The role of culture learning and teaching in foeign language education Literature review

The role of culture learning and teaching in foeign language education - Literature review Example des about the target culture and target language and the motivation of new learners to become integrative learners of the language, and how positive attitudes towards the target culture help these new learners overcome anxiety about learning the language. The final section is a conclusion, in which the concepts that are put forth are put into context in the situation at hand. 2.2 The Role of Culture in Foreign Language Education According to Pica (1994), there is a question as to how necessary cultural integration is to learning a foreign language, and that this is question that troubles foreign language teachers, whether the foreign language teacher is teaching students that are far removed from the target language or is teaching in an area where the students have a chance to be immersed in the language (Pica, 1994). There are two camps when it comes to teaching foreign languages - one camp believes that foreign language teaching should emphasize only communication competence, while the other camp believes that foreign language teaching should incorporate the culture of the target language, which would include the literature of the target language (Shanahan, 1997, p. 164). The first camp is only concerned with semantics – for them, learning a language is nothing but drills, and language is nothing but rules, strings of sentences, and prepositions (Thanasoulas, 2001). The learner must see morphological or syntactical pattern, practice it and learn it without regard to culture or context (Waltz, 1989, p. 160). The second camp believes that language has an intuitive component that can only be acquired by learning the culture of the target country. Language is learned in context (Wendt, 2003, p. 92). On the one end are individuals who feel that students must communicate... One school of thought states that the only necessary education that new learners of a language need is semantics and how to string together sentences. For them, culture is not necessary to learn. The other school of thought says that cultural education regarding the target country is crucial, as it puts the language in context and helps the new learner know the different subtleties that are necessary to be a competent speaker. Learning a foreign language cannot force the learner into a vacuum where context and culture do not matter. It is only through learning the nuances of speech can a speaker become a competent speaker, and it is only through knowing the culture of the target country can this occur. A good example is the individual who used the word tu when he should have used the word vous. This is only one example, but one can imagine how many mistakes a speaker will make if he is not aware of context and culture. Because culture is so important to learning Spanish, this is some thing that will be emphasized in the Spanish classroom that I teach. Teaching knowledge about the culture will be relatively easy. Cooking Spanish food, teaching about Spanish holidays, teaching about the religion of Spain, teaching the Spanish painter, writers and other cultural icons, teaching the history of Spain, etc., will all be integral to teaching about Spanish culture. This would also include showing television shows from Spain, showing movies, including dramas and comedies, will be important as well.

The link between psychology and resistance to change Essay

The link between psychology and resistance to change - Essay Example Resistance to organizational change mainly comes from the people within the organization. This has been described as â€Å"psychological and organizational response† that comes from the attitude of people irrespective of the nature of change (Bovey & Hede, 2001). There are various reasons that have been identified which contribute to resistance to change on the part of employees. The most common factors that have been identified as contributing factors fuelling resistance are inadequate involvement of employees in the change management, ineffective process of communication and inadequate knowledge about change. The biggest manifestation of resistance to change occurs through expression of grievances, lower efficiency, aggressive attitude towards higher management and reduction of output of the organization. In order to understand the concept of resistance to change it is important to understand organizational change. Organizational change can be defined as an adaptation to the changing environment with an objective of improving the performance. There are two broad types of organizational change which can occur the first one can be defined as first order change and the second one is strategic or revolutionary change. In the former one the basic framework of the organization remains unaltered but in the second one the basic framework changes. The earliest mention of resistance was noticed in the article published by Lewin (1947cited in Gravenhorst, 2003) and the subsequent works published in the concept of group dynamics. The works of Coch and French (1948cited in Gravenhorst, 2003) had introduced the idea of resistance to organizational change but instead of properly shedding light on the concept they had rather introduced it as a motivational problem. The works of Watson (1969) had ide ntified that there are multiple stages in which the employees express their resistance to change. The first stage is characterized by

Extensible Markup Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Extensible Markup Language - Essay Example change it into computer readable form or it can serialize it. It is designed in such a way so that it is user-friendly and humans can easily read it and understand it. Even application languages can be implemented in XML if the boulders of language, that is the semantic constraints are added to it. 1 An XML document can pass for being one if it has two levels of correctness within it. Firstly, the document should be consistent and following all the syntax rules that XML has in its rules book. When an XML document fulfills all syntax rules, it is called a well formed document. Secondly, the document should also be formed with care in the sense that it fulfills all semantic rules that is the language used is comprehensible and suitable to XML as well as human legible. Such documents are called valid. The company Windows specializes in making operating systems, which are one of the most essential software management programs. When it comes to .NET, it is a software component, that is a small portion of a big software package, which is a part of many Microsoft Windows operating systems. It comes with a hefty library, consisting of pre-set and coded solutions/diagnosis of the programming problems/diseases that are commonly faced by programmers. It does not just provides solutions, rather it also has the responsibility to execute the programs written for its own framework.

Assessing non-parametric or t tests Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assessing non-parametric or t tests - Essay Example The Cronbach alpha value of HPLPII was 0.95, which is reliable and valid for study; as HPLPII has been divided into further six subscales which are health responsibility (HR), physical activity (PA), nutrition (NUTR), spiritual growth (SG), interpersonal relations (IPR), and stress management (SM). The Cronbach alpha’ individual subscale values are stated as 0.83 for HR, 0.87 for PA, 0.85 for NUTR, 0.86 for SG, 0.82 for IPR and 0.76 for SM. Second concept of Attentional Demands Survey (ADS) is valid as Cronbach alpha values stood at 0.96. Since ADS was further divided into four subscales as Physical Environmental (PE), Informational (INF), Behavioural (BEH) and Affective (AF). The Cronbach alpha for all four internal subscales was reported as 0.90 for PE, 0.91 for INF, 0.84 for BEH and 0.88 for AF. Considering all the reported statistics of Cronbach Alpha; it can be argued that all variables are valid and reliable for further testing; it should be noted that acceptance of Cron bach Alpha test statistic is 0.8 for previously tested models and 0.7 for newly tested models. After validation, it should be noted that this study is a correlational study so, obviously the next step will be to analyse the correlation between the survey findings of Attentional Demand Survey (ADS) and Health Promoting Lifestyles Profile II. The resulted correlation between ADS and HPLPII was a moderate negative correlation though all the indicators were significant at 5% level of significance as p statistics for all correlation statistics was below 0.05. After open analysis the sample was categorized into age groups. One way ANOVA test was applied to find the significance of age differences and health promotion. The result statistics revealed significant difference of health promotion between two groups of age 65-74 and age 75-84 but the age group 85 to older had no significant difference in health promotion. The One way ANOVA test statistics revealed the significance of age group d ifferences as p stood at 0.027 with the F-test statistics at 3.72. In the parametric dimension of analysis ADS was consider responsive to the nursing facility for which demographic differences such as marital status differences and gender differences were tested for relationship. Marital status differences were not significant and there was no difference in health promotion while testing their marital differences as t-test statistics for ADS was 0.42 and for HPLPII was -0.42, both t-test statistics were below 2. Similarly gender differences for health promotion were also insignificant as t-test statistic for ADS was 0.76 and for HPLPII was -1.42. Besides parametric testing, the study also opted for some non-parametric testing as attentional demands and difficulties by different age groups were specified and the study compiled the survey results and presented it in tables which was categorized in three age groups. These non-parametric analysis helped understanding the qualitative dim ension of the study. The article is actually based on the growing healthcare problems among the dwelling elders in USA and examines the barriers to health promotion among them. The elderly population of today is known as the baby boomer generation who have

Concepts and Models of Environmental Hazards Assignment

Concepts and Models of Environmental Hazards - Assignment Example GIS permit the combination of various types of spatial data, with non-spatial data, attribute them and use them as useful information in the various phases of disaster management (Goodchild, et al, 1996). GIS has played a fundamental role in the study of majority of the 20th and 21st century environmental concerns and especially global warming. From the quantification of glacier retreat all the way to the measurement of carbon environmental appropriation, GIS has played a major role in the collection of data, analysis of the same, modeling and also reporting or dissemination of knowledge (Goodchild, et al, 1996). Hazard A hazard is generally any source of potential harm, damage, or health effect on something or someone under particular condition. Hazards can range from biological agents like bacteria to safety hazards like slipping and machine malfunctioning (Toyos, et al, 2007). However, the common way of classifying hazards is by category where you get categories like environmental hazards, biological hazards, and physical hazards among others. Environmental hazards range in nature from geophysical hazards such as flooding, tsunami, volcanic eruption, and earthquakes to biophysical hazards like droughts and diseases. There are also technological hazards like chemical incidents various types of pollutions, and nuclear incidents, all of which threatens the long-term sustainability of the environment. Natural events such as hurricanes and earthquakes are obviously hazardous to man, which is the same case with environmental events like volcanic eruptions and tsunamis (Carrara, & Guzzetti, 1999). The disasters that can be caused by natural hazards are mainly resulting from man’s omission or commission. In this regard, I am referring to man’s actions that either increase susceptibility, or lack of appropriate actions to not only anticipate but also mitigate the possible damage of these events. A common denominator with all hazards is the risk. For an event to be categorized as a hazard it must have certain degree of risk. In fact, the best way to look at a risk is the chance or probability of harming a person if such a person is exposed to a certain event (hazard) that predisposes him/her to such a probability (Carrara, & Guzzetti, 1999). This therefore means that for an event to be classified as a hazard it much be exposing a person to risk of whatever nature. Advantages of GIS In a landslide study, data on hydrology, slope steepness, rock composition, and other factors can be combined with data on previous landslide to determine the conditions under which landslide are likely to occur (Saha, et al, 2005). To analyze all possible factors with manual techniques is almost next to impossible, therefore, only two factors can be analyzed in normal circumstance, after which the composite map are combined with the landslide inventory map. However with GIS, it is possible to analyze various factors that are associated with present cond itions and historical events, including presence of infrastructure, present land use, among others (Tassetti, et al, 2008). A good example of the application of this technique can be found in OAS/DRDE, which has been using this technique to overlay maps of slope steepness, geology, slope orientation, vegetation, and hydrology, after which it overlays the results with a landslide invento

The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 Research Paper

The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 - Research Paper Example In particular, this paper includes discussion and evaluation of different aspects of BP Oil Spill to identify ethical issues related to it and lessons that can come from it. Alongside these factors, there are also the numerous risks that each business faces, whether it is through competition, emerging firms, varying economic factors or the fluctuating exchange rates of currencies that account for a major part of the company’s business. To understand risk, one has to acknowledge what it means in true business. In the world of commerce, it mean that there is an existing probability that a particular step or decision leads to an undesirable impact, such as loss of valuable resources, or failure to accomplish the desired goal (Great Britain, pp.1). It exists in all businesses, and dealing with them is the main part of an entrepreneur’s job, even if the degree of risk involved can vary from business to business. This variation is the main reason why ethics are not receiving the same amount of importance as before in several businesses, who seem accustomed to following unethical procedures in their businesses. During the earlier part of the last century, businesses faced higher risks due to the manual nature of the work they did. This does not exist currently, however, where risk can be measured quite accurately due to the technologies present. British Petroleum (BP) is one of the highest-ranking companies in the world, which started as a local oil company. Nowadays, BP is famous worldwide for its success as an oil and gas company providing its service globally. A few years ago, it executed one of its large projects names ‘Deepwater Horizon’, on the Gulf of Mexico (Miller, et. al., pp. 15-97). This led to the oil spill and explosion, which happened on April 20, 2010, a disaster, which the world remembers as the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Miller, et. al., pp. 15-97). Some major victims of this spill were marine creatures who had their h omes and habitats destroyed by the spilled oil in the sea. The cause of this spill was the failure to keep the gas pressure in the well under control, which further led to the blowout preventer malfunctioning, resulting in the disastrous oil spill. After a conflagration, the rig was swallowed by the sea, leading to the oil seeping out, and continuing for three straight months before the company was able to seal the well and stop it. Several millions of barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf, killing several human beings, marine animals and destroying a famed tourist location and the homes of thousands of marine animals (Miller, et. al., pp. 15-97). Observations In particular, BP Oil Spill resulted in a number of unethical outcomes that affected the human society environmentally, economically, as well as socially. One significant adverse impact that the spill had was ecological damage killing an unimaginable amount of marine life, including animals, plants, and corals, and it was mainl y â€Å"whales, dolphins, turtles, beach mice, birds, fish, corals, and many others† (King, pp. 3-10) who became victim to the spill. The cause of this was when the operators lost control of the gas pressure in the well. This led to a massive leaking of gas into the water, which decreased the oxygen level in

Concepts and Models of Environmental Hazards Assignment

Concepts and Models of Environmental Hazards - Assignment Example GIS permit the combination of various types of spatial data, with non-spatial data, attribute them and use them as useful information in the various phases of disaster management (Goodchild, et al, 1996). GIS has played a fundamental role in the study of majority of the 20th and 21st century environmental concerns and especially global warming. From the quantification of glacier retreat all the way to the measurement of carbon environmental appropriation, GIS has played a major role in the collection of data, analysis of the same, modeling and also reporting or dissemination of knowledge (Goodchild, et al, 1996). Hazard A hazard is generally any source of potential harm, damage, or health effect on something or someone under particular condition. Hazards can range from biological agents like bacteria to safety hazards like slipping and machine malfunctioning (Toyos, et al, 2007). However, the common way of classifying hazards is by category where you get categories like environmental hazards, biological hazards, and physical hazards among others. Environmental hazards range in nature from geophysical hazards such as flooding, tsunami, volcanic eruption, and earthquakes to biophysical hazards like droughts and diseases. There are also technological hazards like chemical incidents various types of pollutions, and nuclear incidents, all of which threatens the long-term sustainability of the environment. Natural events such as hurricanes and earthquakes are obviously hazardous to man, which is the same case with environmental events like volcanic eruptions and tsunamis (Carrara, & Guzzetti, 1999). The disasters that can be caused by natural hazards are mainly resulting from man’s omission or commission. In this regard, I am referring to man’s actions that either increase susceptibility, or lack of appropriate actions to not only anticipate but also mitigate the possible damage of these events. A common denominator with all hazards is the risk. For an event to be categorized as a hazard it must have certain degree of risk. In fact, the best way to look at a risk is the chance or probability of harming a person if such a person is exposed to a certain event (hazard) that predisposes him/her to such a probability (Carrara, & Guzzetti, 1999). This therefore means that for an event to be classified as a hazard it much be exposing a person to risk of whatever nature. Advantages of GIS In a landslide study, data on hydrology, slope steepness, rock composition, and other factors can be combined with data on previous landslide to determine the conditions under which landslide are likely to occur (Saha, et al, 2005). To analyze all possible factors with manual techniques is almost next to impossible, therefore, only two factors can be analyzed in normal circumstance, after which the composite map are combined with the landslide inventory map. However with GIS, it is possible to analyze various factors that are associated with present cond itions and historical events, including presence of infrastructure, present land use, among others (Tassetti, et al, 2008). A good example of the application of this technique can be found in OAS/DRDE, which has been using this technique to overlay maps of slope steepness, geology, slope orientation, vegetation, and hydrology, after which it overlays the results with a landslide invento