Improving Organizational Performance Research Paper

Improving Organizational Performance - Research Paper Example Hence, there had been no more creativity and adventure that was against the nature of a risk-taking stunt performer. I would recommend a solution that there is a dire need to ensure job flexibility and creativity that would not only reduce additional burden over employees, but reduce their stress. The phase 2 described the situation in which Cesley allocated the fund of $150,000 to develop intervention that would ensure organizational flexibility, improvement in performance and productivity. Indeed, the solution that I chose were the improvement in job design thereby making it more flexible, initiative of physical / mental training and training in other stunts. Indeed, this would have helped in enhancing the skills, proficiency level, capabilities and specialties of stunt performers as well as helped in making their job more challenging. This would have motivated stunt performers as they had perceived the changes in existing rigid job design. Obviously, the theory worked and most of the stunt performers welcomed the changes and pledged that they would be working harder to produce optimal performance. The phase 3 explained the situation in which the top management suggested to form an informal consultancy group of 3 stunt performers who could work with each other and would be responsible in providing consultation services to potential customers about Airdevils capabilities and strengths. Also, the group was supposed to provide services to Airdevils whether there was enough scope that company could induct new line of stunts and benefit from their talent. I recommended making a group of stunts namely Amanda, Charlie and Marty Columbus who shared similar personalities and resemblance in attitudes and behaviors. Indeed, this would not only result in group’s harmony and unity but also in accomplishment of organizational goals and ambitions. On the flip side, some conflicts had been observed

Graphic design is the branch of visual art Essay

Graphic design is the branch of visual art - Essay Example By effectiveness, we mean how much power a design has to motivate people or help them identify a company. For example, where a one or two letter sign may be effective in identifying a company such as BP, it is not effective for another company simply identified as B. Plus; presentation of an idea does not necessarily mean it was communicated accurately. A scribbled "keep off grass" sign is not as effective as a neatly designed "keep off grass" sign with an appropriately designed logo. Also, just because a sign communicates effectively does not mean what it communicates is good. Governments have become masters at influencing citizens with graphic design by communicating messages sometimes to support darkly political objectives. Graphic design is the branch of visual art dedicated to communicating messages. It is most used in marketing and brand recognition strategies. Having watch and listened to a video of a talk about design given by David Carson, I walk away with certain understandings about graphic design.

Chicago-style pizza Essay Example for Free

Chicago-style pizza Essay Pizza is a very common food Item you can find anywhere in New York, it can provide a quick fix if you are hungry but it can also have another purpose. The two most commonly found would be thesis Deep dish1 and New York style2 pizza but I believe the best pizza is home made3 since to me it promotes family togetherness. There are specialties shops like UNO’s that prepare pizza â€Å"Chicago style† which is basically deep dish pizza and has a thicker crust. Deno/des I find the pizza to be doughy and personally I am not too fond of chunky tomatoes in my sauce. In my opinion it seems to fill the pizza more than anything else. Pizza hut and Dominos also provides a deep dish option made differently without the chunky tomato sauce that I find more appealing to my taste that is not Chicago style. While they all can be a family night out for dinner this can at times become routine and boring. The common pizza shop makes a typical pizza pie we are all used to in New York, the â€Å"slice†. deno/des Some make pizza soggy, crunchy, or oily we all have our preferences and typically are drawn to those shops that make it the way we like it. This to me is a quick sit down lunch or dinner with your family, children or child then you are off again to continue your activities. There is no fun to it just becomes routine to grab a quick bite and carry on. In my opinion my personal favorite is making it at home with fresh dough purchased at my local supermarket. Deno/des My daughter helps roll out the dough on the pizza pan with a little flour so it does not stick to the pan. She also helps me shred the mozzarella cheese constantly reminding me to watch my fingers as to not get cut on the shredder. My three year old has already mastered putting the sauce on the pizza, sauce out of the can that is. We place it in the oven and wait. I have to say the bonding that takes place making pizza is priceless and the pizza we create is better than anything you can find anywhere in NYC. This also reminds me of my own childhood making pizza in the same manner with my father, these are the memories you carry on forever. To this day the pizza I made with my father only comes second to the pizza I make with my daughter. Des In conclusion I believe being a single parent myself and raising my 3 year old little girl, I would prefer making homemade pizza. The bonding that comes from the interaction of making a pizza with my daughter from scratch brings back memories of when I was a child making pizza with my parents. Those memories are everlasting. To those who do not have such memories or traditions this is an opportunity to create them while creating memories your child will always remember. The bonding and togetherness from this interaction with your child is something you cannot get from going to your local pizzeria.

Treatment and Outcomes of Paediatric Asthma in New Zealand

Treatment and Outcomes of Paediatric Asthma in New Zealand Inequities are present in the prevalence, treatment and outcomes of paediatric asthma in New Zealand (NZ). A sound body of literature and research confirms these inequities, and associates them with various axes, including socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity. A conceptual framework, Williams model, is proposed to explain how basic and surface causal factors have resulted in such inequities in paediatric asthma in NZ. Finally, this essay articulates two evidence-based interventions which have been devised with one potent aim: to reduce the unfair disparities in the health status for different population groups. Asthma can affect people of any age, yet is much more common in children than adults. On one hand, studies have suggested that the prevalence of paediatric asthma is similar between Maori and non-Maori (Holt Beasley, 2002). Conversely, there is evidence that Maori boys and girls are 1.5 times as likely to be taking medication for asthma than non-Maori boys and girls (Ministry of Health, 2008). Yet, medicated asthma as a proxy for paediatric asthma prevalence may not be desirable as it fails to include those who should be medicated but are not currently due to barriers such as cost, access and education. This may have the effect of underestimating the true ethnic disparities. However, using asthma symptoms as a better indicator of asthma prevalence, evidence from the ISAAC study (2004) conclude that there are, in fact, significant ethnic variations; that the prevalence of recent wheeze is higher in Maori than in non-Maori children, and is lower for Pacific children than for other eth nic groups. These finding are consistent with an earlier study on paediatric asthma prevalence in New Zealand, suggesting that the pattern of interethnic differences have persisted over time (Pattermore et al., 2004). Perhaps the greatest difference in the prevalence of paediatric asthma between ethnic groups is the presence of more severe symptoms among Maori and Pacific children when compared with Europen children. Both Maori and Pacific children had symptoms suggesting more severe asthma; findings from the ISAAC study (2004) indicated that they reported a higher frequency of wheeze disturbing sleep reported than Europeans. Moreover, Maori and Pacific children are hospitalised more frequently and require more days off school as a result of their asthma than their European counterparts (Pattermore et al., 2004). Although asthma admissions among all children in NZ have remained relatively stable over the last decade, this not the case for all ethnicities (Craig, Jackson Han, 2007). NZ European children have experienced a steady decline for hospital admission rates due to asthma, but this decreasing trend is not the case for Maori and Pacific children, of whom Metcalf (2004) found asthma hospitali sation rates for children under 5 to be four times more likely than that of NZ Europeans. Similar ethnic disparities in hospital admission rates for asthma have also been recognised in the United Kingdom, where children of African and South Asian origins have an increased risk of hospitalisation when compared with the majority European population (Netuveli et al., 2005). Furthermore, it seems worth noting that hospital admissions for Maori compared to non-Maori are not distributed equally: a geographical analysis found the difference in asthma hospitalisation rates between Maori and non-Maori to be more significant in rural areas than in urban areas, despite the fact there was no consistent association between rurality and the prevalence of paediatric asthma (Netuveli). As asthma is a chronic disease with no cure, the goal of asthma treatment is, instead, to control its symptoms. There are two key areas in asthma management: self-management (by the caregivers of children) through asthma education and knowledge; and management via medication. In a trial of a community-based asthma education clinic, Kolbe, Garrett, Vamos and Rea (1994) reported greater improvements in asthma knowledge among European than Maori or Pacific participants. A more recent study found that, compared to children of the European ethnic group, Maori and Pacific children with asthma received less asthma education and medication, had lower levels of parental asthma knowledge, had more problems with accessing appropriate asthma care, and were less likely to have an action plan (Crengle, Robinson, Grant Arroll, 2005). Thus, it can be inferred that ethnic inequities in asthma education and self-management have been maintained throughout the years. Despite medication being a critical component of effective asthma management, studies have shown that Maori and Pacific children with severe morbidity may be less likely to receive preventative medications than NZ European children (Crengle et al.). Where reliever medications bring immediate, short-term relief for acute asthma attacks (an indicator of poor asthma control), preventers (or inhaled corticosteroids) prevent symptoms from occurring and is used in the long-term management of asthma (Asher Byrnes, 2006). The ratio of reliever to preventer use is higher in Maori and Pacific than European children, implying a disproportionate burden; that despite a higher prevalence of asthma symptoms, Maori and Pacific children are more likely to have sub-optimal asthma control. (â€Å"Asthma and chronic cough†, 2008). Death from asthma remains a relatively uncommon event, and most are largely preventable. Yet, ethnic inequities are also present: Maori are four times more likely to die from asthma than non-Maori. Asthma deaths in Maori are higher than non-Maori for every age-group, including children from 0 to 14 years old (Asher Byrnes, 2006). There have been many studies attempting to evaluate the relationship between SES and paediatric asthma in NZ; yet, evidence is conflicting on such an association. In terms of prevalence, the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (1990) argue that the SES of families has no impact on the prevalence of childhood asthma. There are many studies, however, that demonstrate that socioeconomic disadvantage adversely affects asthma severity and management. Damp, cold and mouldy environments are probably more frequent in houses of families with lower SES, and there is some evidence of a dose-response relationship with more severe asthma occurring with increasing dampness level (Butler, Williams, Tukuitonga Paterson, 2003). Moreover, due to such barriers as cost and location, children of lower SES families have less frequent use of asthma medication and less regular contact with medical practitioners, which, in turn, results in higher rates of asthma-related hospital admission s (Mitchell, et al. , 1989). It is important to note that evidence exists to show higher proportions of Maori and Pacific ethnic groups living in more deprived socioeconomic decile areas with poorer housing, having household incomes of less than $40,000, and having caregivers with no high school qualification (Butler et al., 2003). If the gradient of increasing severity in asthma morbidity is steeper for Maori and Pacific children than Europeans, it seems likely that this could also be a manifestation of the influence of socioeconomic deprivation on childhood asthma. Socioeconomic deprivation is therefore is not only more common, but has a stronger effect on health for Maori and Pacific Islanders. Why, then, should such inequities be identified and addressed? Health inequities are, by definition, differences which are unfair, avoidable, and amenable to intervention. The basic human right to health guaranteed under the international human rights law affirms health – the highest attainable state of physical and mental health – as a fundamental human right; as a resource which allows everyone, including children, to achieve their fullest potential (United Nations, 2009). Ought such potential to be hindered by less than favourabe health outcomes due to familial socioeconomic status or the ethnic group to which a child belongs to is a breach of human rights and is simply unjust. Thus, dealing with childhood asthma inequities is, for Maori and Pacific children in particular, reflective of their high need due to an unacceptable contravention of rights. Morever, it is important to address Maori and non-Maori inequities because, as tangata whenua, Maori are indigenous to NZ. Kingis (2007) report states that the Treaty of Waitaingi has a role in protecting the interests of Maori, and it is, undoubtedly, not in their interests to be disadvantaged in health. There is therefore a strong ethical imperative, on the basis of both human and indigenous rights, for addressing inequities in the prevalence, treatment and outcomes of paediatric asthma in NZ. Williams (1997, adapted) model conceptualises the determinants of inequities as being of two kinds: basic causes and surface causes. It makes explicit the key drivers of inequities in the prevalence, treatment and outcomes of paediatric asthma in NZ; as in, what has created, and maintains, the inequities between ethnic and socioeconomic groups. These are referred to as the basic causes, or those factors which necessitate alteration to fundamentally create changes in population health outcomes and therefore address inequities (Williams). Surface causes are also related to the outcome but, where basic causes remain, modifying surface factors alone will not result in subsequent changes in the outcome; that is, health inequities persist (Williams). As can be seen with paediatric asthma, ethnicity is strongly associated with SES in NZ. Yet, both ethnicity and SES are not independent factors; they have themselves been shaped by underlying basic causal forces. Inequities in the distribution of prevalence, morbidity and mortality of paediatric asthma seems to resonate with an undervaluing of Maori and Pacific lives and health in NZ. Using Williams model, this undervaluing of Maori and Pacific people, and subsequent inequity, is deeply rooted in our colonial history (for Maori) and economic recession (for Pacific Islanders), as well as the scourge of institutional racism. Churchill (1996) argues that colonisation is based on the dehumanisation of indigenous people. Central to colonisation is the belief among colonisers of their superiority and the creation of a new history, with indigenous Maori knowledge relabelled as myths, the traditional landscape renamed, and land alienation. On the other hand, the economic downturn from the 19 70s to early 1980s, which coincided with the significant arrival of Pacific peoples to NZ, resulted in a shortage of jobs and a tightening of immigration policy (Dunsford et al., 2011). Pacific paoples were now labelled as overstayers, which culminated in the infamous dawn raids (Dunsford et al.). Both indigenous Maori and Pacific migrants became ethnic groups defined by exclusion and marginalisation, which has been embedded in NZ society (thus, institutionalied racism). In other words, they have been removed from a sense of place and belonging which is an entitlement of all New Zealanders. The effects of the basic causal forces introduced unnecessary challenges and has led to disparities in the social status of Maori and Pacific peoples when compared with Europeans. This is manifested in the distribution of socioeconomic deprivation, where Maori and Pacific peoples are overrpresented in the most deprived areas (Mare, Mawson Timmins, 2001). This is largely the result of the inequitable distribution of socioeconomic factors stemming from the basic causes; that is, below average educational attainment, high rates of unemployment and reduction of income among Maori and Pacific Islanders. Ethnicity, deprivation and social status all give rise to what Williams model labels as the surface causes. The amalgamation of low socioeconomic status alongside less than favourable desterminants of health and being marginalised has exacerbated to produce a quagmire in which inequities in health are a given for many Maori and Pacfic peoples. This provides part of the explanation of the inequities in the prevalence, treatment and outcomes in paediatric asthma, as Maori and Pacific peoples are less likely to have routine visits to their GP, access to regular preventive medication, and to live in sufficient housing (therefore more susceptible to house dust mites and damp envrionments) – all of which seem to be due to cost constraints (Pattermore et al., 2004). However, this is unlikely to explain the full picture, as poor outcomes are also evident for children aged under six, in whom the provision of care is free of charge. Thus, other surface causes could be a lack of cultural ly appropriate services as well as differences in the quality of care received (Rumball-Smith, 2009). Next in the causal pathway of Williams model is biological processes, where the cumulative impacts of the basic and surface causal factors together with social status manifest themselves as diseases, such as asthma, via the notion of embodiment (Williams, 1997, adapted). In the case of paediatric asthma, the immune responses of Maori and Pacific childrens may be compromised, making them more susceptible to complications in their already vulnerable health (as Maori and Pacific children with asthma are more likely to suffer more severe symptoms). These biological processes, in turn, determine health status (health, morbidity and mortality) and where we all sit on the spectrum. The issue with paediatric asthma is that many children are on the wrong end of the spectrum, and too many of these children are of Maori and Pacific ethnic groups. One way in which inequities in the prevalence, treatment and outcome of paediatric asthma has been addressed is through housing improvement intervention programmes in NZ, such as the randomised controlled trial examining the effects of improvements in housing on the symptoms of asthma. Parents of children in the intervention group allocated a non-polluting, more effective replacement heater in their homes reported fewer days of school, and fewer visits to the doctor and pharmacist for asthma (Howden-Chapman et al., 2008). Through increasing warmth, and reducing dampness and mould in households, housing intervention programmes directly improve the health status of all children with asthma. Moreover, fuel poverty is common in NZ; as in, unaffordable fuel and unsafe heating are a significant issue for many families, especially for Maori and Pacific peoples in whom higher rates of paediatric asthma prevalence, severity, hospitalisation and mortality occur (Asher Byrnes, 2006). Thus, int erventions of this kind, which prioritise socioeconomically disadvantaged communities and poorer quality housing (where there are a higher proportion of Maori and Pacific families), have the potential to reduce not only inequities in health status among ethnic groups, but also the inequitable distribution of adequate housing, a key social determinant of health. After the Maori asthma review (1991), which contended that improving outcomes from asthma among Maori required promotion techniques that incorporated Maori visions and values, a trial of an asthma action plan was devised and undertaken by Maori from Wairarapa with the aim of increasing interactions between Maori community groups and the health sector, reducing inequities between Maori and non-Maori, and improving asthma in the Maori community. Over a period of six months, Maori with asthma were educated in asthma control, seen at marae-based asthma clinics, and were provided with credit card sized asthma action plans (Beasley et al., 1993). In addition to improvements in asthma morbidity (via improvements in asthma control), the programme was found to have benefits extending beyond the effects of asthma, including greater cultural affirmation and increased access to other healthcare services among the Maori community. These successes were largely due to the involvement of the Maori c ommunity in the programme. For Maori, by Maori interventions target the surface causes of Williams model, which identified a lack of culturally appropriate care as a driver of inequities in paediatric asthma. Moreover, there is international evidence to show that similar interventions for other minority ethnic groups have also had beneficial effects (La Roche, Koinis-Mitchell Gualdron, 2006). By taking into account the needs of groups which have historically been margnalised in NZ society, these interventions allow for a more culturally meaningful engagement with regard to the experience of asthma, and serves to reduce inequities in the differential access and receipt of quality care among Maori and Pacific peoples. There is a myriad of evidence to suggest that ethnicity and SES are intrinsically linked to the inequities in the prevalance, severity, hospitalisation rates and mortality with regards to childhood asthma in NZ. Williams model may explain this relationship: the negative effects of colonisation, the economic recession and institutional racism, especially on the key determinants of health, impact differentially on population groups, resulting in the disparities in outcomes of asthma among Maori and Pacific children when compared to their European counterparts. Based on this discussion, it can be seen that approaches to develop strategies need to both prioritise those with the greatest need as well as proceed in partnership with Maori and Pacific peoples in order to address the inequities in childhood asthma in NZ.

The Oral Corrective Feedback English Language Essay

The Oral Corrective Feedback English Language Essay The focus on errors made by second language (L2) learners and Corrective Feedback (CF) _ called as negative evidence, repair, negative feedback and focus-on-form by linguists, discourse analysts, psychologists and those who work recently on classroom Second Language Acquisition (SLA) respectively _ had been exist on almost every movement that had took place in the area of language teaching and learning (Lyster Ranta, 1997). In 1950s and 1960s behaviorists believed that errors can damage learning and should be corrected immediately. Recently, those working within the interactionist framework (e.g. Long, 1996) maintain that since CF enables learners to make connections between form and meaning in the context of communication, it is important for acquisition (Golshan Ramachandra, 2012, p. 120). The role of feedback is also evident in structural and communicative approaches in which à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ feedback is viewed as a means of fostering learner motivation and ensuring linguistic ac curacy (Ellis, 2009, p. 3). Owing to such attention given to error treatment, scholars were interested to know how they could respond learners errors which results in effective teaching of L2 and how they should behave in different contexts to have a long lasting effect on learners language. Review of related literature Making the nature of CF clear many studies had done and researchers investigated different questions aroused around this issue, for example Lyater and Ranta, in 1997, observed four French immersion classroom to find the different types of corrective feedback, their distribution in communicatively oriented classroom and the distribution of uptake following different types of corrective feedback. Four years later in 2001, Lyster reviewed the recordings again. This time he tried to find the answer to two other questions that were not discussed in Lyster and Ranta (1997): 1.what types of learners errors lead to what types of corrective feedback? 2. What types of corrective feedback lead to the immediate repair of what types of learner errors?(Lyster, 2001, p. 275) Samar and Shayestefar (2009), in Iran, analyzed their database made from observing two EFL classrooms to find how EFL teacher error treatment in terms of CFs vary across these classrooms and what type of CFs leads to learners u ptake and successful repair. Related to this issue Balighizadeh and Abdi (2010) mentioned that language learning and corrective feedback bound up together and make an appropriate language learning environment. They believed that the function of feedback is more apparent in EFL contexts which teacher is the only source for answering students questions and feedback giving. Corrective feedback Ellis (2009) wrote that corrective feedback takes the form of a response to a learner utterance containing a linguistic error (p. 3). This erroneous utterance could be delivered in the form of an oral production of L2 or a piece of writing that means teachers can give feedback to both writing and speaking of L2 learners. Bitchener (2008) points out to this issue that there may be prominent differences between SLA work in oral and written feedback in second language acquisition writing studies( as cited in Soori, Kafipour soury, 2011, p. 497). Therefore this paper only focuses on corrective feedback which is given to oral erroneous utterances. According to previous study done by Lyster and Ranta (1997) these utterances consist of nonnative-like uses of L2 which they classified them to phonological, lexical or grammatical errors and in some cases when more than one type of error occurred in a student turn (e.g. phonological+ lexical) this is called multiple (p. 45). The response can c onsist of (1) an indication that an error has been committed, (2) provision of the correct target language form, (3) Metalinguistic information about the nature of the error or (4) any combination of these (Soori, Kafipour Soury, 2011, p. 495). Six types of CFs first reported by Lyster and Ranta (1997), therefore, divided into two categories by Soori, Kafipour and Soury based on the way they treat learners errors. This kind of classification established on the basis of information-processing model à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ which describes skill acquisition as a gradual change in knowledge from declarative to procedural mental representations (Ding, n.d., p.88). Therefore giving the correct form helps learners to boost their declarative knowledge_ knowledge of a language system_ but giving metalinguistic information helps learners to increase control over their already internalized declarative knowledge which means to increase their procedural knowledge (Ding, n.d.). Types of corrective feedback Lyster and Ranta (1997) distinguished six different types of feedback in their study and Ding (n.d.) added English examples to these CF types Explicit correction refers to the explicit provision of the correct form. As the teacher provides the correct form, he or she clearly indicates that what the student had said was in correct. (e. g. Oh, you mean, you should say). (1) L (learner): and three pear (sounds like bear). T (teacher): not beer. Pear. Recasts involve the teachers reformulation of all or part of the students utterance minus the error. (2) T: when you were in school? L: yes. I stand in the first row. T: you stood in the first row? L: yes, in the first row, and sit, ah, sat the first row Clarification requests indicate to students that the utterance is ill-formed in some way and that a repetition or reformulation is required. This is a feedback type that can refer to problems in either comprehensibility or accuracy, or both. (3) L: why does he fly to Korea last year? T: Pardon? L: why did he fly to Korea last year? Metalinguistic feedback contain either comments, information, or questions related to how well-formed the students utterance is, without explicitly providing the correct form. (4) L: I went to the train station and pick up my aunt. T: Use past tense consistently. L: I went to the train station and picked up my aunt. Elicitation refers to techniques that teachers use to directly elicit the correct form from the student. Teachers can elicit completion of their own utterance by strategically pausing to allow students to fill in the blank, or use questions such as How we do X in English? to elicit correct forms, or directly ask students to formulate their utterance. (5) L: once upon a time, there lives a poor girl named Cinderella T: once upon a time, thereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ L: there lived a girl. Repetition refers to a teachers repetition, in isolation, of a students erroneous utterance. In most cases, teachers adjust their intonation so as to highlight the error. (6) L: Mrs Jones travel a lot last year. T: Mrs Jones travel a lot last year? L: Mrs Jones traveled a lot last year. Two other strategies that are used in L2 classrooms are clarification request and paralinguistic signals (Ellis, 2009). Paralinguistic studies most of the time accompanied with recasts in order to make them more explicit for students. Uptake A construct closely related to provision of CF is uptake (Samar Shayestefar, 2009, p. 110). Lyster and Ranta(1997) introduced uptake as: Uptake in our model refers to a students utterance that immediately follows the teachers feedback and that constitutes a reaction in some way to the teachers intention to draw attention to some aspect of the students initial utterance (this overall intention is clear to the student although the teachers specific linguistic focus may not be). (p. 49) The data revealed that uptake of students could have two types, sometimes their errors repair completely and sometimes uptakes need repair and the students may produce the utterance with another type of error which it is the teacher that should give CF again. Classification of corrective feedback types Explicit feedback vs. implicit As it is written in Ding (n.d), a popular classification of CFs is to divide them according to their explicitness and implicitness. Yang asserted that In the case of implicit feedback, there is no overt indicator that an error has been committed, whereas in explicit feedback types there is (as cited in Ding, n.d., p. 86). Long (as cited in Ding, n.d.) asserted that recast is a form of implicit feedback and can be easily neglected, especially in a meaning-focused context. Balighizadeh and Abdi (2010) had mentioned that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ because they are not explicit, do not isolate the features of language form that are the focus of feedback, and do not interrupt_ even briefly_ the flow of meaningful interaction (p.59). Lyster (2001) had found a different result. He found that recast most of the time accompanied with another strategy such as repetition or paralinguistic signal or raising stress on the part that error occurred which make the recast less implicit. Other researchers which compared the effects of recasts and metalinguistic information on delayed performance of L2 learners proposed that interactional feedback in the form of metalinguistic informationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦might have been more effective than recasts because learners might be more likely to perceive it as overtly corrective (as cited in Balighizadeh Abdi, 2010, p.64). Ding (n.d.) stated that this dichotomous classification of feedback can be problematic (p. 86). Another classification which tried to prevent such vagueness and was the focus of Ding paper is dividing the CF strategies into recasts and prompts. Recasts vs. prompts Lyster (2001) introduced the term negotiation of form which he placed four Cf strategies (i.e. elicitation, metalinguistic clues, clarification requests, and repetition of error) under its rubric. All of these strategies lead to peer- or self-repair and therefore lead to a high rate of uptake. While recasts and explicit correction provide the correct answer and therefore they do not lead to peer- or self-repair. This distinction is clearly expressed by Lyster (2001): recasts and explicit correction are thus distinguishable from the negotiation of form in that the former supplies correct forms that learners may or may not repeat, whereas the latter provides signals to facilitate peer- and self-repair (p.274). Negotiation of form is called prompt according to Dings (n.d.) studies. Because recasts provide language learners with target-like reformulations and exemplars, they account for a significant part of language input in L2 classrooms, while prompts encourage learners to produce the ir own target-like output (p.87). Researchers findings Lyster and Ranta (1997) analysed their database in order to find the relationship between feedback type and learner uptake. According to them the most popular feedback technique used by teachers in their project was recast which turn out to be a technique that results the least uptake of any kind (i.e. repair and need-repair). Clarification request, metalinguistic feedback, and repetition are similar in eliciting uptake from students, and it should be mentioned that metalinguistic feedback was more successful than clarification request and repetition. The most successful technique for eliciting uptake is elicitation: All learner utterances following elicitation involve uptake with an almost even distribution between repair and need-repair (Lyster Ranta, 1997, p.54). From these results it can be concluded that the techniques that lead to peer- or self-correction should be used more in form-focused activities. The more students notice the feedback and the more they involve in processi ng the language items the more uptake results. In order to answer two questions proposed by Lyster (2001) that was mentioned in this paper, Lyster examined the relationship among error types, feedback type, and repair. He found that grammatical and phonological errors tended to invite recasts, whereas lexical errors tended to invite negotiation of form more often than recast (Lyster, 2001, p. 287), And the majority of phonological repairs were learner repetitions following recasts and the majority of grammatical and lexical repairs were peer- and self-repairs following negotiation of form (Lyster, 2001, p. 288). Lyster stated that although the majority of the feedback following grammatical errors involved recasts, the majority of grammatical repairs followed the negotiation of form. Conversely, lexical and phonological repairs resulted, for the most part, from the different feedback types that these error types tended to invite. (Lyster, 2001, p. 285) Samar and Shayestefars (2009) finding was in accordance with Lyster. According to them the recast the most employed feedback (i.e. recast), is the most likely to lead no uptake. Metalinguistic and explicit corrections are the most successful types of feedback leading to successful uptakeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ with metalinguistic more successful at eliciting repair (Samar Shayestefar, 2009, p.125 conclusion Although the findings of different researchers are the same, but it cannot be said that these results are conclusive (Tedick, 1998). Tedick (1998) offered four suggestions for teachers based on the experiences of her colleague_ Ms. De Gortari. According to her an English language teacher shoul (1) consider the context, (2) become aware of his current practices, (3) practice a variety of feedback techniques, and (4) focus on the learner _ it is important to let the learner self-correct. Therefore it is important for teachers to become aware of different techniques of Cf and use the findings of researchers in order to gain the best result from their action. If they are working on form, negotiation of form is preferred and suggested, if they are working on fluency and meaning it is better to correct them unobtrusively.

An Economic Analysis of Oregon’s 2007 Road User Fee Pilot Program Essay

I. Introduction and Background The gasoline tax has provided revenue for the Federal and State Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for decades; however, the tax rates have remained stagnate leading to the funds depletion. The HTF is responsible for funding highway and mass transit projects and also maintenance of those projects at the Federal and State level. In 2005 around 80 percent of funding for all projects came from the gasoline tax (Kim, Porter, Whitty, Svadlenak Lareson, Capps, Imholt & Person 2008, pg. 37). Thus, it is vital for the HTF to be a revenue collecting system that can replace the gasoline tax. Oregon has recently begun testing an alternative revenue collection program to fund their HTF. Currently, State gasoline tax is set at 24 cents per-gallon and that is on top of the Federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents, which only, 18.3 cents is used for roads, the total tax equals to 42.4 cents per-gallon (McMullen, Zhang, & Nakahara, 2010, pg. 360) (Austin & Dinan, 2012 pg.2). The gasoline tax has not been raised in years and is unable to keep up with fuel-efficient technologies. Consequently, the Federal government has had to allocate funds to States HTF for projects along with States having to borrow money form their other accounts. Therefore Oregon proposed the 2007 Road User Fee Pilot Program to test if a vehicle mileage traveled (VMT) tax is a feasible solution to the gasoline tax. Oregon’s propose program is in response to new fuel-efficient vehicles and corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards that have forced the automotive industry to rise miles-per-gallon in new vehicles to help combat climate change. It is estimated that CAFE standards have lower the gasoline tax revenue around twenty percent (Austi... ... Evaluation of Oregon's Vehicle-Miles-Traveled Revenue Collection System." Transportation Research Board 2079: 37-44. Print. McMullen, Starr, Lei Zhang, and Kyle Nakahara. "Distributional impacts of changing from a gasoline tax to a vehicle-mile tax for light vehicles: A case study of Oregon." Transport Policy 17: 359-366. Print. Rufolo, Anthony, and Thomas Kimpel. "Responses to Oregon's Experiment in Road Pricing ." Transportation Research Board 2079: 1-7. Print. Thomas, Michael , and Kevin Heaslip. "Technological Change and the Lowest Common Denominator Problem: an Analysis of Oregon's Vehicle Miles Travelled Fee Experiment ." Journal of City and Town Management 2: 1-23. Web. 6 May 2014. Whitty, James. "Oregon's Mileage Fee Concept and Road User Fee Pilot Program: Final Report ." Oregon Department of Transportation 1 Nov. 2007: iv-92. Print.

The Impact of Terrorism on Immigration Essay -- Exploratory Essays Res

The Impact of Terrorism on Immigration    Always on the lookout for opportunities to press their case, anti-immigration advocates lost no time after the attacks of September 11. As one of them pointed out in testimony before the Senate, It seems clear that the 19 terrorists of September 11 were all foreign citizens and entered the United States legally, as tourists, business travelers, or students. This was also true of the perpetrators of previous terrorist acts . . . While it is absolutely essential that we not scapegoat immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants, we also must not overlook the most obvious fact: the current terrorist threat to the United States comes almost exclusively from individuals who arrive from abroad. Thus, our immigration policy, including temporary and permanent visas issuance, border control, and efforts to deal with illegal immigration are all critical to reducing the chance of an attack in the future".1 On a more extreme note, Pat Buchanan urged an immediate moratorium on all immigration, an expansion of the Border Patrol to 20,000, a radical reduction of visas issued to nationals of states that harbor terrorists, and the expedited deportation of "the eight-to-11 million illegal aliens, beginnings with those from rogue nations." Moreover, "President Bush's amnesty proposal" - a reference to ongoing negotiations between the United States and Mexico for a new immigration program, which might include legalization of unauthorized residents - should be quietly interred".2 In the country at large, the attacks unleashed a spate of aggressions against people who were seen as resembling the terrorists or believed to sympathize with them, occasionally with tragic consequences. Overall, Washing... ...d in Newsweek, November 12, 2001. 6 John Torpey, The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship, and the State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). 7 These figures are taken from Annual Reports of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; I am grateful to Fred C for his assistance in gathering the appropriate data. 8 "Longer Visa Waits for Arabs," The New York Times, Nov. 10, 2001: B5. 9 The Washington Post, Oct. 30, 2001: A1. 10 "In Sweeping Campus Canvasses, U.S. Checks on Mideast Students..." The New York Times, Nov. 12, 2001: B8. 11 The Washington Post, Oct, 25, 2001: A24. 12 Christian Science Monitor, September 19, 2001, 1. 13 The San Diego Union-Tribune, October 25, 2001. 14 The New York Times, September 27, 2001: B3. 15 National Post, October 10, 2001. 16 The New York Times, Oct. 26, 2001: A18.