of doing. Leiningen demonstrates that he has confidence in his capability to hold off the ants and defeat them. In the same reply to the Brazilian officer who described to Leiningen the vastness and power of the ant army, Leiningen states, l use my intelligence, old man. With me, the brain isnt a second blindgut; I know what its there for(l). Again Leiningen illustrates confidence that he will have no problem holding off the ants simply with his intelligence. Leiningens success can be greatly attributed to his characteristic of confidence because believing that he was able to defeat the ants caused him to strive towards that goal and become successful. Intelligence is more than Just having smarts; it is knowing how to apply those smarts to real-life situations. Leiningen is a man with great intelligence who is able to use his intelligence, along with leadership and confidence, to aid in his defeat of the vast army of ants.

The Odyssey in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou Essay -- Film Movie O Brothe

The Odyssey in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou The movie O Brother, Where Art Thou is a wonderful movie that was directed by the Coen brothers. The movie features a cast of talented actors, the movie has also won several awards. The book The Odyssey is a timeless classic and it was written by the mysterious bard Homer. The book tells the tale of our hero Odysseus as he attempts to make it home to his wife. There are many ways to relate the movie plot and characters, to Odysseus's journey in The Odyssey. Let's begin with the most basic and obvious similarities, the movie and the book both begin with the same line " Sing in me O muse." The Greek name Odysseus translates to the name Ulysses in Latin. Odysseus's goal in the book is to get home to Ithaca to be with his wife Penelope and save her from the suitors. Ulysses is trying to get to Ithica, New York, to stop his wife Penny from marrying a suitor. Odysseus begins his journey by spending seven years on the island of Calypso before being let go. Ulysses is in jail for several years before escaping. Shortly after escaping, Ulysses runs into a blind man that tells him several warnings about his up coming adventure. Odysseus gets various warnings from different gods, and from prophets through out his entire journey. In the Odyssey, they travel to the island of the lotus-eaters. Once the men eat the flower they become passive and don't want to leave the island. In O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU the scene where Delmer and Pete are baptized is comparable to this. Delmer and Pete have no worry and are happy that they are sin free, even though the police are still looking to arrest them for escaping jail. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is warned not to touch the cattle of Helios, ... ...hat Ulysses's obsession with Daper Dan hair pomade represents Odysseus's pride. Instead of thanking the gods for the victory over Troy he took credit himself. In the movie, Ulysses finds himself arguing in a store over the hair product selection, this almost gets him in caught by the police. There are also some obscure references I tried to make with the governors race. I think that it is similar to the whirlpool and sea monster Odysseus must choose between, both are dangerous to have in your path, yet a path must be chosen. The movie didn't however focus on Telemachus's personal journey into manhood nor did it include anything about the way Athena helps Odysseus through out the book. I found it very interesting that the Coen brothers were able to include that many references to the book while still having it be relevant to the decade the movie takes place in.

Support Children and Young People at Meal or Snack Times

Describe the setting’s code of conduct and policies for meal and snack times. When it is snack or lunchtime, the children is asked to visit the toilet as well as to wash their hands, before coming to the table for their meals, in an orderly fashion. The setting used meal and snack times to encourage the children to develop independence through making choices, serving food and drink and feeding themselves. To protect children with food allergies, sharing or swapping of food between children are discourage.Staff joins the children during lunch, and tries to make the occasion an enjoyable and sociable time for everyone and at the same time ensure there is not any rowdiness. The children is encourage either by words or action by the staff how good table manners are. For example, not talking when our mouths are full or stretching across the table to get something. When packed lunches are brought into the setting for lunch, parents are informed about our policy on healthy eating and is encouraged to put healthy items in their lunch boxes.The setting reserve the right to return food considered unsuitable, to the parent as a last resort. 9. 3. 2Describe with examples ways of encouraging children and young people: Present food attractively Involved children in growing food Serve realistic portions Encouraging children to eat food provided for them Eat with children Respect reasonable likes and dislikes Negotiate realistic expectations Involved children in the shopping, making menus and preparing of food A colorful collection of fruits on a white plate, for e. g. contrasting strawberries against avocadoes, will present a more attractive display. In the summer where space allows it, children can grow vegetables e. g. potatoes, carrots and radishes.It is also possible to grow salad indoors during the winter months in window boxes. Adults should eat with the children during lunch, making the meal an enjoyable and sociable occasion. This does not mean loud and noisy. Another way we could encourage the children and young people to eat the food provided for them is to involve them in all the stages it take for the food to get from the shop to the table. For e. g. , take the children shopping (maybe not literally) – set up a pretend shop in the setting and let the children have a go at ‘buying’ the things they might need to make, a muffin, perhaps.Once the children have all the ingredients for the muffin, they can then start to cook/prepare it. If the staff in a setting has talked with the children’s parents regarding their dietary needs, they normally have an idea about the children’s likes and dislikes. The children should be encouraged to try new food but not if it becomes an issue. The staff should learn to respect the children wishes to a certain extend. If a child balks at eating his or her food, try to negotiate with them, encouraging them to take another bite or finishing her sandwiches before starting on h er ‘sweets’.Serving smaller portions seen to encourage children to finish what is on their plate. A plate pile high with food tends to put them off even before they start to 19. 3. 1Describe the food policy of the setting Before any children start attending the setting we check with their parents, their dietary needs, in terms of their religious belief, any allergic or intolerance to specific food or if they are vegetarians or vegans. We record all the information given in the children’s registration record and parents check it and sign that the information given is correct.The record is regularly updated. Information concerning any child in the setting that has special dietary needs is displayed and every staff and volunteers is informed about them. The snacks menus are on display, for parents to see. The children are offered food that is considered healthy i. e. without excessive saturated fats, sugar, salt or artificial additives, preservatives or colourings. We also take into account a child dietary needs and preferences as per their parent’s wishes. We offered food that the children are used to, as well as introducing new ones.The setting take care not to provide food containing nuts or nut products, and especially vigilant with any child know to have a nut allergy. Fresh drinking water is made available to the children. They are informed how to obtain the water and they know that they can ask for it any time during the day. We provide whole pasteurised milk for children who like and can drink it. There is a designated area in the setting where snacks and meals are to be eaten. We inform parents about the storing facilities for food available in the setting. 19. 2. 4Describe where to get advice on dietary concerns. British Nutrition Foundation (www. nutrition. org. uk) This agency provides nutrition information for teachers, health professionals, scientists and general public. * Food Standards Agency (www. eatwell. gov. uk) This agency gives advice about nutrition for children * The NHS (www. healthystart. nhs. uk) The NHS has the ‘5-a-day’ programme. * The Schools Food Trust (www. schoolfoodtrust. org. uk) This Trust gives advice on school meals, children’s food and related skills. * BBC (www. bbc. co. uk/health/treatments/healthy-living/nutrition) The BBC advises on diet and nutrition. The Caroline Walker Trust (www. cwt. org. uk) The Trust is dedicated to the improvement of public health through good food. It produces guidelines for carers and parents concerning babies and young children in early years settings. * Healthy Schools (www. healthyschools. gov. uk) Gives information concerning diets in schools. * National Children’s Bureau (www. ncb. org. uk) The Bureau promotes healthy lifestyles among children and young people. 19. 2. 3Describe how to recognize and deal with allergenic reactions to food. The following might happen when an allergic reaction happens.Difficulty in b reathing due to constriction of airways. The skin turns red and blotchy, like a rash. Skin gets itchy. Vomiting Stomach pain Diarrhoea Swelling around mouth, eyes and in the throat How to deal with allergic reactions to food. Make sure everyone in the setting, including parents, knows about the child’s allergy. Emphasis to everyone not to bring this food into the setting. Teach the child about his allergy so that he learns to recognize it and so avoid eating it. Where the reaction to the food is very severe the child should wear a medical alert bracelet and carry an auto-injector with him.And a person in the setting should be taught how to administer the medication/injection. Always read food labels and ingredients list to find out if the produce contains any food that would cause an allergic reaction. Strictly avoid any such food or product. Let everyone knows that the setting is a nut-free zone. Inform parents not to provide food-containing nuts in their children’s p ack lunches, or any food that their children might bring in. Make sure everyone, including parents, the seriousness of this policy. 19. 2. 2Describe the possible consequences of an unhealthy diet.Food that is full of sugar and fats are considered unhealthy. Our bodies digest them more easily than fibre. This tends to make us feel hunger pains much more frequently. Subsequently this causes us to snack in between meals. Our body does not require that many calories so it will in turn be stored as fat. It seems a catch 22 situation. To burn off this excess fat we need to exercise but because we eat too much processed food, more fat are being stored in our bodies which makes us overweight. This makes exercise much more difficult, since we are carrying more weight. Being overweight is unhealthy.It can make us obese and diabetic. With obesity comes a range of problems like high blood pressure, ache in joints, headaches, sleepiness, snoring, piles, gall bladder diseases, low self esteem whi ch maybe due to our appearances and high cholesterol which can lead to heart problems. Diabetes in turn can cause blindness and gangrene. Life expectancy is reduced. 19. 2. 1Describe the benefits of healthy eating for children and young people. The benefits of healthy eating for children and young people are as follows: – The children energy level is high which helps them to be more active and keen to exercise.High energy level also helps the children to be alert especially during school time, helping them in their study. Lack of sufficient fibre in a child’s diet can lead to irregular bowel movement, which can lead to illness. There are fewer chances for children becoming overweight, diabetic or contacting more serious illness. Hair will look shiny and healthy. The child will have healthy bones and teeth. This means fewer visits to the dentist, thereby letting them live a less stressful life. The child will sleep better which will help them look forward to the challen ges in the day. It can also helps in reducing weight steadily.And life expectancy increases. 19. 1. 3Describe how culture, religion and health conditions impact on food choices. Children and young people known to be suffering from diabetes, coeliac disease, food intolerance and food allergy are restricted in their food choices. Diabetic children need to avoid sugary food but required regular meals and snacks. Children with coeliac disease must avoid food with gluten. They must avoid food made from wheat, rye and barley for e. g. Bread, breakfast cereals, pastry and pasta. Some children are allergic or intolerance to certain foods i. e. they become ill if they eat them.For example, lactose (products made from milk), eggs, nuts, certain food colourings and some fruits like strawberries and tomatoes. For religion reasons, Jews and Muslims eat meat slaughtered and prepared in a certain way, known as kosher and halal meat. They both fast at certain time of the year. Muslims do not eat po rk but do eat fish and shellfish. Jews cannot eat any diary product at the same time as meat and eggs must not have blood spots. Sikhs and Hindus do not eat beef but Hindus are usually vegetarians and Sikhs do eat chickens, fish, shellfish and cheese but rarely pork.Hindus and Jews both eat fish. For Hindus the fish has to have scales and fins but for Jews it also has to have a backbone. Hindus and Muslims do not eat diary products that contain rennet. Rastafarians eat lamb, beef and chicken but not shellfish. We have to keep in mind that not everyone follows these rules. Vegetarians and vegan do not eat meat of fish. Vegans do not eat anything that has come from animals for e. g. cheese, milk and eggs. So their diet consists mainly of nuts, fruits, vegetables, grains and cereals. 19. 1. 1Outline the nutritional requirements of a healthy diet for Children and Young peopleFor children to grow up healthy, they require 7 nutrients. They are as follows: – Protein – which b uilds the body, especially the brain, blood and skin tissues. Carbohydrates – which give energy and are mainly found in pulses, oats, and potatoes. Fats – which give energy but will be store as fat if eaten too much. Vitamins – which help maintain a healthy body. Fibre – which helps maintain healthy bowels and are normally taken from plant materials as well as from bread, pulses and oats. Minerals – which helps build bones and teeth. They come from the earth.Though we do not require a lot, it will cause serious health problems if we do not have sufficient amount of minerals in our diet. Water – one of the essential elements in our diet. The human body is 60% water and to prevent dehydration we need to replenish any water lost through perspiring, breathing and urinating. We can find all the 7 nutrients in the following groups of food. 5 Groups of Food to give a Balance Diet Potatoes and Cereals – high-energy food, which provides bulk, vitamins, minerals, fibre and protein (5 portions a day) Fruit and vegetables – provide vitamins, minerals and fibre e. . Vitamin C, Vitamin A and Iron. (5 portions a day) Milk and diary products – rich in Calcium and also provide protein and Vitamin A and B. It is not recommended to give reduced-fat diary products to ‘under 5’s’. (3 portions a day) High Protein food – meat, eggs, tofu, quorn, pulses, nuts and seeds. They provide protein, Iron, Vitamin A and B. (2 portions a day) Oils and fats – high energy food but avoid saturated fats which comes mainly from processed food e. g. chips, pies, sausages. Use unsaturated fats where possible, making sure that this is not the bulk of a child’s diet. In moderation) It is important that children under 5’s get enough energy (calories) for growth and development. 29. 4. 1Explain the importance of personal hygiene at meal and snack times This applies to both the preparation and wh en the children sit down for their snacks and lunch. Before any adults start preparing food for snacks or lunch, they need to wash their hands to avoid any spread of germs to food to be passed on to the children. For the same reason rings and watches should be removed as well. Knives and plates need to be cleaned.The children are sent to wash their hands before they sit down for either their snacks or lunch. This is to prevent infection and to avoid food poisoning. Reminding the children not to put back any food that they had picked up also helps in avoiding cross contamination. During snacks or lunchtime the children should try to remember not to sneeze or cough openly, to avoid the spreading of germs. Any plates or utensils used during meal times should be clean. And if any cutleries are dropped on the floor, they should be replaced with cleaned items, this will help in avoiding infections.

Leadership Approach Paper Essay

Organizational behavior comes into play to aid management in enhancing their understanding of human behavior within organizations to better communicate, allocate resources, delegate tasks, plan, organize, direct, and control work activities. The main purpose of understanding organizational behavior is to increase leadership effectiveness, motivate workers, and inspire them to work toward a common objective. Although there are many leadership approaches, we will focus on the situational leadership approach. We will analyze the purpose, strengths and weaknesses of the situational leadership approach, and provide an example of how it can be applied to real situations. Situational Leadership Approach As it name suggests, the situational leadership approach states that leaders should use different approaches as situations change. In short, leaders should be flexible, embrace change as it comes, and be capable of adapting to it. The situational leadership approach is a model that was developed by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey in 1972. The theory states that leaders should match their leadership style to the maturity of followers and to the specific tasks on hand (Lerstrom, 2008). As people within organizations acquire more experience and become more knowledgeable about their job, leaders will need to adapt new leadership styles to keep these people motivated. According to May (2013) the core concept of the situational leadership approach is that â€Å"one size does not fit all†. The best leaders are not only those who have a vision, but â€Å"the most successful leaders are the ones who are able to adapt their leadership styles across a broad range of varying maturity levels readily present within the average organization (May, 2013). † Moreover, using the situational leadership approach suggests that leaders use a mix of other leadership approaches to be effective. According to Phatak (2012), â€Å"The philosophy of a leader should be flexible enough to adapt to situations and changing times. We need a mixture of transactional and transformational leadership techniques to get the job done. The basic idea behind this theory is that one must adapt strategy with changing conditions. † Strengths As mentioned earlier, situational leadership allows for more flexibility. As the world evolves, organizations have to make adjustments to survive. Tomasco (2013) states that with the situational leadership approach, leaders get the opportunity to adapt their leadership style to their followers’ needs. Consequently, as leaders effectively match their leadership style to situations and followers’ needs, work activities will run smoothly, interactions will be more successful, relationships will be built up, and followers will achieve optimum performance. Weaknesses Although the situational leadership approach appears to be the best course of action due to its flexibility, it has weaknesses that one cannot ignore. Phatak (2012) explains that constantly changing strategies with time, a leader will find it difficult to implement new strategies on the go. A long term vision may elude him due to constant changes. † Further, Wile (2013) identifies four weaknesses of the situational leadership approach which are confusion, leadership or management, outside factors, and perception. Indeed, followers may become confused as leaders change a newly implemented leadership strategy as a result of changing conditions. The situational leadership approach is often misconstrued with a management strategy to lead employees to achieve better outcomes. One cannot downplay the impact external factors have on organizations and organizational behavior. Leaders should demonstrate their ability to understand the organization’s external environment and to assess followers’ behavior to implement a leadership approach that will work. Finally, people within organizations have different perceptions and react differently in similar situations. Hence, the situational leadership approach may not give accurate predictions of followers’ behavior. Situational Leadership Approach in Real Life Alan Lerstrom from Luther College did a case study using the situational leadership approach in which he demonstrated how academic advisors can alter their leadership style based on students’ maturity as they advance higher in their studies. Lerstrom applied the Hersey and Blanchard’s model of situational leadership in the case study. The model suggests that effective leaders will adjust their leadership styles in accordance with changing situations and followers’ maturity. According to Lerstrom (2008), Jay, the student in the case study began showing signs of maturity as he better understood the major he wanted to pursue and classes he needed to enroll in. Also, Jay became more confident about his abilities, understood the requirements associated with his major, and was more willing to communicate with the advisor. â€Å"Situational leadership provide theoretical and practical tools that help advisors in understanding changes in the readiness levels of their students, and it suggests patterns for relating to students (Lerstrom, 2008, p. 7). † Conclusion Situational leadership is the approach that states that leaders must be flexible enough to adapt their leadership styles to changing situations, to specific tasks, and to organizational behavior. This study showed that although the situational leadership approach yields positive outcomes it has weaknesses. Thus, it is important to leverage the strengths of the approach to alleviate its weaknesses. For increased effectiveness, leaders will need to use organizational behavior research methods to better understand the situations at hand, their followers’ perceptions, and the organization’s internal and external environments. This method will provide guidance in applying the appropriate leadership style. References Lerstrom, A. C. Advising Jay: A Case Study Using a Situational Leadership Approach. NACADA Journal; Fall2008, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p21-27, 7p May, R. (2013). Basics of the Situational Leadership Model. Retrieved from http://www. businessdictionary. com/article/724/basics-of-the-situational-leade rship-model/ Phatak, O. (June 20, 2012). Pros and Cons of Leadership Theories.

Futalognkosaurus - Facts and Figures

Futalognkosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Futalognkosaurus (indigenous/Greek for giant chief lizard); pronounced FOO-tah-LONK-oh-SORE-us Habitat: Woodlands of South America Historical Period: Late Cretaceous (80 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 100 feet long and 50-75 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Quadrupedal posture; thick trunk; extremely long neck and tail About Futalognkosaurus Youd think it would be hard for a 100-foot-long dinosaur to keep a low profile, but the fact is that paleontologists are still digging up new genera. One of the latest examples is the oddly named Futalognkosaurus, 70 percent of whose skeleton has been reassembled from three fossilized specimens discovered in Patagonia (a region of South America). Technically, Futalognkosaurus is classified as a titanosaur (a type of lightly armored sauropod with a widespread distribution during the late Cretaceous period), and with 70 percent of its skeleton accounted for, some experts have hailed it as the most complete giant dinosaur known so far. (Other titanosaurs, such as Argentinosaurus, may have been even bigger, but are represented by less complete fossil remains.) Paleontologists have made significant process identifying the exact place of Futalognkosaurus on the titanosaur family tree. In 2008, researchers from South America proposed a new clade called Lognkosauria, which includes both Futalognkosaurus, the closely related Mendozasaurus, and the possibly even more gigantic Puertasaurus. Tantalizingly, the same fossil site where these titanosaurs were discovered has also yielded the scattered bones of Megaraptor, a meat-eating dinosaur (not a true raptor) that may have preyed on the juveniles of Futalognkosaurus, or scavenged the bones of adults after they perished.

Impact of the Common Core Standards

Impact of the Common Core Standards The Common Core Standards will be fully implemented beginning in 2014-2015. So far there are only five states that have chosen not to adopt these standards including Alaska, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, Virginia. The impact of the Common Core Standards will loom large as this is perhaps the biggest shift in educational philosophy in the history of the United States. Much of the population will be significantly impacted by the implementation of the Common Core Standards in one form or another. Here, we look into how different groups may be affected by the upcoming Common Core Standards. Administrators In sports, it has been said that the coach gets too much praise for winning and too much criticism for losing. This will likely hold true for superintendents and school principals when it comes to the Common Core Standards. In an era of high stakes testing, the stakes will never be higher than they will be with the Common Core. The responsibility of that school’s success or failure with the Common Core Standards ultimately falls back on its leadership. It is essential that administrators know what they are dealing with when it comes to the Common Core Standards. They need to have a plan for success in place that includes providing rich professional development opportunities for teachers, being logistically prepared in areas such as technology and curriculum, and they must find ways to get the community to embrace the importance of the Common Core. Those administrators who do not prepare for the Common Core Standards could end up losing their job if their students do not perform adequately. Teachers (Core Subjects) Perhaps no group will feel the pressures of the Common Core Standards greater than teachers. Many teachers will have to change their approach altogether in the classroom in order for their students to succeed on the Common Core Standards assessments. Make no mistake that these standards and the assessments that accompany them are intended to be rigorous. Teachers will have to create lessons that include higher level thinking skills and writing components in order to prepare students for the Common Core Standards. This approach is difficult to teach on a daily basis because students, particularly in this generation, are resistant to those two things. There will be more pressure than ever placed on teachers whose students do not perform adequately on the assessments. This could lead to many teachers being fired. The intense pressure and scrutiny that teachers will be under will create stress and teacher burnout which could lead to many good, young teachers leaving the field. There is also a chance that many veteran teachers will choose to retire rather than make the necessary changes. Teachers cannot wait until the 2014-2015 school year to begin to change their approach. They need to phase Common Core components gradually into their lessons. This will not only help them as teachers but will also help their students. Teachers need to attend all the professional development that they can and collaborate with other teachers about the Common Core. Having a firm understanding about what the Common Core Standards are as well as how to teach them are necessary if a teacher is going to be successful. Teachers (Non-Core Subjects) Teachers who specialize in areas such as physical education, music, and art will be affected by the Common Core State Standards. The perception is that these areas are expendable. Many believe that they are extra programs that schools offer as long as funding is available and/or they do not take critical time away from core subject areas. As the pressure mounts to improve test scores from Common Core assessments, many schools could choose to end these programs thus allowing more instructional time or intervention time in the core areas. The Common Core Standards themselves present opportunities for teachers of non-core subjects to integrate aspects of the Common Core standards into their daily lessons. Teachers in these areas may have to adapt to survive. They will have to be creative in including aspects of the Common Core in their daily lessons while remaining true to the academic roots of physical education, art, music, etc. These teachers may find it necessary to reinvent themselves in order to prove their mettle in schools across the country. Specialists Reading specialists and intervention specialists will increasingly become more prominent as schools will need to find ways to close gaps in reading and math that struggling students may have. Research has proven that one-on-one or small group instruction has a greater impact at a quicker pace than whole group instruction. For students who struggle in reading and/or math, a specialist can work miracles in getting them on level. With the Common Core Standards, a fourth-grade student who reads on a second-grade level will have little chance to be successful. With the stakes as high as they will be, schools will be smart to hire more specialists to assist those fringe students who with a little extra assistance can get on level. Students While the Common Core Standards presents an enormous challenge for administrators and teachers, it will be the students who unknowingly benefit the most from them. The Common Core Standards will better prepare students for life after high school. The higher level thinking skills, writing skills, and other skills attached to the Common Core will be beneficial to all students. This does not mean that students will not be resistant to the difficulty and changes associated with the Common Core Standards. Those wanting instant results are not being realistic. Students entering middle school or above in 2014-2015 will have a harder time adjusting to the Common Core than those entering Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten. It will probably take a full cycle of students (meaning 12-13 years) before we can realistically see the true impact of the Common Core Standards on students. Students need to understand that school will be more difficult as a result of the Common Core Standards. It will require more time outside of school and a focused approach in school. For older students, this is going to be a difficult transition, but it will still be beneficial. In the long run, a dedication to academics will pay off. Parents The level of parental involvement will need to increase in order for students to be successful with the Common Core Standards. Parents who value education will love the Common Core Standards because their children will be pushed like never before. However, those parents who fail to be involved in their child’s education will likely see their children struggle. It will take a total team effort beginning with the parents for students to be successful. Reading to your child every night from the time they are born are beginning steps to being involved in your child’s education. A disturbing trend in child rearing is that as a child gets older, the level of involvement decreases. This trend needs to be changed. Parents need to be as involved in their child’s education at age 18 as they are at age 5. Parents will need to understand what the Common Core Standards are and how they impact their child’s future. They will need to communicate more effectively with their children’s teachers. They will need to stay on top of their child making sure that homework is completed, providing them with extra work, and stressing the value of education. Parents ultimately have the most impact on their child’s approach to school and no time is this more powerful than it will be in the Common Core Standard era. Politicians For the first time in the history of the United States, states will be able to compare test scores accurately from one state to the other. In our current system, with states having their own unique set of standards and assessments, a student could be proficient in reading in one state and unsatisfactory in another. The Common Core Standards will create competition between states. This competition could have political ramifications. Senators and representatives want to their states to thrive academically. This could help schools in some areas, but it could hurt them in others. The political influence of the Common Core Standards will be a fascinating development to follow as the assessment scores begin to be published in 2015. Higher Education Higher education should be positively affected by the Common Core Standards as students should be better prepared for a college curriculum. Part of the driving force behind the Common Core was that more and more students entering college were requiring remediation particularly in the areas of reading and math. This trend led to a call for increased rigor in public education. As students are taught using the Common Core Standards, this need for remediation should significantly decrease and more students should be college-ready when they leave high school. Higher education will also be directly impacted in the area of teacher preparation. Future teachers need to be adequately prepared with the tools necessary to teach the Common Core Standards. This will fall on the responsibility of teacher colleges. Colleges who do not make changes in how they prepare future teachers are doing a disservice to those teachers and the students whom they will serve. Community Members Community members including merchants, businesses, and tax paying citizens will be affected by the Common Core Standards. Children are our future, and as such everyone should be invested in that future. The ultimate purpose of the Common Core Standards is to prepare students adequately for higher education and to enable them to compete in a global economy. A community fully invested in education will reap rewards. That investment may come through donating time, money, or services, but communities that value and support education will thrive economically.

The Dynamics of Design High Street and High Design Essay

The Dynamics of Design High Street and High Design - Essay Example The modern theory sticks to the similar assumption that jeans are a comfort statement, yet it also stresses on the fact that it is a necessity. Here, the modern theory takes off on a more interpretative note. While a pair of jeans are a necessity, the tone for luxury has been set by celebrities lending their names to a line of jeans and other designer jeans that 'fit and look better' than the normal brands. For example, while most people would opt for a pair of Lee or Levis', design high street fashion is achieved with Zara and Marks and Spencers', and high design is achieved by a couture label like Armani or that of Victoria Beckham's. On the other hand, within the modern theory comes the second twist. Here, design high street meets high design to a great extent when a celebrity endorses a certain brand. This can be better understood through the following lines: When something has been perceived, then it has been noted and the message is recorded. In the words of psychologist, W. H. Ittelson and F. T. Kilpatrick, perception can't be definite, of 'what is'. Rather what we perceive is created by ourselves, which is mostly based on past experiences (Arnorld,1992). Also people's perceptions of brand are governed by some factors which are personal and public. It is one of important challenges for an advertiser trying to reach the customers, either by any form of mass communication like newspaper, or television ad so that they could notice it. Even sometimes the consumer miss out some messages directed to them. So the main thing is to give them exposure. (Arnold, 1992, p. 241). For example if all the ads are in colors then a black and white will be noticed. So by this the customers attention can be taken. Awareness: Awareness implies that the message has made an impression on the audience or reader, who can then identify the pair of jeans. Although awareness is a low form of impact, but it is objective of a great ad. Relative low level of attention can create minimum awareness for low interest product (Sudijic,1985). . Brand equity: This is a very important concept from 1990s. This refers to the use of respected brand name to add value to the jeans. Branding is a way to help the customer's memory

Business Risk in an Uncertain Global Economy Essay - 1

Business Risk in an Uncertain Global Economy - Essay Example The primary risks related to the global volatility are the interest rate risk, currency risk, country risk. All the three are related to each other and have a cascading effect over each other (Skipper & Kwon, 2007, pp. 20-23). Interest rate risks are related to the magnitude and probability of the unanticipated changes in the interest rates that exert an influence over the cost of various sources of capital in a specific currency denomination of an economy and others related economies and the demand for the products. The effects are considered in measuring the exposure of the overall interest rate changes. Currency risk has been related to the magnitude and probability of the uncertain changes taking place in the exchange rate and the inflation rates that is n the value of the foreign and domestic money. On the other hand the country risks refer to the enormity and probability of the changes in the country’s productivity development. Country risks are primarily related to the aggregate demand influencing the scale of production which in turn is affected by the political risk and global economical risks. The country risk exerts an influence over the business related risk and decision making policies of each business operating within the country premises. A firm competitive risk basically refers to the enormity and probability of the uncertain changes in the business specific conditions in addition to the industry specific and demand condition affected by the interest rate, currency rate and country risks (Oxelheim & Wihlborg, 2008, pp. 20-25). Instances can be derived from the global turbulence situation which Bank of England faced during 2013 and how they dealt with such situation. As per the governor of the Bank Of England, â€Å"Over two years now we have seen the situation in the euro area get worse and the problem being pushed down the road† (BBC News Business, June 2012). From the statement it can be assured that individuals in the business o rganizations, the firm itself and the government primarily deal with such uncertainties arising out of the volatile economy by executing certain risk management processes. Financial Management Theories, communication and initiatives: Financial management theories are related to the financial risks. Financial risks generate from the individual’s or the firm’s possession or usage of the financial instruments. The financial risk can evolve through various sources such as interest rates, issuance of stocks, credit extensions, and transaction of foreign currencies and also through various usages of derivatives. So it assures that the business incorporate the defaulter risk within its operations. Any firm when extend the credit to their customers suffers from the financial risk that someone will default. So as the individual also sustains the financial risk while borrowing money from the business enterprises like bank for fulfillment of their personal needs of like buying ho use, cars, making investments etc. Financial risks are primarily external towards the business and the individual and therefore are less subjected to the direct control of the same. On the other hand, they involve a careful and specific selection of the financial instruments (Pixley, 2004, pp. 1- 17). The financial management theories related to the financial risks can be divided into financial market risks, operational risks and the strategic risks. The