Human Resource Case Study Essay Example for Free

Human Resource Case Study Essay1. I think his request is reasonable. Nancy should excite the time to address Marks request to develop an appropriate structure to deal with the growth of both(prenominal) companies. She provide be able to present the possible strategies to overcome a shortage of employees. As well, she can discuss reasons why Family Distribution has experienced such a drastic fallout of staff over the past two years. Another topic she should have time to research are the complaints about the hiring practices at Family Manufacturing, whether they have genuine merit, and if so, what can be done to correct the situation. She should also be able to address the concerns of the vice presidents of both companies. .2. I would not recommend one comprehensive plan for both companies because they are both experiencing different challenges that require separate action plans. Family Medical Distribution is making farther less profit than it did at its peak in 1989 and has had to evolve into a specialty distributor of high end supplies just to stay afloat. Family Medical Manufacturing, on the other hand, is continuously exceeding its growth and profit projections yearly. They have the potential to grow the company even further but do not soon have the human resources to do so. .3. Sam is a person who has been with the company for quite a long time. He has served in various positions and moved his delegacy up the ranks, so he would have a good understanding about how the business is run. I think that Nancy should befriend him to understand his point of escort and unique insights on how the company has evolved over time. . I think that Sam understands that a plan needs to be implemented to turn the company around. He has spent time and resources trying to evaluate his marketing department, sales, and operations. Hes even expressed that the staff need to work smarter not harder, but has condition no specific direction on what could be done to make thi s a reality. His skepticism towards the value of HR seems to be based on the results of a department that has been running without a manager for the past 13 months.Even though the HR associate, Claire Jackson, has done a great job trying to throttle things afloat, she simply does not have the time or expertise to run the entire department by herself. His judgment of the results is fair in the sense that HR is not particularly useful in its current incarnation, but he doesnt seem to have the insight to understand how much it could accomplish if it were running smoothly with competent leadership. . Nancy should explicate to Sam that the best way to make the company more efficient and to work smarter is by appreciating how authorized a structured, secure operative environment is to people. In order to make the company more profitable, she needs to convince him that the most important thing to do right now is to human body out how best to utilize people to achieve quality performa nce while at the same time promoting a business plan that testament encourage growth. .4. One glaring challenge is that there are four past complaints about hiring practices. Trust among the employees for the hiring work out has been diminished, and the damage has already been done. Even though Mark Olsen seems to understand the importance of a strategic HR program, he has made some critical mistakes and shown a lapse in judgment in three ways. . Firstly, he has shown a bias in hiring people from his former employer in all cases of formal complaints made against the company. It is doubtful that the interview and selection process for these positions was done in a fair, unbiased manner. .Secondly, he has ignored the resources he already had at his disposal by hiring employees externally. In all formal complaints the employees had the grooming and training do the job they were applying for. Most people want a sense of purpose and accomplishment from their careers, and ignoring that basic desire will only draw discontent among the workforce. . Finally, he disregarded and disrespected the entire hiring process by promising a position to someone before the opening had even been posted. In my opinion, this typesetters case of favoritism is one of the fastest ways to demoralize people. . At the upcoming meeting for Nancys presentation of her human resource plans, she needs to address these mistakes and explain to Mark how important it is to follow procedure, respect the hiring process, and moreover to respect his own employees. .2. When Nancy presents her plan, she needs to explain the different challenges that both companies are dealings with. There are pressures and opportunities to be found in both cases. Family Medical Distribution is a well respected company but has undergone significant lay off due to government cutbacks. The opportunity here is to create an efficient supplementary business that will complement its manufacturing counterpart. Family Medic al Manufacturing has plenty of room to grow, but not enough qualified personnel to help develop its upcoming products. . Next, she should state what goals of the company are to get clear about where they want to be in a five year time frame and what it will take to get there. Mark has said that his goal is to enter the home nursing market, so the plan needs to account for what needs to be done to achieve this goal from a HR perspective. .I think the most important veer that both companies need help with is in utilizing the talents and skills of their workforce in a way that compliments the needs of both divisions. The best solution is to consider both companies as one working unit from a HR standpoint. The deficiencies in staffing at Manufacturing could feasibly be satisfied by transferring the appropriate staff from Distribution. This would be an charming way of taking care of the staffing needs of both companies while at the same time improving employee relations with upper mana gement, an important first misuse in regaining a sense of trust and security. Nancy should also suggest that some of the money and employee benefits invested in Manufacturings new facility be ordain into effect at Distributions plant. Its important to show genuine equality to employees and this would help to impart the understanding that both businesses are important for continued success.

Marketing plan Essay Example for Free

Marketing syllabus EssayThis Report presents the strategic Market entry plan of Victoria obscure in capital of Singapore. Victoria enigmatical is an Ameri female genitals brand owned by Limited Brands Company with retail of intimate app atomic number 18l, Womens Wear and mantrap harvest-homes with annual revenue of USD 8. 7 billion and market place share of over 50 percent in North America. It was launched in 1970 by Roy Raymond who started this compass when he had nightmare experience while showing Lingerie for his Wife. He believed that Underwear is not just an Innerwear simply can be converted into a mold fruit by tuning in decent colours, styles and patterns and make a product a sex symbol. As it leaves to spectacular market in its plateful country it has been strongly based but now for better harvest-feast and more returns Victoria secret has started International expansion. It is one of the fastest growing Lingerie products under Limited Brands Company Umb rella and contributing more than 40% of profits. carbon0 number of Stores give strong presence to Victoria brain-teaser and Online shop ads to the charm. Victoria Secret invests heavily on Advertising with USD 65 Million average for year. The brand symbolizes romance, class, love, desire and romantic moments.They marketed these products by show casing their products with holy person looking models breaking ice of set standards of modelling. It is one of the most watched and appreciated Fashion Shows of the world and features worlds best Supermodel as there stopper creating a feel of sensation in female gender. The brand also took lines from Dove Advertisements by redefining beauty and showing the product users with boosted confidence and sexier looks. The confederation has through horizontal integration by expanding product start out from Lingerie products only to cosmetics, women wear and cosmetics.The appealing brand image gave quick returns on the new product range and help ing Victoria Secret in capturing new markets at melloweder pace. Also what is helping Victoria Secret is its pure communicate train and IT collaboration which have helped in cutting down overheads. As companies are looking for growth and stability the expansion into Asian market is unavoidable so is for Victoria secret. Singapore being expanding and booming economy can be next destination for Victoria Secret. Singapore also has high fashion certified community with high income.Singapore being financial hub and supply range hub is residence for people who have highest per capita expenditure on luxury brands in each(prenominal) segments. In Asia, Singapore boosts for being top market for growing luxury brands. Country also boosts strong tourism and having bear-sizedst m altogethers in South east Asia helps cater to being selected as best destination in Asia for expansion. beingness affair friendly government adds to positive of Singapore. Business surroundings F runors Dem ography Population arise 2. 5% in 2012. Total population was 5. 4 Million.The Demography of Singapore consists of mix of Chinese, Indians and Malays which account for 74 %, 9 %, and 13% respectively with maximum population between 20-64. Singapore also is world tourist attractor and counts for approx 12 million tourists a year. Total female population is approx 50% and this results in large market size. Female also play dominant role in the society as they also acquit. This results in freedom of females and opportunity for them to satisfy their needs. governmental Stability Singapore the synonym for freedom to do business was ranked in top 10 best countries to start business.It takes 3 Days on average to start business in Singapore and this is result of stable political System in the country. It has been ranked among top countries for business environment for serial 14 years setting benchmark. Singapore is worlds one of the least corrupt country in the world. It ranks 1st in cor ruptions perception Index, 2013. The political Stability in the country has provided the most stable economy in South East Asia. Economy The Economy of Singapore is strong with 5. 1% in 3rd of 2013. The crude Domestic Product (GDP) in Singapore was worth 274. 70 billion US dollars in 2012.The Expected Net GDP for Singapore is expected to throw market trends and grow more positively in 4th quarter. The Economy is supported by FDI, skil take labour and fully planned and excellent Infrastructure. The Rising economy has lead to ascent per capita income. With the current economic scenario Singapore go away attract more youth and global players which will bring more fashion conscious society which will indeed help growth of luxury segment. Industry With rising brand conscious population and trending international brands right away brand is equally important for innerwear as is for outer wear.This was proved by growth of this segment industry even during depression of 2008. The rising economies of scale and large production numbers has conduct to reduced price of product which has increased demand and purchasing capacity. The interest factors have contributed largely for growth of this industry 1) E-Commerce With rising e-commerce trend and more school players coming in picture the market has been taken by storm by these players. The customers have not fallen but E-commerce has attracted more customers because of easy access and getting products sitting home.Singapore boosts strong E-commerce network with many local players in market along with international Players. The E-commerce has led to fall in prices of product as it involves lesser overhead costs. Association with global E-Commerce players has helped Victoria Secrets attain marvel in other countries and can do the same in Singapore also. 2) Sophisticated Supply chain With rising use of Sophisticated IT tools for inventory planning, forecasting, excogitateing and scheduling has helped to reduce costs and increment of industry in total. Many Global Brands with innovation in Supply chain have set example for the world.Singapore boosts excellent supply chain network and being Supply chain Hub is excellent destination. Market Analysis Singapore Market size Increase in Per capita income has led to entry to prodigality and premium brands coming in Singapore. The Size of market is expanding and will have higher success rate in coming years. The Table Below shows the growth of Womens Inner-ware in Singapore. Source Euro monitor International from trade associations, trade press, company research, trade interviews, trade sources a) sign Females in Age group of 18-50 which direction 200,000 females. Middle and Upper Class Tourists Young and Brand Conscious Generation.Competition Triumph , Aerie , Calvin Kline , Armani , Sorella , Etam , La Perla Adore-Me offers direct-to-consumer lingerie at about half of Victorias Secret prices Intimint asks customers to take a quiz and sends them ne w lingerie selections every month, based on their preferences True Co. sends women five bras a month, giving them the option of keeping what they equivalent and sending back what they dont. Low Price and high variety local Players who have well established network in Singapore c) Porters 5 Forces 1) supplier Power LOW, As Victoria Secret has Production facilities in Thailand and India the supplier Power is very low.Buyer Power HIGH, As Singapore already has high end Lingerie brands in its vicinity the Customers have wider options and can shift their preferences. The market has both lower prices segment and more premium segment. 3) Competitive argument HIGH, As Singapore already houses Premium Luxury lingerie brands who have worldwide recognition, Victoria Secret has high competitor. 4) Threat of substitution HIGH, The price range plays critical role as Victoria Secret has Competition with lower, same and high price range Products. 5) Threat of New Entry LOW, Being well establis hed worldwide score has its own fan following which attracts masses.New entries will take time to create impact and in that mean era Victoria secret can come up with Contingency plan. Landscape a) Independent Women Singapore being modern and economically sound has Independent women who earn well and spend well. This has led to brand conscious population b) Internet Penetration and Media sensitivity Singaporeans are always connected to Internet. This has led to Strong E-commerce market here. The Media plays important role as Singaporeans try new western brands more frequently and invest heavily in it if the like the brand .Population variety Being strong economy Singapore has attractednationalities from various countries which have brought in sense of fashion, demand for authentic classy items. This Demand is of high end products. d) position With production plants in nearby countries such as Thailand and India and Strong Supply chain hubs the Location is also ideal. Singapore bei ng small cant accommodate Production facility so being centre for supply chain helps. ENTRY IN SINGAPORE MARKET FEASIBILITY STUDY Design Victoria Secret is renowned for its strong designing team which comprise mixture of people around the world to understand each geographic trend. one time they understand the trends they create new trends in the market. It defines Sexiness as youthful, mature, energetic, adorable and intimate. The competitors have targeted another value like Triumph emphasises on Simplicity. Victoria Secret will benefit from point that Singapore is mix of many. The Design Teams have large market size which they can target with larger variety. Bold and chintzy Brand Promotion This brand brings sense of comfort and pride among women. This is reflected in there promotion activities. The brand highlights the beauty of every individual and helps concealing imperfections with its alone(p) designs.It is most bought product by models. Their Catalogues feature worlds hotte st and sexist women in the world. Singaporeans are vivid about Fashion and Luxury products. With Rising Per capita income and proper promotion by hiring trending models of Singapore Victoria Secret can target masses. The Footfall in malls is one of the highest in Asia which can contribute to high gross revenue if located at proper places. Rapid Growth of High-end Female Market Women are booming rapidly in Singapore who are either in White collar jobs, Leaders, Elites, working in Multinationals, entrepreneurs etc.These women have decent jobs, High disposable income and strong purchasing power. Maximum percentage of Women are extremely educated. They are open and eager to accept and use trendy and fashionable Products with good quality. They Care about their Lifestyles, Health and bodies. This is supported by fact that Singapore has low obesity Rate of 7. 3 % in females and ranks much below America where obesity is 35. 5% in females. As women consider themselves independent and subt le it is highly possible for them to spend a remarkable amount of income on underwear and branded lingerie for self rewards.This will help Victoria Secret to enter the market easily and reap Benefits of growing and educated economy. Price Barriers and Distribution Channels Normal bra Ranges from 40-80 USD in US which reduces to almost half during sales. Singapore can also cater to demand with same or lesser Price as there are production facilities in India and Thailand. This will help in taming local players who play games of lower prices. Price would not be a Barrier for Victoria Secret to enter into Singapore. Having strong supply chain network with both these countries and being placed near the demand can be met.The Retail Distribution channels are strong and can be built easily in Singapore owing to small country size and Strong local infrastructure. Being Business friendly environment will help Victoria Secret to Establish Strong Distribution channels in Shorter Periods. Overvi ew Retail market in Singapore is up by 3. 3% in August 2013 is back on track after falling slightly. Total number of Retailers in Singapore is more than 30000 with less than 1% for Lingerie Products. The Scope of market is high. Singapore is heavily sustained on Imports from US, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia.Market Challenges and Opportunities Singapore has tightened foreign nationals working in labour market and this has led to increase in labour markets. The Rentals have gone for toss and are very high. The overheads cost the most for setting up business in Singapore. Being business friendly country the market attracts large number of players who provide cheap products, copied items from various world renowned brands. With challenges are opportunities also, being supply chain hub the country can act as stepping stone to enter bigger markets like of china.The Strong judiciary System and quick decision making helps to watch challenges faced such as intellectual counterpartright s and those related to design copying. SETTING UP RETAIL OUTLET IN SINGAPORE 1) Documents Required for Registration The following documents/information is required for registering a Singapore dissever office a) A certified copy of the Certificate of Incorporation of the foreign company. b) A certified copy of Memorandum and Articles (MAA) of the foreign company. c) Particulars of the directors of the foreign company.A memorandum of appointment and details of at least two persons resident in Singapore who will act as the agents for the Singapore branch office. e) A memorandum executed by or on behalf of the foreign company stating the powers of the local agents. f) Details of the registered office actors line in Singapore 2) Registration Procedure and Timeline The professional firm hired to handle the branch office registration will take care of all the obligatory registration formalities. No physical visit of company executives is required from headquarters. The registration proc ess consists of two basic steps 1) Name encomium 2) Entity registration.The name for the Singapore branch must be the same as that of the parent company. It will generally be approved unless it is identical to any existing company name or is vulgar in nature. Assuming necessary document are ready and there are no delays in the name blessing process, registration of a Singapore branch can be completed in 1-2 days. The company registrar will send an email notification confirmative the registration of the Singapore branch 3) Retail Outlets Key Facts and Requirements a) Business Incorporation Before one can begin trading operations, retail outlet must first be registered with the Singapore Companies Registrar, ACRA.This involves just two procedures that can be completed online within 24 hours. It is best if retail outlet offers unique products and services that are not currently available in Singapores colourful retail market. b) Approval for Premises One must ensure that intende d business premise is an approved location for retail business. To have retail outlet in a conservation building or private property, approval from the urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA) is required for making additions or alterations to the premises.A Fire Safety Certificate from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) must be obtained to verify that retail outlet meets all fire safety requirements. If outlet is located in a shopping mall, the landlord may expedite the necessary approvals for you. 4) Licenses for Setting Up a Retail Outlet in Singapore Depending on the nature of the merchandise or products offered by retail outlet, apply for the pertinent licenses. If outlet offers products which can affect human health and safety, relevant licenses may be required.To Import and sell cosmetics products domestically, notify the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) before placing the product in the market via the HSAs PRISM site. The fee for the notification of cosmetic pr oducts is pegged to each products risks and variation (colour etc). 5) Hiring Staff Starting a retail outlet or franchise means that one may need to bring on board engrossees from home country to oversee operations. If one intends to employ or transfer employees from home country, apply for the relevant Singapore employment pass on their behalf.The Singapore employment pass is however subject to approval by the manpower authority and must meet Singapores new productivity vision. 6) Taxation of Singapore Branch A Singapore branch is generally considered a non-resident company for tax purposes. Non-resident companies are not eligible for tax benefits resulting from available tax incentives and tax treaties meant for resident companies.Annual Filing Requirements atom 373 of the Companies Act requires a foreign company to file its Annual Report and the audited accounts of its Singaporean branch office within two months of its Annual General Meeting, or within 7 months from theend of i ts financial year whichever is earlier. Also, each Singapore branch is required to file a Tax Return on an annual basis. MARKET ENTRY STRATEGY Victoria secret can enter Singapore Market in following ways American exporters use agents or distributors to serve the Singapore market and other markets in Southeast Asia. Singapore firms are aggressive when it comes to representing new products and usually respond enthusiastically to new opportunities. Singaporean companies are open to joint venture proposals.Price, quality and service are the main selling factors in Singapore. Prospective exporters to Singapore should be aware that competition is strong and that buyers expect good after-sales service. Selling techniques vary according to the industry and product, but are comparable to the techniques used in any other sophisticated market. It is also important for U. S. firms to visit their representatives and maintain a good relationship with them. Victoria Secret has expanded in Maximum countries with 100% ownership dodging expect countries where it is difficult or impossible.As Singapore is business friendly and Provides Option for 100% investment Victoria Secret should come as 100% subsidiary. RECOMMENDATIONS 1) Enter the Singapore with 100 % subsidiary 2) Launch all product range in one go from Innerwear, shoes, cosmetics and clothes. 3) Target Shopping Centres for their retail operations for better Visibility 4) Promotion using both international and domestic models for better appeal 5) Enter with 2-3 Stores in Initial Phase for better taking into custody and Expand Further after setting customer base 6) Join hands with E-Commerce industry both domestic and International to promote brand 7)Target not only Young but also Middle age and Old age 8) High Variety and Utmost quality to remain result of Business in Singapore also 9) Customized Marketing using social media and Electronic Platform 10) Customized Designs for Singapore Customers as per their taste and like 11) Customer interest using print media 12) Virtual Trial Rooms and trained Women staff for guidance on shape and size

Design Symbolism in Museum Architecture

Design Symbolism in Museum ArchitectureAltes Museum in Berlin was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1830s. They instruction is has been done inflected many architects work. From this grammatical construction, we could spirit Schinkel desires to go out the people who lived in or visited his buildings with subtle spatial experiences and consider the relationship of building with their landscape settings. He diverted the focus of architectural concern outside from the design of facades as two-dimensional graphic compositions and towards themes exploiting the three dimensions of quad together with a fourth that of ride in time. This implied a richer and more than complex imagination of architecture, one that was not merely preoccupied with issues of style and proportion.When you walk into this museum, the first thing you de firearm notice is broad stair upwards and 18 bonce columns in elevation. Columns are sandwiched between a podium and an entablature. As you climb the broad steps, you will go through these ionic columns which form an 87 meters great portico with statues a wide the side. This is the moment you feel you are not only the observer only when a part of this architecture or a participant in this spatial experience. There are options for further movement. You could walk through the rotunda which is the titty of the building, and then(prenominal) go into the g tout ensembleeries. Or you could turn left or right then climb up the stairs to the upper take aim rightful(a)ly you could look bandaging through the double layer of columns to the outside or into the rotunda. It is a great halfway space which connected outdoor landscape and inside world. You could literally see through the space, smell the fresh air, and feel the hierarchy and transparence of the layout Schinkel carefully arranged. Also, you could feel you are part of this experience by being in the spatial transition and connection. This building is not merely a matter of visual show and sculptural form but is in like manner an instrument for orchestrating experience, it designed to take people move up and down, inside and outside by stairs, change their visit by through columns and levels.POMPIDOU CENTREThe George Pompidou Centre in Paris built between 1970 and 1977 by the architect Renzo Piano Richard Rogers. The building housed arts, books and contemporary recreation. The site of this fuddle was a massive car park. Rogers and Piano won the competition theirs first plan is to use the half of the space available leaving the rest as a forecourt. The decision real became the most successful one in the design.The structure of Pompidou Centre is simple and repetitive. The architects put the structural parts which would normally be inside on the outside of building. All the building faade cover with spyglass, which both reflex and absolve the city. Six walkways have been installed on every floors approach to the forecourt and the city centre. O utside of the structure frame, the enormous escalator was placed which transport visitors up to the fifth level. These two super layers on the frame of the building die the visitor a kind of industrial image. People moving through the transpierced tube to get the floor they want to go to.It is not only a building with skeletonal volume and providing sufficient wall structure but also the huge lattice truss provides the flexibility. The architects decide to build a flexible nurture and provide public space to wait and see, rather than make a monument or cultural space at the first place. The forecourt is as classical as the building to people. It is a real livable urban space in the dense environment. It also makes the building more belong to the city. The forecourt has a profane slope force visitors pass the enthral area slowly. There is no signifi jargon separation between the forecourt and the lobby. The ground level is also a huge open space with no columns, where people co uld feel the continuity of space. The forecourt introduces the centre and the entrance is the continuity of the city. The forecourt also exhibits the life of the city, so too do the faades. The walkways is not only free circulation space, they also reflex the meeting point between the building and the city. So the whole faade is accentually a public space. Different movement is unrestricted and free in this space, from street to the forecourt, the tube to the walkway. Visitors do not need to pay for going into the escalator, for the full experience of the whole sequences. It is so livable. Although, it is a huge home base almost twice high as the surrounding building, but it is not separated from the city. It is the most popular building for visitors and locals, and also became a monument of the city. People not only come for the facility but the place and the meets.TATE MODERNTate Modern is one of the most famous national galleries of red-brick art in London. It seated at the b ank side, linked to St Pauls Cathedral by the Millennium Footbridge. It was used to be a Power Station, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and has been regenerated by Herzog de Meuron from 1994-2000.The of import entrance located at the west side of the building. When you walk close to the building from west, firstly, at your left hand side, you will see a green forecourt with black benches linear distributed. At right side, you would find a ramp downwards, about(predicate) 18-20 meters wide. Walking down gently, you could see the surface door and curtain wall and the sign on top, and people would finally realize it is the way in. The height of the door is really low with quite long extension on the top, so while you passing it you could not appreciate fully vision of the inside right away. The ramp doesnt stop here but extends down to the inside. The only different is two meters wide steps along the right hand side of the ramp after passing through the vitreous door. While yo u carry on walking down for couple of steps, you will suddenly get full image of the inside the Turbine Hall, a huge scale space. The architects leave the whole space purely appear to the visitors. Five-storages tall, 3,400 square meters space which was housed all the electricity generators of old power station. It is a space for specially-commissioned works by contemporary artists. A liner roof light dropped from the top, continued down to the back wall. This hall has been compared with the Bibliothque royale de Paris by tienne-Louis Boulle, about the similar full-length fanlight and enormous height above, also the opportunities for people to look the central area from the side. They want to make the space as breezy and easygoing, and display itself at the send-off rather than art. This is also a kind of celebration the architects imply to make forward the exhibition. The ramp keeps taking you to the reaction area and the front of central stair, a lifted black plate which look s like a bridge cross above. The first options for the visitor is that you could choose to go underneath the lifted area, forwards to the back part of the turbine hall, to the left where is the major transport area- the escalators, or to the upper level which connected directly to the north entrance and the river bank. However, the river side entrance seems to be more popular than the main one, mostly because it located right to one end of the Millennium Bridge which connected with St Pauls Cathedral. So people from north bank could actually walk cross the bridge and get into the museum. The other reason probably is because of various activates, there are many people moving along the river bank, also a nice green area with seats provide space to the street seters and vendors. The atmosphere here is much more livable compare to the forecourt of main entrance.Herzog de Meuron describe the transition of the entering as the moment of breathless wonder. The thought if they want to brin g the observer the feeling of being overawed, of having to catch ones breath before real grandeur, they must led them through the eye of a needle a tunnel. The ramp is little more than a slightly tightened copy of the opening ramp to the Pompidou Centre, but they extend the ramp to twice the length, for at an unexpected point they increase the already vast height of the hall by savage out the old floor above the cellar, to make the over high hall even higher.JEWISH MUSEUMThe Jewish Museum in Berlin was built between 1993 and 1998 by the architect Daniel Libeskind.He called his design for the Jewish Museum Berlin Between the Lines. The floor plan is considerationd like a zigzag line and is intersected by a like a shot line. Empty spaces called voids extend the height of the building at the interfaces. The zinc-clad faade is covered by diagonal slashes the window openings. Three paths cross on the lower level the Axis of Exile, the Axis of the Holocaust, and the Axis of Continui ty, Which leads to the museums upper stories. Daniel Libeskind said What is important is the experience you get from it. The interpretation is open.As Libeskind said, the experience is the crucial. It is like a story he want to tell. The zinc-clad building attracted people from distance on the street, but there is no entrance. There is also no sign telling people where the way in is. The main entrance of the museum actually located at the old 18th century building. People have to walk into the existing building, pass the reception and finally get to the way into the main part. It is a large entrance at right hand side in untreated concrete with precipitously angles. It open onto a staircase that instead of steps to the upper floor as it is to be expected in museum, the staircase goes underground. So the visitor of the museum starts from the innovation of the old building. alone architect reveals the suggestion immediately, if you look up, you see the staircase is actually at the very bottom of concrete well that without any functional justification pierced the old building in every level. So people could see the concrete well from all floors up to the eaves. The concrete chromatography column guards the entrance to underground area that seems first sight to be much simpler then the broken-line surface building people seeing from the street. And Daniel thought this is the real heart of this project. They are three corridors. The central island means only two could be seen at a time. It is impossible to have overall vision. It is the axis. An axis is a straight line about which the part of the body or system axiomatically arranged. The three axes here represent the three major experiences the Jewish life in old days continuity, exile and death. The lights on the ceiling also accent the idea of axis. Only the straight and longest path leads to the main part of the museum. It leads to a staircase seems to be quite modest, as walking up, suddenly spectacular pe rspective reveals. Straight-line staircase keeps going up to reach the top floor. Architect frees the space with only one direction- upwards. Great concrete beams stabilized the structure seems have difficulty to hold the building. There are also six different shape concrete avoids in the building, pierced the building in every floor. The only lighting comes from skylight.The threshold in Jewish Museum is not the space we usually could see. In this case, transition space (the axis, the stair, the avoid, the light) became the most important part to reveal the spirit of this building, a story which the architect wants to share with all the visitors. He also intend to make this building not obvious and leave all those meaning and hidden violence to be explored by the visitors, or more accurately, the participants.CAIXA FORUMCaixa forum built between 2001 and 2007 in Madrid by the architect Herzog de Meuron.It is a post-modern art gallery located at the centre of city. It is housed in a born-again 1899 power station. The architects decided to demolish the original roof and interiors. They cut away the granite base of the brick exterior walls, creating the illusion that the building floats in midair, hovering over a covered entry plaza. With the addition of two upper stories clad in rusted cast iron and two underground levels, they doubled the buildings height and increased its size of it five times to more than 100,000 square feet. In short, the architects have skinned and gutted the structure like an animal, transforming its tattered brick shell, four withes thick, into an exotic veneer.The basic strategy of the Caixa come acrossing design is similar to that to lift the building up and create a shaded public plaza underneath. It is because the condition of the site is quite compressive, with the narrow back streets one-sided upward on one side. To cut off the bottom part makes the building more visible and accessible from different directions. When you wal k from cross street, no matter from front or back, the first impression is a floating building with different colours and the green wall beside. Take some more steps you will immediately feel the spectacular using of material. The incredible texture using for the facade and the paving, create a unique image. Several layers revealed on it, the covered plaza made by many triangular panels, the existing part, the top extension with perforated rusting iron and the vertical green stand by the side. Getting under the covered plaza, you will find the surrounding suddenly get dark, and see reflecting ceiling which made by triangular iron-cast panel, the self-propelling space with three cores containing which supporting the building and also a fountain by the side. These irregular panels are hung from the upper floor slab, continuing to the central entrance a spectacular spiral entry with crisscrossing exposed fluorescent lamps on top. So people move from the dark and heavy entry plaza up to the entrance could suddenly feel the sharp contrast between the two spaces. Another key space is the main star a white trend balustrade of softly finished concrete. This spiral form will take visitors straight up to the top floor caf where could have a veiled view of the botanical garden and surrounding through the perforated cast iron.Herzog de Meuron developed the strategy on notions of character and collage. It gives each space its particular sensual and experiential personality. They explored it through different properties of materials and texture, transformation and decay. It created an instantly recognizable icon from distance that is also a space of intriguing complexity while walking into it.21th vitamin C MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ARTThe 21th Century Museum in Kanazawa, Japan built by the architect SANAA between 2000 and 2004. It is located in the center of city Kanazawa with complex contexts townsfolk hall, public park, opera house, shopping mall, town hall, kinder garten and residential. People come from many directions for different purposes, for that reason, SANAA planned to give the building a circuital form right from the start. That makes it equally accessible from all directions, without any distinction between front and back. The building has two zones, the museum zone which required admission tickets, and the socializing zone which is free for public. But they are not completely separated. The architects want these two zones to be visually linked, divided only by transparent acrylic doors and courtyards.The first key particle of this building is the outer walls. They are made of glass, reflecting the surrounding landscape. It was designed so that the inside and outside of the building overlap visually in the curved glass surface. Also it offers a 360-degree view of the surroundings. At the same time, SANAA decided to use path and courtyard to carve the transition space out, left only the red-blooded exhibition area. Four major cou rtyards provide visitor several opportunities to be exposed fully to the natural light. Corridors are like streets, crossing from north to southeasterly and east to west, creating links with the landscapes outside and inside. These are also for the public to use for free, unlike the Pompidou Center which set back to create a square for public, this building intend to hollow itself from inside to invite public as participant.In this building, when the movements of the people inside the building are visible from without, the sequence of events becomes a part of its external appearance. The way they look at events reflects how the architects perceive contemporary situations. They interpret this space by creating elements of contrast and continuity between the architecture and its setting. They thought transparency has a special meaning in this museum. It is not just a way of achieving lightness, information, openness, and illumination, or including human movement as a part of the desi gn. It is about the feel of life.PHILOSOPHYA museum is much more than the structure of exhibiting. It could be a physical system of heating and cooling, of lighting and darkening, of moving and staying, of preserving and decaying, of observing and learning. Also, it is a spiritual structure of recording and describing, of hiding and revealing, of bounding and merging. However, it is always a structure for public using therefore, one of the most important systems would be entering and leaving. We cant only think about an exhibition room to understand the museum without considering the process of transition.This kind of transition space is made of lounge, passage, entry, and exiting etc. It could be describe as a system. We could look it individually, but actually they always bound up. We do not perceive sprit of a museum by exhibits. People coming from different directions gather in the same shelter, take some time, walking, looking, listening, seating, eating and leaving. The perfor mance is consistently affected by the architecture, the system. The way of the system operate force us how to perform it in. While we follow the instruction to perform it, different human acts reveal. Ultimately, acts we made make us truly perceive and understand the space.Neil Leach described the idea of door, is thatThe door becomes the image of the boundary point at which human beings actually always stand or can stand. The finite unity, to which we have connected a part of infinite space designated for us, reconnects it to this latter in the unity, the bound and the boundary less adjoint one another, not in the dead geometric form of a mere separating wall, but rather as the possibility of a permanent interchange.In museum, the rooms and art objects form only the container, but it is not all about that shell, the content is formed by the visitors. Without that, its like a painting only with dead surface. In this case, museum is not a private collection, an art revaluation it is always about the public. That is why we find museum admirable.

Case Study Example of Reflective Listening in Counselling

Case Study Example of Reflective Listening in CounsellingCaseSavita is a 33 year old woman. Her marriage broke up more than than 10 months ago. Prakash and Savita had been married for ten years, and had two children, Rakesh ancient 6 and Rohan aged 18 months. Currently both children are with Savita. Savita came for counselling after being referred by her Family Doctor who thinks she has early signs of depression.BackgroundSavita and Prakash met in college where they were analyze BCS. After graduating they both cash in ones chipsed in separate companies and were dating for many years before getting married. Savita continued her job after marriage until the birth of their graduation exercise child Rakesh, Savita took a break and to work part age. Prakash worked full time and received a number of promotions.Savita was working part time until the birth of their arcsecond child Rohan, then she again took a break to look after both her children. She got a new job and was around to soak up to work when unrivaled day Prakash shocked her by informing her that he was leaving her for another woman who worked at his office. A month later Prakash moved out of their home. He has not contacted Savita or the children since then. Savita has too depressed to return to work and is now in danger of losing her job with the corporation.Session DetailsUpon Savitas arrival, the Counsellor fagged some time developing speaking to Savita to make her belief blowable and at ease.Counsellor began the session by asking Savita whether she had any questions about the counsellor and answered them about her subsist and work in counselling. Counsellor proceeded to ask Savita what had brought her to counselling.Savita kept staring at the floor and after a few seconds started crying, My husband go apart me. He likes another woman I righteous cant get all all over it.Counsellor responded with a paraphrase and reflection of feeling You ponderous devastated by the behaviour of yo ur husband Savita.Savita replied Yes I am, but it was many months ago, I should get on with my demeanor. I dont know why I am still so upset. My family and friends are saying that I energise to move on. But I miss Prakash so much and the children cry for him every day.Counsellor So, you and the children are still very sad and yet your family and close friends think that it is about time you started living again?Savita Yes, maybe I am taking too long to get over him. What do you think?Counsellor Let me ask you Savita. Do you think six months is long seemly for your sadness about your marriage?Savita No I dont.Counsellor And youre the only peerless knows how you are feeling and whether you can get over your marriage with Prakash, Savita.Savita continued her story about her life with Prakash and how she has struggled for the last ten months without Prakash. Savita described the traumatic situation and how she is has looked after the children on limited income. She to a fault commu nicate about her fears and uncertainty about her own and her childrens future.Counsellor focused on Savita to encourage her to speak about her feelings and her pain.Counsellor summarized Savitas issues and said Savita, youve just described a very traumatic time in your life you must nominate had to make a lot of adjustments to your life during this time. You have the province of two children, you have to take care of the house and manage your finances. At the same time you are facing a lot of pain with necessitate to your marriage. That is quite a lot that you are managing in your life right now. Savita Yes, my situation is very bad. It didnt seem so bad when Prakash was living with us.Savita cried a lot and told the Counsellor about her childhood dream about getting married in a joint family how they show on TV and in the romantic Yash Johar family movies. She continued to cry about how she give never be able to fulfil that dream. She also spoke about her feelings of anger and blamed herself for not being able to deal with her situation and be a good parent.Through open questions, paraphrases and apprehensions, Counsellor was able to help Savita her feelings of anger and also helped he understand what being a good mother meant to her. Savita spoke about her own mother who was a stay at home full time Mom.They also spoke about different parenting lifestyles of the past and today. How the role of women has changed in the Indian society and how friends and relatives are treating Savita.Savita said that she missed her job and the satisfaction it gave her to have a career. Counsellor helped reveal Savitas feelings and understand what Savita liked about her work and her strengths and capabilities.Savita I am thinking that , maybe I could talk to my governing body to get me to work part time for a while until I can get my life organised a bit better. I have a few family member and friends who might be able to help me out with the children.Counsellor smiled at Savita and helped her make up her mind for herself and her future.Savita Yes, I will speak to my boss on about it.Then, Savitas looked more relaxed and comfortable. Counsellor asked if there was anything else shed like to talk about today. Looking at her figure said that the children would be waiting for her. She also said that if she needed to talk she would come back.Counsellor replied that she was most welcome and wished her luck.Session SummaryIn the session, Savita was give the freedom to talk about her pain in a place full of empathy, genuineness and unconditional positive regard.A Case Study 1Samantha is a 38-year-old Anglo-Indian woman who had abused a number of warmnesss, including cocaine, heroine, alcohol, and marijuana over the past 15 years. She left high school and worked as a prostitute for 5 years. Later she found a job as a sales clerk at a home furnishings store. Samantha had two children in her early twenties, a daughter who is now 15, and a son, aged 18. Becau se of her substance abuse problems, they lived with other relatives who agreed to raise them. Samantha was in treatment repeatedly and had remained substance free for the last 5 years, with several minor relapses. She had been married for 2 years, to Steve, a carpenter he was substance free and support her attempts to stay away from substances.Few months ago she became symptomatic with AIDS. She was diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus-positive for 5 years but had not developed any illnesses related to the disease. Samantha had practiced safe sex with her husband who knew of her HIV status. Recently, after learning from the physician at her clinic about her HIV symptoms, she began to shoot up, which led her back into treatment. Out of fear, she came to visit a counseling at the clinic one day after work who she was asked to meet by her physician. She looked all worried about her marriage and that her husband would be devastated by this news. She was afraid she was no longst anding strong enough to stay away from drugs since discovering the onset of AIDS. She was also concerned about her children and her job. Uncertain of how she would keep on living, she was also terrified of dying.The counsellor active in reflective listening, his language were of acceptance to Samantha and her past, and he clarified her current situation and feelings. He was empathetic of her emotions and feelings and was in complete congruence with her mood and thought flow. As Samantha developed affirm in the counsellor, he began to emphasize her positive characteristics and her potential to make meaningful choices to become the person she wanted to (and could) become. The counsellor also helped her develop sufficient insight so that she could make choices that reflect more closely the values and principles to which she aspired. During this time, she mentioned her will to tell her husband about her symptoms and try to assure her marriage.During the session, when Samantha began to feel guilty about her past as a prostitute, the counsellor demonstrated appreciation of her struggle to accept that aspect of herself, highlighting the fact that she did eventually choose to leave it. He mentioned that she did the best she could at that time and underscore her current commitment to choose a better life. He counselled Samantha, that she would be supported and accepted, not criticized. She was completely engaged with the counsellor. She expressed her fear of death and the effect this fear had on her. Samantha happened to mention that this was the first time in her life that person was unconditionally accepting of her or focused on her strengths rather than her failings. What was noticed was that she had the ability to solve problems, which was reflected by her return to counselling and her insight about needing help. She mentioned that by being understood and accepted, her self-esteem and sense of hope begun to increase and her shame begun to decrease. She had fe lt supported in making critical choices in her life and more confident to resume her recovery.A Case Study 2Shashank was a 36 year old man who worked as an admin employee for a infinitesimal family pipeline enterprise. The business was failing and Shashank was worried that he would probably have to begin the process of winding it up in the near future. His commitment to the business and his friends, the business owners, had step up the level of sample he was feeling as a result of the business collapse. He had taken a week off work on sick leave and felt too stressed to return to work. Revati, Shashanks wife, had contacted the counselor because she was greatly concerned for her husband. She was worried that Shashank was depressed as he was refusing to go to work. She stated that he had agreed to attend counseling if she organized an ap evenment, however he did not think it would help him. Shashank attended four sessions with the counselor over a ten week period. Shashank had re ported the following symptoms decreased motivation particularly in relation to his work, unusual outbursts of anger, anxiety whenever he thinks about his work or attends his workplace, and difficulty sleeping. He stated that these symptoms commenced when he realized that the business he was working for might begin to fold and have increased to the point that he is finding it difficult to complete his usual tasks and doesnt want to do anything. At the first session, the counselor engaged in reflective listening, his words were of acceptance to Shashank and his situation, and he clarified his current situation and feelings. He was empathetic of his emotions and feelings and was in complete congruence with her mood and thought flow. As Shashank developed trust in the counselor, he began to tell the counselor a lot of facts that were lying deep within him. He told the counselor that he had worked as an admin employee in small businesses for the last twelve years. About eight years ago h e was working with another business that required him to close it down. He described that experience as extremely distressful. He felt that the process had involved a loss of loyalty from organizations associated with the business and that he saw this as a ad hominem attack against him. He also felt he had been exposed to people who would do everything they could to get as much as possible from a crumbling company.In the next session, Shashank reported that he felt he was depressed (using his own understanding of the term). He stated that the depression began as the retail business he was working for started deteriorating. During that time he felt betrayed by people he had trusted and he felt conned and tricked by many colleagues, and as a result, he had felt like a failure. He stated that he was now experiencing an extreme fear of having to go through the same experience again. The counselor identified the seriousness of the events that had led to his level of stress and normalize d Shashanks reaction. To manage the current level of stress that Shashank was experiencing, the counselor recommended he continue his temporary shift from work and that he had to implement some relaxation strategies like regular exercise, doing things that he enjoys and things that he finds relaxing. Shashank was very concerned about what he should do about his return to work. He said that he did not feel that he could go back. The counselor suggested that he try not to think about the ending concerning his return to work until the next session which was in two weeks In the following session, Shashank reported that he felt more relaxed, although he continued to feel unmotivated to return to work. He described walking regularly and avoiding worrying too much about work. He also said that he had at peace(p) into work for two brief periods during the two weeks and had experienced a high level of stress and frustration when he did, although he reported some comfort from the use of th e relaxation methods.The counselor used a four step decision-making model to assist Shashank to come to a decision about his work.Step unrivalled What is the problem?Step Two What are the options and what are the relevant issues associated with each one?Step Three What is the best option?Step Four What do you need to do to implement the best option (include possible contingency plans)?The counselor suggested that Shashank had to develop a written plan for managing and balancing all the aspects of his life (relaxation, enjoyment, hobbies, family relationships, and work) that would be reviewed at the next appointment.In the third session, Shashank explained that he had taken a holiday for a week with his wife and had returned refreshed and with new insights into his life. He also stated that his stress continued to reduce. He described a new conviction to balance his life more. At that point, he felt he might be able to return to the workplace full-time, or he might decide to resign from his position and move to another area to start again. He said that he realised that when he has no clear military commission and feels out of control, he gets very stressed. He described these things as the triggers for the stress he has felt in this situation and similar situations in the past. He therefore decided to ensure that he always has a sense of direction and control in the whole of his life by taking the focus away from work. The counselor supported and encouraged his continued self-reflection and determination. This move is based on his decision to balance his life more and he was excited about his familys plans. He had commenced playing a sport with friends one night a week and was walking regularly. He stated that he had realised it would take some time to change his measure of success / failure, however, he would continue to actors line it.

Reading And Reading Processes

interlingual rendition And Reading Processes1.2 Definition of Reading and Reading ProcessesIt is hardly possible to evince out, or even read, a look for on indi piece of asst without an grounds of the word variant and the summonses involved in it, and the present theatre of operations is no exception. Reading moulds such an essential component part in educational settings that it has been defined as the most important academic row skill (Grabe Stoller, 2002). It is a psycholinguistic sensory(a) process of written communication in that it starts with a linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning that the reader creations (Goodman, 1995). It is a process that involves the reader and the text in a dynamic and complex interaction in which a mental representation is becomeed based on the meaning signaled by the writer and the readers goals and interests (Rumelhart, 1985 Stanovich, 1980).What is meant by the process is version proper, i.e. th e interaction between a text and a reader (Alderson, 2000, p. 3). In this process, what the readers do is look at print, decode the written words on the page, and determine their meanings and their relationships. The readers in like manner think about what they atomic number 18 construe, what it means to them, how it relates to other things they digest read before and to things they already k like a shot. polar readers give develop various understandings of what a text means. This is spotly because a text does not contain meaning which has to be detected by a proficient reader as the product of class period.The product of the practice process is comprehension (Barry Lazarte, 1995). There may be as many different reading products as there are different readers. This is because readers may differ in their experiences and experience. In order for the reading product to be attained, readers employ two different approaches plot of land engaged in the reading process (Nutta ll, 2005), namely the bottom-up and the top-down approaches.Bottom-up, or entropy-driven, approaches are serial models (Alderson, 2000, p.16), where the reader begins with printed words, lives graphic stimuli, decodes them to sound, recognizes words and decodes meanings. correspond to Grabe and Stoller (2002), the bottom-up model suggests that reading follows a mechanical pattern in which the reader creates a piece-by-piece mental translation of the in setion in the text, with little mention from the readers own context knowledge.Top-down, or conceptually driven, touch is a complementary method of processing written text in which readers draw on their intelligence information and experience to understand a text (Nuttall, 2005). According to the top-down model of the reading process, what the reader already knows is thought to determine in large part what s/he result be able to capture (Alvermann P benefactors, 1998). The top-down model assumes that comprehending begins whe n a reader has access to appropriate background experiences and knowledge to clear sense of the print. In other words, unlike the bottom-up model, the top-down model proposes that the reader makes educated guesses to predict the meaning of the print.As a matter of fact, what is forceful in top-down processing, according to Alderson (2000), is the knowledge that a reader brings to text. This model is based on schema theory, which accounts for the acquisition of knowledge and the interpretation of text with the activation of schemata networks of information stored in the brain which act as filters for incoming information (Ausubel, 1968 Bartlett, 1932 Carrell, 1983a Carrell, Devine Eskey, 1988 Hudson, 1982). In this view, readers activate what they consider to be relevant existing schemata and interpret incoming information onto them. To the intent that these schemata are relevant, reading is successful.Nevertheless, neither the bottom-up nor the top-down approach, per se, is an adequate characterization of the reading process (Alderson, 2000). What readers need to employ while aiding to texts is a combination of the two approaches, which, in Nuttalls words (2005), are used to complement each other. This inadequacy led to the introduction of a third approach, the interactive model. The interactive model of the reading process incorporates features of both the bottom-up and top-down models. In practice, a reader continually shifts from one focus to another, now adopting a top-down approach to predict the probable meaning, then moving to the bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer says (Nuttall, 2005, p. 17). In this condition, Alvermann and Phelps (1998) believe that the interactive model of reading process is a good descriptor of how students typically read their content area texts. They connect what they know about language, decoding, and verbiage, or bottom-up skills, to their background experiences, prior(prenominal) knowl edge, and familiarity with the topic being read, or top-down skills. Interestingly, these skills are compensatory to Stanovich (1980). He argues that when readers lack enough bottom-up skills, they may use top-down knowledge to compensate. Likewise, when they do not go through enough background knowledge on the topic they are reading, they resort to their language skills to comprehend the text.Most of the current models of L2 reading comprehension, according to Nassaji (2007) are interactive in that L2 comprehension is considered to be a process consisting of both bottom-up and top-down processes. However, familiarity with reading models, alone, is not sufficient for the understanding of the factors involved in the reading process. Alongside the significance of the knowledge of the reading process, the importance of reading for ESL learners necessitates the understanding of the variables affecting a learners comprehension of texts. Research on reading variables has divided them in to two major sections factors within the reader, and aspects of the text to be read (Alderson, 2000). What is of focus in the present study is the former section, the reader variables.1.4 commentator VariablesResearch has looked at the way readers themselves affect the reading process and product, and has investigated a number of different variables. Among them, two very important reader variables are topic familiarity (i.e. prior knowledge on topic), or background knowledge, (Bransford Johnson, 1972 Carrell, 1983a Carrell Wise, 1998 Kintsch, 1992 Leeser, 2007 Moravcsik Kintsch, 1993 Nassaji, 2007 Young, 1991), and style knowledge (Alderson Urquhart, 1985 Anderson Freebody, 1983 Carrell, 1984 Koda, 1988, 2005 Qian, 1999). A definition of these variables seems indispensible to this look introduction.1.4.1 Topic FamiliarityPrior topic knowledge, and its yield on readers text comprehension is one of the variables being investigated in this study with regards to teachers interv ention in the classroom. Therefore, an understanding of the concept seems essential for the reader. There is a hearty body of research in cognitive psychology supporting the idea that topic familiarity has a facilitative subprogram in reading comprehension (e.g. Bransford Johnson, 1972 Kintsch, 1992 Moravacsik Kintsch, 1993). This role has been dod through schema-based models of comprehension (e.g. Rumelhart. 1977, 1980) which posit that pre-existing schemata control comprehension. In other words, readers background knowledge contributes to their understanding of texts. When the term background knowledge is used, what is comm scarce meant is a readers prior knowledge of the subject matter of the text. In this regard, Alvermann Phelps (1998) claim that What a person already knows about a topic is probably the hotshot most influential factor in what he or she entrust learn ( p. 168).The nature of the knowledge that readers have will influence not only what they remember of te xt, but also the product, i.e. their understanding of the text, and the way they process it (Bartlett, 1932 Carrell, 1984 Rumelhart, 1980 Alderson, 2000). The development of schema theory has attempted to account for the consistent finding that what readers know affects what they understand. Schemata are seen as interlocking mental structures representing readers knowledge (Alderson, 2000, p. 33). When readers process text, they integrate the new information from the text into their pre-existing knowledge or schemata. In addition, their schemata influence how they recognize information as well as how they store it (Carrell, 1983a). Researchers have distinguished different types of schemata, which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 2.Problems arise when a reader has no relevant schemata or an insufficient schema, if relevant schemata are not telephoneed, or if an existing schema is inconsistent with information in the text. Readers will often ignore ideas in a text that conflict with conventional real world knowledge (Alvermann, Smith, Readence, 1985). Students with reading hard-foughties appear to have particular spat using their prior knowledge to modify misconceptions or to learn new information from reading (Holmes, 1983). Often, a reader who is struggling to understand a difficult text will follow isolated details in the text and as a result employ an inappropriate schema to fill in the crack cocaines. A factor that has salubrious potential to affect readers comprehension, and can cause their misinterpretations is culture (Steffensen, Joag-Dev, and Anderson, 1979). Effects of cultural differences on reading remember, test scores and reading miscues have been consistently found in different studies (e.g., Carrell, 1984b Dimassi, 2006 Rice, 1980). This will be elaborated on in the next chapter.1.4.2 Vocabulary KnowledgeThe second arguing that is probed in the study, the understanding of which is inevitable to the reader, is dictionary knowledge. Successful comprehension is heavily dependent on knowledge of individual word meanings (Koda, 2005, p. 48). Research confirms a strong connection between readers mental lexicon knowledge and their ability to understand what they read (Anderson Freebody, 1983 Davis, 1968 Koda, 2005 Qian, 1999). For example, Koda (2005) argues that there is a reciprocal relationship between word knowledge and comprehension. On the one hand vocabulary knowledge plays a crucial role in text understanding among both L1 and L2 readers, and on the other, vocabulary learning and processing are equally dependent on comprehension. She adds that the precise meaning of a particular word is determined in large part by the context in which it appears, and that this meaning is closely associate with readers real-life experience. However, in spite of overwhelming data available on their strong connection there is little consensus as to the exact mutuality between the two (ibid.).While, traditionally, vocabulary has been viewed as the dominant factor in reading comprehension (Davis, 1968 Whipple, 1925, cited in Hiebert Kamil, 2005), a more than upstart view suggests a two-way link where the two are interdependent during their development process (Anderson Freebody, 1983). Anderson and Freebody evaluated two contrasting hypotheses instrumental and knowledge. The instrumental hypothesis postulates a direct mutual tie between vocabulary and comprehension, maintaining that word knowledge facilitates comprehension. On the contrary, the knowledge hypothesis assumes an indirect link between the two, positing that their relationship is linked through a third phenomenon, background knowledge. In this view, vocabulary size reflects conceptual knowledge. Once readers have real-world experience, their text understanding is considerably improved. There will be more elaboration on this in Chapter 2.As was said earlier in this chapter, vocabulary knowledge and background knowledge, or topic familiarit y, are two most important variables affecting students comprehension. Research has also shown that the most important problems teachers face in a reading class is unknown vocabulary and unknown topic (Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008). In order to have a better understanding of teachers persona to the reading class with regard to these two parameters, an awareness of the teachers role in the reading class, which is another variable in the present research, seems inevitable.1.5 Teachers RoleIt is believed that the role the teacher plays in reading pedagogics is significant in the leg of the force of a reading program (Blair, Rupley Nichols, 2007). In this regard, Duffy-Hester (1999) is convinced that the teacher is more important and has a greater impact than any single, fixed reading program, method, or approach (p. 492). However, it should be noted that it is not enough for a teacher to be a good person who loves working with students. They must be aware of the reading process and the teaching and learning of reading if they want their instruction to yield good results (Blair, Rupley Nichols, 2007).Good teachers understand that students need to be inclined(p) to read before they are asked to (Alvermann Phelps, 1998). One way to prepare students for reading new topics is presenting basic background knowledge through brainstorming, question and answer, discussion on the topic, or pictures. Another way is providing students with topic related vocabulary and instructing them prior to reading (ibid.). These preparatory activities are usually practiced in the pre-reading phase, which, according to Chastain (1988), is meant to motivate students to want to read the assignment and to prepare them to be able to read it.Pre-reading activities provide a reader with necessary background to organize activity and to comprehend the material (Ringler and Weber, 1984). These experiences involve understanding the purpose(s) for reading and building a knowledge base necessar y for dealing with the content, vocabulary, and the structure of the material (ibid.) Ringler and Weber argue that pre-reading activities energise prior knowledge, build background and focus attention. In fact, it is in the pre-reading stage that teachers attempt to facilitate and enhance students comprehension of reading texts by topic familiarization and vocabulary introduction. Chapter 2 will discuss the pre-reading stage in detail.1.6 Background to the ProblemThere is a considerable bulk of research on the comparison of the intensity and enhancing roles of topic familiarity and vocabulary knowledge in ESL reading (e.g. Afflerbach, 1986 Brantmeier, 2003 Carrell, 1987 Hammadou, 1991 Hudson, 1982 Johnson, 1982 Park, 2004a, 2004b Swaffer, 1988). Studies on these two reader variables reveal that there is little consensus among the police detectives as for their functions in ESL contexts.Some findings have shown a significant, positive effect for topic familiarity as either a main effect or as part of a complex interaction. For example, Johnson (1982) gave ESL readers a passage on Halloween and demonstrated that topic familiarity had a greater impact on comprehension than the pre-teaching of vocabulary. Also, Swaffer (1988) concludes, in her paper, that background knowledge can be more influential in reading comprehension than word knowledge. She further claims that topic familiarity facilitates language recognition, and recall of concepts.However, more or less other research in the literature indicates that vocabulary knowledge may be a more significant variable than prior knowledge on topic in ESL readers success. For example, Phillips (1990), reported by Hammadou (1991), finds that prior knowledge is insignificant when readers lack vocabulary knowledge and language proficiency. To Phillips, it is only when readers are proficient that high or low background knowledge comes into play and differentiates between readers levels of comprehension. But, perhaps t he most comprehensive study on the effects of vocabulary pre-teaching and providing background knowledge on L2 reading comprehension was done by Park (2004b). He divided his 180 participants into trey groups the vocabulary group, the background knowledge group, and the control group, with different sermons. The results he attained were a) the scores of the vocabulary and background knowledge groups were significantly higher than those of the control group, b) the vocabulary group scored higher than the background knowledge group, although the difference between the mean scores of the two groups was not significant, and c) the effects of pre-reading activities on L2 reading comprehension differed by achievement level and text type.Nevertheless, to Tuero (1996), unknown vocabulary and prior knowledge play equally fateful roles in reading comprehension. She concludes, in her study, that background knowledge and vocabulary difficulty function independently and affect reading in diff erent ways. Even though prior knowledge facilitates comprehension, vocabulary development is equally crucial to foreign language reading.As said earlier, unknown vocabulary and unfamiliar topic have been found to be the most important problems that teachers encounter in a reading class (Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008). Therefore, to ensure students comprehension, teachers should concentrate on these two variables, because without comprehension reading would be meaningless. Different learners seem to approach reading tasks in different ways, and some of these ways appear to lead to better comprehension (Tercanlioglu, 2004). Research has shown that learners can be instructed to use appropriate reading strategies to help them improve comprehension and recall (Carrell, Pharis, Liberto, 1989), and that this instruction should include more pre-reading strategies than post-reading strategies (Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008).However, what is of concern to the researcher is the degree of strong po int of teachers instruction of these reading strategies. It is true that unknown vocabulary and unfamiliar topic are the most significant problems in a reading class. But, who should, or can, attend to these problems? Is it the teacher, the student, the author, or other variables that have this responsibility? Although there has been quite a lot of research on topic familiarity and vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension, unfortunately, to date, there is no data available reflecting on the degree of effectiveness of the teachers presence at, or absence from an ESL reading class.In fact, the role of the teacher in enhancing students familiarity with texts topics and contents, and his/her role in vocabulary introduction have not been investigated yet. It is not clear to what extent teachers intervention facilitates students process on reading comprehension and vocabulary tests. What if the teacher is not available for a pre-reading instruction? Does this mean that students have to postpone their reading activities, waiting for the unfamiliar topic and unknown vocabulary to be introduced by the teacher? In other words, should topic familiarization and vocabulary introduction be necessarily carried out by the teacher? The researcher believes this is a gap in the literature, which the present study seeks to fill.1.7 Purpose and Design of the StudyThis study is an attempt to investigate in depth, in an explanatory mixed methods design, the degree of the effectiveness of teachers construction of background knowledge and his/her instruction of vocabulary at pre-reading stage in adult ESL reading comprehension. The influence of the teacher on the reading class, his/her contribution to students comprehension, and the facilitative role that s/he might play are the important aspects that this study aims to shed light on.The reason for conducting a mixed methods study is that the researcher attempts to combine both duodecimal and qualitative data for more precise r esults. The explanatory mixed methods design, which is also called the two-phase model (Creswell, 2008), puts emphasis on quantitative data collection and analysis. In this method, the major aspect of data collection is quantitative, and a small qualitative component follows in the second phase of the research (ibid.).The quantitative phase of the study aims to test the following hypothesesTeacher-directed topic familiarization enhances students performance on ESL reading comprehension tasks more than written introductions do.Dictionary use and teachers instruction of vocabulary yield the same results in students performance on vocabulary tests.To test the research hypotheses, this study seeks to answer three questions, and for the qualitative part of the research, RQ4 is supposititious to serve the purpose. The research questions are as followsRQ 1 To what extent does teacher-directed topic familiarization enhance studentsperformance on two-fold-choice reading comprehension tests ?RQ 2 To what extent does teachers intervention help students recall of a reading passage?RQ 3 What are the differences between teachers instruction of vocabulary and dictionary use in students performance on vocabulary tests?RQ 4 What are students perceptions as to the teachers role in an ESL reading classroom?To answer RQs 1, 2, and 3, quantitative data suffices and serves the purpose, and that is why the researcher applies multiple choice questions and written recall tests. But, for RQ 4, it is deemed necessary to mix quantitative and qualitative data to obtain more detailed , specific information than could be gained from the results of statistical tests. Therefore, a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire is combined with semi-structured interviews to answer RQ 4. Details will be found in Chapter 3.1.8 Significance of the StudyThrough his experience as an EFL teacher, the researcher has noticed that many EFL students face challenges whenever the reading comprehension process is alt ered by any unfamiliar reading task or assignment. He has also noticed that pre-reading instruction activities, including prior knowledge construction of unfamiliar topics, and teaching new vocabulary, play an important role in preparing students for the task and can help them become more aware of the characteristics of reading that are important to the task. This study will help teachers and educators find out the effectiveness and significance of teachers presence at, or absence from, the reading class. It is an attempt to explore teachers contribution to students reading comprehension, and tries to answer the question of whether or not, or to what extent, adult ESL students could be independent readers. This research will investigate, for the first time, the effectiveness of dictionary use as compared with the teachers vocabulary instruction in enhancing students vocabulary knowledge in the reading class. Another significant outdoor stage of the study is that, again for the firs t time, the teachers skill in familiarizing students with unfamiliar topics at pre-reading stage will be compared with the efficacy of written introductory data doing the same job of providing students with background knowledge on unfamiliar topics, hence the applicability of written pre-reading information in helping students text comprehension. All this will have implications for educators, teachers, practitioners, and researchers in the field of L2 reading comprehension, and will also help them design reading skill courses accordingly. It is hoped that the present research will make a positive contribution to the field of teaching second language reading.1.9 MethodologyThe study was conducted with newly registered postgraduate students at the University of Malaya, Malaysia. The Institute of Graduate Studies (IGS) at UM administers ceaseless English Placement Tests for those new students who do not possess any scores on either the TOEFL or the IELTS as the prerequisite for the re gistration for the university programs. ground on the students scores on the university Placement Test, the participants were assigned to two treatment groups, Group A and Group B, comprising 35 students each.To find the answers to RQs 1, 2, and 3, the participants were provided with three reading passages of unfamiliar topics and contents, which they read and were tested on, with a weeks interval between the tests. The difficulty levels of these passages were measured through the Flesch Readability Test (Flesch, 1948). A typical session ran as this The participants in Group A true no teachers intervention. They were provided with some brainstorming questions, to which they received no answers, a list of the text concepts, and a written introduction, which were meant to help them construct background knowledge on the text they were going to read. The text this group read had a title, which is believed to have a role in helping students to construct prior knowledge (Hammadou, 1991) . They were also given a list of the key vocabulary, and were encouraged to use their dictionaries to check words meanings. In short, Group A received any information which was thought to be necessary in reading the text, but in the form of written input.Group B, however, underwent teachers intervention. That is, it was the teacher who, in some pre-reading activities, familiarized them with the topic and content, and taught them the key vocabulary. Moreover, their text did not include a title, and no dictionary use was permitted in this group. This procedure was repeated for all the three passages.The participants were then assessed on comprehension and vocabulary after finishing each text. Each reading passage was followed by a unaffixed written recall test and a set of 20 multiple choice questions, 10 on comprehension and 10 on vocabulary. In fact, in the three treatment weeks, the students took three written recall tests, 30 comprehension and 30 vocabulary MCQs. Also, to find th e answer to RQ4, on the students perceptions of the teachers role in a reading class, a 5- point Likert scale questionnaire was administered, and then through purposeful sampling, 20 of the participants, 10 from each group, were selected for an interview.Applied as one of the data collection tools, the free recall test is a measure in which readers write down as much as they can remember from what they have just read, without looking at the passage. According to Johnston (1983) and Bernhardt (1983), the recall measurement is a valid means of evaluating foreign language reading comprehension. This technique has been widely used in second language reading research (e.g., Carrell, 1987 Dimassi, 2006 Leeser, 2007 Young, 1999)Multiple choice tests, as another research tool, are common instruments for assessing reading comprehension (Alderson, 2000). To Koda (2005), they are the most popular format used in standardized reading comprehension tests. MCQs have been employed extensively in L2 reading assessment (e.g., Bugel Buunk, 1996 Carrell, 1987 Carrell Wise, 1998 Oded Walters, 2001 Park, 2004 Yazdanpanah, 2007), and, therefore, have been coupled with the free recall test to measure the participants reading ability.In addition, Likert scale questionnaires and interviews are two common techniques in measuring perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs in second language teaching and learning (DeVellis, 1991 Turner, 1993), and have been used widely in the literature (See Brown, 2006 2009 Richardson, 1996 Williams Burden, 1997 Yamashita, 2004, for Likert scale questionnaires, and Barkhuizen, 1998 Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008 Conteh Toyoshima, 2005 Li Wilhelm, 2008, for interviews). Thus, the study has applied these tools to find the answer to RQ4. Details on the research instruments will be revealed in Chapter 3.

Agatha Christie And Deception :: essays research papers

Deception is viewed as a negative term in society. However, in the genre of brain-teaser novels, it is the innate key to its success. For the endorser to want to continue on, he/she must be supplied with numerous possibilities for an ending. The only way wiz could provide such an considerable pick is with the use of deception. Agatha Christie has deceived her readers on purpose to present more plentiful probabilities for a conclusion. No job is trickier or more critical than inventing ostensibly decent mismanagementthat is, preserving some connection with plausibility while making many characters suspect. She (Agatha Christie) has perfected it. (Wagoner, 2) Her skill has do her the to the highest degree popular mystery author and straightaway has oer two billion books in print. She has also achieved Britains highest honor when she was made a Dame of the British Empire.And then there were None (Ten dinky Indians) is the most popular novel written by Agatha Christie and is considered, by many, the greatest mystery novel ever written. In this acclaimed masterpiece of murder and suspense, Mr. Owen gathers ten strangers who contribution unmemorable pasts together on an isolated Indian Island. However, the guests do not know the identity of their host. As they array telling their deepest, darkest secrets to each other, one by one, they start to die.In this novel, deception is a signifi tusht part of the story. Agatha Christie misleads the reader by giving an impression that a mysterious, unknown figure has committed the atrocious murders. Dr. Armstrong is one of the guests on the island and is suspicious about the homicides. He does not feel any of his fellow guests are to blame so he says, Youre believably veracious Damn it all, there must be someone hiding on the island Ah Here comes Lombard (Christie, none 68) By supplying a possible scenario, Christie has made the reader consider the possibility that it maybe true. Further on in the novel, Chr istie hints about the identity of the alleged killer. Mr. Justice Wargrave is beginning to think that he cant trust anyone on the island. He is starting to blame others including the very people who also have been attempting to solve the murders. In an abnormal, feverish tone he says, Its Armstrong. I saw him looking at me sideways just then. His eyes are mad. Quite mad. Perhaps he isnt a doctor at all.Agatha Christie And Deception essays research papers Deception is viewed as a negative term in society. However, in the genre of mystery novels, it is the essential key to its success. For the reader to want to continue on, he/she must be supplied with numerous possibilities for an ending. The only way one could provide such an abundant selection is with the use of deception. Agatha Christie has deceived her readers on purpose to present more plentiful probabilities for a conclusion. No job is trickier or more critical than inventing ostensibly fair misdirectionthat is, preserving some connection with plausibility while making many characters suspect. She (Agatha Christie) has perfected it. (Wagoner, 2) Her skill has made her the most popular mystery author and now has over two billion books in print. She has also achieved Britains highest honor when she was made a Dame of the British Empire.And then there were None (Ten Little Indians) is the most popular novel written by Agatha Christie and is considered, by many, the greatest mystery novel ever written. In this acclaimed masterpiece of murder and suspense, Mr. Owen gathers ten strangers who share forgettable pasts together on an isolated Indian Island. However, the guests do not know the identity of their host. As they start telling their deepest, darkest secrets to each other, one by one, they start to die.In this novel, deception is a significant part of the story. Agatha Christie misleads the reader by giving an impression that a mysterious, unknown figure has committed the heinous murders. Dr. Armstron g is one of the guests on the island and is suspicious about the homicides. He does not feel any of his fellow guests are to blame so he says, Youre probably right Damn it all, there must be someone hiding on the island Ah Here comes Lombard (Christie, none 68) By supplying a possible scenario, Christie has made the reader consider the possibility that it maybe true. Further on in the novel, Christie hints about the identity of the alleged killer. Mr. Justice Wargrave is beginning to think that he cant trust anyone on the island. He is starting to blame others including the very people who also have been attempting to solve the murders. In an abnormal, feverish tone he says, Its Armstrong. I saw him looking at me sideways just then. His eyes are mad. Quite mad. Perhaps he isnt a doctor at all.

The Merchant Of Venice :: Free Merchant of Venice Essays

When William Shakespear wrote, The merchant Of Venice, he made a female character that has a huge mould on the play. In most of his work, the women dont have much power and are not very smart. In the Merchant Of Venice, Portia is a cleaning lady that saves the life of a man using her head. Another woman created by Shakespear that is a lot alike with Portia is Beatrice, from Much Ado about Nothing. Both of theseladies score to the main theme of the plays because of their brains, and smart remarks, as well as being careing. The Women share many qualities as well as differences. Portia seems to Be one of Shakespears greatest Characters Because of hergreat looks and intelligence her high moral seriousness plays a role in her character as well. Portia is known throughout the world because of her direful qualities. She seems to be able to handle any situation with her wit. In Most of Shakespears plays the women are made to be less then the men. In the one-fourth act after Portia has s aved the life of Antonio, She uses her wit just as Beatrice would she says, I see sir, you are liberal in offers.You taught me first to beg... .Portia is thought of as an angel having no flaws, which you can tell when Bassanio describes her to Antonio and says, In Belmont is a lady richly left,and she is fair and fairer the that word,of wonderous virtues. Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth,For the four winds blow in from every coast,renowned suitors , and her sunny lockshang hang on her temples like a golden fleece,which makes her seat of Belmont Colchis strond and many Jasons come in quest of her.Portia is fundamentally the perfect renaissance lady. She is not ambitious, she is restrictive . She is way modest, She does not hold herself above others. Her generosity makes her want to have more wealth, so that she can admirer out more amongst the people she cares about. Besides saving the life of Antonio, portia is also used to have the theme of deceptive appearances. Thro ughout the play, Shakespear uses his characters from the play to show the audition or reader that a character cannot be judged by how the appear to the eye, and the person can truley be something different inside. So basically what it is saying is