The Benefits and Challenges of Working Virtually Essay

The Benefits and Challenges of Working Virtually - Essay Example The paper "The Benefits and Challenges of Working Virtually" talks about the continued growth of the virtual workforce, there are challenges that both managers and employees may encounter. The popularity of the virtual workforce like the teleworker has grown at a significant rate, since the turn of the 21st century. The 1990 Clean Air Act and 1996 amendment brought awareness to reducing carbon dioxide and pollution and conserving fuel. The Teleworker Exchange Act of 2007 was signed into law. It states that a telework policy must be established by each federal executive agency to have 100% of the eligible federal workforce by 2005. A survey conducted by Crook of International Data Corporation (IDC) â€Å"on mobile enterprise claims that by 2015, more than one billion workers across the globe will be working remotely or as virtual workforce†. A virtual workforce is also known as a global workforce, distributed team, virtual employee or team, or geographically dispersed team. The term virtual workforce refers to geographically dispersed employees within a single organization, business unit or directorate; relying exclusively on information and communication technologies to communicate. These virtual employees are made up of individuals or groups of employees or subcontracts who function as a team on common projects around the global and across space and time. Time, distance, and advances in technology and communications has brought a change to the traditional employer and employee relationship.... Such changes include workplace environment, employees’, employers’, and culture. The global workforce, employee workplace flexibility, life balance, and the virtual work environment; an employee’s expectation, motivation, and working relationship are different (Hoefling, 2003, p.131). With the continued growth of the virtual workforce, there are challenges that both managers and employees may encounter. According to Werner, Schuler, & Jackson (2012) the benefits of a virtual workforce are significant; although not without challenges. Managers may find it increasingly difficult to keep virtual employees motivated, and employees may find it additionally difficult to stay motivated while working in an isolated and detached virtual environment (p. 57). Professional isolation concerns reflect the possibility that the virtual environment can change an employee’s opportunities for participation in traditional office interaction, such as physically attending meeti ng, face to face contact like chatting around the water cooler or coffee area or taking smoke breaks and walks (Cooper & Kurland, 2002, p. 512). Some employees enjoy and thrive in environments where they can interact with others employees. The virtual workforce is unique in that these employees are not like the traditional office employees, they live and work all around the world, and therefore time and space becomes their norm.According to (Lojeski& Reilly, 2010) â€Å"leaders know that to successful build critical mass among employees who are worlds apart geographically, culturally, and even spiritually, engendering healthy communities is key† (p.58). According to Hoefling (2003) â€Å"a company today

Iran Informative Speech Outline Essay Example for Free

Iran Informative Speech Outline Essay I.Iran is the center of the world of international news right now with its oil sanctions, threats from Israel, threats of shutting down the Straight of Hormuz but above all else, its expanses in nuclear power. a.Iran’s nuclear program and nuclear weapons have grown exponentially since 2003 threatening Middle-Eastern countries and America. Iran has had a nuclear program since the 1950’s when the U.S. helped launch it as part of the Atoms For Peace program. But since then, the program has grown with out regulation from the I. A.E.A. b.The fact that Iran’s unstable government has nuclear capabilities threatens not only neighboring countries like Israel but also the entire world and this situation needs to be handled as quickly as possible. c.In my speech, I will inform you on Iran’s nuclear program, why it is of the upmost importance, and what we as a nation should do in response. II.Because of Iran’s aggressive nuclear behaviors recently the U.N. has taken notice and has retaliated. a.Harsh economic sanctions were placed on the Iranian people recently. 1.The sanctions are an attempt by the US and European powers to hurt Iran’s economy so that they have no choice but to halt all nuclear developments. 2.Although the economic sanctions have hit hard and have â€Å"settled [the economy] into a slow, downward glide, hemorrhaging jobs and hard currency but appearing to be in no immediate danger of collapse, western diplomats and analysts say,† (Joby Warrick, 19 March, 2013), the sanctions haven’t triggered any protests or any slowing of nuclear development despite Iranian people’s suffering. b.Not only has the Iranian economy suffered but it is also on the verge of war with Israel. 1.They have been in what’s called a shadow war for 5 years where they exchanged terroristic type attacks. 2.Israel has blamed Iran for car and suicide bombings that targeted Israeli diplomats and killed Israeli tourists. Iran’s president has accused Israel and the U.S. of colluding to kill nuclear scientists. c.It’s clear that these issues will quickly escalate and have a negative outcome. III.If action isn’t taken soon, the U.S. will suffer. a.Iran and Israel’s war is inevitable. 1.â€Å"War with Iran seems to be turning away from a mere possibility and more towards inevitability†¦[and] Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently stated that he believes Israel will attack Iran,† (Joseph Sarkisian, March, 2012). 2.And because the U.S. has given Israel billions and has helped expand their military, if Israel attacks Iran in the near future, America has no choice but to attack as well. b.In response to the sanctions, the Iranian government has threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz. 1.The Strait of Hormuz is extremely important geographically because it is considered one of the world’s foremost chokepoints. In 2011, nearly 17 million barrels of oil, or almost 20% of the world’s traded oil flowed on ships through the Strait of Hormuz daily. 2.If the Strait of Hormuz closes, our oil supply from the Middle East will be cut off and the overall price of gas will increase to over $8 and will force the U.S. to spend billions of dollars on new drilling sites in North America. c.These looming threats of war and oil restrictions need to be dealt with.

Reading And Reading Processes

Reading And Reading Processes 1.2 Definition of Reading and Reading Processes It is hardly possible to carry out, or even read, a research on reading without an understanding of the word reading and the processes involved in it, and the present study is no exception. Reading plays such an essential role in educational settings that it has been defined as the most important academic language skill (Grabe Stoller, 2002). It is a psycholinguistic receptive process of written communication in that it starts with a linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning that the reader constructs (Goodman, 1995). It is a process that involves the reader and the text in a dynamic and complex interaction in which a mental representation is constructed based on the meaning signaled by the writer and the readers goals and interests (Rumelhart, 1985; Stanovich, 1980). What is meant by the process is reading proper, i.e. the interaction between a text and a reader (Alderson, 2000, p. 3). In this process, what the readers do is look at print, decode the written words on the page, and determine their meanings and their relationships. The readers also think about what they are reading, what it means to them, how it relates to other things they have read before and to things they already know. Different readers will develop different understandings of what a text means. This is partly because a text does not contain meaning which has to be detected by a proficient reader as the product of reading. The product of the reading process is comprehension (Barry Lazarte, 1995). There may be as many different reading products as there are different readers. This is because readers may differ in their experiences and knowledge. In order for the reading product to be attained, readers employ two different approaches while engaged in the reading process (Nuttall, 2005), namely the bottom-up and the top-down approaches. Bottom-up, or data-driven, approaches are serial models (Alderson, 2000, p.16), where the reader begins with printed words, recognizes graphic stimuli, decodes them to sound, recognizes words and decodes meanings. According to Grabe and Stoller (2002), the bottom-up model suggests that reading follows a mechanical pattern in which the reader creates a piece-by-piece mental translation of the information in the text, with little reference from the readers own background knowledge. Top-down, or conceptually driven, processing is a complementary method of processing written text in which readers draw on their intelligence and experience to understand a text (Nuttall, 2005). According to the top-down model of the reading process, what the reader already knows is thought to determine in large part what s/he will be able to comprehend (Alvermann Phelps, 1998). The top-down model assumes that comprehending begins when a reader has access to appropriate background experiences and knowledge to make sense of the print. In other words, unlike the bottom-up model, the top-down model proposes that the reader makes educated guesses to predict the meaning of the print. As a matter of fact, what is emphasized in top-down processing, according to Alderson (2000), is the knowledge that a reader brings to text. This model is based on schema theory, which accounts for the acquisition of knowledge and the interpretation of text through the activation of schemata: networks of information stored in the brain which act as filters for incoming information (Ausubel, 1968; Bartlett, 1932; Carrell, 1983a; Carrell, Devine Eskey, 1988; Hudson, 1982). In this view, readers activate what they consider to be relevant existing schemata and map incoming information onto them. To the extent that these schemata are relevant, reading is successful. Nevertheless, neither the bottom-up nor the top-down approach, per se, is an adequate characterization of the reading process (Alderson, 2000). What readers need to employ while attending to texts is a combination of the two approaches, which, in Nuttalls words (2005), are used to complement each other. This inadequacy led to the introduction of a third approach, the interactive model. The interactive model of the reading process incorporates features of both the bottom-up and top-down models. In practice, a reader continually shifts from one focus to another, now adopting a top-down approach to predict the probable meaning, then moving to the bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer says (Nuttall, 2005, p. 17). In this context, Alvermann and Phelps (1998) believe that the interactive model of reading process is a good descriptor of how students typically read their content area texts. They connect what they know about language, decoding, and vocabulary, or bottom-up skills, to their background experiences, prior knowledge, and familiarity with the topic being read, or top-down skills. Interestingly, these skills are compensatory to Stanovich (1980). He argues that when readers lack enough bottom-up skills, they may use top-down knowledge to compensate. Likewise, when they do not have enough background knowledge on the topic they are reading, they resort to their language skills to comprehend the text. Most of the current models of L2 reading comprehension, according to Nassaji (2007) are interactive in that L2 comprehension is considered to be a process consisting of both bottom-up and top-down processes. However, familiarity with reading models, alone, is not sufficient for the understanding of the factors involved in the reading process. Alongside the significance of the knowledge of the reading process, the importance of reading for ESL learners necessitates the understanding of the variables affecting a learners comprehension of texts. Research on reading variables has divided them into two major sections: factors within the reader, and aspects of the text to be read (Alderson, 2000). What is of focus in the present study is the former section, the reader variables. 1.4 Reader Variables Research has looked at the way readers themselves affect the reading process and product, and has investigated a number of different variables. Among them, two very important reader variables are topic familiarity (i.e. prior knowledge on topic), or background knowledge, (Bransford Johnson, 1972; Carrell, 1983a; Carrell Wise, 1998; Kintsch, 1992; Leeser, 2007; Moravcsik Kintsch, 1993; Nassaji, 2007; Young, 1991), and vocabulary knowledge (Alderson Urquhart, 1985; Anderson Freebody, 1983; Carrell, 1984; Koda, 1988, 2005; Qian, 1999). A definition of these variables seems indispensible to this research introduction. 1.4.1 Topic Familiarity Prior topic knowledge, and its influence on readers text comprehension is one of the variables being investigated in this study with regards to teachers intervention in the classroom. Therefore, an understanding of the concept seems essential for the reader. There is a substantial body of research in cognitive psychology supporting the idea that topic familiarity has a facilitative role in reading comprehension (e.g. Bransford Johnson, 1972; Kintsch, 1992; Moravacsik Kintsch, 1993). This role has been motivated through schema-based models of comprehension (e.g. Rumelhart. 1977, 1980) which posit that pre-existing schemata control comprehension. In other words, readers background knowledge contributes to their understanding of texts. When the term background knowledge is used, what is usually meant is a readers prior knowledge of the subject matter of the text. In this regard, Alvermann Phelps (1998) claim that What a person already knows about a topic is probably the single most i nfluential factor in what he or she will learn ( p. 168). The nature of the knowledge that readers have will influence not only what they remember of text, but also the product, i.e. their understanding of the text, and the way they process it (Bartlett, 1932; Carrell, 1984; Rumelhart, 1980; Alderson, 2000). The development of schema theory has attempted to account for the consistent finding that what readers know affects what they understand. Schemata are seen as interlocking mental structures representing readers knowledge (Alderson, 2000, p. 33). When readers process text, they integrate the new information from the text into their pre-existing knowledge or schemata. In addition, their schemata influence how they recognize information as well as how they store it (Carrell, 1983a). Researchers have distinguished different types of schemata, which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 2. Problems arise when a reader has no relevant schemata or an insufficient schema, if relevant schemata are not recalled, or if an existing schema is inconsistent with information in the text. Readers will often ignore ideas in a text that conflict with conventional real world knowledge (Alvermann, Smith, Readence, 1985). Students with reading difficulties appear to have particular trouble using their prior knowledge to modify misconceptions or to learn new information from reading (Holmes, 1983). Often, a reader who is struggling to understand a difficult text will follow isolated details in the text and as a result employ an inappropriate schema to fill in the gaps. A factor that has strong potential to affect readers comprehension, and can cause their misinterpretations is culture (Steffensen, Joag-Dev, and Anderson, 1979). Effects of cultural differences on reading recall, test scores and reading miscues have been consistently found in different studies (e.g., Carrell, 1984b; Dima ssi, 2006; Rice, 1980). This will be elaborated on in the next chapter. 1.4.2 Vocabulary Knowledge The second parameter that is probed in the study, the understanding of which is inevitable to the reader, is vocabulary knowledge. Successful comprehension is heavily dependent on knowledge of individual word meanings (Koda, 2005, p. 48). Research confirms a strong connection between readers vocabulary knowledge and their ability to understand what they read (Anderson Freebody, 1983; Davis, 1968; Koda, 2005; Qian, 1999). For example, Koda (2005) argues that there is a reciprocal relationship between word knowledge and comprehension. On the one hand vocabulary knowledge plays a crucial role in text understanding among both L1 and L2 readers, and on the other, vocabulary learning and processing are equally dependent on comprehension. She adds that the precise meaning of a particular word is determined in large part by the context in which it appears, and that this meaning is closely linked with readers real-life experience. However, in spite of overwhelming data available on their str ong connection there is little consensus as to the exact mutuality between the two (ibid.). While, traditionally, vocabulary has been viewed as the dominant factor in reading comprehension (Davis, 1968; Whipple, 1925, cited in Hiebert Kamil, 2005), a more recent view suggests a two-way link where the two are interdependent during their development process (Anderson Freebody, 1983). Anderson and Freebody evaluated two contrasting hypotheses: instrumental and knowledge. The instrumental hypothesis postulates a direct mutual tie between vocabulary and comprehension, maintaining that word knowledge facilitates comprehension. On the contrary, the knowledge hypothesis assumes an indirect link between the two, positing that their relationship is linked through a third phenomenon, background knowledge. In this view, vocabulary size reflects conceptual knowledge. Once readers have real-world experience, their text understanding is considerably improved. There will be more elaboration on this in Chapter 2. As was said earlier in this chapter, vocabulary knowledge and background knowledge, or topic familiarity, are two most important variables affecting students comprehension. Research has also shown that the most important problems teachers face in a reading class is unknown vocabulary and unfamiliar topic (Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008). In order to have a better understanding of teachers contribution to the reading class with regard to these two parameters, an awareness of the teachers role in the reading class, which is another variable in the present research, seems inevitable. 1.5 Teachers Role It is believed that the role the teacher plays in reading instruction is significant in the degree of the effectiveness of a reading program (Blair, Rupley Nichols, 2007). In this regard, Duffy-Hester (1999) is convinced that the teacher is more important and has a greater impact than any single, fixed reading program, method, or approach (p. 492). However, it should be noted that it is not enough for a teacher to be a good person who loves working with students. They must be aware of the reading process and the teaching and learning of reading if they want their instruction to yield good results (Blair, Rupley Nichols, 2007). Good teachers understand that students need to be prepared to read before they are asked to (Alvermann Phelps, 1998). One way to prepare students for reading new topics is presenting basic background knowledge through brainstorming, question and answer, discussion on the topic, or pictures. Another way is providing students with topic related vocabulary and instructing them prior to reading (ibid.). These preparatory activities are usually practiced in the pre-reading phase, which, according to Chastain (1988), is meant to motivate students to want to read the assignment and to prepare them to be able to read it. Pre-reading activities provide a reader with necessary background to organize activity and to comprehend the material (Ringler and Weber, 1984). These experiences involve understanding the purpose(s) for reading and building a knowledge base necessary for dealing with the content, vocabulary, and the structure of the material (ibid.) Ringler and Weber argue that pre-reading activities elicit prior knowledge, build background and focus attention. In fact, it is in the pre-reading stage that teachers attempt to facilitate and enhance students comprehension of reading texts by topic familiarization and vocabulary introduction. Chapter 2 will discuss the pre-reading stage in detail. 1.6 Background to the Problem There is a considerable bulk of research on the comparison of the effectiveness and enhancing roles of topic familiarity and vocabulary knowledge in ESL reading (e.g. Afflerbach, 1986; Brantmeier, 2003; Carrell, 1987; Hammadou, 1991; Hudson, 1982; Johnson, 1982; Park, 2004a, 2004b; Swaffer, 1988). Studies on these two reader variables reveal that there is little consensus among the researchers as for their functions in ESL contexts. Some findings have shown a significant, positive effect for topic familiarity as either a main effect or as part of a complex interaction. For example, Johnson (1982) gave ESL readers a passage on Halloween and demonstrated that topic familiarity had a greater impact on comprehension than the pre-teaching of vocabulary. Also, Swaffer (1988) concludes, in her paper, that background knowledge can be more influential in reading comprehension than word knowledge. She further claims that topic familiarity facilitates language recognition, and recall of concepts. However, some other research in the literature indicates that vocabulary knowledge may be a more significant variable than prior knowledge on topic in ESL readers success. For example, Phillips (1990), reported by Hammadou (1991), finds that prior knowledge is insignificant when readers lack vocabulary knowledge and language proficiency. To Phillips, it is only when readers are proficient that high or low background knowledge comes into play and differentiates between readers levels of comprehension. But, perhaps the most comprehensive study on the effects of vocabulary pre-teaching and providing background knowledge on L2 reading comprehension was done by Park (2004b). He divided his 180 participants into three groups à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ the vocabulary group, the background knowledge group, and the control group, with different treatments. The results he attained were a) the scores of the vocabulary and background knowledge groups were significantly higher than those of the control group, b) the vocabulary group scored higher than the background knowledge group, although the difference between the mean scores of the two groups was not significant, and c) the effects of pre-reading activities on L2 reading comprehension differed by achievement level and text type. Nevertheless, to Tuero (1996), unknown vocabulary and prior knowledge play equally decisive roles in reading comprehension. She concludes, in her study, that background knowledge and vocabulary difficulty function independently and affect reading in different ways. Even though prior knowledge facilitates comprehension, vocabulary development is equally crucial to foreign language reading. As said earlier, unknown vocabulary and unfamiliar topic have been found to be the most important problems that teachers encounter in a reading class (Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008). Therefore, to ensure students comprehension, teachers should concentrate on these two variables, because without comprehension reading would be meaningless. Different learners seem to approach reading tasks in different ways, and some of these ways appear to lead to better comprehension (Tercanlioglu, 2004). Research has shown that learners can be instructed to use appropriate reading strategies to help them improve comprehension and recall (Carrell, Pharis, Liberto, 1989), and that this instruction should include more pre-reading strategies than post-reading strategies (Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008). However, what is of concern to the researcher is the degree of effectiveness of teachers instruction of these reading strategies. It is true that unknown vocabulary and unfamiliar topic are the most significant problems in a reading class. But, who should, or can, attend to these problems? Is it the teacher, the student, the author, or other variables that have this responsibility? Although there has been quite a lot of research on topic familiarity and vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension, unfortunately, to date, there is no data available reflecting on the degree of effectiveness of the teachers presence at, or absence from an ESL reading class. In fact, the role of the teacher in enhancing students familiarity with texts topics and contents, and his/her role in vocabulary introduction have not been investigated yet. It is not clear to what extent teachers intervention facilitates students performance on reading comprehension and vocabulary tests. What if the teacher is not available for a pre-reading instruction? Does this mean that students have to postpone their reading activities, waiting for the unfamiliar topic and unknown vocabulary to be introduced by the teacher? In other words, should topic familiarization and vocabulary introduction be necessarily carried out by the teacher? The researcher believes this is a gap in the literature, which the present study seeks to fill. 1.7 Purpose and Design of the Study This study is an attempt to investigate in depth, in an explanatory mixed methods design, the degree of the effectiveness of teachers construction of background knowledge and his/her instruction of vocabulary at pre-reading stage in adult ESL reading comprehension. The influence of the teacher on the reading class, his/her contribution to students comprehension, and the facilitative role that s/he might play are the important aspects that this study aims to shed light on. The reason for conducting a mixed methods study is that the researcher attempts to combine both quantitative and qualitative data for more precise results. The explanatory mixed methods design, which is also called the two-phase model (Creswell, 2008), puts emphasis on quantitative data collection and analysis. In this method, the major aspect of data collection is quantitative, and a small qualitative component follows in the second phase of the research (ibid.). The quantitative phase of the study aims to test the following hypotheses: Teacher-directed topic familiarization enhances students performance on ESL reading comprehension tasks more than written introductions do. Dictionary use and teachers instruction of vocabulary yield the same results in students performance on vocabulary tests. To test the research hypotheses, this study seeks to answer three questions, and for the qualitative part of the research, RQ4 is supposed to serve the purpose. The research questions are as follows: RQ 1 To what extent does teacher-directed topic familiarization enhance students performance on multiple-choice reading comprehension tests? RQ 2 To what extent does teachers intervention help students recall of a reading passage? RQ 3 What are the differences between teachers instruction of vocabulary and dictionary use in students performance on vocabulary tests? RQ 4 What are students perceptions as to the teachers role in an ESL reading classroom? To answer RQs 1, 2, and 3, quantitative data suffices and serves the purpose, and that is why the researcher applies multiple choice questions and written recall tests. But, for RQ 4, it is deemed necessary to mix quantitative and qualitative data to obtain more detailed , specific information than could be gained from the results of statistical tests. Therefore, a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire is combined with semi-structured interviews to answer RQ 4. Details will be found in Chapter 3. 1.8 Significance of the Study Through his experience as an EFL teacher, the researcher has noticed that many EFL students face challenges whenever the reading comprehension process is altered by any unfamiliar reading task or assignment. He has also noticed that pre-reading instruction activities, including prior knowledge construction of unfamiliar topics, and teaching new vocabulary, play an important role in preparing students for the task and can help them become more aware of the characteristics of reading that are important to the task. This study will help teachers and educators find out the effectiveness and significance of teachers presence at, or absence from, the reading class. It is an attempt to explore teachers contribution to students reading comprehension, and tries to answer the question of whether or not, or to what extent, adult ESL students could be independent readers. This research will investigate, for the first time, the effectiveness of dictionary use as compared with the teachers vocabul ary instruction in enhancing students vocabulary knowledge in the reading class. Another significant viewpoint of the study is that, again for the first time, the teachers skill in familiarizing students with unfamiliar topics at pre-reading stage will be compared with the efficacy of written introductory data doing the same job of providing students with background knowledge on unfamiliar topics, hence the applicability of written pre-reading information in helping students text comprehension. All this will have implications for educators, teachers, practitioners, and researchers in the field of L2 reading comprehension, and will also help them design reading skill courses accordingly. It is hoped that the present research will make a positive contribution to the field of teaching second language reading. 1.9 Methodology The study was conducted with newly registered postgraduate students at the University of Malaya, Malaysia. The Institute of Graduate Studies (IGS) at UM administers regular English Placement Tests for those new students who do not possess any scores on either the TOEFL or the IELTS as the prerequisite for the registration for the university programs. Based on the students scores on the university Placement Test, the participants were assigned to two treatment groups, Group A and Group B, comprising 35 students each. To find the answers to RQs 1, 2, and 3, the participants were provided with three reading passages of unfamiliar topics and contents, which they read and were tested on, with a weeks interval between the tests. The difficulty levels of these passages were measured through the Flesch Readability Test (Flesch, 1948). A typical session ran as this: The participants in Group A received no teachers intervention. They were provided with some brainstorming questions, to which they received no answers, a list of the text concepts, and a written introduction, which were meant to help them construct background knowledge on the text they were going to read. The text this group read had a title, which is believed to have a role in helping students to construct prior knowledge (Hammadou, 1991). They were also given a list of the key vocabulary, and were encouraged to use their dictionaries to check words meanings. In short, Group A received any information which was thought to be necessary in rea ding the text, but in the form of written input. Group B, however, underwent teachers intervention. That is, it was the teacher who, in some pre-reading activities, familiarized them with the topic and content, and taught them the key vocabulary. Moreover, their text did not include a title, and no dictionary use was permitted in this group. This procedure was repeated for all the three passages. The participants were then assessed on comprehension and vocabulary after finishing each text. Each reading passage was followed by a free written recall test and a set of 20 multiple choice questions, 10 on comprehension and 10 on vocabulary. In fact, in the three treatment weeks, the students took three written recall tests, 30 comprehension and 30 vocabulary MCQs. Also, to find the answer to RQ4, on the students perceptions of the teachers role in a reading class, a 5- point Likert scale questionnaire was administered, and then through purposeful sampling, 20 of the participants, 10 from each group, were selected for an interview. Applied as one of the data collection tools, the free recall test is a measure in which readers write down as much as they can remember from what they have just read, without looking at the passage. According to Johnston (1983) and Bernhardt (1983), the recall measurement is a valid means of evaluating foreign language reading comprehension. This technique has been widely used in second language reading research (e.g., Carrell, 1987; Dimassi, 2006; Leeser, 2007; Young, 1999) Multiple choice tests, as another research tool, are common instruments for assessing reading comprehension (Alderson, 2000). To Koda (2005), they are the most popular format used in standardized reading comprehension tests. MCQs have been employed extensively in L2 reading assessment (e.g., Bugel Buunk, 1996; Carrell, 1987; Carrell Wise, 1998; Oded Walters, 2001; Park, 2004; Yazdanpanah, 2007), and, therefore, have been coupled with the free recall test to measure the participants reading ability. In addition, Likert scale questionnaires and interviews are two common techniques in measuring perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs in second language teaching and learning (DeVellis, 1991; Turner, 1993), and have been used widely in the literature (See Brown, 2006 2009; Richardson, 1996; Williams Burden, 1997; Yamashita, 2004, for Likert scale questionnaires, and Barkhuizen, 1998; Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008; Conteh Toyoshima, 2005; Li Wilhelm, 2008, for interviews). Thus, the study has applied these tools to find the answer to RQ4. Details on the research instruments will be revealed in Chapter 3.

The Boy Next Door and the Psycho Killer: Producing Society’s Extremes E

The Boy Next Door and the Psycho Killer: Producing Society’s Extremes Two boys walk down the corridor of a friendly, residential, public high school. As they approach, the crowd slowly parts as its bystanders just stare at the boys. The boys walk with a certain aire about them, as their trench coats swing from side to side and their gloomy faces meet the eyes of the rest of the students. They are pointed at and called names such as fag or freak-- for they are members of the infamous trench coat mafia. These two boys can also be described as the murderers in the Columbine High School shootings. Somewhere across the country in another friendly, residential, public high school, a good looking boy of the same age walks down a similar hallway, and has a similar effect on the crowd. Instead of being laughed at or called a fag, this captain of the football team, Corey Johnson, gets a few " good job at the game yesterday" or hellos from people that have only heard of him and wished to actually know him personally, for he is notorious for being "cool". Rather t han being called a fag as walks down the hallway no one even suspects or even contemplates the fact that he is a homosexual. These individuals are alike in various aspects; age, sex, surroundings, and others, but yet have managed to be labeled and categorized so differently and so harshly. So what are the social conditions that have allowed such opposing figures to take shape in our culture? What is it that forces youth to be successful at being normal or unsuccessful and weird? The answer is the confining and forceful methods that our society has used to produce its norms. These two particular cases are just representations of many types of kids who are forced into two very dist... ...nes, ads, schools—the devastating effect is one that is constantly making deviants the outcast. These outcasts take on labels that usually have a negative connotation of a freak. Should these deviant groups stride to fit this "normal" expectation and assimilate into a culture that has rejected them or rather try to gain strength to add to their uniqueness? Each individual has a role on how he is perceived. This "role" is not control but rather a path that can be taken to control their position according to the norm. It is debatable if Corey Johnson’s face to the nation as an icon was an action to make the gay race seem more normal, or to show that there are exceptions to the rule within the gay name. No matter the standpoint or path a group in society chooses take, there will always be one outstanding central ground: With your norm, you’ve always got your deviant.

Impacts of Punk Culture

Although its origins can be traced back in the late 60's, even earlier, punk culture showed itself in the early 1970s and evolved in time. It seemed to form a distinct youth culture that in turn provoked a media-driven moral panic with certain ideologies, fashion choices, visual arts, dance styles, literature and films cluster around a loud – aggressive genre of music called â€Å"punk rock† and prompted notable cultural change. For decades, the punk culture shaped people's characters, perspectives about life. Even though there were a lot of negative opinions from people (Especially considering the word â€Å"punk† was a slang term used for describing certain groups of youths at the bottom of the social scale) who do not approve the punk culture about how distractive and harmful the ones who live their life dedicated to punk culture. Saying â€Å"Suffused with self-reflexive irony, these punkshave recycled cultural images and fragments for purposes of parody and shockingjuxtaposition, thereby deconstructing the dominant meanings and simulationswhich saturate social space†(Moore, 307) and claim they are a threat for the society. The punk culture has been providing the freedom of self-expression, self-esteem many of the punk culture followers lack of in many areas and bringing them together and show people their capability, the real power they have in life to change the world.Punk culture gave people a type of freedom that supports being an individual. Before people embraced the punk culture expressing opinions that are out of the societies liking were not okay. However, punk culture is mainly based on knowing every individual has a different approach to a topic and supporting to emit these opinions openly, without fear. According to punk culture the first step to be an independed individual requires not accepting everything the society tells you, not following rules they teach you, not listening what the authority says; just use your own mind to guide yourself, use your power to do everything that was normally supposed to be hidden, as society says, to bring to the front, to in front of the society's face. In order to follow that movement, the most prevalent core value in the punk subculture that created itself is Do-It-Yourself (or D.I.Y.). For example, punk music bands adopted the Do-It-Yourself subculture to record their own music, to release their own records, to book their own shows and tours, radically to spread their own ideas with the minimum amount of outside assistance. They made their own merchandise for their fans, sometimes even with the help of their fans. The outgrowth of hardcore punk in the 1980s would not have been possible without D.I.Y. Because no major labels showed interest in punk, punks were forced into creating almost every aspect of the subculture (Moran, 62). D.I.Y. in the punk subculture is often not a choice because of the low economic income of individuals in the subculture. At some point punks had no choice other than not rely on anyone but themselves. To follow the D.I.Y. method, the punk did not have to have the same perspective about world. There were virtually no politics in uniform except for doing it yourself. One of the articles used to create this research gave the example of Screwdriver, a white supremacist band, and Crass, an anarchist punk band, as both being classified as â€Å"punk† bands despite their lack of shared values. Being a participant in the punk subculture suggests that one must be active in the creation and support of other members of the movement (Moran, 63).The fashion sense the punks promotes individual freedom and self – appreciation. The punk fashion, again, is supported by the D.I.Y. method. A lot of clothe items is made, sewed and put together by the person who wears the clothes. Punk was a radical style marked by unconventional combinations of elements and materials and a high shock value. What began as an anti-style aimed at thumbing its nose at the established norms of high fashion ended up having a great deal of influence on the fashions of the late 1970s and beyond (1). The look of punk was basically wearing almost entirely black, pants with holes in them, especially on the knees, which deliberately ripped, composed their outfits mixing, matching, and layering as they saw fit. To have a altered, more individual look was the main key to look punk. Quite often the garments were torn, colored, with the items bought at second-hand or military surplus shops. Black turtlenecks, short leather skirts or tight leather pants or jeans, leather jackets customized with paint, chains, safety pins and metal studs, and heavy leather boots were essential for the look. The clothes were often decorated with obscene or disturbing words and images. What is now called punk is generally dated to 1972 when the British fashion designers Malcolm McLaren (1946–) and Vivienne Westwood (1941–) opened their London boutique, First called Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die and later renamed Sex, sold a variety of black leather and rubber designs and became a central meeting place for those in the emerging punk music scene (1). Gender based clothing was no longer ideal for them to express their self-image, the idea of â€Å"There is no gender, clothes are just piece of fabric† began to assimilated by the punks and spread to world. Speaking of self-image and expression, re-creating your image other than wearing ‘punk appropriate' clothes were being espoused such as dying natural hair with vibrant hair colors, different haircuts and styles (for example, spiked haircut, achieved by applying large amounts of gel or Vaseline to one's hair and then rubbing talcum powder into it to dry it into spikes that stuck out away from the head, or shaved parts or all of their heads, creating mohawks), doing obscure make-up looks with darkened eyelids and lips for both men and women, piercing multiple body parts, doing tattoos which is considered to be only can own by the prisoners a.k.a. bad guy (which supported punks to provoke the society) and creating new methods and styles for these acts (for example dermal ‘anchors' piercing). Doing all of these punk styles, seeing others to do them too, enabled punks to feel more comfortable and safe in their own skin with the freedom of self-expression.The genre of music punk culture creates helps people to express their emotions. In general, punk rock was a negation of the dominant trends in popular music. It contained attitudes, approaches and subject-matter that had been excluded from the practice of popular music, which by the mid-1970s was more than ever. Punk rock was intensely contradictory. Frequently, the same musician used both progressive and reactionary elements (sometimes even in the same song). The main style of punk rock was fast, loud and aggressive rhythm and used of harsh, very expressive language in lyrics which disturbed many other people due to the political statements they partake. Punk groups have produced songs about unemployment (Career Opportunities, Right To Work), the Notting Hill carnival (White Riot), the monarchy (God Save The Queen) and general expressions of an apocalyptic rebellion (Anarchy In The UK, London's Burning), many of these songs have not been broadcast as a result of formal or covert censorship, it is worth dealing in some detail with the most prominent of them (Laing, 124). The punk performers claimed they were ‘exposing the reality'. Also, again, the usage of the D.I.Y., the records were made quickly and cheaply in small recording studios, manufactured and distributed locally through a company set up by a manager or local entrepreneur, such as a record shop owner, created not perfect copy of the records compared to the earlier music styles that embraced the clean sound of music. However, this imperfect image of punk music represents did not back-fired like the others (anti-punks) assumed. Listeners liked the natural vocal and sound approach. Another approach the punk performers focused on was sexuality, the aggression they present was usually sexual. The Rolling Stones used this approach a lot to their advantage. Another style called â€Å"glamrock† (glamorous rock, named after the fancy, over-the-top style the performers choose) performed by David Bowie, Queen and others was also an influence on this style. The punks support each other's idea, that's why the punk culture created big, worldwide communities. Firstly, studying a punk concert, seeing the communication and relationship between the performers and the audience, also between the audience itself is a very efficient way to choose. Participants perform the carnival rituals of faux violence, and in doing so establish, maintain, and sustain the resident punk community and culture. The activities near the stage give the impression of chaos. Audience participants readily mounted the stage and dove or ran back into the crowd. Band members easily entered and left the audience (HerrMann, 166). Punk rock can be played in concert at either venues or basement shows, aired on radio stations, or recorded to albums or bootlegs for dissemination by the punk wing of the cassette culture. Parties also serve as an important component of a punk scene, providing an event to exchange music and reinforce scene solidarity. Punks mostly interact with one another in their local area, forming a local punk scene. In dozens of countries worldwide, almost all major cities, many medium-sized cities, and a few small towns have such scenes. The worldwide punk community may sometimes be called the punk scene. Another approach to observe the community supported by the punk culture the ideas and acts support equality such as feminism, meaning to support equality between women and men and LGBTQ+ community and understand that they were big steps to enlighten people's minds and change their perspectives. The ones who struggle with their own sexualities and genders were supported by many communities. Of course not everyone was happy with that, but it was just the beginning. Punks were scruffy, dirty in clothing and language, but at the same time with a sense of parody and steeped in irony. The punk culture was a celebration of chaos. Punk was a culture that reflected a consumer-based society moving out of affluence into real economic, social, and political crisis. The Punks intentionally disconnect themselves from the parent culture and represent themselves as inscrutable. The music they created was crude and chaotic. Unlike any previous music-based youth culture, the punks attempted to break down the barriers between performers and audiences. All of these facts had a big role to shape the world we now have.WORKS CITED* HerrMann, Andrew F. Never Mind the Scholar, Here's the Old Punk: Identity, Community, and the Aging Music Fan. In Studies in Symbolic Interaction. 2015.*Laing, Dave. The Sound of Our Time â€Å"Interpreting Punk Rock†. Quadrangle Books, 1970.*Mooran, Ian P. Punk: The Do-It-Yourself Subculture,† Social Sciences Journal. 2010.*Moore, Ryan. Postmodernism and Punk Subculture: Cultures of Authenticity and Deconstruction, The Communication Review. 2004.*Punk.† Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages. 10 Apr. 2018, www.encyclopedia.com.

Get Into Engineering Schools Like MIT, Caltech, CMU, or RPI With the SAT

Get Into Engineering Schools Like MIT, Caltech, CMU, or RPI With the SAT SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Engineering schools don't look for the same things on a college application that the average school does. I would know because I have an engineering background and spent substantial time studying the process of getting into Caltech and MIT, and then I did it. Here, I reveal how they're different. Strong in SAT Math You have to, have to, be strong in math to get into engineering schools. That means that on your SAT, your SAT math section matters the most by far. 800 is ideal, but try to get at least 700 to have a decent shot at admission to top engineering schools. Consider the following: Tim has an 800 in Math and a 550 in Reading. John has a 700 in Math and a 700 in Writing. At a top liberal arts college like Brown, John is the better scorer by far: he has a higher total score, and his score is more well-rounded. But at MIT, it is reversed: Tim has the better shot by far. The difference between a 700 and 800 is quite substantial in the Math section. MIT literally admits the top 0.1% or better of engineering students. Math is the fundamental building block of all engineering. A 700 only puts you in the top 8% of students not impressive at all by comparison. In summary, on the SAT I, you should be getting close to an 800 in the Math section. If you are close to an 800, and feel that you are mainly missing test strategy, then you have a great shot, and ought to prep for math so you can get closer to an 800. If you feel like you are missing fundamental math skills and are far from an 800, then you should look at different engineering schools that are closer to your score range. Show Off Even More Math To be honest, while an 800 in Math on the SAT I is great, for a school like MIT, it's not an automatic shoo-in (some things are; I'll talk about them below). That's because the SAT has a ceiling in math difficulty (usually below Calculus). Thus, if you know everything pre-Calculus by heart, you can get an 800. Students who are good at math want to show off even more skill. This is where the SAT Math IIC comes in the content is more advanced, and you want to do well here too. Finally, take AP math courses whenever possible, and the most difficult ones, to showcase your skills. Did I Mention Math? At this point you might think I'm getting ridiculous, but I'm not. The point to drive home is that they really care about math. In particular, there are a few things you can do that will almost guarantee* you admissions to places even as hallowed as MIT and Caltech: - Score well on a specific math competition. Scoring high on the AIME often guarantees admission. - Score really, really well on any science/math competition. If you're the world winner of the International Biology Olympiad, your chances oif admission are very good. The analogues of this competition in Informatics, Chemistry, Math, and Physics are all great ways to endure your admission. - Go to a prestigious science/math camp like RSI. Note carefully the names I put in above, like "AIME" and "RSI"; they are important. They are especially well-known by top colleges and you should try for those specific programs. Close relatives of the above brands are not the same. (I am not invested in any of the above competitions, for full disclosure.) What Doesn't Matter? Most other items that you associate with standard liberal arts colleges don't matter as much. Orchestra? Debate? Top writer? For engineering schools, these are like flowers outside a restaurant: nice in an ideal candidate, but not what they came for. * All these great schools have admissions rates of around 10% or less. Anything north of 50% is a guarantee in my book with respect to college admissions. As long as you aren'ta total slacker or psycho and don't drop the ball, you'll get in. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Dr. Fred Zhang About the Author Fred is co-founder of PrepScholar. He scored a perfect score on the SAT and is passionate about sharing information with aspiring students. Fred graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor's in Mathematics and a PhD in Economics. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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