Strategic Management in Aviation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Vital Management in Aviation - Essay Example To comprehend these issues, we should initially take a gander at an exhaustive security quantifies in the aeronautics business, while the concentration and techniques that have been utilized to fabricate a True lean and Six Sigma. They will incorporate; arranging undertaking and worth spilling and mapping (includes working of a guide for improvement), doing of high effect lean six sigma, keeping an eye on impressions of the prescribed procedures that neutralize lean endeavor guide, and normalizing of practical procedure advancement and arrangement. In today’s avionics industry, the earth is all around managed. The business players are required to agree to a gigantic number of guidelines and principles, in this manner making it an unpredictable industry to manage (Frenkel, 2009). It is through this suggestion that we can basically the procedure of the players in the business to conform to the guidelines. This will along these lines help them to be viable with regards to consent ing to controllers and outside reviewers dealing with the flight business (Frenkel, 2009). To the associations that need to keep up consistence and improving the wellbeing of the aeronautics business, this proposition will be of extraordinary assistance. There is a requirement for associations to decrease the danger of resistance while improving the security results. Wellbeing estimates should be anything but difficult to actualize, utilize and astoundingly adaptable. In this paper, there will be broad research on how evolved wellbeing frameworks can be of help to the business. The flying business is the mainstay of any country economy. The fundamental explanation been that it is the passage point and leave purpose of a country; both to its residents and business merchandise (Frenkel, 2009). It is through guaranteeing the wellbeing of their practical products that the economy of a country will have the option to develop. Coming up next are a portion of the things that the proposition will cover to guarantee that security measures are executed in this industry. They incorporate hazard the executives and affirmation, advancement and government approaches (Frenkel, 2009). Toward the finish of this proposition, it tends to be utilized as an instrument for formal procedure and structures that can control the every day dangers related with the aeronautics crucial. Air make a trip stays to be one of the most perplexing and multi-faceted implies that hand les s enormous measure of bundles, cargo, and sends conveyed all payload airplane and on board traveler. Furthermore, the air freight framework is unstable to different security dangers, which incorporate potential ways, for example, setting explosives on board plane; shipment of illicit and unsafe substance; criminal endeavor, for example, robbery and sneaking; potential damage and hijackings by individuals who can get to the airplane. Different innovative and procedural activities to battle air load security and cutoff crooks and fear mongers are getting looked at or they have been set up. After the September eleventh assaults, air terminal security is further developed. All products and people are required to experience extraordinary scanners that help is deciding whether people are covering any weapons. The procedural activity include industry wide thought and usage of the â€Å" known shipper† program; expansion of payload examination; increasingly intensive physical sec urity of offices of air load; expanded air freight oversight tasks; propelled security preparing for load dealing with staff; and progressively severe power over air freight activity circles and access to

Organization experiencing challenges with its compensation and benefit Research Paper

Association encountering difficulties with its pay and advantage framework - Research Paper Example This examination paper portrays the pay rehearses attempted in associations have extensive impacts on the upper hand of the firm. So as to create upper hand of a firm in the worldwide market, the remuneration plans created by the firm should line up with the vital plans and activities of the equivalent. Aside from the achievement of upper hand remuneration rehearses likewise have impact over enlistments, turnover, efficiency of work, and so on in firms. In this way it is significant that organizations cause careful investigation of how individuals to see about the firm’s remuneration and how these observations subsequently influence their conduct. A generous measure of occupation fulfillment of representatives relies upon the measure of remuneration that he gets just as the advantages he gets from the associations. The monetary pay supplemented with satisfactory advantages, for example, protections, wiped out leaves, paid excursions, limits, benefits plans and so on impacts on the fulfillment level of workers and in this manner their conduct and duty towards the equivalent. The American Airlines (AA) went up against with genuine pay and advantage issues because of the confining of their pay plans for workers. Because of the incredible misfortunes acquired by American Airlines, one of the world’s biggest carriers, the administration needed to attempt huge cost cutting and rebuilding effort to reestablish productivity. This brought about monstrous occupation cuts of representatives. The strategy just welcomed arbitrary obstruction from workers which further exasperated the measure of misfortunes brought about by the organization. ... The issue would be upheld by introduction of basic writing which would incorporate different contentions introduced by scientist, experts and writer and furthermore experimental proof regarding the matter. Proposal articulation Following is the proposition proclamation created for the examination; Due to the basic pretended by pay and advantage anticipates employees’ work fulfillment, responsibility and profitability, organizations need to endeavor to misuse maximum capacity of their HR through sufficient remuneration and advantage structures. Survey of the Literature As associations keep on being stood up to with expanded serious weights, they look to accomplish all the more utilizing less assets. Alongside the ascent in accentuation on such angles as deals volume, development, benefits, quality and so on, numerous cases have uncovered tight command over vocations with generous work cuts. The plan to oversee HR successfully utilizing less representatives has developed through out the years. Therefore the accentuation has moved towards the arrangement of representative pay with the view to oversee HR better (Gerhart, Minkoff and Olsen, 1994, p.1). Representative pay and advantages assume a key job as it lies at the core of work connections having basic significance for the two bosses and workers. The money related pay paid by businesses as pay rates and wages includes the primary pay of the representatives. Then again benefits represent the wellbeing and other security of representatives. A huge extent of employee’s work fulfillment and execution relies upon the mix of both the remuneration and advantages he gets. From the point of view of the business, the remuneration choices attempted impacts the expenses related with doing the

Topics For a Persuasive Essay - Making It More Effective

Topics For a Persuasive Essay - Making It More EffectiveThere are many different topics for a persuasive essay that you should write about if you want to be successful in a specific job or career. This article will show you some of the best subjects to write about and why they are the best subjects for your essay. This article will also give you some ideas about how to structure your essay and how to make it as effective as possible.The first reason that you should use good subjects for your essay is because these subjects make the topic interesting to read about. If you're writing a paper on the history of the internet, for example, then your essay should revolve around the early days of the internet or some other interesting topic that is relevant to the topic. This is the best way to get people interested in reading your essay.The second reason is that if you do your topic well, then you will be able to have strong points and make some very good arguments that will convince your r eader. The most common reason why people get stuck on an argument or have doubts about the topic is because they don't know why they are in disagreement with their own point of view. Therefore, if you can easily explain to them why you believe this way of thinking is wrong, then you will be able to win their respect.Topics that appeal to the majority will not only be more interesting to read about, but also to the reader. This is because most people agree on a lot of topics, and when you come up with a point that fits in that group, it makes it easier for you to get the information out to a broader group of people. When you use the topic of a young child dying in a car crash, then you will have many people who have the same viewpoint as your child in the group, and therefore, you will have a lot of people in your essay to make it look convincing. However, if you decide to use the topic of a young boy that went missing, then you will have a very narrow audience, and therefore, it wil l not be as effective.Writing about a topic that is controversial or has many opinions can actually help you write your essay more accurately. If you disagree with the opinions of many people, then it's easy to make your arguments stronger, and to make your conclusions more accurate. You might even be able to make your opinions about the topic more relatable to real life, and therefore, people will be able to relate to them.People will read things that interest them, and they like to read things that are interesting to them. If you do well at providing those to them, then you will have a huge edge over your competition. However, if you are the type of person who doesn't like reading about things that are too technical, then don't worry, because there are other ways to make your opinion easier to understand and to share. This is where topics for a persuasive essay will be very useful to you.A good topic is one that is meaningful and enlightening to the person reading it. If you are w riting on a topic about the iPhone, for example, then you need to talk about what makes the iPhone so unique and different from other phones. Of course, you can talk about the keyboard layout of the iPhone, or the mechanics of the iPhone, but when you get into things that are relevant to your audience, then you will be able to make the topic more interesting to the reader.If you follow these tips, then you will be able to write a great, effective essay that will get you the success that you want in life. Do not underestimate the power of a good topic for a persuasive essay, because you will not only be able to convince people, but you will also be able to convince yourself.

Working Together for the Economy Essay - 1084 Words

Throughout its history, the United States has gone through many economic cycles which involve economic peaks and recessions. With these recessions comes a time of recovery and rebuilding; jobs are lost, money in the economy does not circulate, and industries fail. However, all industries and markets must work together in order to lead the economy back to recovery and stability. Currently, the United States is undergoing a recession and signs of industries and markets working together can be seen, such as the housing and labor markets. The housing market is setting mortgage rates at record lows while the labor market is increasing employment. By stimulating consumers into the economy and generating income for consumers to spend, the†¦show more content†¦Those who are employed are more likely to have a mortgage approved; therefore, the current unemployment is causing the housing market to lose consumers (Gopal). The lack of response to low mortgage rates shows that no one indu stry or market will be able to stimulate economic growth, other industries and markets must join in. The labor market has taken initiative and has made changes, such as adding jobs to the economy in order to lower the unemployment rate. When the United States economy first went into its recession in the years 2008 and 2009, 7.4 million jobs were lost. Since then, there have been over 7.2 million jobs created, which is a 97 percent recovery of â€Å"employed persons† in the economy; furthermore, unemployment is at a five year low, sitting at 6.7 percent (Green). These changes in the labor market are crucial for success. Increasing employment throughout the United States, will increase household incomes dramatically. With this increase in household income, comes confidence which will guide consumers to spend the money they make in the economy, instead of saving it. During recessions, there is a sudden increase in savings which stop the flow of money in the economy. However, now the saving rate, the amount of income not spent but set aside, has continued to drop. In December 2013, the saving rate was 3.9 percent, a large decrease from 4.3 percent in November of that same year. The average rate for the entire year was 4.5 percent, the lowest savingShow MoreRelatedCompare And Contrast Martin Luther King And Malcolm X1101 Words   |  5 Pagesalso assassinated three years later when he was thirty nine. Even though Malcolm X and King had same goal, their strategies were distinct and every different. In my opinion, Malcolm Xs methods were more desirable than Kings ideas in education, economy, and collaboration perspective. Both Malcolm X and King discussed about education for the younger generation of Blacks. One believes that Malcolm X’s idea of separation between Blacks and Whites is better than King’s idea of integration. AccordingRead MoreEssay On Gst1101 Words   |  5 Pagesthe rupee is because of any expectations of the Modi government at long last scoring a win on the GST Bill. A million eyes on GST, a million hearts enthusiastically holding up to accomplish all the normal advantages out of GST, however the Indian economy may confront swelling and disturbance for some time, after GST comes into the scene. The nations that actualized GST likewise confronted swelling an indistinguishable way from expected for India. After the usage of Goods and Services duty, and MakeRead MoreWas the New Deal Succesful Essay582 Words   |  3 Pages Henry Ford once said â€Å"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success†. The new deal depended on the whole nation working together to strive for relief, recovery, and reform. Whether or not the new deal was a success depends on what one believes the new deal was designed to achieve. To me, the new deal was implemented to aid in restoration of the economy of the United States, not to simply fix the economy. The new deal greatly repaired the economic conditionRead MoreAnalysis Of The American Dream1063 Words   |  5 Pagespoor to rich, but rather the concept of living in a stable middle-class environment that is comfortable and provide the necessary necessity of life while still catering for their family and their future generation. King expresses how individuals are working to save more money for the future that instead of purchasing their homes they are renting it, and trying to lessen their spending habits. This shows that the Great Recession has altered what the American Dream was before. King implies that â€Å"[t]heRead MoreMinimum Wage Persuasive Essay1067 Words   |  5 Pagesit truly enough? This controversy can lead to a major change in everyone’s everyday lives and boost our economy to a period of prosperity. The minimum wage should be increased to bring our economy out of a recession, bring families together, and to create a country of prosperity. Our country is held together by the families that it holds within. With the current minimum wage, 73% of our working population lives in poverty. (Furman) Many might assume that the majority of the minimum wage workers areRead Morecreativity within the creative industries700 Words   |  3 Pagescreative economy . Creativity is the new word and the new value in economy. A class of creative people is replacing white and blue collars changing the way the world used to define the society in the last centuries. Creative industries can flourish in dense populated areas where are possible multiple and continued connections between creative people. Although governments are trying to introduce the teaching of creativity in the educational system to foster the growth of the creative economy, creativityRead MoreTravel Agent . Stage 2 Tourism: Task 1 Nature Of Tourism1072 Words   |  5 Pages Tourism Services, Transportation and Travel Trade.† (NA, 2017). The job of a travel agent fi ts into the travel trade sector. Interdependence All of these sectors have to come together for the tourism industry to be able to function smoothly, without one the others fall down. An example of the sectors working together is that accommodation would not work without transport because no-one could get to the accommodation. Without accommodation, visitor services is pointless because if there is nowhereRead MoreThe Alliance Of The United Steel Workers Union And The Environmentalist Group Sierra Club Essay1447 Words   |  6 Pagesunlikely partnership of The United Steel Workers Union and the environmentalist group Sierra Club, working together in order â€Å"to build a cleaner and fairer economy†. The normally opposing organizations are collaborating to improve â€Å"environmental policy and expand the number of and quality of jobs in the green economy.† Since the BlueGreen Alliance may be the first major collaborative group working to tackle these issues their effectiveness in comparison to other options has not been evaluated. InRead More is the worlds future a promise or a threat? Essay640 Words   |  3 Pagesplace, and became a more important force in shaping European and world events. People in the 1890’s held expectations for the future. In 1939, the World Fair, called â€Å"The World of Tomorrow† was held in New York City. Flashes of genius by inventors working on their own birthed most of the dazzling discoveries of 1939. The inventors werent striving for money or fame. They genuinely were looking for a way to improve peoples lives. To restore public confidence in the private sector, exhibitors at theRead MoreEssay on Organizational Behavior1070 Words   |  5 Pagesimpact of individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2005). OB is a knowledge base that helps people work together to improve the performance of organizations(Schermerhorn et al.). In his article The Company of the Future Robert Reich explains some of the O B trends that I have experienced while working for The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG). These trends include: commitment to ethical behavior, importance of human capital, and emphasis on teamwork. PBG

The Hobbit And The Odyssey - 1762 Words

Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to tell who is the ‘good guy’ in a story. A hero never begins as the perfect man.. There are stories where the adventurer is a thief or a murderer. However, there are also tales about an average man realizing that he is lacking something or recognizing that it is time to leave the nest. In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Bilbo Baggins is nothing extraordinary. He is, like most other hobbits, fearful of the unknown. But, with the prodding of Gandalf; Bilbo leaves the Shire and finds his courage. The first definition of a hero in the Merriam Webster dictionary is, â€Å"A mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability.† According to this explanation, Mr. Baggins is not a hero. However, Odysseus, the hero in the epic The Odyssey by Homer, fits the definition to a t. Both The Hobbit and The Odyssey, follow what Joseph Campbell describes as the â€Å"Hero’s Journey.† Campbell’s formula for a hero consists of three parts: separation, initiation, and the return to society. The hero undertakes a difficult journey and suffers hardships in order to return a better person and help his community. Tales that follow the Hero’s Journey have been ever-present in history as seen in varying works of literature from ancient Celtic myths to the movie Star Wars. Stories told by people throughout history are used to try to describe the intricate dance between ideology and theology. There is also something that isShow MoreRelatedCompare And Contrast The Odyssey And The Hobbit1472 Words   |  6 Pages Compare and Contrast As I read through Homer’s The Odyssey, and J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit, I immediately noticed several similarities between the two. Of course not only were their things that they both shared in common, but also things that set them apart from each other. I mean what kind of authors would they be if they wrote the same exact story. I hope that by reading this essay you gain a better understanding of both books as well as what they have in common and what is different betweenRead MoreThe Unexpected Epic Of Bilbo Baggins s The Odyssey 1297 Words   |  6 Pagesinitiated the concept of an epic hero in the person of Odysseus in the epic poem The Odyssey. Through his works and other author s works, the traits of an epic hero emerge. An epic hero embodies certain traits or characteristics; a strong love for their people, courage and being humble. The hero also grows stronger through a journey that benefits more than just the hero; a selfless act. Bilbo Baggins who is a hob bit who lives in a small house, small town in a small hole. No one would have thoughtRead MoreThe Odyssey Heros Journey Essay1322 Words   |  6 PagesThe timeless story, The Odyssey, has left it’s mark in literature as one of the first narratives depicting the hero’s journey cycle. This work of creative writing has laid the foundation of storytelling that would later inspire other popular writings like, The Hunger Games, The Lord of The Rings, and Harry Potter. How has this ancient novel withstand the sands of time and remain relevant and appealing even to modern day readers? The Odyssey touches upon many topics that appear attractive to evenRead MoreFamily Structure Of A Small Studio Located975 Words   |  4 Pageshave chosen for ourselves. We are all Hobbits who love our Shire, or security, our creature comforts, whether these are pipeweed, mushrooms, five meals a day, and local gossip, or Starbucks coffees, recreational sex, and politics. But something, some aut hority not named in The Lord of the Rings (but named in the Silmarillion), has decreed that a Quest should interrupt this delightful Epicurean garden and send us on an odyssey. We are plucked out of our Hobbit holes and plunked down onto a Road.† ―Read MoreThe Lord Of The Rings1698 Words   |  7 Pagessays that it was not until Tolkien wrote his trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, that the genre really transitioned into what it is today. Behrens claims that it was partly due to Tolkien’s works being geared toward more mature readers (excluding The Hobbit), as most fantasy books at the time were written purely for children. The author concludes by saying that he also was able to accomplish this because of his dedication to making a gigantic world with its own creatures, languages, and history. I believeRead MoreThe Fiction Genre And Will Cover Key Stage 2 And The Hobbit By J.r. R Tolkien3189 Words   |  13 PagesThe texts to be examined in this assignment are all from the Fantasy Fiction Genre and will cover Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 as these are both relevant to those covered within lectures. We will begin with Key Stage 2 and The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien looking for examples as to why this would be considered Key Stage Two. The same process will be followed with The Silmarillion by the same author for Key Stage 3. Once the key stages have been confirmed for each piece of literature we can then begin toRead MoreBritish Literature Essay1614 Words   |  7 Pageswhere small hobbits seek happiness, goodness and live many adventures – Hobbit, The lord of the ring. George Orwell – he wrote excellent novels criticizing totalitarian society (Animal farm, 1984) Aghata Christie – she is the most widely read author in the world. She is the queen of a detective story and wrote about 70 novels – The murder of Robert Ackroyd, Ten Little nigers, Sleeping murder, Curtain †¦ Arthur C.Clarke – he is world known science-fiction writer – 2001: A space odyssey, the fountainsRead MoreEssay about The Odyssey as a Hero Journey2353 Words   |  10 Pagesfor almost all of the books and plays we read. For example, J.R.R. Tolkiens, The Hobbit, an epic fantasy adventure in which Bilbo Baggins, the connection for the reader to the fantastical world the book takes place in, is called to action and set in motion on his Hero Journey by Gandalf, a wizard. Another example of a famous myth following this archetypal framework is The Odyssey. Homers epic story, The Odyssey, of the hero Odysseus and his son Telemakhos follows closely the cycle of JosephRead MoreThe Hobbit Double Entry Journal Prompts3406 Words   |  14 Pagesshe made the thick goo they shot up my nose apple flavored. This was probably one of the weirdest feelings I have ever experienced. Just like Fili, I did not want to smell apples for a long time. This excerpt I picked reminds me of a part of the Odyssey. The specific part I am referencing to is the Suitors. After learning how expensive it is to have company over for an occasion, the connection I made between both pieces of literature only emphasizes this idea by giving more evidence. â€Å"Not at anyRead MoreMovie Review : Star Wars1848 Words   |  8 Pageson to direct The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit movies. Christopher Nolan made the successful reboot of the Batman series and directed the confusing Inception. Joss Whedon went on to make the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and direct The Avengers, and Ridley Scott who directed The Martian and The Gladiator (C. Taylor). Before Star Wars came out there was nothing similar to it before 1977, with the exception of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Even then they are not very similar, yes they are

Montesquieu and George Washington Free Essays

Our national government, in my opinion, was structured by following the writings of Montesquieu. Montesquieu wrote that leaders could not be trusted to always do what was right for the people and that govenment should be structured to keep the leaders of the government from acting in a selfish manner and passing laws that would help a select few instead of the majority of the people. That is exactly the way our Founding Fathers thought when they were writing the Constitution. We will write a custom essay sample on Montesquieu and George Washington or any similar topic only for you Order Now Montesquieu first had the idea of seperation of powers in a government. He thought if there were different branches of government, then no one branch would have too much power. He also thought that each branch of government should represent different groups of the population, so no one group would have all the power. Our government followed this almost exactly as he wrote it. We have the Congress which is divided up into two seperate houses, one being represented by people who are voted on by the population. How many representatives there are, depends on the amount of people in an area. The other is voted on by the people, but are the same amount for each state. Montesquieu also believed in a checks and balances system, where one branch of government has the power to check on another branch, and that one branch could not force another to do what it wanted it to do, but it could make sure that the other branch was doing something it shouldn’t do. I think our national government has followed this idea too. Our government is set up so that each branch can check on the other to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to do for the common good of the nation. Ours may go even further than Montesquieu’s ideas, because our President has the power to Veto a law that has passed through Congress, but Congress can override his veto if they have enough votes. I think the men who set up our national government not only followed the ideas of Montesquieu, but believed his ideas were correct when structering our government. How to cite Montesquieu and George Washington, Papers

Sociology linguistic free essay sample

It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Thesis Projects, 1993-2002 by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [emailprotected] edu. Teaching Sociolinguistic Competence in the ESL Classroom A College Scholars Project Claire Ann Mizne June, 1997 Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Beverly Moser for her infinite patience and confidence in me, without which this project would never have existed. I would also like to thank Dr. Mellor, Dr. Nakuma, Dr. Reese, Dr. Leki, and Dr. Broadhead for their help and support, and my parents whose encouraging words were always appreciated. Abstract In todays globalized society, the ability to express oneself in a foreign or second language is a vital skill. For a speaker to be able to be considered a bilingual speaker, he or she nlust have the capability to talk about any subject in any situation from the dinner table to a speech at the inaugunil ball. We will write a custom essay sample on Sociology linguistic or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page According to the American Council on the Teaching on foreign Languages (ACTFL) scale for language proficiency, superior level of speaking means the learner is approaching such a capacity. To reach the superior level of speaking ability, one must be able to speak about abstract topics and speak appropriately in a wide variety of settings with very few errors. However, even after studying another language for many years, learners often still never achieve this level of proficiency and have great difficulty in expressing themselves in that language to a native speaker. Reasons for this continued difficulty in communicating in the second language can include problems with pronunciation, lack of knowledge on actual speech use of idiomatic expressions and slang, and learner differences in the ability to acquire language and in motivation to produce native-like speech. Another important contributing factor for incompetence in the language is that the speaker does not know which utterances are appropriate in the social situation in which he or she is speaking. This ability to adjust ones speech to fit the situation in which it is said is called sociolinguistic competence, and without this ability, even the most perfectly grammatical utterances can convey a meaning entirely different from that which the speaker intended. One of the factors that makes sociolinguistic competence so hard to acquire is the large amount of variance in cultural rules of speaking; in other words, what is appropriate to say in one culture may be completely inappropriate in another culture, even though the situation in which it is said is the same. The learner is often unaware of these differences, and uses the rules of speaking of his or her native culture when communicating in the foreign language. This process, called praglnatic transfer, results in misunderstandings between the speech participants, and can cause serious breakdowns in communication. These rules of speaking can be slowly acquired by the language learner as he or she is immersed in the target language culture; however, learning these rules through immersion is a time consuming process, with many rules going nnoticed for years, or even worse, never being acquired at all. Teaching skills in sociolinguistic competence in the second language classroom as a supplement to the immersion process may be a good way to help students learn these skills more efficiently and in less time. Unfortunately, however, there are many difficulties associated with the teaching of sociolinguistic competence to foreign language students which will be enumerated in the following paragr aph. In order to learn appropriateness of speech in the target language culture, it is necessary for students to study culture and cross-cultural differences so that they can see where their native culture differs from the culture of the language they are learning. However, teaching culture in the classroom is quite problematic. Culture is a complex concept that is hard to define, especially to students with a limited proficiency in the language used in the classroom. It is also a very sensitive topic, and the teacher must be cautious of avoiding stereotypes and unintentionally offending students especially in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class where there are students from a variety of cultures in a single classroom. Culture is also so embedded in people that they are not even aware of many characteristics within their own culture. Therefore, it is difficult for teachers to teach culture by relying on their own perceptions of their native culture. The same is true of sociolinguistic aspects of language. Moreover, what native speakers believe they would say in a given situation is often quite different from what they are found to actually say in observational studies. Since even linguists are often unaware of their own sociolinguistic rules for speaking, it is unrealistic to expect language teachers to have this know ledge readily at hand. However, there is a lack of resources that present this information in a format that can be easily used by ESL teachers in training. This project serves to enrich the available resources addressing these complicated topics of culture and sociolinguistics through the development of a teaching module that teaches these concepts directly to a class of advanced English as a Second Language students. The module was taught during two consecutive one hour class periods and the class consisted of 11 adult students 1 Turkish, 3 Latin American, and 7 Asian. In the first class, the Kluckhohn Model was used to teach cross-cultural differences to the students. During he second class, the speech act of compliments was used with emphasis placed on the American rules of usage for these compliments, as well as the American values that can be seen through these rules of usage. At the end of the class period, a survey was given to the students and regular classroom teacher, asking them to provide some background language information and to evaluate the helpfulness of the cross-cultural information in their language learning process . They were also asked to rank a list of speech acts in order of difficulty. The results of the survey showed the students to find the information helpful, with students being in the United States more that six months finding the information very helpful, while students who had been in the United States for less than six months found the information only marginally helpful. This finding suggests that the most effective time to teach cultural information in the target language country may be after the students have had some time to experience the culture they are learning about. The students listed mainly face-threatening speech acts as being difficult, that is, those speech acts such as refusals, apologies, and giving advice, all of which require a careful choice of wording due to the possibility of damaging the other persons face or public image. Also, the teachers perceptions of which speech acts were difficult for the students did not match the students perceptions. A discussion concerning the implications of these findings follows, ending with a series of conclusions regarding the teaching of sociolinguistic competence. For example, a Japanese learner of English living in the United States may wish to express extreme gratitude to someone, and uses the phrase I am so sorry. In Japan, an apology can function as an intense way of giving thanks; however, a direct translation of such an utterance into English does not have the desired effect since English does not use apologies for expressing gratitude. What results is utter confusion, as the American listener wonders why the Japanese speaker is apologizing, and the Japanese speaker is hurt that the American did not acknowledge his giving of thanks. The problem that comes to light through this example is that grammar and lexical meanings of words alone cannot give persons the ability to express their meaning in a foreign or second language. There are some other factors that must playa role. in language learning. Culture must be one of these factors, since it is cultural differences in language use that created the problem for the speakers in the example above. Lets look at another example. An Indonesian student studying in the United States wants to express to his professor his concern for the professors well-being, so after class he 8 advises the professor to eat less fattening foods so that he will look more fit. Here the American listener again understands the literal meaning of the words, but the speakers intention of showing friendliness by giving advice, a common strategy in his native country, is lost as the American listener interprets this action as an assault on his privacy and as an extremely rude comment. Cultural differences again create problems for the language learner, and in this case, one can see how the speaker has unknowingly violated American rules on what type of advice one can give, when it is appropriate to give this advice, to whom it is appropriate to give such advice, and for what reasons one would choose to give someone advice in the first place. These rules of speaking change as one moves from culture to culture; thus, the cultural context plays a vital role in accurate expression of meaning. Other contextual factors such as the time when the utterance is said, the setting of the speech event (for example, compare speech in a courtroom to the speech of people eating at Mc Donalds) and the participants involved (looking at such factors as social status, gender, and age of the participants) all affect the language being said. An utterance may be grammatical, but as in the advice giving example, one must know whether or not the utterance is appropriate to the given context. Is it appropriate for a student to give advice to a professor, someone of higher social status? Should advice be given to a professor in a classroom setting? These environmental j factors that affect language including cultural factors compose a large part of the non-grammatical aspects of language that a language learner must learn in order to become competent in a language. Sociolinguistics is a word used to describe the study of the appropriateness of language in different contexts. In other words, sociolinguistics is the study of how situational factors such as the cultural context and setting of a speech event affect the choice of what should be said. When language learners learn how to manipulate their utterances to make them appropriate to the situation in which they are speaking, it is said that they have achieved 9 sociolinguistic competence in that language. Along these lines, linguistic competence is the term used to describe a learners abilities in the grammatical aspects of language, including grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. The examples above show what happens when one has a high linguistic competence, and a low sociolinguistic competence. In this situation, the learner takes the meaning he or she wishes to convey and applies the appropriate grammar rules for speaking that utterance in the target language, but since he or she is lacking a full stock of sociolinguistic rules for speaking in that language, he or she compensates by applying the sociolinguistic rules of his or her native language instead. The result, as shown in the examples, is grammatically sound statements that are misunderstood since they do not conform to the sociolinguistic norms of the target language. The speaker, in ignorance of the norms, does not even realize that any sociolinguistic rules of speaking were broken, and feels confused when the listener responds strangely or seems put off by what was said. To make matters worse, since the language learner has a high level of linguistic competence, the native listener assumes the speaker also has an equally high level of sociolinguistic competence, and the language learners sociolinguistic errors are not perceived he native speaker as language errors at all, but as flaws in the speakers character. As a result, the language learner comes across as a rude and ill-mannered person (Marsh, 1990, p. 182). So how can language learners avoid such serious breaches in communication? They can prevent such problems by increasing their level of sociolinguistic competence. How does one , achieve a high level of sociolinguistic competence? For students living. in the target language culture, it might be assumed that they will acquire sociolinguistic competence simply by immersion. However, a summary by King Silver (1993) of studies written on the effect of immersion on sociolinguistic competence lead them to conclude H †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ that length of stay in an second language environment is beneficial for acquiring sociolinguistic competence but insufficient and time consuming (King Silver, 1993, p. 48, italics mine). So perhaps 10 classroom instruction is needed in addition to immersion to help students achieve sociolinguistic competence better and faster. So how can the foreign language teacher increase the sociolinguistic competence of students? An obvious possibility might be to teach culture and sociolinguistic issues explicitly in the classroom; however, this approach is quite problematic. Culture is hard to define, much less teach to students not yet fully competent in the language of instruction, which is why culture is often taught only in the advanced levels classes. In the case of English as a Second Language (ESL), teaching such a sensitive topic as culture to a classroom of students from countries all around the world can be particularly challenging. Another problem is that both culture and sociolinguistic features are so deeply ingrained within a person that he or she is not even aware of many of these elements on a conscious level, making it hard for teachers to teach their native culture and language to the language learners. In response to these difficulties, culture is commonly taught only as an add-on topic, or it is taught indirectly through literature and facts about the target language country, while sociolinguistic issues are often left for the learner to learn by xperience. The development of cultural and sociolinguistic awareness may not always be effective through these methods alone, and it is beneficial to supplement these methods with approaches that incorporate these topics directly into the teaching syllabus. However, with cultural and sociolinguistic factors not being treated as major issues in language teaching, there is little interest in the development of teaching materials on these topics, and those materi als that are available are often of poor quality. Statement of the Problem There is an obvious need for teachers to help their students achieve a high level of sociolinguistic competence; however, there are not many resources available to help teachers approach this task. As noted above, culture and sociolinguistic aspects of language are vital for 11 sociolinguistic competence, but are extremely difficult to teach. In this project, I address the complicated task of teaching culture and sociolinguistics, and I offer a model for teaching these topics in the ESL classroom. The following questions guided this project: 1) What methods are currently used to teach culture and sociolinguistic competence in the ESL classroom? 2) Is it possible to teach these methods overtly to students, and would they find it helpful? 3) What difficulties are involved in presenting such abstract information directly to students whose English proficiency may be limited? Definitions Culture A societys values and fundamental elements that distinguish that society from all others; an anthropological view of culture. High culture The literary, philosophic, or artistic achievements of a society. Linguistic Competence The ability to use correct grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary in a language. Pragmatic Rules Non-grammar related rules that characterize the appropriateness of speech to the context in which it is spoken. Pragmatic Transfer The application of native cultural rules for the appropriateness of an utterance in a target language situation. Sociolinguistics The study of language in context; the study of how situational factors (such as time; setting; age, sex, and gender of the participants) affect the language being used. Sociolinguistic Competence The ability to produce utterances appropriate to the social situation in which they are spoken. 12 Target Language The language the person is learning to speak. Target Language Culture The culture of the language the person is learning how to speak. Literature Review This section will examine existing literature and will discuss the necessity for addressing the sociolinguistic con1petence of language students, as well as explain the problems and complications associated with the teaching of culture and sociolinguistics in the classroom. Sociolinguistic Competence Early in the twentieth century, language teaching focused primarily on grammar and translation of written text. The shift of focus to speaking competence in more recent years fostered the idea of communicative competence, that is, ability to speak a language proficiently. Canale and Swain in 1980 and 1983 respectively (cited in Omaggio Hadley, 1993, pp. 6-7) break down communicative competence into four parts: (1) linguistic competence, ability to use the linguistic code, grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary correctly, (2) discourse competence, which is the ability to maintain cohesion between segments of discourse, (3) strategic competence, which is the leamers ability to repair communication breakdown and work around gaps in his or her knowledge of the target language, and finally (4) sociolinguistic competence, the learners ability to use language appropriately in various social contexts. Canale and Swains model for communicative competence serves to ensure that non-linguistic aspects of language such as sociolinguistic competence would not be ignored in the understanding of communicative competence. Sociolinguistic competence requires adjusting ones grammatical forms to be appropriate to the setting in which the communication takes place. Attention is paid to such 13 factors as the age, status, and sex of the participants and the formality of the setting. When one travels to a different culture, these situational factors may call for different speech reactions then they would in the native culture. Wolfson (1989) describes the effects of this different cultural context on language learning with the term sociolinguistic relativity, which she defines as the following: each community has its own unique set of conventions, rules, and patterns for the conduct of communication and (that) these must be understood in the context of a general system which reflects the values and the structure of society. (Wolfson, 1989, p. , emphasis added) This statement says that culture can be used as an underlying framework for making sense of all the regularities in a communitys use of language. Students may better understand the conventions of language use in a society if they also study that societys culture, emphasizing again the importance of teaching both cultural and sociolinguistic aspects of language. Cross-cultural Communication One of the chall enges in acquiring sociolinguistic competence is accounting for the multitude of differences of language use among cultures. Successful cross-cultural communication is an amazing feat when one considers all the potential areas where the cultures involved differ in language use. For example, in India discussion of personal topics with people is not seen as nosy, but as a sign of personal interest, while for Navajo tribesmen, even being asked their first name is considered rude (Applegate, 1975, pp. 276-277). To atten1pt communication without a sensitivity to such wide variances in rules of speaking can result in serious misunderstandings. The next section discusses a sensitive communication phenomenon that is ependent on a cultures perceptions of the speech situation. 14 An example of an important feature of language that can lead to misunderstandings between cultures relates to different cultures estimates offace. Face is defined as the negotiated public image, mutually granted each other by participants in a communicative event (Scollon Scollon, 1995, p. 35). People use face as a strategy to accomplish a social goal, since how the speech participants negotiate their public images determines the relationship between the speakers. One type of face strategies is involvement strategies (Scollon Scollon, 1995, pp. 36-37). These are used to show closeness with friends, or they are used when speaking to people of lower status. An example of an involvement strategy is the use of first nanles a speaker may use someones first name to show that this person is a friend, and a boss of a company has a right to call employees by their first name since the boss has a higher social status. The other type of face strategies is independence strategies (Scollon Scollon, 1995, pp. 7-38). These are used to show distance or respect towards someone the speaker does not know well, and they are often used by a person of low social status to show respect to a person of higher social status. To continue our example of name usage, the use of a title and someones last name is an example of an independence strategy. For example, if one was in a police station, one would address an unknown policeman as officer or Officer Joe. When addres sing ones boss, someone of higher social status, one would address him as Mr. _ , unless he or she said to do otherwise; whereas the boss, on the other hand, can call an employee by first name at any time. Every exchange of utterances between people involves face (Scollon Scollon, 1995, p. 38). Each speaker knows which strategy of face to use by assessing the social statuses of the participants, how well he or she knows the participants, and the circumstances under which they are speaking. Face is thus dependent on situational factors, making it an important part of sociolinguistic competence. A correct assessment of face is crucial, since when two speakers 5 differ in their assessments of face, this difference is perceived as a difference in power (Scollon Scollon, 1995, p. 48). For example, if one person is trying to show respect to a new acquaintance by using independence strategies, he or she expects the other person to use the same strategy. If the other person instead uses a n involvement strategy, the first person may feel like he or she is being spoken down to because involvement strategies are used by people in a higher social status when they are speaking to someone of a lower social status. Speech Acts Cultural variations in language are most obvious in the function of language known as speech acts. A speech act is the use of speech focusing on the speakers intentions of affecting and eliciting an action or effect on the listener (Jannedy, Poletto, Weldon, 1994, p. 465). Examples of speech acts include requests, compliments, invitations, and expressions of gratitude. Each speech act has within it a set formula of possible statement types that work together to compose the speech act. For example, the speech act of apologies can be broken down into the following conlponents: expression of an apology, an explanation or account of the situation, an acknowledgment of responsibility, an offer of repair, and a promise of forbearance (Cohen Olshtain, cited in Cohen Olshtain, 1983, p. 22). Speech acts carry a heavy social interaction load and can seriously offend people if not presented according to the proper formula and in the proper circumstances. Even nlore crucially, the situations calling for a certain speech act and the rules for how to give that speech act vary across cultures (Blum-Kulka, House, Kasper, 1989). The reverse is also true, that is, different cultures use different speech acts for the same situation (Wolfson, Marmor, and Jones, 1984). This cultural variation in speech act use makes these speech productions especially difficult for nonnative speakers trying to communicate in the unfamiliar target language culture (Blum-Kulka, House, Kasper, 1989) Exanlples of where speech acts differ across cultures are numerous. For example, in 16 English a direct request can sound a bit rude to native speakers, so they tend to use an indirect request instead. Hebrew, on the other hand, does not even have indirect requests (Blum-Kulka, 1983). If one looks to the cultural context for an explanation of this difference, one finds that Hebrew social norms allow for more directness than English ones (Blum-Kulka, 1983, p. 46). Another example is in the use of American invitations. Americans often give what could be called false invitations. These are invitations such as Lets get together sometime or Lets do lunch that often are never followed through. These false invitations are a special use of the invitation speech act by Americans as a strategy to show friendliness and concern for someone, rather than for setting up an actual get-together (Wolfson, D Amico-Reisner, Huber, 1983). Pragmatic Transfer Interesting cross-cultural variation can be found in the use of English speech acts by nonnative speakers. In the case of apologies, one study found that Hebrew students learning English tended to show intensity of regret in apologies less than native English speakers did (Cohen . Olshtain, 1983), while Chinese students learning English tended to show intensity of regret in apologies much more so than native English speakers (Wu, cited in Cohen Olshtain, 1983). Thus, Hebrew learners of English often come across as being rude, while Chinese learners of English come across as being overly polite. The Chinese student learning English also tends to give an explanation even when there is no need t? do so from the American cultural perspective. Take, for example, the case where a Chinese student accidentally picked up someones umbrella and said, Oh, excuse me. I didnt want to take away your umbrella. Uh .. if I wanted to take your umbrella away, I should take away my umbrella also. But my umbrella is still in place (Wu, cited in Cohen Olshtain, 1983, p. 30). In this example, the student might even be regarded with suspicion for giving such a lengthy †¢ 17 response, since Americans regard the apology as disproportionately great for a minor offense. These examp les show that students from different cultures alter the sociolinguistic rules of speaking a foreign language in different ways. One explanation for this variation is frequently that these students normally use such speech acts in their native languages in similar situations. A study comparing apologies between speakers of English, Russian, and Hebrew found that Hebrew uses each component of the apology (expression of an apology, an explanation or account of the situation, an acknowledgment of responsibility, an offer of repair, and a promise of forbearance (Cohen Olshtain, 1983)) less frequently than both speakers of English and Russian (Olshtain, 1981, cited in Cohen Olshtain, 1983), and in fact, Hebrew has the lowest degree of apology of the three languages studied. When one looks at our earlier example on the lack of intensity of regret in apology use by Hebrew speakers of English, one can see that these students are applying the rules of apology use in their native language of Hebrew to English. The problem is that the native language rules do not transfer well since English rules for apology use require a higher intensity of regret than Hebrew does. This phenomenon is called pragmatic transfer, and can be defined as the application of the sociolinguistic rules of ones native language to a second or foreign language resulting in non-nativelike speech. A study by Thomas (cited in Wolfson, 1989, p. 16) describes two types of pragmatic failure. The first kind is pragnlalinguistic failure, in which case the nonnative speaker uses grammatical forms in the target language without regard for the speaking conventions in the target culture. For example, an American in France when asked, Would you like a cup of coffee? might reply thanks as an affirmative response, not knowing that in France, thanks is interpreted to mean no (Applegate, 1975, p. 275). In this case, the same speech act of requesting exists in both languages, but the response sequence works differently in each case. The other type of pragmatic transfer is sociopraglnatic transfer, in which the native speaker 18 applies the cultural rules of his or her native culture for the speaking situation in progress in the target language. There are many documented cases of pragmatic transfer. As mentioned earlier, Hebrew does not use indirect requests like English does. Blum-Kulka (1983) finds English speaking learners of Hebrew using pragmatic transfer, as in one case where English speakers use the could you request forms in their Hebrew, not knowing that the can you question does not have this same use in Hebrew. The previously given example regarding advice giving by Indonesian speakers of English is another case of pragmatic transfer, as Indonesian speakers of English give advice frequently and on personal issues to people of higher status because in their native language advice giving is a show of friendliness and concern for the person. However, in American English, advice giving is seen as meddlesome and unduly familiar when given to superiors, so the Indonesian students would inadvertently offend the professor due to pragmatic transfer (Hinkel, 1994). Yet another example concerns the speech act of giving thanks. In many South Asian languages such as Marathi and Hindi, gratitude is not expressed to a person unless the person being thanked has actually done an action they were not under any obligation to perform. When speakers of these languages interact in the Western world where saying thank you is a formulaic utterance in nearly all service encounters, their lack of participation in these thanking sequences makes them appear rude and ungrateful (Apte, cited in Wolfson, 1989, pp. 21-22). Pragmatic transfer also occurs on the receiving end. Often a nonnative speaker will interpret a native speakers utterance along the sociolinguistic rules of his or her native language, resulting in a misinterpretation of the utterance. In the case of the American false invitation, many nonnative speakers interpret Americans to be insincere since they never follow through on such invitations (Wolfson, 1989, pp. 23-24). The problem lies in the leamers interpretation of the use of the invitation because they are assuming that the invitation functions the same as it does in their native languagethat is, to set up a get-together. They are 19 ot even aware of the American usage of this speech act as a means of showing friendliness. Another such example involves the case of compliments. Americans have a high frequency of compliment usage as compared to other cultures (Wolfson, 1989), The reason Americans compliment each other so frequently is because compliments can be used in American English to promote good will towards the listener in orde r to show a desire for good relations with that person. When speakers from cultures where compliments are used less frequently come to the United States, they are often suspicious of Americans excessive use of compliments. They may believe that such compliments are insincere, and that the compliment may even be a hint that something is wrong with the person or thing being spoken about (Wolfson, 1989, pp. 116-117). Pragmatic Fossilization Pragmatic transfer is a serious problem that can result in numerous misunderstandings and hurt feelings. If language learners must function in a target language culture that is different from their native culture, they may have to suffer through numerous such problems in the struggle to learn the new cultural rules of speaking. The problem is that many times the language learners may not even notice that they are breaking these rules of speaking, and may unknowingly continue to offend native speakers without ever realizing that they are doing so. In Hinkel (1994) students were found to believe that giving advice on a sensitive topics such as diet to a professor was acceptable even after they had been living in the United States for over a year. These students had still not realized that such actions were inappropriate in the American cultural setting. A study by Gumperz in 1977 (cited in Gchs Schieffelin, p. 308) found that even after living in London for ten years, Indian speakers of English were still making sociolinguistic mistakes in speaking that made them sound rude to British speakers of English. Such cases as these are examples of pragmatic fossilization, a term used to describe when a language learner continues to use the rules of speaking of their native language despite a long 20 time spent in the target language environment (Marsh, 1990). Classroom instruction may be a vital aid in helping to push students towards higher levels of sociolinguistic competence, thus preventing pragmatic fossilization. Cultural Myopia Why does pragmatic fossilization occur? Why can language learners not simply observe native speakers and adjust their manner of speaking accordingly? The answer lies in the fact that language is so deeply embedded within a persons subconscious, he or she is unable to notice where the target language rules of speaking differ from their native language rules which seem so natural. From the time of birth, children are raised within a cultural context, and since culture is an integral part of language, the process of socialization in the conventions of this culture occur simultaneously as a part of language acquisition (Ochs Schieffelin, 1984). For example, the high frequency of indirect requests in Japanese is taught to Japanese children at a very young age. Japanese mothers will make an indirect request for something to their twoyear-old by stating a wish such as Gee, Id like some soup too, and the two-year-old already knows at this young age that such a statement is indeed an imperative (Clancy, 1990, p. 9). Since one is socialized in ones native language culture from birth, much of ones understanding of reality is founded in these early cultural lessons. Culture so thoroughly affects perception of the world and persons may be so thoroughly bound to their own culture that they may be unaware that other ways of viewing life are even possible. Moreover, ways t o view the world vary dramatically from culture to culture. For example, Americans measure a persons worth largely by their achievements and accomplishments in life. This outlook is very different from many non-Western societies that measure a persons worth principally by who they are, looking not at what they have done in life but rather what role or social status they were born into. When people confront a culture whose basic values differ from their own, they may see 21 this culture as silly or wrong. When people are so embedded in their native culture that they are unable to understand or accept the fact that other cultures may view the world differently, they are said to suffer from cultural myopia.