Agricultural Wastes as Growing Medium for Pomelo Citrus Grandis Essay Example for Free

Agricultural Wastes as Growing Medium for Pomelo Citrus Grandis Essay The study was conducted to evaluate the use of agricultural wastes as useful growing media for pomelo (citrus grandis) as compared to fertile soil. This agricultural research aims to determine the higher-value uses of agricultural wastes such as animal manure, rice hulls and bran by using it as media for growth of pomelo. The scope included only the utilization native duck manure, fresh rice ban, fresh rice hulls and parboiled rice hulls. The process involves the preparation of pomelo seedlings, preparation of growing media, transplanting method, sustaining growth and monitoring growth of pomelo seedlings in terms of height of the plant and the number of leaves. The pomelo seedlings were observed to survive during the experimentation period. However, the growth varied from one medium to another. To compare the growth rate of pomelo seedlings in agricultural wastes and soil, the t-test was used. It is determined by the mean sample of growth of pomelo plant in the growing to media as labeled T1 to T3 as compared to a standard mean sample, that of the soil, T4. The computed value of t at pgt;. 05 is 1. 23 and 2. 47 less than the critical value 2. 920. This result revealed that there is no significant difference between soil and animal manure-parboiled rice hulls as growing media of pomelo plant. While the greater tcomputed value of T1 and T2 divulged that there is a significant difference between the growth rate of pomelo in the soil and in fresh rice bran (T1) and hulls (T2). This proves that agricultural wastes can be used as growing media for pomelo seedlings. This also affirms that agricultural wastes can help plant breeders to lessen expenses in terms of growing media necessary for plant growth.

Problems of Democracy in Pakistan Essay Example for Free

Problems of Democracy in Pakistan Essay After years of military dictatorships followed by sham democracy, the situation in Pakistan has reached such a point that the masses are yearning for radical change. Their suffering is immense as the people at the top continue to enrich themselves at the expensive of the workers and peasants, collaborating with imperialism as it rides rough-shod over the people of Pakistan. Everything is moving to an inevitable revolutionary explosion. Pakistan’s Supreme Court in its verdict of 16 December, 2009 declared the notorious NRO null and void ab initio. The National Reconciliation Ordinance of October 2007 was promulgated by the then President of Pakistan General Parvaiz Musharraf. It was the outcome of a deal he had struck with Benazir Bhutto, life Chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party in a covert meeting in Abu Dhabi. The deal was brokered by the United States and Britain. The aim was to create a new setup that could facilitate the imperialist war and other interests in this turbulent region. According to this ordinance all cases of politicians including corruption, murder, extortion, kidnappings and other heinous crimes would be withdrawn. Some of the major beneficiaries are now in power including Benazir’s widower Zardari, now the President of Pakistan and some of his most sinister ministers. The other main beneficiary is the Muteheda Qaumi Movement, MQM, whose leader, an absconder resident in London for several years, and its other leading figures were facing charges of murder and other crimes. The MQM is a mafia-type organisation with neo-fascist tendencies and its main ideological baggage is based on ethnic conflict. The present democratic dispensation is the product of such a nefarious design. After Benazir’s assassination in December 2007 Musharraf’s fate was sealed. The plan B came into action and Zardari having a long standing relationship with US officials was catapulted into the presidency with his firm assurance that he would be more subservient to the Americans than Musharraf or Benazir could ever have been. The Electoral College for this election are comprised of members of the National and provincial assemblies who were elected in the February 2008 elections, the results of which were tailor-made in Washington to serve the imperialist strategies. Ironically this unanimity, or â€Å"reconciliation†, between all the parties in Parliament was prompted by a collective fear on the part of these representatives of the ruling class in the wake of the beginnings of a mass movement that they witnessed on the arrival of Benazir from exile in Karachi on October 18, 2007 and later after the explosion of the wrath of the workers, peasants and youth at the news of her assassination on December 27, 2007. After a long period of suffering, the oppressed in Pakistan had risen up in the hope that the leader of their traditional party, the PPP under Benazir Bhutto, would be a beacon of change and free them from the unrelenting misery and distress. The Americans had already done their homework with the PPP leaders, who mainly come from the moneyed classes, to divert this outburst into a democratic election and facade of â€Å"democracy†. These leaders drowned the mass anger and revolt in sorrow and despair. They refused to call for a general strike for the elections to be held on the scheduled date of January 8, 2008 and blocked the movement. This gave an opportunity to the Pakistani state and its imperialist masters to regroup their forces and stave off the threat of a revolutionary upheaval. The Military in Pakistan has ruled directly for more than half of the country’s 62 years of chequered history. All the military regimes were supported and propped up by US imperialism. During the â€Å"democratic† intermissions the plight of the masses continued to deteriorate. After the first decade (1947-58) of democratic regimes, such was the crisis that when Martial Law was imposed by Field Martial Ayub Khan there was even a sense of relief amongst several sections of society. Ayub Khan had the impertinence to say in one of his initial statements â€Å"we must understand that democracy cannot work in a hot climate. To have democracy we must have a cold climate like Britain. † General Ayub told the first meeting of his cabinet, â€Å"As far as you are concerned there is only one embassy that matters in this country: the American Embassy. † The Ayub dictatorship embarked upon an ambitious economic, agrarian and industrial programme in the 1960s, mainly sponsored by â€Å"US Aid† and the World Bank. Although Pakistan achieved its highest growth rates under Ayub, Keynesian economic policies failed to improve the lot of the masses. The aggravated social contradictions exploded into the revolution of 1968-69 that was fundamentally of a socialist character. See Pakistan’s Other Story-The 1968-69 Revolution]. The failure of the existing left leadership to give a clear revolutionary programme and perspective to the movement resulted in the rise of the Populism of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Due to the absence of a Bolshevik-Leninist revolutionary party the revolution was lost. But it did shake the whole of South Asia. The ruling classes initially tried to impose Martial Law again. However, its failure to curb the tide resulted in the first elections based on the adult franchise in 1970 where the PPP became the largest party in West Pakistan. Having failed to curtail the revolutionary wave that pierced through the ballot, ultimately the ruling classes resorted to a war with India, which led to the break-up of Pakistan and then Bhutto was given power who, forced by the pressure of the masses, initiated radical reforms from above, but only to exhaust the revolution brewing below. Bhutto’s elected left reformist government was subsequently overthrown by a military coup led by General Zia ul Haq in July 1977, who later hanged Bhutto at the behest of US imperialism. The eleven-year brutal dictatorship of Zia was perhaps the most traumatic period for the working masses in Pakistan. In connivance with the Americans, Zia propped up and unleashed the beast of Islamic fundamentalism to crush the left. The continuance of that grotesque monstrosity is what produced the present day fundamentalist terror that is ripping apart the social fabric of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Zia Dictatorship began to crumble after another upheaval on the return from exile of Bhutto’s daughter Benazir in April 1986. The contradictions in the already weakened dictatorship were thus sharpened. General Zia’s plane was conveniently blown up in mid air in August 1988 – some have speculated that this may have been done at the request of the Americans, whom the megalomaniac and insane general had begun to â€Å"disobey† seeking his own personal agenda. From 1988 to 1999 there was another democratic interlude, where Benazir and Nawaz Sharif alternated in short stints of rulerships. This period was marred by an orgy of corruption, incompetence, spiralling economic decline and chaos. General Musharraf took power in a bloodless coup by overthrowing Sharif. Musharraf then introduced a â€Å"quasi-democracy† in 2002 but the 9/11 episode in the USA once again made another dictator another main American collaborator. This time the facade was not against communists but we had the so-called â€Å"war against terror†. Musharraf’s demise and the regime that ensued once again brought unprecedented agony and pain for the people of Pakistan. History has turned full circle. This vicious cycle of Pakistan’s political superstructure – dictatorship to democracy and back to dictatorship has brought no respite to society. Only the suffering has intensified. In reality this is a reflection of the ongoing social and economic crisis built into the foundations of this tragic country. The Pakistani ruling class after its independence from direct British rule came onto the scene of history too late and with this came an inability to develop the economy. It was a weak class even at its inception. It could not produce enough surpluses for its profits and capital needed to tap the resources of the country and carry out its historical role of the national revolution that its pioneers had envisaged. It adjusted itself accordingly, and its survival depended on the one hand by being subservient to imperialism and on the other allying itself and compromising with the landed aristocracy created under the Raj. The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, as early as November 1947, less than three months after the formation of Pakistan, had sent his emissary to Washington asking for a $2bn loan. The response he got was a mere $10million of loose change. The failure of Pakistan’s ruling elite is evident 62 years later. None of the national democratic tasks have been completed. Several agrarian reforms have failed to abolish feudalism. Pakistan came into existence not as a nation but as a state comprising different nationalities. National oppression continues and the national question has become a festering wound on the body politic of this country. The task of the formation of a modern nation state is far from being achieved and will in fact further deteriorate with the impending crisis. This state of incompleteness of the tasks has wrought havoc on the social and economic life of Pakistani society. The social and political infrastructure is in a state of collapse. â€Å"National sovereignty† is a farce and hardly anybody believes in the state’s independence. Imperialist intervention and domination is on a greater scale today than it was in 1947, the year of Pakistan’s creation. Except for a few years under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, all the finance ministers have been employees of the World Bank or other imperialist financial institutions. Now the US is even trying to control sections of Pakistan’s armed forces and intruding its military corporate contractors to take over â€Å"security† in several vital parts of the country. These include former Blackwater now XE securities, DynCorp and others. An embittered general described the strategic relationship as Americans using Pakistan as a â€Å"condom†. The conflicts within the army are also the result of this aggressive hegemony being thrust into the Military’s domain. This is already giving rise to bloody conflicts among different agencies and sections of the armed forces representing black money and other sections of finance capital. This conflict is being waged covertly at the present time. But if a desperate imperialism faces an impending defeat in Afghanistan and tries a partial US occupation of NWFP (Pushtoonkhwa), it could even trigger a severe crisis in the army already under strain from carrying out the CENTCOM instructions on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The fallout could have catastrophic consequences. Similarly the severe crisis of Pakistani capitalism has failed to develop a parliamentary democracy. The Pakistani ruling class, in the wake of its economic failures turned to plunder of the state at an early stage. They pay less than 10% of total taxation revenues. The real burden falls on the working class who are forced to pay more than 80% of the revenues through indirect taxation. The capitalist class steals electricity and gas, while billions of dollars of bank loans have been written off. According to the figures presented before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a small section of these leeches’ annual corruption exceeds Rs. 500 billion (US$6. 2bn). Most of this money is stashed away in western banking havens. As this process started to become more and more evident, the army, the most powerful instrument of the state, started to become part of this evil nexus of plunderers and usurpers. The drug-funded and US/Saudi sponsored Afghan Jihad brought even greater loot to the coffers of the generals. Other institutions of the state and society including the judiciary, the bureaucracy and the media joined in this orgy of corruption. Hence, whenever there was a political crisis (conflict of the civilian plunderers) the military moved in to quell the rot. The dictatorships bred more corruption and as they began to lose their grip democracy was introduced the main reason being the growing danger of a mass revolt that is provoked by these repressive regimes. Although even a bourgeois democracy is a progressive step forward as compared to military dictatorships, the exploitative system that the military rulers intervene to salvage remains intact. In Pakistan this crisis-ridden system again creates a political instability that reflects the burning economic turmoil. The army and state are not a class, but in the last analysis the economic and social conditions determine the nature of the regime that is needed by the ruling class to preserve the system of exploitation of labour. Comrade Ted Grant elaborated on this in 1949 â€Å"The state by its very nature is composed of a bureaucracy, officers, generals, heads of police etc. But those do not constitute a class; they are the instrument of a class even if they may be in antagonism to that class. They cannot themselves be a class. † (The unbroken thread, pp. 235). In Pakistan the irony is that time and again the masses have risen up against the dictatorship, fundamentally to overthrow the yoke of exploitation and misery inflicted upon them by this vicious system of class rule. When they were allowed even to make half a choice through the ballot-box they propelled the PPP to power. Yet their hopes have been dashed time and again by the PPP in government in the short span of less than 40 years. The toiling masses have been loyal to their tradition for generations. The ruling class only allowed the PPP into the corridors of power to dissipate the mass upsurge. Above all the ruling class, the state and the imperialists have used the capitulating leaders of the PPP to carry through cuts, privatisations and other drastic anti-working class measures. They could not have achieved so much with the right-wing governments of Sharif, etc. , but even under the dictatorships they combined caution with repression. However, at least in the 1970s the PPP government did carry through some reforms for the betterment of the impoverished masses. In the later PPP governments since 1988 such was the crisis of Pakistani capitalism that there was no room for even minimal reforms.

Towards Speaking English Through Creative Drama English Language Essay

Towards Speaking English Through Creative Drama English Language Essay This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of creative drama on the enhancement of learners positive attitude towards speaking English in state high schools. A one-group pre-test/post-test study was carried out with 12 intermediate level students who were voluntarily selected. As a treatment students attended a 4-week creative drama program run by the researcher who received 320 hours of training for being a creative drama instructor. Four different instruments were employed to collect data in the study: Attitude questionnaire, student interviews, teacher observation notes and reflective journals. The attitude test was administered to the participants before and after the 4-week creative drama program, and the findings were compared to see the impact of the treatment. The data obtained by reflective journals, observation notes and interviews was grouped and analyzed. The results of the obtained data indicate that there were significant differences before and after the treatmen t in terms of enhancement of positive attitude towards speaking English. I.INTRODUCTION Statement of the purpose The present study was designed to determine the empirical validity of the assumption that providing learners of English as a foreign language with creative drama activities during English classes can enhance their positive attitude towards speaking English. It is suggested that learners will be more eager to learn and practice English if they adopt a positive attitude towards it. Justification It is clear that in the age of communication the role attached to speaking skill is far greater than it used to be. Due to the increasing mobility of nations, it is not surprising to see people who witness others speaking a number of languages in their daily life. The change in social structure has been reflected in linguistics through shifts in thoughts and notions, methods and techniques. What was once linguistic-oriented has now become a communicative one. With the increasing importance of learning English as a foreign language, many studies have been conducted to investigate better ways to teach English so far. Creative drama is shown as one of those ways by contemporary trends in language teaching. It is suggested that with creative drama activities learners cooperate with each other effectively during the application of the knowledge and the skills that they have acquired, learn better and discover new things about themselves. Creative drama is a kind of education technique that was developed by Peter Slade, Brian Way, Dorothy Heathcote and Gavin Bolton in England and is applied for almost all kinds of learning activities especially in improving verbal and written expression in language learning lessons. According to Davis (1996), in national education programmes in England, it is obligatory to use drama in English lessons. It is a known fact that in England, drama is being used as a method in speaking and writing fields of language teaching for a long time. In Turkey creative drama started to be applied especially in preschool education and elementary schools, in order to develop their creativity, self-confidence, independent thinking, self-control, and problem solving skills. In our world where individual, national and international competition is getting hard and there is a constant change, existing is based on having these qualities not on rote learning. In order to bring the children and adults in these qualities, instead of traditional education methods, methods of learning by living in social and natural environment should be used. One of these methods is creative drama. AdÄ ±gà ¼zel (2006) defines creative drama as follows: Creative drama is to represent or animate a subject, an experience, an event, a concept or behaviour with a group utilizing improvisation and role play techniques and using the experiences of group members. These improvising activities are carried out with an experienced leader and creative drama directly utilizes the general facilities of children games. In the light of this definition creative drama may be considered as a method of learning, a tool for self-expression, as well as art. In order to add more to this definition, UlaÃ…Å ¸ (2008) briefly explains the scope of creative drama through six learning principles: A student learns meaningful content better than other contents. Learning occurs as a result of a students interaction with his environment. The more sensory organs a student uses while learning, the greater the retention of the lessons. A student learns best by doing and experiencing. Effective participation is important in learning emotional conduct. Learning becomes easier and more permanent in educational environments where there is more than one stimulus. (p.876) Creative drama emerged from the work of John Dewey which emphasized the importance of the instinctive and impulsive attitudes and activities of children to education (Siks, 1981; cited in Freeman, 2000, p.7). It is believed that if the childrens natural activities and the games they played with their friends in daily life are transferred to the field of education, children will be more motivated towards learning. Learning by doing is the core of the idea that creative drama is an effective method of learning. As Mally (1983) said, Drama is more concerned with what is happening within and between members of a group placed in a dramatic situation. It is never intended for performance and rarely if ever rehearsed, since it depends on the spontaneous inventions and reactions of people involved in it. Drama involves the participants themselves (cited in AldaÄÅ ¸, 2009). As it is stated participants are completely active in drama activities. They have to receive the message quickly, find out practical solutions to the problems, and convey their responses to the other players. Like other fields drama is an effective technique in language teaching. By integrating drama activities in English classes, the monotony of a conventional language class can be broken and the syllabus can be transformed into a more meaningful one which prepares learners to face their immediate world better. If it is remembered that one of the significant problems for English language learners in Turkey is having a negative attitude towards speaking English, it will be more meaningful to claim that creative drama activities should be used in language classes. Learners negative attitudes are mainly caused by anxiety, lack of confidence and motivation Thus, it is important for teachers to find ways to motivate learners and reduce their anxiety while enhancing their confidence. Recent studies show that the use of creative drama activities could be regarded as one of the effective methods to help learners improve a positive attitude towards speaking English and also support them to acquire necessary communication skills. As Wagner (as cited in AldaÄÅ ¸, 2010) states that drama is powerful because its unique balance of thought and feeling makes learning exciting, challenging, relevant to real life concerns, and enjoyable. The integration of drama brings both real life and imaginary situations and characters into the language classroom. Through their imagination the students have to produce various actions that fit in with the situation they encounter. Teaching language skills through drama gives students a context for listening and meaningful language production provides opportunities for reading and writing development and involves children in reading and writing as a holistic and meaningful communication process. As Slade and Way (1967) state, Drama is a good way of teaching second language because students are learning and practicing the language with communicative activities in a real context. Another important benefit of integrating drama with second language teaching is that it improves relationships among learners and consequently, the class atmosphere. When the classroom context is relaxing and friendly, anxiety levels of learners are expected to be low. This principle is supported by Krashens affective filter hypothesis. According to the affective filter hypothesis, there is a kind of filter which determines how input is turned into intake. It is this filter through which learners motivation, anxiety level and self-confidence are shaped. Thus, who have a low anxiety have a low filter while the opposite is true for the opposite case. In the light of this hypothesis, it can be postulated that when the learner is unmotivated or lacks confidence, the filter will be up. (Gas and Selinker, as cited in SaÄÅ ¸lamel, 2009). Therefore, the classroom environment needs to be as stress-free as possible in order to lower the affective filter of the learner and consequently let the acquisition take place. (Krashen and Terrell, as cited in Shand, 2008). According to AldaÄÅ ¸ (2009), the most important benefit of using drama in second language teaching is that it increases self-esteem, self-confidence and spontaneity by reducing inhibitions, alienation feeling and sensitivity to rejection. In addition, drama develops problem-solving skills, working in groups, taking more risks and communicational skills such as turn taking, topic changing, and leave taking. To sum up the advantages of drama Ã…Å ¾amlÄ ±oÄÅ ¸lu and KarakuÃ…Å ¸ (2008) list what effective use of creative drama can achieve in learners: Creative drama; 1. Promotes long-lasting learning 2. Nurtures empathy 3. Empowers imagination, 4. Offers new dimensions, 5. Triggers curiosity and investigation, 6. Improves problem-solving and analysis-synthesis skills, 7. Concretizes the abstract, 8. Provokes creativity, 9. Assures self-confidence and personal development, 10. Enhances studentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ repertoire, 11. Helps students develop effective addressing strategies and improve their rhetoric. 1.3 Significance Although there are a number of studies on attitude towards speaking English and those studies, to a great extent, give a rough idea about the importance of the problem. However, there is still need to elaborate on the issue with respect to creative drama applications. When we reduce the scale to Turkey, it is possible to see the scanty literature welcoming further studies. The literature on creative drama is pretty abundant, as well. However, the literature about the use of creative drama in EFL contexts is rather scarce. Thus, documenting any probable advantage of creative drama techniques for EFL contexts would be of great help for those who want to experiment without losing the enjoyable and pedagogical nature of the courses. 1.4 Literature Review There are several studies (AldaÄÅ ¸, 2010; Fuentes, 2010; KÄ ±lÄ ±Ãƒ §, 2009; SaÄÅ ¸lamel, 2009; Saraà §, 2007, Shand, 2008; ) which have demonstrated that the use of creative drama activities not only creates a motivating environment for speaking English but also contribute positively to learners speaking skills in the field of EFL both abroad and Turkey. 1.4.1 Studies Conducted Abroad Shand (2008) conducted a study on the effects of a creative drama curriculum for a group of third, sixth and seventh graders. As a mixed study participants response to the drama curriculum was measured by pre-test and post-test, observations and interviews. Results of the study showed that drama activities were successful in lowering the third grade participants anxiety and increasing their confidence and motivation towards speaking English. Drama clearly helped motivate these students, reduce their anxiety, and increase their confidence. Shand (2008) stated that the students were much more relaxed when speaking English. They spoke more, and when they spoke, they were louder and uninhibited. In another study, Fuentes (2010) conducted a qualitative study to examine the effect of drama on second language learning. A total of 40 pupils of the first year of Primary Education participated in the study. The participants were separated into two groups. With group A, a didactic unit based on a simple play adapted to their level was developed and with group B several drama activities and techniques to support the existing planning were used. The implementation of the unit in group A took seven sessions of 50 minutes each; whereas in group B six sessions were dedicated to drama techniques. For evaluation a diary was used by the researcher in which she has taken notes of the learners difficulties and progress. Children also evaluate their own performance in the L2 (self-assessment), they received feedback from both their partners and the teacher (co-assessment). Fuentes study demonstrated that the activities presented during the study had some very positive and interesting results regarding learner autonomy, motivation and pronunciation. 1.4.2 Studies Conducted in Turkey Several studies on creative drama and teaching English as a foreign language have also been conducted in Turkey. One of those studies is SaÄÅ ¸lamels study (2009), which aimed to find the effects of creative drama as an alternative way to reduce language anxiety of university students in English speaking classes. At the beginning of the study the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale was administered to 565 randomly selected students from different levels. Next, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 30 students and 20 speaking teachers to get their perceptions of language anxiety in speaking courses. In the light of the findings from the interviews carried out with students, it was observed that almost half of the students found learning and speaking English as an anxiety-provoking experience. The possible reasons for language anxiety were investigated from the students perspective through interviews. It was found that linguistic difficulties (vocabulary, grammar a nd pronunciation), cognitive challenges (fear of failure in front of others, fear of exams, fear of failure in communication, lack of self-esteem, fear of making mistakes), the role of the teachers, competitiveness and lack of information were considered to be correlates of language anxiety. After covering the role and possible sources of language anxiety and possible ways to alleviate language anxiety from a variety of perspectives, the study focused on a single way to lower language anxiety in speaking classes: applying creative drama activities. 22 participants chosen on a voluntary basis attended a 6-week creative drama program. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale was administered both at the beginning and at the end of the study, and then the findings were compared. The difference between the pre-test and the pos-test was found to be statistically significant and the findings indicated that creative drama activities could be useful to lower language anxiety. In another study Aldag (2010) aimed to investigate the effectiveness of creative drama on the enhancement of motivation of the students who learn English in public elementary schools. Fifty randomly sampled 4th grade students of a state school participated in the study. The Control Group continued their conventional lessons while the Experimental Group was exposed to drama-based curriculum, but the content of the course was the same. Five different instruments were employed to collect data in the study: Motivation Questionnaire, Personal Information Form, Student and Teacher Interviews, Individual Diaries, and Observational Field Notes. Motivation test was applied twice: Firstly at the beginning of the study as pre-test; and secondly at the end of the study as post-test. The results of the obtained data indicate that there were significant differences between Experimental Group and the Control Group in terms of enhancement of motivation and speaking skills. At the end of the study, m otivation of the students of Experimental Group who were exposed to creative drama activities increased in a considerable extent, whereas motivation of the students of Control Group who continued their traditional curriculum remained the same. AldaÄÅ ¸ (2010) states that when learners overcame the fear of making mistakes in foreign language and relied on themselves, they were very eager to speak in English during activities. They were more enthusiastic about speaking in later stages of training. In another study Saraà § (2007) aimed to investigate whether creative drama has a positive impact on developing the speaking skills of young learners. For this purpose, the researcher conducted eight English lessons in which creative drama activities were applied. The lessons were recorded and checked by an observer. In addition, with the purpose of determining the expectations, feelings and thoughts of the students in terms of the influence of creative drama on the learners, the students were asked to keep journals. The observed lessons showed that speaking skills gradually increased towards the end of the research implementation. In addition, the students journals indicated that creative drama made a positive influence on the learners, such as providing a stress free environment, developing self confidence and providing high learner participation. Saraà § (2007) highlights that after the creative drama activities the students experienced only the positive feelings, most were happ y and found the activity to be fun. Not a single student felt anything negative about the activity afterwards. According to the data obtained, almost all the students show some of information routine, negotiation skills, simplification skills and rephrasing, use of fillers and hesitation devices in their journals. The results also showed that class participation and learner motivation was at the highest level in creative drama classroom enabling even the most shy and passive learner gain self confidence and thus become more active in the classroom. Another study which aimed to investigate the effect of creative drama on speaking English and students attitudes towards speaking English was submitted by KÄ ±lÄ ±Ãƒ § (2009). She included a research sample composed of high school students, who are between 15-16 years old. Research was designed according to experimental model with pre and post test control group. The advised methods and techniques in the course book were applied by the teacher to the students of control group. Unlike the control group, in addition to the methods and techniques recommended, drama activities were also applied to the experimental group. Speaking test and attitude test were applied before and after the treatment to determine the effect. The results of the study suggested that there had been a significant change on the attitudes of the students in the experimental group towards speaking English. Learners answers to the questionnaire after treatment showed that they felt more relaxed and were n ot afraid of making mistakes while speaking English. KÄ ±lÄ ±Ãƒ § (2009) stated that this may be because of the power of creative drama to help learners gain self-confidence during creative drama activities. In the light of this literature review the current study aims to find out whether creative drama has a positive effect on the attitudes of intermediate level high-school students towards speaking English in Turkey. 1.5 Research Question Does the use of creative drama in English classes help learners developing a positive attitude towards speaking English? 1.6 Research Hypothesis Creative drama activities can help developing positive attitude towards speaking English among intermediate level learners of English in state high schools in Turkey. 1.7 Limitations and Delimitations In this study the number of participants was one of the limitations. Since high school students have a very tough program during the week it was not possible for so many students to stay at school for the study. Therefore, only 12 students were available. This may limit the generalization of the study results to other populations. Another limitation is the time factor. The treatment was only applied for four weeks despite the fact that this kind of treatment must take a great deal of time. If the treatment had been applied for a longer period, it is anticipated that the results would have been more significant. II. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY 2.1 Sampling and Setting The study took place at a state high-school in Sultanbeyli. The school is located in a socio-economically disadvantaged district of Istanbul. There are approximately 600 students and 50 teachers in the school. 9th grade students have 6 hours of English every week, while 10th, 11th and 12th grade students have 4 hours. As it is an Anatolian high-school, great importance is attached to the teaching of English. The administration provides support to ensure that there are enough foreign language teaching materials and resources. However, there is a shared opinion among English teachers that students are not eager to communicate in English. Instead they prefer studying grammar as memorizing grammar rules is easier for them than producing real language. The participants of the study are 12 students who were chosen on a voluntary basis. There are 8 females and 4 males. They are 15-16 years old and this is their third year at the school. 2.2 Design of the study The study is a combination of pre-experimental and qualitative research design. It is pre-experimental because there is no control group. Due to curricular issues, participants were not assigned as the Experimental Group and the Control Group during the study. Therefore, only the impact on the experimental group was measured. The study contains elements of both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Qualitative data was obtained from students reflective journals, semi-structured interviews with students, and a colleagues observation notes on the study. Quantitative data was obtained from the attitude questionnaire which was applied before and after the treatment. 2.3 Instrumentation In this study four types of instruments were used for data collection. These instruments are attitude questionnaire towards speaking English, students reflective journals, semi-structured interviews with participants and a colleagues observation notes. The attitude questionnaire was developed by KÄ ±lÄ ±Ãƒ § (2009). It was designed to explore what an individuals attitude towards speaking English. The questionnaire has 30 phrases and designed as a five likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree). This scale was applied before the treatment as a pre-test and after the treatment as a post-test. At the end of each creative drama session the students were asked to write in their reflective journals about that session. They were provided with some guideline questions and asked to write in their journals in a way to answer those questions. The questions are: What did you learn in this session? What did you feel in this session? Was it different from your other English classes? Which three words would you choose to describe this session? Do you think you could express yourself in English? In which activity? Would you like to attend more creative drama sessions? Why? The main purpose for keeping journals was to collect data about students feelings and opinions about the session in order to find out how the session affected their attitude towards speaking English. Participants were allowed to write in Turkish as the priority is to reach their ideas and feelings rather than evaluating their language competence. At the end of the creative drama program two randomly selected students were interviewed with the aim of getting more information about how creative drama activities affected their attitude towards speaking English. They were asked open-ended questions related to the activities and their responses were recorded, transcribed and evaluated by the researcher. The questions asked in the interview are: What do you think about creative drama? Do you think creative drama sessions are beneficial for you? Can you compare the English lessons in the classroom and the creative drama lessons? Would you like this program continue? What would happen if this program continued? In order to decrease the level of researcher subjectivity, a colleague was invited to observe one of the creative drama sessions. She was kindly asked to take notes during the session and share those notes with the researcher. Procedures Necessary permission was taken from the school management in order to conduct the study at school. It was announced to the intermediate level students that there would be a 4-week study about English teaching. Twelve students were chosen on a voluntary basis. Since the study was going to be carried out after the school, their parents were asked to sign a form which showed that they were willing to let their children participate in the study. The room for the sessions was determined and prepared for creative drama activities by placing comfortable seats, cushions and costumes. Before the first session the pre-test (the attitude questionnaire towards speaking English) was administered to the participants to identify their attitudes towards speaking English. They were also provided with guideline questions for their reflective journals. The participants were exposed to the creative drama program for 4 weeks. The program was planned as 3 hours each week. Therefore, it consisted of 12 hou rs in total. The participants were requested to write about their opinions and feelings in their reflective journals by following the guidelines after each session. A colleague was invited to observe the third weeks session. The post-test (attitude questionnaire towards speaking English) was administered to the participants reporting their attitude towards speaking English at the end of the creative drama program. Interviews were conducted with four randomly selected participants at the end of the treatment. The findings gathered from the instruments were analyzed and compared to see the impact of the treatment. III. DATA ANALYSIS 3.1 Results In this section, the analysis of the data obtained from the pre-test and post-test of attitude questionnaire of the participants will be presented. 3.1.1 Results of attitude questionnaires The attitude questionnaire was applied twice during the research study. It was firstly applied before the treatment as pre-test and then secondly at the end of the treatment as post-test. It was applied before and after the treatment in order to reveal whether there is any effect of creative drama on enhancing positive attitude or not. This questionnaire was formed by using Likert Scale (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree). The results of these tests were analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows 20.0, in this programme Paired Samples T-test was used in order to reveal whether drama activities affect the learners attitude towards learning English in a positive way or not. Pre-test Results of the Participants Pre-test Results Table 1 ITEM Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree 1.I have difficulty speaking English. 0 0 5 5 2 2.I am afraid of making mistakes. 2 3 4 2 1 3.I dont want to speak English. 0 1 0 0 11 4.Lack of grammar knowledge inhibits my speaking. 0 1 2 4 5 5.Lack of vocabulary inhibits my speaking. 1 3 2 4 2 6.I can speak English fluently. 0 4 6 2 0 7.I feel nervous while speaking English. 3 2 2 2 3 8.I forget what to say when I am nervous. 2 2 4 1 3 9.Lack of correct pronunciation inhibits my speaking. 1 1 4 2 4 10.Lack of knowledge inhibits my speaking. 0 1 1 9 1 11.I cant express my ideas. 1 1 3 7 0 12.I cant understand what others say. 1 1 0 3 7 13.I dont know how to study to speak English. 0 0 2 3 7 14.Because of my teachers negative attitude. 0 0 1 0 11 15.I think nobody will understand me while speaking. 0 1 1 3 7 16.I think in Turkish. 1 1 2 4 3 17.Because my friends are teasing me for my mistakes. 0 0 0 1 11 18.Other students are better at speaking English. 2 1 1 0 8 19.I am afraid of not being understood by others. 1 1 2 4 4 20.I think I have no ability in learning a foreign language. 0 0 1 1 10 21.I cant remember the English meaning of words while speaking. 0 2 6 3 1 22.I think my teacher isnt interested in what I am saying. 0 0 0 0 12 23.I dont have to speak English in class. 1 0 4 1 5 24.My friends tell what I think before me. 0 3 2 4 3 25.I cant realize the mistakes I have done while speaking English. 1 0 1 5 5 26.I prefer learning grammar structures rather than speaking English. 0 0 1 6 5 27.I cant use computer because I dont know English. 0 0 0 1 11 28.I cant surf the Internet. 0 1 0 0 11 29.I cant watch movies in English. 1 1 0 2 8 30.I cant read newspapers or magazines in English. 5 5 2 0 0 Table 1 summarizes the participants responses to the items in the questionnaire which demonstrate their attitude towards learning English before the treatment. Post-test Results of the participants Post-test Results Table 2 ITEM Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree 1. I have difficulty speaking English. 1 1 2 5 3 2.I am afraid of making mistakes. 1 3 0 3 5 3.I dont want to speak English. 1 1

George Orwells 1984 :: essays research papers

1984, George Orwell Winston is the unfortunate victim of a totalitarian society gone haywire. In Oceania 1984, the Party has complete control over every aspect of its citizens’ lives. Telescreens that monitor their movements are found in every house and apartment. If a member of the Thought Police catches you so much as gritting your teeth during one of Big Brother’s speeches, it’s off to the Missionary of Love to be interrogated about your partaking in a conspiracy against the Party. It’s a time of unknowing chaos where war is peace, ignorance is strength, and freedom is slavery. The Party avoids revolt by using an interesting technique--not giving its citizens a reason to revolt. If the Party promises, for example, that there will be no reduction of chocolate rations and there does happen to be a reduction, they simply go back and change their original statement. This meaning they rewrite any newspaper articles, etc. that give evidence that they said there would be a reduction, and destroy all of the old copies. In this way, the Party’s predictions are always true. So our good old friend Winston is sitting in his office one day when he starts to have--gasp!--negative thoughts about the Party and its leader, Big Brother. He buys a diary, a crime considered worthy of death by the Party, and begins to record these thoughts daily. By chance, Winston happens to meet a fellow Party-hater, Julia. They believe that the Brotherhood (an organization against the Party) exists and that their co-worker O’Brien is involved with it. They meet with O’Brien and confirm that yes, indeed, he is involved with the Brotherhood. O’Brien gives them a copy of “The Book'; written by the Brotherhood’s leader Emanuel Goldstein about his political ideas. Julia and Winston are secure in their involvement with the Brotherhood and

Essay --

The question I chose to focus on is question seven, â€Å"How Should Families be Involved in Assessment† (Nation Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2003, p. 13). It is important to understand how to incorporate the families of the children being assessed into the assessment process. Whether the assessment is merely routine, or is being done out of concern for the child’s development, it is my belief that the parents should be involved. Rous et al. (2007) affirms this belief by defining assessment as â€Å"†¦a shared experience between families and professionals in which information and ideas are exchanged to benefit a child’s growth and development.† Involving the families in the assessment process requires three basic steps. The first step in involving the family of a child being assessed is to notify the family before assessment begins. When a parent (or parents) enrolls their child in a childcare program, they are entrusting the caretakers with the task of knowing what is best for their child. Discovering that may require assessment. NAEYC and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialist in State Departments of Education [NAECS/SDE] (2003) note that â€Å"to assess [a] young [child’s] strengths, progress, and needs, use of assessment methods should†¦[be] inclusive of families.† Essentially, in order to properly assess a child, the families knowledge and input is required (NAEYC & NAECS/SDE, 2003). Once the family has been notified, the second step should take place. The family should be made aware that their involvement in the assessment process is important for their child’s overall development (Rous et al., 2007). Rous et al. (2007) notes that â€Å"the role of family as the child’s first and most significant teac... ...ssed, which is step one. Step two is revealed when the parents and the teacher have a conference to discuss what steps can be taken to improve Tyler’s progress. Lastly, step three occurs when the teacher gathers evidence to show the parents their child’s marked improvement in skills he once struggled in. Involving the parents in their child’s assessment is incredibly important. As a teacher, it shows concern for the child’s overall wellbeing and concern for the parents involvement in their child’s development. While it is important to involve the parents, it is much more important in how a teacher or caregiver does this. With the three steps of informing the parents of assessment, encouraging the parents to participate, and showing the parents the final outcome of the assessment, a teacher or caregiver is able to involve the parents in a meaningful and helpful way. Essay -- The question I chose to focus on is question seven, â€Å"How Should Families be Involved in Assessment† (Nation Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2003, p. 13). It is important to understand how to incorporate the families of the children being assessed into the assessment process. Whether the assessment is merely routine, or is being done out of concern for the child’s development, it is my belief that the parents should be involved. Rous et al. (2007) affirms this belief by defining assessment as â€Å"†¦a shared experience between families and professionals in which information and ideas are exchanged to benefit a child’s growth and development.† Involving the families in the assessment process requires three basic steps. The first step in involving the family of a child being assessed is to notify the family before assessment begins. When a parent (or parents) enrolls their child in a childcare program, they are entrusting the caretakers with the task of knowing what is best for their child. Discovering that may require assessment. NAEYC and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialist in State Departments of Education [NAECS/SDE] (2003) note that â€Å"to assess [a] young [child’s] strengths, progress, and needs, use of assessment methods should†¦[be] inclusive of families.† Essentially, in order to properly assess a child, the families knowledge and input is required (NAEYC & NAECS/SDE, 2003). Once the family has been notified, the second step should take place. The family should be made aware that their involvement in the assessment process is important for their child’s overall development (Rous et al., 2007). Rous et al. (2007) notes that â€Å"the role of family as the child’s first and most significant teac... ...ssed, which is step one. Step two is revealed when the parents and the teacher have a conference to discuss what steps can be taken to improve Tyler’s progress. Lastly, step three occurs when the teacher gathers evidence to show the parents their child’s marked improvement in skills he once struggled in. Involving the parents in their child’s assessment is incredibly important. As a teacher, it shows concern for the child’s overall wellbeing and concern for the parents involvement in their child’s development. While it is important to involve the parents, it is much more important in how a teacher or caregiver does this. With the three steps of informing the parents of assessment, encouraging the parents to participate, and showing the parents the final outcome of the assessment, a teacher or caregiver is able to involve the parents in a meaningful and helpful way.

Detailed Overview of HIV Essay -- Biology AIDS

Since the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic 15 years ago, the virus has infected more than 47 million people in the world. With more than 2.2 million deaths in 1998, HIV/AIDS has now become the fourth leading cause of mortality and its impact is going to increase. Over 95% of all cases and 95% of AIDS deaths occur in the developing world, mostly among young adults and increasingly in women. HIV can be prevented in many ways, but they are not always followed. People die when they don't play it safe. That's why we have to spread the word on prevention. There are three main ways that HIV can be spread: 1. sexual intercourse 2. intravenous drugs 3. blood transfusions (which are very rare now because all blood is tested) HIV is spreading like wild fire among adolescents because they don't believe it can happen to them. Sixty-one percent of 14-21 year olds are engaged in sexual intercourse. The problem we have to deal with is the spreading of this disease among our generation. Scientists are trying to develop a cure for the AIDS virus. There are three parts to finding the cure. The three parts are: 1. To devise a drug that will kill the HIV virus once it enters the body. 2. To create a vaccine that would prevent the disease. 3. To educate people world wide about the dangers of AIDS and how to prevent the HIV infection. In humans, the immune system acts as a line of defense against foreign organisms in the body. Though the immune system functions throughout the body, its production centers from certain key organs in the body. Various specialized cells are produced by these organs and comprise the immune system. For example: * Lymphocytes o B Cells o T Cells * Macropha... ...CR5. The CCR5 demonstrated fusion for all of the macrophages-tropic isolates but hardly at all for the T-tropic isolates, further supporting previous conclusions on the role of CCR5. Finally the researchers took a northern blot of CCR5 to analysis its RNA. CCR5 RNA was not found in the human cell lines that were tested. The human cell lines were chosen with the criteria that they were not susceptible to M-tropic isolates. Their test further supported the fact that Fusin was used as a receptor for T-tropic virus strains, and when the two strains were compared CCR5 and Fusin are the only fusion cofactors for HIV. Understanding these coreceptors is very important in slowing down the progression of the HIV virus. The HIV virus is irreversible and can only be slowed down. If they can learn more about how the virus enters cells they might be able to deter the virus.

A Brief Introduction for Chinese Culture Essay

China, as one of the four homes of the world’s earliest civilization, has a recorded history of nearly 4,000 years. Through centuries of migration, merging and development, it has formed a distinctive system of language, writing, philosophy, art and political organization, which came to be recognized as Chinese culture. It originated from Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasty, which was known as slave culture period. Xia culture represented the early Chinese culture and Zhou culture contributed to the form of more than 2000 years of feudalism culture in China. The May 4th Movement of 1919 was also an important date because it symbolized that it entered into a new culture period. In the spring and autumn and warring-states period, slave society gradually turned into feudalism society and a lot of thinkers sprang up with their immortal work. Among those, Confucianism was the most successful, which helped to build up the norms and values of Chinese people in the following centuries and also was used as a method for emperors to rule the country. However, after the fall of Qing dynasty, the last feudalism dynasty, Confucianism, which was seen as the product of feudalism society lose its dominant position. But its influence still lasts until now. Besides Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism also once played an important role in ancient Chinese. Nevertheless, nowadays most of Chinese are atheists. Buddhism is the biggest religion in China with a history of about 2,000 years. Then Muslim comes the second. It is popular within minority nationalities such as Hui and Uygur. See more: how to start an essay Christianism and Catholicism are also believed in by some people. However, Taoism as indigenous religion has the fewest followers. Moreover, China is a multi-national country with quiet different 56 groups, in which Han has the largest population. Every group has its own language, customs, festivals and some fixed residence. In order to solve the problems of communication between groups and facilitates management, the government standardized language through popularizing mandarin, which is mostly based on Beijing dialect. Cultural values. The development of Chinese values can be divided into two phrases:the former is the traditional cultural values; the latter is modern cultural values, which is affected by the western culture since the 20th century. Confucianism is the core element in traditional values. Deeply influenced by Confucianism , Chinese people tightly adhere to the Doctrine of Mean and try to avoid conflicts. Afterwards, with time going by, Confucianism experienced improvements by combining with Taoism and Buddhism. In this period, Confucianism focused on human, for example, the relationship between human and human, human and nature and so on. Under the influence of the above factors, Chinese traditional values can be concluded into the following aspects: -believe in self struggle ‘Man’s determination can conquer the nature’ is an old Chinese saying. Chinese people believe that through their efforts they can change their life. -emphasis on the art of tolerance Tolerance is another characteristic for Chinese nation. Chinese people won’t be easily infuriated by others. They are used to avoid conflicts and keep peace. It seems to be a little cowardly . But the truth is that many great men succeed because of temporary tolerance . -follow the majority. This is still a serious problem in today’s society. Conformist mentality has proved to have negative effect on building up one’s confidence and independence. People are not willing to express its own opinion to keep conformity with the majority and become passive. -respect the old Respect for the old is a Chinese traditional virtue. Not like western individual consciousness, Chinese parents think it’s their duty to look after their children and do all that they can do for them. So when children grow up, they tend to be grateful for their parents’ contribution. As a result, the old enjoy a high position in the family. Moreover, since the old experience much more than the young, young people are willing to listen to their opinions when making decision. -collectivism This means that Chinese, in general, is a collective society that strives for harmony and group belonging, whether to family, friends, work, or country. The Chinese are more willing to suppress their own feelings and needs for the good of the group. This value has been passed down the Chinese culture from folklores where martyrs sacrificed their lives for their community or country ever since the dynastical eras 5,000 years ago. The arrival of western cultural value stroke Chinese traditional culture values and helped to discard some backward or bad parts of traditional values. Moreover, it also brought something new such as freedom, charity, democracy and etc. Cultural norms -saving face and losing face ‘Fcae’ stands for one’s position in a certain social group. It’s related to honor, good reputation or respect. Consequently, loss of face is not simply a form of embarrassment. Saving face is another concept. Chinese people respect a person who is friendly and who carefully avoids hurting the feelings of others. Loud, untactful or boisterous behavior is usually regarded as very poor taste. – greeting When meeting for the first time, a handshake is the most common greeting. In order to express some special esteem, to those elderly people or government officials, a slight bow might be given. -gift When visiting a family it is appropriate to bring a small gift, such as fruits, to the host, especially around New Year’s time. Gifts should be given and received with both hands. It is also a Chinese custom when receiving a gift to thank you for it and then place it to the side without opening it.-eating.  ·Chopsticks and a soup spoon are common eating utensils. Food is not passed around the table, but remains in the center. The host usually chooses the food for his guests and serves it to them from the central dishes on the table.  ·Refusing to drink is sometimes thought as dishonor to the people who toast to you. -relationship (guan-xi) Guan xi is a Chinese word which means relationship. One’s guan-xi, is an important factor in the individual’s social status. It is also an important Chinese business element. Having a right guan xi helps companies to minimize the risks, frustrations, and disappointments. Guan-xi relationship, like face behavior, is obligation between individuals for the purpose of maintenance of group integrity. -parents dominant Parents are accustomed to interfering children’s decision and sometimes just determine for them regardless of their own wishes. -look down on girls In some remote areas, the natives still prefer boys to girls. If a family has two children and they can’t afford the education fees for both of them, the boy will have more chance to go to school. Ways of communication -nonverbal communication Chinese is a high context country. Nonverbal communication is as common as verbal communication. Nonverbal communication includes facial expression, tones of voice , gestures, and eye contact. They’re quiet important in Chinese daily life and sometimes it is even more powerful than the verbal interaction. Different gestures have different meanings. Due to different cultural background, even the same gesture has different meaning for people in certain context. -avoid speaking directly Speaking directly is often considered rudeness. Try to be â€Å"diplomatic† and tactful where possible, as the Chinese may be offended by directness in some situations. For example, it is a terrible thing to be criticized in public due to the fact that harmony is highly valued in Chinese society. -conversation tips Find some common areas to talk about such as family, sports and etc. Don’t verbally attack China and be careful about criticizing things there, as many Chinese will feel personally attacked by this. Avoid political arguments, as many Chinese feel reluctant to speak or explore their true opinion about the current government. – saying â€Å"Thank you† â€Å"Thank you† is said a lot less than in the West. In a lot of instances, for example when someone opens a door for you or passes the soy sauce, saying â€Å"thank you† is seen as being over polite and without meaning, and is often met with requests for you not to be so polite (over-polite). -saying â€Å"Excuse me† â€Å"Excuse me† is not used as often in China. People are expected to give way naturally to one another on the street or when walking around, without anything being said. Interrupting somebody talking or doing something else to ask a question, make a request, etc. also happens regularly without any warning or apology. -compliments Be careful when complimenting someone’s possessions or somebody because they may think it’s a kind of flattering rather than appreciation. In conclusion, Chinese culture is based on the wisdom of Confucius and quiet different from western culture in many aspects. But nowadays because of the process of globalization, Chinese people are striving to learn from mainstream culture and improve and develop their own culture.