Library Statement of Goals Essay

I have submitted my application for admission into the Kent State School of Library and Information Science as an avenue for professional growth within my current career. As a former Spanish teacher and currently a computer technology teacher, it is important to pursue the MLIS as current librarians seek retirement and technology continues to infiltrate libraries across our nation. I am currently interested in pursuing the MLIS plus the K-12 licensure in order to serve in an urban school library setting. My current teaching assignment of computer technology lends itself to a smooth transition from the classroom to a librarian position as our school district places more emphasis on digital media. I remain fully committed to providing instruction to students; however, with teachers and school librarians retiring in droves, I fear that our schools will be left with overworked teachers and no librarians in our schools. By completing the MLIS degree, I will be accomplishing an additional career objective. I remain committed to my career goals that were previously established many years ago. My first goal was accomplished by completing my undergraduate course of study at the University of Cincinnati. My second career goal was to obtain my M. Ed. In School Administration and I accomplished that particular goal in the year 2000. My third goal, albeit somewhat personal, was to earn my private pilot’s license, and I successfully completed that task in 2001. My fourth career oriented goal was to transition from teaching Spanish to teaching computer science with an ultimate goal of finishing the required courses to earn the MLIS degree. I am currently in the middle of this goal. After speaking to our retiring librarian, she suggested that I apply my technology expertise and apply for the vacant school librarian position. Our current librarian highly encouraged me to seek at least the minimum courses for K-12 certification. After speaking with Dr. Sarah Harper and educating myself about the MLIS program and learning about the additional career opportunities associated with the MLIS, I have decided to pursue this additional graduate degree. The role of the librarian appears to be shifting from the traditional aspects of managing a library to more of the role as a librarian media technologist. An important current issue of the library is to also serve as a digital media center due to the increased technology needs facing libraries. I am greatly interested in this transition as many school librarians almost double as the digital media technologist. Colleges and universities are also adopting the model of librarian media technologist to enhance the needs of such educational institutions. As our digital technology library needs grow, I foresee a point where the current traditional school librarian could potentially be at a slight disadvantage without minimal technology background. I firmly support digital media; however, print media is equally as important. It will be the role of the librarian to determine which media shall remain in print edition for students, and which media will transition to digital media. Another current issue that is important is to fully integrate the school library as an extension of the classroom. It is important to fully utilize the library beyond the common routine of â€Å"pulling books† for a specific course. Instead, it would be beneficial to teachers and students if the library were to be established as an academic department. Establishing meaningful collaboration between the library personnel and teachers will foster a learning environment conducive to learning. As a school librarian, a goal should be to create a library setting that embeds the role of the library into the classrooms. Instead of thinking of the library as an independent space of a school, the library now serves as an extension of the classroom. However, it is equally important to keep in mind, the school librarian is not able to provide content specific instruction, but rather, instruction on how to locate the resources required for the specific content. It is important for the librarian to serve as an instructional partner in the learning process. Finally, another current issue that I believe is important is increasing the mobility of the library. Technology has advanced to where it is no longer required to leave the house and go to the library to seek and acquire information. With nearly all of our students owning a mobile device, whether it is a cellular telephone, iPad, Nook, mobile devices are changing the way information is delivered and accessed. While students easily have access to the internet through mobile devices, it is equally important that students have access to digital records housed in the library. Furthermore, many library users have learned the convenience of downloadable e-books. As teachers, students, and others navigate away from the traditional book delivered in print, it will be important for the librarian to explore new ideas and collaboratively implement a plan to cost effectively deliver more data via mobile devices.

Advanced Research Writing Essay

The topic of online education, specifically relating to teaching writing in a distant learning environment was covered by Professor Kate Kiefer. Kiefer is a Professor and Writing Integration Coordinator at Colorado State University. She has a PH.D in rhetoric from Carnegie Mellon University and has written numerous published articles, including three textbooks. In the book â€Å"Brave New Classrooms†, Professor Kiefer writes a chapter titled, â€Å"Do Students Lose More Than They Gain In Online Classrooms?† Professor Kiefer tackles the difficult questions of just how much are students getting out of online writing classes. What is the goal of an online student? Kiefer clearly has an issue with distance education and voices her opinion of its inferiority to a classroom environment. Her numerous assertions of distance learning students not getting the complete education experience must be taken for what it is, an instructor’s point of view and not a student’ s. Online education is becoming more prevalent every day, because not everyone has the time or funding to get to and from a college campus. This method should be embraced by instructors and not talked down on, simply because there is no other option for so many. Professor Kiefer wholeheartedly states in her article, that she believes taking an online writing class is inferior to a traditional structured classroom environment. She states that she is not in the majority on this issue, but she speaks of the many difficulties that face a student and teacher online. One of Professor Kiefer’s most adamant points against online writing classes is the true lack of interaction a student can have. She talks of how so many online classrooms have students who do not participate and do only what is needed to pass the class. Kiefer suggests that on-line classes are often full of students who are looking to check a box and get that next check mark, which will take them to finish line and a degree. She also states how not having peer to peer interaction robs the online student of so much valuable education. In a writing class it is pivotal she states to have your fellow  students peer review your work and not just have the teacher looking at your assignment. She covers the issue of how universities are trying to add more and more students online, because when it all boils down to it, money is what they are after. Professor Kiefer goes over a few ideas of how to make an online writing class better, such as requiring participation in discussions, but eventually she feels that online instruction in writing classes, leave the student short of what a teacher would like them to learn in a class. Professor Kiefer is very adamant on the loss of personal interaction in online writing classes and how it diminishes the importance of personal interaction, which to some extent is very true. In a recent article published by the â€Å"Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks†, documenting over 125 traditional face to face classes, it found â€Å"very strong support for the existence of a community of inquiry that is shared within each class section†. (Fernandes, Oct 2013) While It may be almost impossible to capture the same type of peer to peer interaction in a distance learning course compared to a traditional classroom, the study does not take into account that many online students have a network of support they are able to bounce ideas off of. While the journal study names student networking as a weakness to online classrooms, it does not really mention the fact that many physical classroom environments have students that do not want to participate. Professor Kiefer also addresses the high dropout rate of online students. This makes me wonder if the dropout rate is due to non-flexibility within the school offering the classes of if it is students just not taking it seriously. A recent study published in â€Å"Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks† by the Dean of Online Education at Dallas Baptist University noted that â€Å"their university offers thirty-four online degree programs and Dallas Baptist University has maintained a 92% cou rse completion rate† (Shelton, Oct 2009). I would have liked to have seen professor Kiefer give the standard dropout rate of traditional classroom students at a university. It is very possible that online education is still in such an evolving state, that there are many different factors leading to a high dropout rate. Many schools have not properly trained their faculty in correctly dealing with online education, while some of it is definitely the daily lives of online students that get it in the way. Professor Kiefer makes many valid points on her topics, however the reasons  she gives regarding why students take online courses, are the exact reasons they must continue. People with jobs and forty hour work week can’t take time out to drive to the university every day. Online classes have been going for a number of years now, but it is still in its infancy compared to classroom instruction. There are still so many ideas created each day that can make this learning environment better. Professor Kiefer makes a good argument regarding the negative impacts of online writing classes, but the reason we have online classes to start with are why they can’t stop. The goals of online students are the same as other students, they want to better their lives and further educate themselves. That lifeline cannot be taken away, because there are doubts about its effectiveness. It is up to everyone to keep making strides and improving the experience of online education. Bibliography Fernandes, B. R. (Oct 2013). Measuring the Community in Online Classes. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 17(3), pp 115-136. Kiefer, K. (2007). Do Students Lose More than They Gain in Online Writing Classes? In Brave New Classrooms. (Vol. 37, pp. 141-151). New York, NY: Peter Lang USA. Shelton, K. (Oct 2009). Does Strong Faculty Support Equal Consistent Course Completion?: It Has for Dallas Baptist University. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 13(3), pp 63-66.

The Global Financial Crisis and the Imf

Table of Contents 1. 0 Objectives2 2. 0 Introduction2 3. 0 Types of Financial Crisis2 3. 0. 1 Banking Crisis2 3. 0. 2 Speculative Bubble3 3. 0. 3 International Crisis3 4. 0 Causes of the Financial Crisis 2007-20083 4. 0. 1 Loose Monetary Policy. 3 4. 0. 2 Global Imbalances. 4 4. 0. 3 Credit Boom. 5 4. 0. 4 Asset Bubble. 5 4. 0. 5 Financial Innovation5 5. 0 Impact of Financial Crisis6 5. 0. 1 Impact to U. S Financial System. 6 5. 0. 2 Economic Growth Rates. 6 5. 0. 3 Personal Finances of US Citizens. 7 5. 0. 4 High Unemployment Rate. 5. 0. 5 Impact on the IMF9 6. 0 Policy Response9 6. 0. 1 Term Auction Facility (TAF). 9 6. 0. 2 Economic Stimulus Act 2008. 10 6. 0. 3 Initial Cuts in Interest Rate. 11 7. 0 IMF Response to the Crisis12 8. 0 Conclusion14 9. 0 References15 1. 0 Objectives Objective of this topic is to giving a scope about the recent global financial crisis 2007 which discussing about the causes and impacts of the crisis and focusing mainly in the United States. Then, it wi ll focus on the policy response of the country towards the crisis.Role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is also given attention to understand how it works as the ‘international lender of last resort’. 2. 0 Introduction Financial institutions which play an important role in the economy, act as intermediaries between borrowers and lenders. Channelling of funds to individuals or firm that have bright investment opportunities takes place in the financial markets. Without financial intermediaries, it is difficult for companies to operate business. The economy also cannot operate efficiently if the financial system does not perform the role well.Systematic risk is a risk that could be failures of financial institution that freezing up capital market and eventually reduces the supply of capital to the economy. The United States experienced this systematic failure during 2007 and continues to struggle its consequences until 2009. Financial crisis occur when an economic encounter recession or depression caused by lack of liquidity in financial institution. In this circumstances, financial institutions lose huge part of their value. Financial crisis is not the same as economic crisis which affect the entire economy.A financial crisis can occur in a single sector and not always affect other sectors. The causes of financial crisis are different with the type of crisis. The financial crisis 2007-2008 started in August 2007 as a subprime mortgage crisis concentrated in the United States. The crisis became global but originally started in the financial sector of the United States and soon became global economic crisis. Mostly economies in the world were affected by this crisis because the United States economy can be thought as powerful economy in the world. 3. 0 Types of Financial Crisis . 0. 1 Banking Crisis Banks normally function by providing deposit accounts to people who want to make savings and it can be withdraw anytime. The banks then use these deposits to make loans and charge interest to borrower which are paid over a long period of time. If all the depositors want to withdraw money at one time, the banks will face lack of cash flow and will be bankrupt. This situation is called banking crisis. 3. 0. 2 Speculative Bubble Some people buy stock by speculating the price, hoping that price of the stock will increase in the future.Therefore, if most investor buy stock speculatively, chances that the stock price will increase are be very high. When all the investors want to sell at the same time, then the price will likely to fall. When price of a stock is more than its current price plus dividends and interest, then the stock is said to show a bubble. 3. 0. 3 International Crisis This crisis occurs when a country is forced to devalue its currency. This can happen either because of speculative attack or a country is default in paying its debt. When this occurs, all countries that were trading with this country will be affected .Investors also will lose the value of their investment because the currency has been devalued to lower rate. 4. 0 Causes of the Financial Crisis 2007-2008 4. 0. 1 Loose Monetary Policy. Monetary policy implemented by the Federal Reserve plays an important role in determining the interest rate. It is believed that loose or weak monetary policy implemented by the U. S Federal Reserve is among the cause to the crisis. After the internet or dotcom bubble in 2000, loose monetary policy is applied by the U. S Federal Reserve. The federal funds rate dropped from 5. 8% in January 2001 to 1. 73% in January 2002 and remained low for several years as shown in chart 1. This policy thus encourage U. S consumption, reduced savings and created high current account deficit. The Federal Reserve had made mistake by its decision to keep the federal funds rate too low for too long. The policy therefore responsible for creating the credit boom and housing bubble. In other words, with a low federal fund s target, banks take advantage on cheap funding and made cheap loans available. From year 2000 to 2006, total debt outstanding for the U.S has increased by $13. 5 trillion. The debt to GDP ratio is increased to 350%. This high level of debt made firms and households more exposed to adverse economic shock. Other than that, the Federal Reserve and regulators made mistake in the failure to control the poor underwriting standards in the mortgage markets. The poor underwriting practices can be seen through no down payments, no verification of income, asset and occupation by borrowers. Credit that was widely available suggested poorer loan quality. Chart 1: Loose monetary policy Source: Adapted from The EconomistChart 1 shows that the actual interest rate fell below the Taylor rule, that is the interest rate what historical experience suggest policy should be adapted. The line slopped downward to 1 percent in 2003 to 2004 and then rises until 2006. The Taylor rule line shows what interest rate would have be if the Fed followed the policy that worked well since the early 1980. 4. 0. 2 Global Imbalances. The recent financial crisis happens when there is much liquidity in world capital markets. It is due to the large payment imbalances between the main countries and regions in the world economy.Global imbalances occur when there is huge and continuing current account deficit in the United States. The current account deficit is financed by plenty of flows of capital from emerging and oil exporting countries. As the consequences, the global imbalances encourage financial activity that would not be effective in long time without the development of deep global financial markets. High levels of global liquidity happens when countries such as China built up current account surpluses and foreign exchange reserves, maintaining artificially low exchange rates and a positive saving investment balance.Because of this liquidity level, global real interest rates fell which contribu ted to credit expansion and rising asset prices that drives to the crisis. 4. 0. 3 Credit Boom. Credit boom happens when banks and mortgage brokers encouraged mortgage sales because they earned fees in proportion to the volume of mortgages they wrote. Banks earned large fees by securitizing mortgages, selling them to capital markets in forms of mortgage backed securities (MBS) and collateral debt obligations (CDO). Since banks distributed these mortgages to capital markets as asset backed securities, it has low risk upon the process.Compared to corporate bonds that had low interest rate during the time, these complex and risky products is highly demanded by institutional investors such as hedge fund and insurance companies. Mortgage sales expanded even to those who could not afford them as the banks only focused on earned large fees. When the housing price bubble evaporated or interest rates rose it turned out to be large defaults. Home sales peaked in late 2005 meanwhile home const ruction spending and housing prices decline in early 2006. When the subprime mortgage crisis started in 2007, the entire market began to collapse.The crisis began in the United States, but because the mortgage based financial products has been spread around the world it soon became global financial crisis. 4. 0. 4 Asset Bubble. Another factor to the financial crisis is an asset bubble that leads to unsustainable leverage. Before the start of the crisis, the U. S government implemented a public policy that encourages homeownership. Because of low interest rate, it has led to mortgage lending and households were encouraged by the banks to borrow causing asset (house) price to increase.The borrowing is allowed up to the full value of their property with little regard to their ability to service the debt. Borrowing is encouraged because of the low interest rate made by monetary policy makers. The demand for housing is related to money market interest rates. Thus, the accommodative polic y conducted by the Federal Reserve contributed to the build up of housing demand and asset prices. The term sub-prime mortgage come when lending activities is also approved to people who did not meet the credit requirements that may default to payments. 4. 0. 5 Financial Innovation.Usually, banks and other agents innovate to avoid regulation and boost returns by taking greater risks. When asset prices increase more rapidly, innovation also accelerates as expected gains grow larger. The main innovation is the process of securitization. This complex ‘securitized’ pools of loans promising high returns with low risk. Thus, in the United States, ballooning mortgage loans to riskier borrowers provided the basis for an ever-larger inverted pyramid of structured products. As the housing prices increasing, lenders provide mortgage lending easily.However the mortgage were securitised, that is repackaged and sold as financial instruments to investors for immediate cash. This led t o excessive and irresponsible mortgage lending. The institutions that originated the mortgages such as commercial banks, savings and loans eventually did not holding the mortgages because it has been sold to investors by the investment banks. This innovation has caused massive distortions in incentives and risk management in the financial organizations. It was an instrumental in strengthen the increase in leverage.Starting in 2003, banks involve rapidly in financing activities, investments and hedging operations that hard to assess risks. When asset prices began to fall, financial organization brought down together and spread panic among investors worldwide. This development has caused massive distortions in incentives and risk management arrangements within financial organizations. 5. 0 Impact of Financial Crisis 5. 0. 1 Impact to U. S Financial System. The U. S government has closed 22 banks including Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and Indymac.Other than that, it has rescued F reddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Bear Stearns and created a bailout fund around $700 billion to purchase stakes in effected banks. This step is taken in order to restore confidence in the financial markets. However, this $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP) failed to restore market confidence. Nearly $8. 5 trillion or around 60% of its gross domestic product has been committed by the U. S government to prevent the collapse of its financial system. 5. 0. 2 Economic Growth Rates. The effect of 2007 crisis can be seen clearly on the downturn economic growth globally.As shown in Figure 1, countries in the world are experiencing a downturn in economic activity as the effect of financial crisis. These declines in economic activity have been followed by losses of trillions of dollars in equity markets and a credit squeeze that are affecting households and businesses worldwide. Financing activities such as world trade and oil exploration has been slow during the time of crisis. As sho wn in chart 2 below, real growth rate measured by GDP across the world has been decreased. Real growth rate in reported by the World Bank is 3. 9% in 2007 dropped to 1. 3% in 2008.As the crisis became worsen, economic growth dropped much lower rate to -2. 2% in 2009. The U. S economy has a large proportion in world economy therefore it has slightly similar trend in the growth rate. The U. S real growth rate in 2007 is 1. 9% dropped to -0. 4% and -3. 5% in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Chart 2: GDP – real growth rate (%) Source: Adapted from World Bank data 5. 0. 3 Personal Finances of US Citizens. People have struggled to repay their debts as the direct consequences of the financial practices that produced the crisis. The value of house dropped dramatically for individuals who owned house before the crisis broke out.This caused some people repaying mortgages that are worth more than the current value of their house. Eventually, many people ended up losing the house that they bo ught in years before the crisis broke out. There were high rates of foreclosure in some area of the United States as borrowers cannot repay the loans. Other than that, individuals in the US also suffered from the loss of growth and income that their savings and investments would have produced. This is because interest rates for savings have dropped sharply. Investors and companies experiencing losses as the stock in many companies dropping rapidly.Retirement plans that are usually based on mutual funds and performance of the stock market results not as they had planned as the stock market crashed. They may need to work longer or retirement plans is less than expected before. Moreover, it has become more difficult to borrow money. While expensive loan services have been expanded, people find it hard to obtain low cost loans or credit cards. 5. 0. 4 High Unemployment Rate. The US gross domestic product which is the total amount of goods and services produced by the country was reduced as the effect of the crisis.Companies in the country struggled to cope with the crisis, however lots of people have lost their jobs. Based on chart 3, the uneployment rate grew from 4. 7% in 2006 to 10% in 2010 which was the highest rate in the last few decades. In addition to lose income, unemployment made it worse for many people because it has become difficult to find new job. Many companies are not willing to hire new employer and even a fresh graduates have to compete to find employment. This become a serious problem for many young citizens in the country. Chart 3: Unemployment rate in the US Source:Adapted from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 5. 0. 5 Impact on the IMF The damage caused by the financial crisis is a challenge for the IMF. This is because, its financial resource is not in line with the global economy over the past decade. The United States and other advanced industrial economies are at the center of the crisis. However, the IMF would not have enough resources to provide financial assistance if these countries seek for help. Therefore, the IMF resources need to be increase or the risk would become worse in the future. 6. 0 Policy Response 6. 0. 1 Term Auction Facility (TAF).The Term Auction Facility is introduced in December 2007 so that banks can borrow from the Fed easily. Thus the banks can bid directly for funds from the Fed. This is because investors are not willing to lend when afraid about the condition of many financial institutions affected by the crisis. Consequently bank funding markets were put under severe pressure. The main objective of the TAF was to reduce the spreads in the money markets and in that way increase the flow of credit and lower interest rates. As a result, the TAF helped by encouraging the distribution of liquidity when bank funding markets were under stress.The spread between the London interbank offered rate (Libor) and the overnight indexed swap (OIS) for loans of one-month maturity or longer increased to un usually high levels in the late 2007. It is believed that the increase in the Libor–OIS spread is caused by the heightened risk perceived by investors at the time. Since Libor affects interest rates on a wide variety of loans and securities (for example, home mortgages and corporate loans), the sudden spike in the spread was disruptive to the debt market and negatively affected the economy.The chart 4 and the table below also showed six announcements related to the TAF program. Chart 4: The TAF facility provided term funding through periodic auctions to eligible depository institutions. By providing term funds to banks at regularly scheduled auctions, the TAF may have assured lenders of continued access to future funding and thereby reduced their uncertainty regarding anticipated funding needs. The TAF was a facility designed by the Federal Reserve during the crisis to improve liquidity conditions in various asset markets that is crucial to improve short term funding market. . 0. 2 Economic Stimulus Act 2008. The Economic Stimulus Act 2008 is a response made by the government through several package totalling over $100 billion to individuals and families in the United States. The economic stimulus is designed to boost the U. S economy and prevent further recession. In this programme, the government provide tax rebates to low and middle income taxpayers and tax incentives to stimulate business investment. The purpose of the incentives is that the people will have more money to spend thus increase consumption and the economy.By doing so, the government would expect that it will recover the economy. However it is not as hoped because they spend little although the incentives were given. This can be shown through chart 5. The top line shows personal disposable income increased at the time of rebate. However, the lower line shows consumption did not increase as expected. Chart 5: Increase in income 6. 0. 3 Initial Cuts in Interest Rate. The third policy resp onse to the crisis is sharp reduction in the federal funds rate. When the crisis began in August 2007, the rate was 5. 25% and went down to 2% in April 2008 due to the cut.The lower interest rate then reduced the size of adjustable rate mortgage that was cause of the crisis. The most significant effect of this response is the depreciation of dollar and rise in oil price. In the early 2008, oil price increased almost two fold from $70 per barrel in 2007 to over $140 per barrel. High oil price hit the economy as gasoline price increased dramatically and automobile sales plunged. On the other side, the policy reduction in the federal funds rate that cuts interest rate helped raise oil and other commodity prices thus prolonged the crisis. Exchange rate also has influence to the rise of oil price.As shown in chart 6, reduction of the federal funds rate at top line in July 2007 drives the oil price at the bottom line upward until July 2008. Chart 6: Cut in interest rate and increase in oi l price 7. 0 IMF Response to the Crisis The main role of the IMF is to identify the risks that threaten global economic and financial stability and to develop policy responses. The IMF has a worldwide membership and its mandate is to promote economic and financial stability. It is has been provide forum for discussion of international economic issues and help to reach solution on policy responses.In response to the financial crisis, the IMF boosted their lending to developing countries to help them cope with the crisis and to sustain the economic recovery. To meet ever increasing financing needs of countries hit by the global financial crisis and help strengthen global economic and financial stability, the Fund has greatly expanding its lending capacity since the start of the global crisis. It has done so both by obtaining commitments to increase quota subscriptions of member countries and securing large temporary borrowing agreements from member countries, including recent pledges of $456 billion.Countries affected by the crisis can borrow funds from the IMF. Other than that, there is also debate about reforming the IMF. The reformation issues focus on the need to balance the traditional functions of providing short-term financial assistance and promoting external balance stability in member countries. To achieve the objective, there is a need for a wider responsibility of crisis prevention, supporting financially for countries that, although not suffering actual reserve shortage, are in danger of external shocks and liquidity runs. This measure would prevent more severe impact to member countries as the effect of financial crisis.Since year 2008, the Fund has introduced effective instruments to prevent sudden falls in investors’ trust and the eruption of liquidity crises. As a result, borrowers were able to cope with the global crisis, avoiding large scale banking crises and disruptive exchange rate movements and protecting social spending. To prevent the crisis, the IMF has lending arrangements signed by the IMF and low and middle-income countries during the crisis. These lending arrangements take part from January 2008 and June 2010. The size of the loan arranged by the IMF is larger for country that is more exposed to the crisis especially for large country.As a result this measure can prevent more severe contagion of the crisis to other countries. 8. 0 Conclusion The U. S. economy has suffered a few major shocks in recent years during the crisis. At the start, these shocks include a large declining in house prices and a spike in the prices of oil and other commodities. The decline in house prices reduced the value of mortgage backed securities. Because of leverage, this threatened the ability of many of financial institutions, including major investment banks. These shocks have combined to put the U. S. conomy and many economies throughout the world into a global financial crisis and a deep recession. It is likely the worse since the Great Depression in 1930sRegulatory failure is a main responsibility for the crisis. It is shown that weak regulatory in the financial system leaving the consumers inadequately protected. To cope with this crisis, the IMF had played an effective role. It has come out with a financial assistance by providing loan arrangements to the member countries. However, the financial crisis of 2007 therefore raises doubts in faith of the world financial system and in free enterprise.The financial system has to take appropriate measures and reform to improve the situation in the future. 9. 0 References Acharya, V. V. , Philippon, T. , Richardson, M. , & Roubini, N. (2009). The Financial Crisis of 2007-2009: Causes and Remedies. Barrell, R. , & Davis , P. E. (t. t). The Evolution of the Financial Crisis of 2007-8. National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Blundell-Wignall, A. , Atkinson, P. , & Lee , S. H. (2008). The Current Financial Crisis: Causes and Policy Issues. Financi al Market Trends OECD, 1-21. Campello, M. , Graham, J. , & Harvey, C.R. (2009). The Real Effects of Financial Constraints: Evidence from a Financial Crisis. NBER Working Paper Series. Carmassi, J. , Gros, D. , & Micossi, S. (2009). The Global Financial Crisis: Causes and Cures. Journal of Common Market Studies, 47(5), 997-996. Cecchetti, S. G. (2009). Crisis and Responses: The Federal Reserve in the Early Stages of the Financial Crisis. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 23(1), 51-75. Crotty, J. (2008). Structural Causes of the Global Finacial Crisis: A Critical Assessment of the ‘New Financial Architecture. Didapatkan dari http://scholarwork. mass. edu/econ_workingpaper Driehaus, R. H. (2010). The Crisis of 2008 and Financial Reform. Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, 2(3). doi:10. 1108/17554171011091728 Goodhart, C. A. (t. t). The Regulatory Response to the Financial Crisis. 2009. Didapatkan dari http://hdl. handle. net/10419/26302 Hellwig, M. (2008). Systematic Risk in the Financial Sector: An Analysis of the Subprime-Mortgage financial Crisis. Ivan, P. (2008). Financial Crisis 2008. Saw Centre Financial Studies No. 5. Merrouche, O. , ; Nier, E. (2010). What Caused the global Financial Crisis? Evidence on the Drivers of Financial Imbalances 1997 – 2007. IMF Working Paper. Mishkin, F. S. (1999). Global Financial Instability: Framework, Events, Issues. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13(4), 3-20. Didapatkan dari http://links. jstor. org/sici? sici=0895-3309%28199923%2913%3A4%3C3%3AGFIFFEI%3E2. 0. CO%3B2-D Obstfeld, M. , ; Rogoff, K. (2009). Global Imbalances and the Financial Crisis: Products of Common Causes. Reinhart, C. M. , ; Rogoff, K. S. (2009). The Aftermath of Financial Crises. NBER Working Paper Series. Rogoff, K. (1999).International Institutions for Reducing Global Financial Instability. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13(4), 21-42. Didapatkan dari http://links. jstor. org/sici? sici=0895-3309%28199923%2913%3A4%3C21%3AII FRGF%3E2. 0. CO%3B2-3 Sanford, J. E. , ; Weiss, M. A. (2009). The Global Financial Crisis: Increasing IMF Resources and the Role of Congress. Congressional Research Service, 1-19. Sikka, P. (2009). Financial crisis and the silence of the authors. doi:10. 1016/j. aos. 2009. 01. 004 Taylor, J. B. (t. t). The Financial Crisis and the Policy Respenses: An Empirical Analysis of What Went Wrong. 2008.

Reading Response - play by David Henry Hwang M. Butterfly Essay - 1

Reading Response - play by David Henry Hwang M. Butterfly - Essay Example sha, Linling’s love, and face the subsequent revelation of Linling’s true gender identity, Hwang creates a unique dramatic scope for his audience to experience the extremity of the West’s reaction to the orients’ self-decisive, so called, masculine activity. The development of the West’s stereotypical masculinity and feminization of the Asians as a dominant theme of the play mainly revolves around Galliard’s tragically flawed predisposition to assume Liling as a woman. Whereas at one end of this gender-confused relationship, Gallimard represents the West’s traditional prejudiced attitudes and stereotypes about the Asians, in a broad term, about the oriental people, their culture and nations, Liling serves as a representative of the disguised oriental masculinity. Gallimard as a representative of the West hegemonic masculine self is prone to accept Song Liling as a girl. Indeed his perception of Song is a typical extension of his assumption of the Chinese and Asians in general. Again since Hwang’s protagonist habitually is inclined to stereotype the Chinese women as subservient, compliant, submissive, and modest, the stereotypical feminine role, flawlessly played by Song Liling, keeps the truth of Song’s identity away from being revealed to Gallimard, without much effort. Indeed Hwang’s protagonist’s hegemonic and typical colonial attitude towards oriental cultures determines most part the relationship between Gallimard and Song. Gallimard’s tendency to stereotype Asian women is evident in the following lines: â€Å"She is outwardly bold and outspoken, yet her heart is shy and afraid. It is the Oriental in her at war with her Western education.† (27) The play’s theme is serious and finally it t urns into tragic. But the development of the theme is such that Hwang’s play cannot but assume a slight comic tone due to reversed gender relation. Yet in the play, Hwang’s primary tone is serious, grave and tragic. His deconstructive approach to

REAL ESTATE AND THE ECONOMY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

REAL ESTATE AND THE ECONOMY - Essay Example The paper, however, discusses it in the U.S. context and explains that how it influence the economy. Real Estate and its Impact on U.S. Economy Real estate market’s strength or weakness has huge influences on U.S. economy. It was hard to admit that financial system was broken after the collapse of real estate bubble. Development in real estate is closely linked with the U.S. economy and its role cannot be ignored in our future progress (Babigian, 2011).U.S. real estate market is divided into commercial and residential real estate. Real estate constitutes several important aspects of economic activity. It has direct and indirect impact on the level and composition of real gross domestic product (GDP).In addition to new construction, real estate is a lasting asset which holds crucial balance sheet effects. For instance, lasting increase in household net worth that originates from rising real house prices suppose to trigger household spending on goods and services. There is a gen eral agreement on the effect of wealth on household behavior; however, its magnitude is somewhat less agreed upon (Missouri, 2007, p.1).According to Missouri (2007): Currently residential fixed investment comprises a little less than 5 percent of GDP. There are myriad of direct and indirect effects associated with real estate that spill over into the other aspects of economy, such as the demand for lumber, labor and other commodities used in the construction of structures or in remodeling activity.(p.1) There is fairly large nonresidential component in the U.S. real estate economy. Determinants of new construction in this sector are comparatively different because commercial or industrial structure is established asset and business will only invest in it if rate of return is at least comparable to its opportunity cost (Missouri, 2007, p.1).Real estate industry contributed over $1,472 billion to U.S. GDP in 2005 that amounts to 11.9 percent of total GDP. The value added from real est ate, leasing, and rental practices increased to over $1,731 billion (13.2 percent) of total GDP in 2006(Anari,2008,p.2).According to Anari (2008), â€Å"In 2006, Texas’ real estate industry was the second most important private industry after manufacturing. The industry’s contribution to the state’s GDP in 2005 was more than $79 billion†¦ [that amounts to] 8 percent of the Texas GDP† (p.2). Real GDP is the most extensive measure of goods and services produced in country in a particular time period. Among the major components of GDP, structure shared approximately 10 percent for last 25 years. In addition, other goods and services are associated with structure, such as furniture, utilities, and roads. Generally, residential expenditures are larger than that of nonresidential structures. In 2007, residential fixed investment constituted approximately 30 percent of the total private fixed investment while nonresidential structures constituted 20 percent . Residential fixed investment rise from 2000 to 2006 is considered to be quite unusual (Missouri, 2007, pp.2-5).In 2007, According to Missouri (2007): †¦ Construction spending has totaled a bit less than $1.2 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, with private construction outlays comprising a little more than three-quarters of the total and public construction outlays the remaining one quarter. (p.5) There has been a reasonable upward shift

The Rights of the Copyright Owner and the Public Interest Essay

The Rights of the Copyright Owner and the Public Interest - Essay Example As the discussion stresses  copyright does not protect the original idea or concept; rather it protects the words through which the author has represented his thoughts. The moment some shape is granted to an idea, for instance a piece of music or a painting, that idea has now been given a copyright. One does not need to register in order to gain a copyright. In other words, copyright comes into place at the time of creation and is applicable to both published and unpublished works. It is generally the rule that the copyright is in ownership of the creator and is binding on his or her published or unpublished work. Creations that can hold a copyright include music, novel, painting, brand name etc. The creator of the work is normally the holder of the copyright; however if the work has been made during the time the person was working for someone, then the employer is given the status of being the copyright holder.  This paper discusses that  there are a number of laws that are in existence which describe precisely the rules that are associated with copyright. Copyright laws are responsible for demarcating the domain of what rights do the creators and copyright holders should have. This plays an essential part in the determination of whether public access to copyrights balances the rights of the copyright holders or if copyright is strengthened beyond the reasonable limit. This also forms the core of the debate presented in this paper.

Business functions and processes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business functions and processes - Essay Example For instance, installing a technology in a firm whose overall internal structures and infrastructure are not compatible with application of the same is wastage of time, money and human resource. Equally important is that fact that technology can be sometimes the only measure, providing means to meet customer needs in the present competitive environment (Shaughnessy, 2013). Operations are strategized in a manner whereby organisation can compete in a competitive marketplace. For instance, these strategies can be in terms of quality, low cost, customisation and delivery. Traditional challenges in operations management such as, choice of only one strategy, are no longer tolerated as performance standard has been raised though technology and its applications. Nevertheless, for proper integration and implementation of technology in any organisation, it is essential to understand relevance of technology (Heizer and Render, 2011). The business environment is filled with examples of failed attempts while installing technology such as, ERP systems. For instance, Hershey Foods faced numerous problems in its product distribution system after implementation of R/3 system of SAP. This resulted in a huge demand-supply gap and Hershey was not able to supply candies during peak seasons of Christmas and Halloween. Similarly, Whirlpool faced shipping delays due to failed implementation of its ERP system. An interesting point to be noted here is that many of the challenges faced in context of ERP in present business scenario are similar to those faced by managers during implementation of MRP 20 years ago (Shaughnessy, 2013; Brown, et al., 2005). Hence, it can be said that challenges faced during technology implementation is more related to intangible forces such as, lack of leadership, commitment, training and understanding compared to tangible forces such as, technological defects in the systems. Few of the major challe nges

How Discovery of Oil Has Affected State Building of Saudi Arabia Essay

How Discovery of Oil Has Affected State Building of Saudi Arabia - Essay Example The post-World War II period of growing demand for cheap and reliable suppliers of oil for rebuilding Europe was a great boost to the unity of the Saudi Arabian regions, and to the developing oil industry in the state. The attractive revenues that were realized during the reign of Abd al Aziz Al ibn Abd (1932-1953), strengthened his position and gave him the power to exert a higher political and economic influence over his territories (Country Studies par 4). The Saudi state became the pervasive economic change agent, replacing the initially differentiated economy with one that relied entirely upon the state's expenditure. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the rapid increase in oil prices enabled the Saudi state to meet its long-term financial obligations (Country Studies par 9). The huge oil revenues, in addition to delays in expenditures and the Saudi economy's restricted absorptive capacity, brought about large financial surpluses in the economy. Majority of these surpluses were inves ted in reputable international financial institutions and securities. The state is one of the leaders in the oil market in the 1990s, found it hard to diversify its economy (Country Studies par 6). This government has however, raised the average living standards of Saudi citizens’ to among the best globally, and established excellent infrastructural facilities and social services for its people. Being the major source of revenue, the oil industry has been an area of keen interest to the government.

What Makes an Effective Team Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

What Makes an Effective Team Work - Essay Example In some situations, one type offers the most benefits, and in some other circumstances, other type of team can be fruitful in achieving the expected outcomes. However, in order to understand the effectiveness of teamwork, the paper will now discuss some of the different types of teams that will allow an efficient understanding of teamwork. Analysis of the material related to teams has indicated that different experts and researchers have identified and categorized teams into different types that will take more than this paper. For this reason, this paper will discuss some of the most common and effective types of teams that will be worthy of a discussion. As the name says itself, peer means someone that is almost of the same characteristics of the other. In this regard, peer workgroups usually involves individuals that possess the same attributes; however, such attributes can vary and depend on setting of the workgroup. For instance, an evident example of peer-to-peer workgroup is an educational class in the school that involves children or students of the same age group (DuBrin, pp. 77-81). The basic notion of peer-to-peer workgroup is an informal platform that provides an opportunity to the team members to achieve the objectives while learning and complementing each other. One of the significant characteristics of peer-to-peer workgroup that it although caters individuals of the same age group or same class or same interest, such as music, art, etc. However, it always consists of various diverse attributes of the team members, such as different socio-economic status, different race, etc that makes peer-to-peer group an efficient an d natural way of interacting with each other. Until now, the paper discussed an informal type of workgroup that involves peer-to-peer learning; however, additive and conjunctive are both formal types of teams that enable the team members to work formally to achieve the

Hermeneutical Circle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hermeneutical Circle - Essay Example The 'meaning' may be open-ended, but the particular text that is being considered is a close-ended circle because of the self-referentiality of individual parts and whole (Jasper, 2004). Christianity is based upon a number of tenets, including the idea, at least within the Protestant faiths, that the Bible is in fact an "organic whole" rather than a series of contrasting individual texts that have been gathered together over quite a long period of time. Yet on another note, the only way for a Christian to understand many parts of the Bible is to refer to other parts of the Bible for understanding. This is the self-referentiality of the Bible that can be seen as a part of the hermeneutical circle. A central example is the 'nature of God' which has concerned Christians for more then 1900 years. The various manners in which God reveals Himself within the Bible, particularly in reference to the contrast between the Old and New Testaments, might seem to be contradictory. The same God who asks for the first-born to be killed and demands that one of his faithful kill his own son to prove his faith is also the same God who reveals that love, mercy and forgiveness are the central aspects of his nature in the New Testament (Goldsworthy, 2007). It is the closed circle of self-referentiality that is found within the Bible is the answer to that question. Various parts of the Bible, in revealing the nature of God, refer to one another. One cannot understand the God of the New Testament without reference to the Old Testament and visa-versa. One version of the circle of hermeneutics, as expressed by evangelical theology, suggests that it is not merely "word studies" that should be involved in interpretation but rather "Word study" (Goldsworthy, 2007). This is the Word of Jesus Christ which is regarded as being the central focus and prism through which the rest of the Bible, and in fact "all of reality" can be discovered and understood (Goldsworthy, 2007). The gospel of Jesus Christ is the central fulcrum around which the rest of the Bible revolves according to this kind of hermeneutics. Of course this essentially counters the non-hierarchical structure of self-referentiality that exists within the traditional hermeneutical circle. In traditional hermeneutics all parts relate to the whole and the whole relates to all the parts in equal measure. Within a Christian theology that includes hermeneutics the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the focusing structure that involves comprehension. Jesus "communicates" (Brown, 2007) with people through the closed circle of the Bible, and enables them to navigate through the often complex and seemingly contradictory passages that it offers. The hermeneutical circle may appear to be complex, but in fact it is quite simple when seen in terms of revelation. As Brown (2007) suggests, "reading scripture is learning to discern a communicative act initiated by God". That "communicative act" needs to be understood within the context of all the other acts of communication that are contained within the Bible, but for the Christian at least, it is the word of Jesus Christ that offers a complete explanation for how that communication has occurred and what God is intending to mean. To conclude, the hermeneutical circle is one of the largest dilemmas within all philosophy in general and within theology in particular. The self-referentiali

Skills of Social Work-Fact Finding Essay Example for Free

Skills of Social Work-Fact Finding Essay There are also factual questions involving the law, such as: What exactly are the procedures for removing an elected official from office? Who owns a particular piece of land? What are the legal rights that citizens have when accused of a crime? Moreover, whenever we do fact finding as student social workers, we need to look into; 1. Demography How many people live in this area? † is clearly a major factor in determining the demand for the particular problem. Other questions concern the density (how many people per square kilometer? and the age and sex distribution. How many elderly or sick people who may be handicapped in getting this problem? What are the rates for births and deaths (if known) and how do these compare to national figures? What are the rates and patterns of migration (is it seasonal or permanent? are the people moving in from other areas? ). These comparisons are important, as we need to know how typical any particular area is. 2. Environment â€Å"What is the physical area that we are dealing with? Is this clearly marked or should-it be arbitrarily defined? What resources (especially land, soils, and vegetation) are available? What is known about climate, water, slopes, drainage? 3. Historical â€Å"There are two good reasons for knowing at least the general outline of local history recognizing the significance of important places and major persons. First, the present can only be understood in relation to the past and second, local people regard their history as important, so it is both expedient and courteous to know something about significant events. 4. Community† We are studying a community of people, the most important part of which is the relatively stable set of relationships between the people relationships between men and women, old and young, neighbours, kinsmen, in-laws, landlords and tenants, rich and poor, and so on. 5. Domestic â€Å"It should be possible to make a rough typology of households, a term which although sometimes vague, is better than family or farm. Household may usually be defined as a group of people that shares a common kitchen (or cooking place) and that recognizes one household head. The purpose of this is to establish the range and extent of inequality and variation on a particular problem. 6. Social  and  Economic â€Å"This category seeks further information on differentiation how is access to land defined and who controls/owns the land? How many are landless or near landless, how many rent land? 7. Political-Administrative â€Å"What are the formal and informal channels of authority? What are the links to the regional (and national) centers of power? What is the extent of-local participation in making decisions? What laws, regulations, and local informal, sanctions affect on the exits problems in the community. † On the other hand, it needs to look into some techniques adopted for fact finding. Which are as documentation, formal hearing, action research, demonstration projects, keeping abreast, need assessment, and programme identification on fact finding to find and know the root causes of the problems in the community. Fact finding techniques 1. Documentation Documentation is very important in order to keep the data of any particular problems of the community with exact facts of the problems, time, and year. Documentation can be done by note on paper, video record, and Microsoft words files so that even the next generation can see what were the main problems in the community and they will understand about the past events of the particular community. Doing documentation is for guide to implement action plan towards the particular problems for the development of the community. For example, documentation can be done by doing interview, home visit, looking into the historical background of the community, and by approaching to the head of the community to collect information about the community. And, the other example, if the community faces the problem of water crisis, here we need to look into â€Å"why, how, and when does it happen? † is important to know and how far it effect means its magnitude towards the community people, so, these are needed to list down to do documentation for programme implementation. 2. Formal hearing It is the important thing to know and ask how people in the community feel on particular problems, it means that it needs people concern on the particular problems which exists in the community for action plan and programme implementation. After doing documentation, it needs to ask people opinions, ideas, and solutions for problem solving process so that the people will feel that this or that is problems in the community, and they will accept particular problem as their problem in the community. Here, student social worker needs to apply the principles of people participation, start with what they know and have, and teach them by showing and learn by doing in order to get people concern and participation for problem solving process. For example, school dropout is happening in the community, but may be the community people may feel that this is not their problem, for that the student social worker needs to make them aware that this is problem in the community by showing them the disadvantages of school dropout and how do school dropout affect to the children future, and when the community people accept school dropout as their problem, the student social worker needs to make them to link with the available resources for reducing the rate of the school dropout and to stop school dropout in the community. For that, the student social worker can give awareness programme on the importance of education for children. 3. Action research The term action research means doing research with some types of action programmes for the betterment of the community. Action research is a research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a community of practice to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. Action research involves the process of actively participating in an organization change situation whilst conducting research. Action research can also be undertaken by larger organizations or institutions, assisted or guided by professional researchers, with the aim of improving their strategies, practices and knowledge of the environments within which they practice. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with others to propose a new course of action to help their community improve its work practices. For example, for school dropout problem in the community, here action research talks about to seek the way or strategies to approach to solve the immediate problem. Therefore, student social worker needs to seek that way that may be it is good to approach to the head of the community as first step or it will be better to do awareness programme first, and in secondly, may be the student social worker will seek for the available resources to make them link with the resources which can handle their current needs or problem. 4. Demonstration projects The demonstration projects mean that to find out whether the certain programme will work for the particular issue or problem and how and how much effective the particular programme is in solving the problems. It needs to identify and analysis on the programme to know whether it will work or it needs to change for solving the problem in the community. It needs to demonstrate on the projects or programme which will be implemented to solve the occurring problems in the community whether it will be effective towards the problem or not, if it is not effective than it needs to change the progamme and its objectives, action plan, and goal to seek for the better programme to solve the problem. For example, in the case of school dropout, the student social worker decides to conduct awareness programme on the importance of education, but actually when the student social worker demonstrate on the programme, he realizes that it needs to do home visit and survey as the first step to find out the facts and after that he may conduct awareness programme. 5. Keeping abreast The term keeping abreast means that to keep on giving information about new development, new information regard to certain subjects. This word means that to keep on providing and giving new and up-to-date information regard with certain problem in order to have good footstep in solving the problem effectively. For example, in some cases and problems, the process of the problems are changing may be because problems are dynamic from one place to other in nature because of culture transmission, because of news etc so, that it needs to update the information to take good action for solving the problems. 6. Need assessment It is very important to seek and know the real needs of the community to have ffective programme for problem solving in the community as professional social worker. It means to implement programme in time or the in the time of need, correct time, and place, with specific objectives and programme. For example, the student social worker needs to see into the needs of the community people rather than his needs. 7. Programme identification For the last point, it is programme identification process. It me ans that it needs to indentify and analysis on the programme whether it works and full fill the needs of the people. In the process of programme identification, it focuses on to identify how much the programme will effect towards the problem, and what will be needed to solve the problems. For example, in the case of the school dropout, the student social worker needs to identify on the awareness programme that â€Å"does the awareness programme on importance of education work to reduce the rate of school dropout in the community†, if it still needs more action than, the student social worker needs to seek the way by corporation with the community people to get the better solution for that. Conclusion As student social worker, the technique of fact finding is very important in order to find the root cause of the problems in the particular community to take action plan with specific objectives and programme implementation for the betterment or progress of the community. Fact finding is an extremely important component of the communication process which presents its own special set of problems and opportunities to people working to increase the constructiveness of intractable problems conflicts in the community. Therefore, it is very important to collect the real facts of the particular problem in the community to take effective action and programme implementation for solving the problems. For fact finding group interview is very important also because a short-cut method of rapidly gathering data is to interview groups rather than individuals. This method presents problems of representativeness, since any group chosen is unlikely to represent a true cross-section of the local population, though attempts should be made to include individuals of different socio-economic status. The knowledge and experience of several individuals may serve as checks on information given by each others. And, questionnaires are a popular method of data collection. The advantages of using a questionnaire are well-known: data can be collected quickly on specific items; these data can be easily transferred into forms allowing quantified and computerized analyses; and data collection tasks can be delegated to less expensive field staff. Questionnaires also compel the adoption of some organized structure upon data collection, but will be most effective when used by someone who can support and test the questionnaire findings with personal observations and insights and knowledge. Using questionnaires is one means of recording data, but it is not the only means and it is not adequate to not cover all the information required.

The Disadvantages of Full Day Schools Essay Example for Free

The Disadvantages of Full Day Schools Essay Full day schooling refers to a longer day at preschool where they not only learn but are also given time for play. (Lamphere, 2009) Full day preschools run for five hours or longer for five days a week. Half day preschools run for approximately 3 hours for five days a week. (Rosamilia, 2008) Researchers have constantly compared these two types of schooling and most studies came to a conclusion that full day schools are better than half day schools. There are a few example of studies conducted to show this. Some examples include: A study conducted by Cryan et al.in 1992 in two phases on the effects of half-day and all-day kindergarten programs on childrens academic and behavioral success in school and another study by Hough and Bryde in 1996 which looked at the student achievement data of children enrolled in half day and full day schools. Both studies showed that full day kindergartens benefit children in terms of academic successes, attendance and there are also fewer cases of retention for them. (Clark, 2013) Even though full day schools has its benefits, it also has its disadvantages. This literature review would be focusing on the disadvantages of full day school, be it long term or short term and it would also look into the benefits of other schooling programmes such as half day programs. This review is important it would give a better idea to parents and teacher as to why they should carefully consider other options other than just focusing on full day schools. Due to the limited resources on full day schools and case studies on full day schools, the countries this literature review would be focusing on would be US and Canada. Disadvantages of Full Day Kindergarten According to research, there are a number of disadvantages for Full Day kindergarten. Firstly, there is a lack of spaces for children. According to an article, in Canada, there is a lack of space to accommodate the rising number of children if they change their program to full-day kindergartens. In Calgary, Canada, it is believed that 50 out of 137 elementary schools would not be able to accommodate more than their current half-day school and the implementation of full-day programs would force some grades to be reshuffled to other schools. (Cuthbertson Herald, 2012) In some other articles, in United States, there has been lack of space to set up full-day kindergarten. (Martinez, Stuber, and Snider, 2006; Haglund, n. d. ) Thus, there have been talks going on as to whether they should set up full-day kindergartens in that district. (Placek, 2012) Another disadvantage would be the high cost for full-day programs. This includes the expenses for equipment, staff and space. In the article regarding the changing to the full day program in Canada, they mentioned that the cost of funding it for a year would be around $200 million. Another article stated that it would cost $2 million annually after an initial startup cost of $505,600. And, it would have required another $7 million from the districts reserves to pay for construction of additional classrooms and multipurpose rooms. (Placek, 2012) Another article by a graduate from East Stroudsburg University also states that the amount of money spent on the teachers’ salaries are also high because they now have to hire more teachers for full-day kindergartens. An average teacher in the US would earn about $33,000 a year. Thus, in the case that the kindergarten hires more teachers, they would have to spend about $132,000 to $165,000 per annum just on salaries. This would increase the burden on the taxpayers. (Morse, 2008) This point is also further supported by research conducted previously. (Martinez, Stuber, and Snider, 2006; Hugland, N. A. ; Guilderland Central School District Early Childhood Advisory Committee, 2008) The third disadvantage of full-day kindergarten is that it requires more staff and staff aides. Many articles stating the disadvantages of full day support this point. For example, in one article, it states that when there are half day sessions, one teacher can teach two sessions: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. However, if it is a full-day session, it requires more teachers to teach. They would also need more teacher aides. In the case where the kindergarten does not want to hire more teachers, they would expand each class and add in more teacher aides to balance the teacher-child ratio. In a study conducted at the Guilderland central school district, it also states that they would require more teachers to teach and balance the teacher-child ratio. (Early Childhood Advisory Committee, 2008). Besides these, there are a few more disadvantages to full day kindergartens. They include having more time at school and less time for ‘kids to be kids’. (Circele, 2009; Brower, 2013). It also includes teaching children academic and skills before they are ready for it. (Haglund, N. A. ; Morse, 2008) One of the articles found went on to explain that the kindergarten may teach too advanced skills for children instead of teaching them minor skills which are important. In summary, even though full-day seems like a good option for everyone, it does have its disadvantages. Benefits of Half Day Kindergartens Likewise, half-day school has its benefits. Firstly, half day kindergarten programs are less stressful. According to Walsh (2013), children would feel relaxed while trying to adjust to the structured classroom environment. Furthermore, they are able to make good transitions from kindergarten to first grade. Another source states that half-day programs are viewed as providing continuity and systematic experience with less probability of stress than full-day programs. (Rothenberg, 2009) Secondly, the children also receive the same quality of education as those in full day preschools or kindergartens. (Ast, 2010;Rothernberg, 2009) The children go through similar experiences but just that one is longer and the other is shorter. These show that there are other programs besides full day kindergartens which young chidren can benefit from. Conclusion In the context of Singapore, there isn’t much of an issue about half day versus full day kindergarten. This is because Singapore has mainly focused on half day kindergartens. Some of the reasons as to why that might be the case is similar to the disadvantages stated above. Just like in some parts of Canada and US, Singapore has limited space to set up full-day kindergarten and it requires more sources, equipment and etc. Singapore’s space is already limited in space and it requires more space for other more important things thus, it can’t be used just for kindergartens. Statistics have shown that 15% of Singapore’s land has been located for housing, 17% for recreational and community needs. The rest of the land is used for commerce, industry, infrastructure, utilities and transport and reservoirs, defense facilities and cemetery and undeveloped land. (Yearbook of Statistics Singapore, department of Statistics Singapore[online], 2012) This shows that there isn’t sufficient space to build more kindergartens or expand it. If Singapore was to expand or make kindergartens full day, it would require more teachers or teacher aides. There is also a lack in kindergarten teachers now. Recently, along the roads, many jobs offers for preschool teachers were noticed. This is also supported by a Strait Times article on 20 July 2012. It stated that there is already a shortage of teachers. (Vadaketh, 2012)Thus, if full day kindergartens were established, there would not be enough teachers. Depending on these reasons, I believe that full day kindergarten programs are not applicable really in Singapore. However, if you look at Singapore’s context carefully, full day kindergarten programs are somewhat similar to childcare programmes in Singapore. In this context, Singaporeans can choose what kind of schooling programs they want to send their child to. The kindergarten programmes are standardized by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to be 3 hours per session. (MOE,2013) As for Childcare, it is a full day program and is also available for half day on Saturdays. The two main factors determining which programme they would send their child to would be whether they are working and the cost of the programme. Parents of children these days are usually working adults. They do not have time to take care of their children because they are working. Thus, they would rather send them to childcares because it is more convenient and safe. If they were working and they send their child to half day kindergartens, they have to make other arrangements for their child so that the child would not be left alone. While full day kindergartens may be more convenient for working adults, half day schools (kindergartens) are cheaper. According to the list of kindergartens found on the Investmentfriend. com forum, the pricing ranges from as low as $80 to $500. However, the costs of childcare centres are about $700 and above, depending on the childcare. Thus, some parents might not be able to afford childcare and would send their child to half day kindergartens. Thus, all in all I believe that the choice of schooling depends on each family and individual if childcare was seen as an full day kindergarten program. References Clark, P. (2013). Recent research on all-day kindergarten | education. com. Retrieved from http://www. education. com/reference/article/Ref_Recent_Research_All/? Lamphere, M. (2009). Full day kindergarten. Retrieved from http://www. slideshare. net/lamph1ml/full-day-kindergarten Haglund, J. (n. d. ). Full-day kindergarten advantages disadvantages | early childhood. Retrieved from http://ec. dpi. wi. gov/ec_ecadflpg Morse, J. (2008). The disadvantages of all-day kindergarten yahoo! voices voice. yahoo. com. Retrieved from http://voices. yahoo. com/the-disadvantages-all-day-kindergarten-1337569. html? cat=25 Placek,C. (2012). No full daykindergarten for all in dist. 203 dailyherald. com. Retrieved from http://www. dailyherald. com/article/20121105/news/711059666/ Cuthbertson , R. , Herald, C. (2012). School promise under threat. Retrieved from http://www2. canada. com/calgaryherald/news/story. html? id=c1b76975-1366-45e4-9bc2d33d7a3ab1b6p=1 Brower, C. (2013). The cons of full-day kindergarten | ehow. com. Retrieved from http://www. ehow. com/info_8660784_cons-full-day-kindergarten-programs. html Guilderland Central School District Early Childhood Advisory Committee. (2009). Report on full-day kindergarten. Retrieved from http://www. guilderlandschools. org/district/boe/PDFs/reports/FDKPPT110508. pdf Ast, A. (2010). Half day vs full day kindergarten: Is there really a difference? yahoo! voices voices. yahoo. com. Retrieved from http://voices. yahoo. com/half-day-vs-full-day-kindergarten-there-really-6839874. html? cat=25 Walsh, K. (2013). Pros cons of half day kindergarten | ehow. com. Retrieved from http://www. ehow. com/info_8502607_pros-cons-halfday-kindergarten. html Kindergarten fees list. (2011). Retrieved from http://investmentfriend. com/forum/showthread. php/25-Kindergarten-Fees-List Vadaketh, S. T. (2012). Tackling preschool challenges in Singapore. The StraitTimes. Retrieved from http://ifonlysingaporeans. blogspot. sg/2012/07/tackling-preschool-challenges-in. html MOE. (2013). Ministry of education, Singapore education system: Pre-school Education. Retrieved from http://www. moe. gov. sg/education/preschool/.

Language Learning Styles And Strategies English Language Essay

Language Learning Styles And Strategies English Language Essay Dr Georgi Lazanov, a Bulgarian proponent of the accelerated learning affirmed that human learning is the basic and natual function-easier than breathing and walking (as cited in Prashnig, 2004). This seems to be right to learning a language as a mother tongue because we were born with the same ability of learning our first language so most of us acquire and learn our first language easily and naturally. However, the expectation is not the same to acquiring and learning a second or foreign language. In my career of English language teaching, I have witnessed a number of students who make very little progress in their language learning whereas the others get improved quickly and conspicuously. Althought most students have received generally equivalent language education at schools or universities, they show differences in proficency and competence in using the target language. So, why are some successful and the others fail to get good achievement in their learning? Why do those studen ts can speak well in the target language but the others can not communicate fluenctly and confidently? Is it because some are smarter than the others? what makes the differences among these students? A number of researches on these matters have indicated that each student prefers different learning styles and their learning styles impact on the trategies they apply to their learning. This results in learning styles as well as learning strategies affecting the students learning achievement (Ehrman Oxford, 1988). This discovery confirms Georgi Lazanovs belief that learning is a matter of attidude not apptitude. The importance of learning styles and stategies have been widely recognized in language learning and more and more research has been done on them . Definitions of terms. According to Brown (2000, p. 113). Style is the term used to refer consistent and rather enduring tendencies and preferences an individual has. Styles are characteristics of intellectual functioning that make an individual unique. Styles characterized an individuals typical way of thingking and feeling Strategy is the term used to refer a method of approaching a prolem and an operation used to achieve a particular goal. Different people employed varied strategies to solve their own problems and the strategies they use might not be the same time by time. A good language learner to Joan Rubin ( 1975, pp. 46-48): is a willing and accurate guesser. He employs appropriate ways to perceive and process information. He accepts uncertainty and he is flexible and comfortable in applying his ability of guessing to explore for and get the meaning of the communication from the clues that he is offerd in the setting in combination with using his social and linguistic schemata. has strong motivation to communicate. He is willing to involve himself in communicating by using any means such as circumlocution, gestures, spelling, paraphrasing, creatively forming new words from the original ones.to express his meaning or to get his message across. is not inhibited. He is willing to make mistake because he believes mistakes are part of language learning process. He learns from his own mistakes by trying to understand them and avoid repeating them. is prepared to attend to form. While a normal learner tends to percieve what they are taught in the textbooks or lessons in the classroom, a good language learner seeks for something else beyond them. He is constantly looking for patterns in the language by analyzing, categorizing and synthesizing it. practices what he has learned or acquired. He find the opportunities to use the language as soon as possiple not only in class but also outside the classroom. monitors his own speech and the speech of others. He evaluates his performance by mornitoring his own speech and getting feedback from the listeners. He also mornitors the others to see how they use the language in comparision with the standards he has been taught. attends to meaning. He pays attention to not only the forms of speech or grammar but also the meaning of the language by negotiating the meaning of the message in differenct contexts. Statement about the background of the learners in the research and the research questions The learners are recent graduates or experienced engineers from different parts of Vietnam recruited to work for projects of Petrovietnam. They have received nearly equivalent English language education at school and at university. However, after graduation they are at different English proficiency levels. Like most of the other Vietnamese students, they can hardly speak English. Some of them even can not read aloud an English reading text fluently. This is the most common problem for English language learners in Vietnam. They are sent to PVMTC to take a special course to improve their technical knowledge and English skills, especially speaking skill, to perform their job together with foreign experts in their field at industrial facilities or in offices. They have five classes a week and each class lasts for four hours. They are extremely motivated because after the course, they are expected to achieve at least 650 marks on TOIEC and to be good at communication in all circumstances in order to be appointed to different appropriate positions at their working place. The learning objectives of the course are obvious and CLT approach is chosen to apply in teaching the students so that they can improve their communicative skills in English. Before doing the course, the school give them a placement test to categorize their English proficiency levels and put them in the diffirent appropriate classes accordingly. The students have different attitudes and behaviuor to their language learning and so is their learning effectiveness. The high proficiency students usually appear to make better progress, their learning outcome appears better than the low proficiency students, and especially, their speaking skills get improved obviously. So, my study serves to find out the answers to the following questions: What makes the difference between the students of low and high language proficiency level? What is the difference of language learning strategy use between EFL students of high and low proficiency levels in learning English speaking in Petrovietnam Manpower Training College (PVMTC) in Vietnam? What can a teacher do to help these leaners of diffirent learning styles use and combine different types of strategies in their English speaking learning? Being different from learning styles, language learning strategies can be probably trained to the learners. Hopefully, the finding of the study and its practical implication could help language teachers in their teaching. Liturature Review Language learning styles Learning styles are prefered approaches to learning, the environment of a learner and the ways he or she perceives and processes information, the specific ways that an individual acquires, retains, and retrieves information (Felder Henriques, 1995), inherent and pervasive characteristics of a particular individual or a group of people (Willing, 1988), preferred or habital patterns of mental functioning and dealing with new information (Ehrman and Oxford, 1990), means of acquiring knowdlege and skills, habits, strategies, regular mental behaviours concerning learning an individual displays (Pritchard, 2008). Or according to Keefe (as cited in Griggs, 1991), learning styles are the composite of characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment. Different researchers have got different definitions of the learening styles depending on their perception of learning and education psychology. So there are also different dimension of learning styles and more than twenty dimentions of learning styles have been known so far focusing on social, physical, environtmental preference, personality type, cognitive ability. In this paper, I would like mention the two models of learning styles that are relatively related to language learning. VARK- Visual, Aural, Read-Write and Kinethetic Neil Fleming (1987) classified learners according to their preference in the ways of getting, retaining and processing the input as well as performing the output. Visual learners learn through seeing and like using the words that they can visualize their images. In the classroom, they are usually impatient. They tend to interupt the others while they are talking but they are good at talking and persuading. Auditory learners are really good listeners. They like verbal explanation and information in spoken words. They think in a linear way and they speak slowly. Read-write learners enjoy writing and reading. They feel more comfortable with any input or output in form of texts. Kinethetic learners learn through manual operation using senses. They try new things and they learn from the errors they make. They tend to like dealing with real life problems but they are not very risky in making decision. The Index of Learning Styles The famous model of Learning Styles developed by Richard Felder and Linda Silverman 1988 devived the learning styles into four dimensions indicating the ways in which the learners perceive the world. Sensing and intuitive (Perception dimension): Sensing learners prefer learning the facts. They learn best with certain and real information. They tend to solve problems in a common way and they hate complications. Intuitive learners prefer discovering posibilities and relationships. They tend to like finding the meaning. Information of conception, creation and theory attract them most. They do not like repeatition. Active and reflective (Processing dimension) Active learners prefer doing. They understand well and keep in their mind the given information for long if they are allowed to act, learning. They learn best with the others. Reflective learners prefer to think, evaluate, analysis the input. They feel more comfortable with learning quietly and individually. Visual and verbal (Input dimension) Visual learners deal well with graphs, pictures, and diagrams. They prefer visual representations of information. Â   Verbal learners get inforamation most if it is in both spoken and written words. Sequential and Global (Understanding dimension) Sequential learners get the understanding of the information in a linear way and they get the whole input by connecting logically and orderly the segments of it with one another. Global learners look at the input as the big picture to understand them. They usually work with the whole then its details. Language learning strategies Learning strategies are operations, steps, plans, thoughts or behaviors that learners use to help themselves to acquire, retain, regain and use information (Wenden Rubin, 1987; OMalley and Chamot, 1990; Weinstein Mayer, 1986). In other words, learning strategies are characterized as specific actions that learners take to make their languge learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situations (Oxford, 1989, 1990). Among the strategy taxonomies developed by varied researchers such as Stern, O Malley and Oxford, as a teacher, I am particularly interested in the Stratey Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) which was developed by Oxford in 1990 for its importance as a effective tool to determine the strategies that a learner uses in learning English. In her system, Oxford separates language learning strategies into two general classes direct strategies and indirect strategies. These two classes are divided into six groups: memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective and social strategies. Direct Strategies are employed by learners to deal with the new language. Memory strategies used for information storage and retention included in four sets: creating mental linkages, applying images and sounds, reviweing well and employing actions.These strategies helps learners remember what they have learned better by putting them together in a logical order, retain and retrieve them by associating them with images and sounds and act them out if it is possible. At the early stage of the language learning or for the learners who are young children, memory strategies are applied most frequently to learn vocabulary. Cognitive strategies used for analyzing, classifying and combining new information with the learnerss prior knowledge comprise of four sets: Practising, receiving and sending messages strategies, analizing, reasoning and creating structure for input and output. Learners employ these strategies as tools to achieve the target language by reapeating verbally or in words to get new information, to complete a complex task needing a lot of thinking like reading comprehension which is closely related to the learners prior knowlege, to summarize and restructure the target language in useful forms. Compensation strategies used for reducing the effects of lacking knowledge of the target language included in two sets: guessing intelligently and overcoming limitations in speaking and writing. The learners insufficiency of vocabulary and grammar can be overcome by guessing, using gestures, adjusting the message. Indirect Strategies used for genaral management of learning can be used in combination with Direct Strategies to regulate the learning. Metacognitive strategies used by the learners for the sefl-reflection. They embrace three sets: centering your learning, arranging and planning your learning, evaluating your learning. The strategies aim to drive the learners attention to particular skill areas of the language to improve, set the goals and objectives, organize their learning by dealing well with tasks to get the best achievement, seek opportunities to prastise and self-evaluate by monioring their learning progress to make sure that they get benefit from their effort. Affective strategies used for controling learnersemotions, attitudes and motivations. They fall into four sets: lowering your anxiety, encouraging yourself and taking your emotonal temperature. The learners have both positive and negative feelings that may slow down or speed up their learning process. The strategies help them to control their negative feelings to overcome the psychologic difficulty, self-encourage to have themselves engage fully in learning the language and command themselve by sharing their feelings in different ways. Social strategies used for co-operating with others in learning. These strategies contain three sets: asking questions, co-operating with orthers, empathizing with others. Asking question is the most useful way to get imformation and its meaning. Learning language occurs mostly in communicating with others. So co-operation gives learners the best chance to get involved in the learning environment to learn the language. The trategies help learners enhance cultural understanding and sharing others feelings and learn the language. Overview of research on learning styles and strategies Many researcherss findings have implied the effect of learning strategies and indicate that most language learners unconciously use learning stratergies to enhence their learning and they sometimes may not really realize that they have chosen the most appropriate strategies to utilize and (Chamot Kupper, 1989). It is also stated that the good learners know well the strategies they use and tend to apply varied but appropriate language strategies and are able to explain the reasons why they use them for different tasks, learning needs and different stages of their learning and that the learning strategy use of the high proficiency learners appear more frequent and wide-ranging (OMalley Chamot, 1990). Ming Nuan Yang (2008) finds the same result in her study of language learning strategies used by the students in Chang Gung Institute of Technology in Taiwan. In her study of language learning strategies used by students at different proficiency levels in a university in Taiwan, Ya Ling Wu (2008) confirms that the higher proficency students use more and varied learning strategies, especially cognitive, metacognigive and social strategies than the lower proficiency students do. However, Vann and Abraham (cited in Sawani) found the opposite results in their study of strategy use of ecademic English learners in the USA which showed that the strategy use of the unsuccessful learners are the same as the successful learners As we know, language learning strategies can help learners to be more autonomous. Language learning strategies also assisst learners in making choices, initiating learning activities and taking responsibility for their learning. Each strategy have its own significant effect on different language skills. To deal well with English language speaking learning, the learner , as a good language learner, is required to be a risk-taker, to make good use of paraphrasing and circumlocution, to be aware the importance of self-monitoring, and self-evaluation (Chamot Kupper, 1989). Therefore speaking skills in partcular are usually effected most by compensation, cognitive, metacognitive, social and affective strategies. One of the biggest problems that the L2 learners face to is the deficiency in vocabulary and grammar of the target language. In the English language speaking classroom, the highly proficient students usuall usually apply compensation strategies which to Oxford (1990) can help learners comprehend and produce messages in the new langguage making up their deficiency in vocabulary and grammar. Applying compensation strategies , the learners appear to become a better language learner because they are getting willing to take risk. For example, they are willing to take risk to learn to speak the language at their expense. They are not afraid of being a fool when making mistakes or using gestures as they are speaking. They become good guessers to understand what people say and become very creative in using the target by paraphrasing or using circumlocution to express their intended messages to get themselves understood. In his study in 2009, Chandra Bose found that the compensation strategie s were adopted by engineering students of Tamil Nadu in India while speaking English to make up for the inability to speak fluently and Goh and Foongs study on language learning strategy use of Chinese students shows similar results but Yang (2007) found that both high and low proficiency Chinese students in his uninersity used compensation strategies more than other strategies. Most learners are very cognitive when they deal with learning the second language esspecially aldult learners. They love using their mind, cognitive strategies to solve problems. However, OMalley Chamot (1990) beleive that cognitive and metacognitive strategies are often used together to support each other and that the appropriate combinations of using these strategies often bring more effectiveness. Cognitive strategies help learners analyse, classify and associate the new information with the prior knowledge and mentally restructure them to make the new one for their own. They provide language functions and structures whereas metacognitve stratergies help learners manage their learning by self reflecting. Rubin (1975) states that a good language learner always look for opportunities to involve in communication and highly aware of their learning. So does a language learner with metacognitive strategies. They monitor their own speaking to learn from the mistake they have made, plan their learning to achieve the goal they have established. These learners are usually reflective learners. Metacognitive strategies are claimed to be used more often by Taiwanese university students ( Yang, 2007) and Chinese students (Bedell, cited in Yang, 2007) than by Puerto Rican, Egyptian, Indonesian and Korean students (Yang, as cited in Yang, 2007). The affective filter hypothesis of Krashen (1982) concerns the factor of emotions that effect the learners second language acquisition. It means that the learners with high affective filter will receive less input than the ones with lower affective filter. This is consictent with Oxford (1990) belief that affective strategies can help learners to lower their anxiety, encourage themselves and take their emotional temperature. Affective strategies enable learners to control their emotions and attitude to language learning because the learners can be encourage or decourage in learning a foreign language by being intersed or anxious or bored. Affective strategies are asserted to have sigficient impacts on learners since they assist learners to overcome the anxiety they may have when speaking. That is the reason why the results found in Yangs study of Chinese (Yang, 1993 cited in Yang, 2007) and Taiwanese students use of learning strategies show that affective strategies were used the lea st (Yang, 2007). This is explained that Chinese and Taiwanese students in a traiditional English class have few chances to speak. Learners tend to use social strategies look for oppotunities to engage themseves in communication by asking questions, asking for help, practising the new things they have learn with others and sharing their feelings about learning the target language with others. Learners with social strategies make use of asking questions to achieve understanding, cooperating to increase confidence and to be in competition to expose their better performence than othersand to develop cultural understanding. Social strategies help learners learn the target language through interacting with others. This is extremely significant in learning speaking. However, the choice of social strategies depends a lot on learners characteristics and learning styles. The learners with social strategies are usally active learners who are extroverts who tend to open up with others to learn the language (Ehrman and Oxford, 1990). Conclusion Most of the studies on language learning styles and strategies in recent decades have stated that learning styles effect the seclection of language learning strategies the learners apply to their language learning. In the other hand, research also indicates that the levels of success and proficiency the learners reach and the frequency and variation of learning strategy use of the learners increase accordingly. These findings are vitally important to language teachers who play a very significant role in part of the successes that their students may enjoy or part of the failure that their students learning may end in. Learning about the diference of language learning strategy use between the successful, high proficiency learners and unsuccessful, low proficiency learners is necessary to teachers so that they can adapt their teaching styles to match their students learning styles, train their students the language learning strategies that the successful, high proficiency students utili ze in their learning to help them to enhence their learnings effectiveness in the ways that the good language learner does.