Meaning of Life and Success Essay Example for Free

Meaning of Life and Success Essay Extended Definition Essay Success The most Important thing In my life Is thought to be happiness. In order to achieve success you must adjust to very situation with ease. Success Is It the process of doing a task and receiving a positive result, or Is It simply achieving ones own personal goals. According to The American Heritage dictionary success Is, the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempt. The word success itself means to achieve your goal or get the point that you looking for. Some people success meant to them to be rich or to finish school and work high pay Jobs. But for me success means more han that. Success means to me have peace and love; also to get married and to enter heaven after this life is over. To be sure, everybody who has peace and love is a successful succeeding person. Wthout peace and love there is no success. You wake up in the morning and you dont worry about anything that day; that is success for me, because the life is short, you dont have to be concerned about anything. Also if you have a family that loves you and is always happy for what you are doing, that is success. In addition, if you take care of your old parents and they love you and they live a happy life, which is uccess tor me. Additionally, success Is also something that Is viewed differently In the eyes of everyone. This is because success means doing what I have always wanted do being where I have always wanted to be. My goal In life Is to eventually get married toa good wife and have many happy children and If I accomplished that, then I could view myself as having success. Lastly, meaning of success for me Is to enter the heaven after this life Is over. We know that life in this world is too short, and we dont know when we are going to die and what we are going to get after this life. That is a simple answer; do good deeds in this world and you are going to be successful in the Ife hereafter. That means you enter the heaven for sure and that is big reward from God to his mankind. There is no dying after this life; that means f you dont enter the heaven you will be the loser and who ever go in the heaven will be the winner. In conclusion, I still agree with the Idea I presented: however according to the dictionary and many other resources, success means to them achievement. But according to my own opinion success means to believe the ones of God, and to have eace and love in your whole life, and to get in heaven the life hereafter. Meaning of Life and Success BY elm12696 The most important thing in my life is thought to be happiness. In order to achieve success you must adjust to very situation with ease. Success is it the process of doing a task and receiving a positive result, or is it simply achieving ones own personal goals. According to The American Heritage dictionary success is, the achievement of Without peace and love there is no success. You wake up in the morning and you you dont have to be concerned about anything. Also if you have a family that loves uccess for me. Additionally, success is also something that is viewed differently in the eyes of where I have always wanted to be. My goal in life is to eventually get married to a good wife and have many happy children and if I accomplished that, then I could Lastly, meaning of success for me is to enter the heaven after this life is over. We this world and you are going to be successful in the life hereafter. That means you no dying after this life; that means if you dont enter the heaven you will be the loser In conclusion, I still agree with the idea I presented: however according to the

Language acquisition Essay Example for Free

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

Concepts of Scarcity and Choice

Concepts of Scarcity and Choice Economics can be defined as the study of the practical science of production and distribution of wealth ( J S MILLS). The objective of all persons is to earn money by working in order to satisfy their wants. Unfortunately people earnings are never enough in order to satisfy their unlimited wants as there is a lack of resources in terms of workers, raw materials, time, and money in order to produce all the products that we would like to acquire which causes the problem of scarcity. SCARCITY AND CHOICE Scarcity is a relative concept that is resources are scarce relatively to unlimited wants. The problem of scarcity exists in all dimensions that are in terms of individual, society as well as countries. For example as far as individual is concerned in search of improving our standard of living we are always striving to have better and more luxurious shelter, latest fashion clothing, full option types of transport, better health care etc but due to limited resources we cannot satisfy all these wants and in terms of countries Governments are always having difficulties in choosing where to invest there are too many necessities to fulfill due to lack of resources. As a result of scarcity each and every person as well as the Government needs to make a choice so that the limited available resources is used efficiently. OPPORTUNITY COST As a result of the lack of resources and the problem of scarcity, we have to choose and decide which products or services are most important for us to buy with the limited amount of money we earn and which ones are less important that we could forego. As in define by Susan Grant Opportunity cost is the cost of a decision in terms of the best alternative given up to achieve it. Say if I have one hour free time during which I can either go the cinema or at the seaside, if I choose going to the cinema then the next best alternative forgone is going at the seaside. Quantity of Good X Given a production point on a PPC (A). If a country chooses to produce more of good X- in other words moving to point B on the PPC, this can only be possible by decreasing resources out of the production of good Y to the production of good X, implying a reduction in the quantity of Y produced. Therefore in order to produce more of good X, a country needs to give up some amount of good Y. In other words there is an opportunity cost of producing more of good X. Opportunity cost of producing X X1 of good X= Y Y1 of good Y. Micro Economics Micro Economics is the study of the behaviors of individuals and companies in line with income, profits, prices of available goods and services. These behaviors are directly related to supply and market as well as taxes and regulations impose by the Government. For example in the case of an individual Micro Economics examines how the latter make decisions on which products or services to buy depending on his income and as regards to a company it is the study of how the decision makers minimize production cost so as to offer competitive prices on the market. Macro Economics Macro Economics, on the other hand is the study of economics at a larger scale that is how a national economy works and its direct impact on growth in national income, employment and price inflation. In other words Macro Economics can be explained as the global decision making of the Government and its impact on aggregate demand. For example, macroeconomics would look at how an increase/decrease in net exports would affect a nationsÂÂ  capital account or how GDP would be affected by unemployment rate. (http://www.investopedia.com). TASK 2 How demand curve is derived. In order to determine how a demand curve is derived we need to know what demand is. Demand is the willingness of potential consumers to buy goods and services at different level of prices. Figure 2 shows a demand curve The figure below shows what the demand for apple at different prices is. The curve illustrates that when Price of an apple is at $1 demand is 53 Price of an apple is at $2 demand is 38 Price of an apple is at $3 demand is 27 Price of an apple is at $4 demand is 17 Price of an apple is at $5 demand is 10 Thus we can deduce that normally the lower the price of an apple is offered at the higher is the demand and conversely the higher price of an apple is offered at the lower is the demand. Demand is inversely related to price that is in this case demand of the apple is inversely related to price of the apple. Normally producers of a specific product need to study the demand curve of that product so as to decide the number of unit to produce taking into consideration production cost. With regards to demand producers will produce the product in demand provided The amount of a particular economic good or service that a consumer or group of consumers will want to purchase at a given price. The demand curve is usually downward sloping, since consumers will want to buy more as price decreases. Demand for a good or service is determined by many different factors other than price, such as the price of substitute goods and complementary goods. In extreme cases, demand may be completely unrelated to price, or nearly infinite at a given price. Along with supply, demand is one of the two key determinants of the market price. Read more: http://www.investorwords.com/1396/demand.html#ixzz1Dpf4aWxl

Understanding Antisocial Behavior in Children Essay -- Violence Violen

Understanding Antisocial Behavior in Children In northeast Pennsylvania, 9 year old Cameron shot seven-year-old Jessica with a rifle and then hid it. The reason for the argument was a disagreement over a video game. In Englewood, a suburb of Chicago, a seven-year-old and his eight-year-old best friend became the two youngest murder suspects in the US when they were accused of the murder and sexual assault of an eleven-year-old boy. His body was discovered in a vacant lot. In Stockholm, Sweden, four-year-old Ken was strangled by two boys, ages five and seven, who pressed a stick to his throat, suffocating him after he was thrown on his back (Czudner, 1999, viii). Stories such as those depicted above are becoming increasingly common in today's society. Between the years of 1988 and 1992, juvenile arrests increased nearly 50% (Mayer, n.d. ). Where does this antisocial behavior stem from? How can a parent determine between routine misbehavior and the roots of antisocial behavior? What steps can a parent take to prevent antisocial behavior before it begins or curb it once it has begun? Possible answers to these questions will be addressed through the course of this paper. The role that parents play in contributing to antisocial behavior will be discussed, as well. Before any action or cause can be introduced, it is necessary to investigate how to determine whether a child is participating in routine misbehavior or is exhibiting antisocial behavior. According to Levine, there are a number of signs that should signal to a parent that his or her child has antisocial tendencies. Lack of genuine affection, lack of empathy, overall rebellious attitude, lack of guilt, mistreatment of animals or smaller chil... ...nces Asher, L. & Napier, M. (n.d.). Chicken wire mother. Retrieved November 1,2000, from the World Wide Web: http://www.birdhouse.org/spong/napier/cwm.html Czudner, G. (1999). Small Criminals Among Us. New Jersey: New Horizon Press. Dembo, M.H. (1994). In Applving Educational Psychology. (5th ed.). (pp.466-467). White Plains, NY: Longman. Dryfoos, J.G. (1999). The role of the school in children's out-of-school time. IM- Future ofChildren. 9, 117-132. Henslin, J.M. (1999). In Sociology: A Down to Earth ApQroach. (5th ed.). (pp 202- 204). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Levine,K.G. (1.991). When Good Kids Do Bad Things. New York: W.W.Norton& Company, Inc. Mayer, G.L. (n.d.) Prochnay, J.E. & Defronzo, J.V. (1997). The impact of economic and parental characteristics on juvenile misconduct. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. 5, 119-127.

The Effects of Smoking Cigarettes Essay -- Cause Effect Research Ciga

The Effects of Smoking Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Smoking cigarettes damage the body in a number of different ways. Over several years, the American Council on Science and Health and many others have documented the effects of smoking. Everyone knows that it is bad for you, but not many know how it affects the body. There are many myths about smoking, which mainly occur with all of the teens that are smoking. Most teens don’t know that the effects of smoking are mostly permanent. They think that they can smoke for a few years and then quit without suffering any long-term effects. This is most worrying to me, because the recent finding, reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), claims that teen smoking rates have increased by nearly a third within the last six years. Teen smokers who believe that all of the health hazards will go away when they quit, usually have an â€Å"I can always quit tomorrow, or the next week, month or year† mentality. They feel as if they can walk away from smoking with no long term effects, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The quitting success rates of teenagers is also very low. Less than 16% of the 633 teen smokers in a study were able to kick the habit. Most teens report that they want to quit but are unable to do so, says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Teen smokers quickly become addicted to nicotine and when trying to fight the addiction, experience high relapse and withdrawal symptoms. Of the 46 million smokers in the United States, 34 percent try to quit each year, but less than 10 percent succeed. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It accounts for almost 500,000 deaths per year, or one in every five deaths. Smoking also contributes to a breathtaking amount of diseases which includes coronary heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, peripheral vascular disease, peptic ulcer disease, and many types of cancer. Irreversible Health Effects   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With smoking, the reversibility of health effects is influenced by many factors. For one, the amount of smoking exposure (number of cigarettes per day and the duration of smoking). The presence of other diseases already in the body, genetics and even nutritional factors enter into the equation. Quitting brings benefits no matter what age. It is a fact that quitting prolong... ...se and disability. Smokers should not believe that they can smoke safely for 10-15 years, then become of the lucky few who do quit, and then believe that they are healthy and risk free, as if they had never smoked at all. They’re at risk for many irreversible diseases and health issues. The next time someone asks you if you want to â€Å"light up,† remember: Only 20% of smokers who try to quit are successful on a long term basis; for every four of those who take up smoking, the very decision to begin itself is irreversible. Works Cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What the Label Doesn‘t Tell You. 1998;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pgs. 47, 386-389 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Reducing the Health Consequences of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Smoking: 25 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  U.S. Public Health Service; 1989 Seddon JM, Willit WC, Speizer FE, Hankinson SE. A Prospective Study of Cigarette   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Smoking and Age Related Macular Degeneration in Women. 1996;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pg. 276 Christen WG, Glynn RJ, Manson LE, Ajani UA, Buring JE. A Prospective Study of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cigarette Smoking and Risk of Age Related Macular Degeneration in Men. 1996;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pg. 276

Restriction Enzyme Analysis :: Papers

Restriction Enzyme Analysis Research question: Using only the information from these experiments calculate the number and size of the fragments that would be made using BAMH1 restriction enzyme, and calculate the migration distances of the various fragments. Restriction enzyme used Base pairing fragments Distance Travelled (cm)* Log of base pairs* Example My Group ECO R1 (6 fragments) 21226 7421 5804 5643 4878 3530 1.4 2.0 2.3 2.5 2.9 - 1.7 2.0 2.2 2.3 - - 4.3 3.9 3.8 3.8 3.7 3.5 HIND III (7 fragments) 23130 9416 6682 4361 2322 2027 564 1.4 1.8 2.2 2.7 3.5 3.7 5.8 1.6 1.8 2.1 2.3 2.9 3.1 - 4.4 4.0 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.3 2.8 Predicted figures from my graph BAM H1 (6 fragments) 16842 7233 6770 6527 5626 5504 1.3 2.2 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.8 4.2 3.9 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.7 Results *All figures in table are to 2s.f. I chose to calculate the log of the base pairs because the numbers vary significantly, making it difficult to plot on a graph. By doing this you can put the values into perspective for easy comparison. I will only use the example on my graph, as my results are unclear and inaccurate. I measured the distance from the edge of the gel, where the well ended to the centre of each fragment.

Eco Friendly Constructions

WHAT IS ECO FRIENDLY CONST Eco-friendly, or ecological, construction is building a structure that is beneficial or non-harmful to the environment, and resource efficient. Otherwise known as green building, this type of construction is efficient in its use of local and renewable materials, and in the energy required to build it, and the energy generated while being within it. Eco-friendly construction has developed in response to the knowledge that buildings have an often negative impact upon our environment and our natural resources.This includes transporting materials hundreds or thousands of miles, which has a negative impact in the energy required to transport them, and also in emissions of hazardous chemicals from a poorly designed building that creates, and traps them. INTRODUCTION Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's lif e-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.This requires close cooperation of the design team, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages. [1] The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. [2]Although new technologies are constantly being developed to complement current practices in creating greener structures, the common objective is that green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment by: Efficiently using energy, water, and other resourcesProtecting occupant health and improving employee productivity Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation[2] A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are available locally. [3] Other related topics i nclude sustainable design and green architecture. Sustainability may be defined as meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. [4] Green building does not specifically address the issue of the retrofitting existing homes.Reducing environmental impact Green building practices aim to reduce the environmental impact of buildings, so the very first rule is: the greenest building is the building that doesn't get built. New construction almost always degrades a building site, so not building is preferable to building. The second rule is: every building should be as small as possible. The third rule is: do not contribute to sprawl (the tendency for cities to spread out in a disordered fashion). No matter how much grass you put on your roof, no matter how many energy-efficient windows, etc. you use, if you contribute to sprawl, you've just defeated your purpose. Urban infill sites are preferable to suburban â€Å"gree nfield† sites. Buildings account for a large amount of land. According to the National Resources Inventory, approximately 107 million acres (430,000 km2) of land in the United States are developed. The International Energy Agency released a publication that estimated that existing buildings are responsible for more than 40% of the world’s total primary energy consumption and for 24% of global carbon dioxide emissions. [6] Goals of green buildingThe concept of sustainable development can be traced to the energy (especially fossil oil) crisis and the environment pollution concern in the 1970s. [7] The green building movement in the U. S. originated from the need and desire for more energy efficient and environmentally friendly construction practices. There are a number of motives for building green, including environmental, economic, and social benefits. However, modern sustainability initiatives call for an integrated and synergistic design to both new construction and i n the retrofitting of existing structures.Also known as sustainable design, this approach integrates the building life-cycle with each green practice employed with a design-purpose to create a synergy among the practices used. Green building brings together a vast array of practices, techniques, and skills to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and human health. It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources, e. g. , using sunlight through passive solar, active solar, and photovoltaic techniques and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and reduction of rainwater run-off.Many other techniques are used, such as using wood as a building material, or using packed gravel or permeable concrete instead of conventional concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of ground water. While the practices, or technologies, employed in green building are constantly evolving and may differ from region to region, fundamental p rinciples persist from which the method is derived: Siting and Structure Design Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency, Materials Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality Enhancement, Operations and Maintenance Optimization, and Waste and Toxics Reduction. 8][9] The essence of green building is an optimization of one or more of these principles. Also, with the proper synergistic design, individual green building technologies may work together to produce a greater cumulative effect. On the aesthetic side of green architecture or sustainable design is the philosophy of designing a building that is in harmony with the natural features and resources surrounding the site. There are several key steps in designing sustainable buildings: specify ‘green' building materials from local sources, reduce loads, optimize systems, and generate on-site renewable energy.Life cycle assessment (LCA) A life cycle assessment (LCA) can help avoid a narrow outlook on environmental, social an d economic concerns[10] by assessing a full range of impacts associated with all cradle-to-grave stages of a process: from extraction of raw materials through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling. Impacts taken into account include (among others) embodied energy, global warming potential, resource use, air pollution, water pollution, and waste.In terms of green building, the last few years have seen a shift away from a prescriptive approach, which assumes that certain prescribed practices are better for the environment, toward the scientific evaluation of actual performance through LCA. Although LCA is widely recognized as the best way to evaluate the environmental impacts of buildings (ISO 14040 provides a recognized LCA methodology), it is not yet a consistent requirement of green building rating systems and codes, despite the fact that embodied energy and other life cycle impacts are critical to the design of envi ronmentally responsible buildings.The foundation of any construction project is rooted in the concept and design stages. The concept stage, in fact, is one of the major steps in a project life cycle, as it has the largest impact on cost and performance. [12] In designing environmentally optimal buildings, the objective is to minimize the total environmental impact associated with all life-cycle stages of the building project. However, building as a process is not as streamlined as an industrial process, and varies from one building to the other, never repeating itself identically.In addition, buildings are much more complex products, composed of a multitude of materials and components each constituting various design variables to be decided at the design stage. A variation of every design variable may affect the environment during all the building's relevant life-cycle stages. [13] *Energy efficiency Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy consumption – both t he embodied energy required to extract, process, transport and install building materials and operating energy to provide services such as heating and power for equipment.As high-performance buildings use less operating energy, embodied energy has assumed much greater importance – and may make up as much as 30% of the overall life cycle energy consumption. Studies such as the U. S. LCI Database Project [14] show buildings built primarily with wood will have a lower embodied energy than those built primarily with brick, concrete or steel. [15]To reduce operating energy use, designers use details that reduce air leakage through the building envelope (the barrier between conditioned and unconditioned space).They also specify high-performance windows and extra insulation in walls, ceilings, and floors. Another strategy, passive solar building design, is often implemented in low-energy homes. Designers orient windows and walls and place awnings, porches, and trees[16] to shade win dows and roofs during the summer while maximizing solar gain in the winter. In addition, effective window placement (daylighting) can provide more natural light and lessen the need for electric lighting during the day. Solar water heating further reduces energy costs.Onsite generation of renewable energy through solar power, wind power, hydro power, or biomass can significantly reduce the environmental impact of the building. Power generation is generally the most expensive feature to add to a building. Water efficiency Reducing water consumption and protecting water quality are key objectives in sustainable building. One critical issue of water consumption is that in many areas, the demands on the supplying aquifer exceed its ability to replenish itself. To the maximum extent feasible, facilities should increase their dependence on water that is collected, used, purified, and reused on-site.The protection and conservation of water throughout the life of a building may be accomplish ed by designing for dual plumbing that recycles water in toilet flushing. Waste-water may be minimized by utilizing water conserving fixtures such as ultra-low flush toilets and low-flow shower heads. Bidets help eliminate the use of toilet paper, reducing sewer traffic and increasing possibilities of re-using water on-site. Point of use water treatment and heating improves both water quality and energy efficiency while reducing the amount of water in circulation.The use of non-sewage and greywater for on-site use such as site-irrigation will minimize demands on the local aquifer. [17] Materials efficiency Building materials typically considered to be ‘green' include lumber from forests that have been certified to a third-party forest standard, rapidly renewable plant materials like bamboo and straw, dimension stone, recycled stone, recycled metal (see: copper sustainability and recyclability), and other products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable (e. . , Trass, Linoleum, sheep wool, panels made from paper flakes, compressed earth block, adobe, baked earth, rammed earth, clay, vermiculite, flax linen, sisal, seagrass, cork, expanded clay grains, coconut, wood fibre plates, calcium sand stone, concrete (high and ultra high performance, roman self-healing concrete[18]), etc. 19][20]) The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) also suggests using recycled industrial goods, such as coal combustion products, foundry sand, and demolition debris in construction projects [21] Building materials should be extracted and manufactured locally to the building site to minimize the energy embedded in their transportation. Where possible, building elements should be manufactured off-site and delivered to site, to maximise benefits of off-site manufacture including minimising waste, maximising recycling (because manufacture is in one location), high quality elements, better OHS management, less noise and ust. Waste reduction Green architecture also seeks to reduce waste of energy, water and materials used during construction. For example, in California nearly 60% of the state's waste comes from commercial buildings[32] During the construction phase, one goal should be to reduce the amount of material going to landfills. Well-designed buildings also help reduce the amount of waste generated by the occupants as well, by providing on-site solutions such as compost bins to reduce matter going to landfills.To reduce the amount of wood that goes to landfill, Neutral Alliance (a coalition of government, NGOs and the forest industry) created the website dontwastewood. com. The site includes a variety of resources for regulators, municipalities, developers, contractors, owner/operators and individuals/homeowners looking for information on wood recycling. When buildings reach the end of their useful life, they are typically demolished and hauled to landfills. Deconstruction is a method of harvesting what is commonly considered â€Å"w aste† and reclaiming it into useful building material. 33] Extending the useful life of a structure also reduces waste – building materials such as wood that are light and easy to work with make renovations easier. [34]To reduce the impact on wells or water treatment plants, several options exist. â€Å"Greywater†, wastewater from sources such as dishwashing or washing machines, can be used for subsurface irrigation, or if treated, for non-potable purposes, e. g. , to flush toilets and wash cars. Rainwater collectors are used for similar purposes. Centralized wastewater treatment systems can be costly and use a lot of energy.An alternative to this process is converting waste and wastewater into fertilizer, which avoids these costs and shows other benefits. By collecting human waste at the source and running it to a semi-centralized biogas plant with other biological waste, liquid fertilizer can be produced. This concept was demonstrated by a settlement in Lubeck Germany in the late 1990s. Practices like these provide soil with organic nutrients and create carbon sinks that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, offsetting greenhouse gas emission. Producing artificial fertilizer is also more costly in energy than this process. [35]