Recording labels and music marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Recording labels and music marketing - Essay Example In the article "Paying the Price" there is a new owner of EMI Universal. Rivals of EMI are challenged with an opportunity to expand all over the world. Moreover, our study looks at UK albums and singles sales between the beginning of 2011 and the artists and assets behind 44% of EMI's album sales, which will have to be divested in 2012 and about 30% of UK singles sales must expand. These impressive figures underline the fact that a challenging environment of the modern music industry sets the pace of a competitive development in this field. This is a complicated background for future performance of the Company internationally. Moreover, divestments experienced by the Company can lead it to huge losses. It is hard to believe, but the artists, whose creative works and developments were rooted in this Company, are now leaving it. Artists and assets are to be sold off by Universal behind 44% of EMI's UK album sales in 18 months to the end of June 2012. This Company sold 20.4 million albu ms in UK between January 2011 and June 2012 with to-be-divested Parlophone label behind more than 3 million of them. The Company must let go albums of very popular artists, such as David Guetta, Kate Bush, Eliza Doolittle and some others. EMI's to-be-divested share of the Now! Franchise equated to more that 2.4 million UK album sales in 18th months period. There are some interests of the competitors in the field of music industry, which are violated. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that some artists stay with the Company.

External and Internal Environments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

External and Internal Environments - Essay Example Segments of General Environment Affecting the Company: Environmental internal and the external factors both affect the function ability of the any company. Internal factors are the controllable factor prevailing within the firm. Whereas external factor accounts for those factors which are beyond the control of any firm. One of the external factors affected the pricing strategy of a single product of Microsoft. The factor was one of the macro environmental factors of the external environment affecting the entire information technology industry. One of the factors was the political and legal forces. This did not directly affect the marketing ability of the company but indirectly clouted the marketing decisions of the company. For Microsoft political and legal external environmental forces lead profound influence on the decision making and strategy department of the company. Changes in the political and legal field hugely affected the marketing decision of the company. These forces are the macro economics forces which affects the overall industries. XBOX 360 is one of the products of Microsoft which comes under the Interactive Entertainment Business division of Microsoft. The issue which came to the picture depicted that the use of lead free solder was the source for lack of strength in the XBOX 360. So prohibitions were brought by government for the usage of lead and mercury cadmium. Following this issue the European Union announced the banning of lead and mercury Cadmium on every product used by any companies in the IT industry. It assures that the external environmental issues affected not only Microsoft but also the entire IT industry (Cornwell, n.d., pp. 1-4). Social and cultural forces of the external environment also affect the marketing concepts of the company. It assures that the firm should take a go ahead in eliminating the detrimental product. As an effect of the same Microsoft stated working to pertain technology to noteworthy environmental issues and collaborated with European Environmental Agency (Microsoft, Corporate Citizenship, 2013). Porter’s Five Forces: Michael Porte’s five forces of competition give a brief of a simple model helpful in assessing and scrutinizing the competitive strength and situation of a certain firm in respect to its competitors. Porter’s five forces lead to a competition of the rivals of the industry. Two of the forces are existing competitive â€Å"entry of competitors† and the second is â€Å"threats of substitute products†. Threats of substitute products are the potential threats from the competitors within the industry regarding the products. Microsoft faced threats from the competitors in the field of personal computer software market. Its close competitors were MAC OS, Sun Solaris, Linux, various structured browser, lotus notes etc. This lead to a high degree of competition amongst the IT companies within the industries regarding their close substitutes. But i n this aspect the government had a different view. As per the government Microsoft did not face any such threats from the competitors regarding he close substitutes. Rather it enjoyed a monopoly in the middle level market due to its pricing strategy. They also added another reason that the software markets are

Using Roleplay To Help Students Learn English

Using Roleplay To Help Students Learn English 1. INTRODUCTION The more students talk, the better they learn; Speaking skill is not given special significance in the teaching of English in Vietnamese universities. Traditional English education in Vietnam focuses heavily on reading skill. Also, many Vietnamese students and even teachers have examination-orientation. In the first semester, students start the elementary level with the textbooks Lifeline set (Hutchinson, 2001). The textbook cover four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. The assessment at the end of each semester is based on a written test involving reading and writing skills only. As a result, pre intermediate students spend more time improving reading and writing skills and mostly ignoring listening and speaking skills. This fact happens at not a single university in Vietnam but across the country. In the first semester, pre intermediate students do not have many chances to communicate in English; therefore, their speaking skill is restricted with lack of naturalness, reaction and pronunciation. Many are shy to speak out in English as they are afraid that listeners cant understand well what they say. Role play is considered one teaching method which motivates pre intermediate students to get involved in speaking lessons. In opinion of James G. Clawson (1997, p.2), role play is a superb vehicle for bringing the distiction between concept and reality to the fore. During role play, students are motivated to perform and act and speak in English class. They are challenged to use their English words in mind to apply into simple conversation in daily life. This indeed enables them to get familiar with normal conversation in their real life. Also, motivation influences how and why people learn as well as how they perform (Chin Chun Shih, 2001). While role play contributes to affect students attitudes positively and improve their English speaking skills, there is little research examining its effectiveness towards pre intermediate students in universities. In Vietnam, much of the research focuses on role play aiming at junior high schools students in foreign countries like Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. There is little research that indicates how role-play could influence students learning attitudes directly. Scarcella Oxford (1992, p.54) also pointed out that most researchers talk about using cooperative learning activities or student-centered learning in order not to put too much pressure on an individual student in front of the class. Therefore, this particular research is intended to focus on the effectiveness of role play in teaching speaking skills for pre intermediate students. Based on the above rationale, this research tends to seek answers to two below research questions: What are pre-intermediate students attitudes toward the role-play activity? In what way does role play improve pre-intermediate students speaking skills? Generally, this research aims at making clear two important aspects of role play: affecting attitudes positively and improving speaking skills properly. Firstly, this research shows how role -play has a direct effect on learners attitudes. Secondly, this research intends to point out how role play help improve their speaking skills in particular. The structure of this research includes the context and methodology as the qualitative method. Data will be collected via oral test, interview and observation, which will then described and analyzed in item data analysis. Next, the content of reflection shows what is gained and which possibly further research questions are. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW Definitions of terms Role-play can be divided into role and play. Gillian (2002, p.7) refers role as to play a part (either their own or somebody elses) in a specific situation. He also indicates that Play represents the role is taken on in a safe environment in which students are as inventive and playful as possible (p.5). This teaching method enables students to enjoy the experience of having conversations with people in real life so as to develop their social communication. The function of role-play in language learning Teaching English in Vietnam mostly concentrates on grammar translation methods and is examination oriented. Adian Doff and Maxwell (2002, 1997) pointed out the problems of those English teaching methods, and argued that there is a need to develop more diverse English teaching methods or activities. Vietnamese students have common weakness reportedly as their speaking ability. They have little chance to practice conversation, even in the second language classrooms. In order to encourage students to speak in public, role -play is often used by teachers as one of the teaching methods. Maxwell (1997) holds the opinion that the purpose of role-play is to improve students verbal and nonverbal communication skills and to link and use previously built schemas, in both structured and improvised situations (p.1). This viewpoint shows that role -play could improve students in verbal or nonverbal communication while they are performing the roles in the dialogue. James G. Clawson (1997, p. 4) pointed that A common theme in the benefits of using role play is that the techninque can bring abstract discussions alive, make them live, and in so doing, open up students willingness to learn When taking part in the dialogues created by teachers or extracted from the text books, students will be required to act as the characters in the dialogues, therefore, they will find it easier to use the conversation in daily lives. Daily conversation will create lots of unpredictable situations that make students confused how to deal with. As noted by Salies (1995, p.6), role-play helps learn ers to deal with unpredictability, motivating them by adding emotion and increase the awareness of the listeners. Accordingly, role-play helps create a safe environment for students to practice their language skills. The influence of role play on attitudes Attitude plays an important role in learning English speaking skill. Without adequate and appropriate attitudes, pre-intermediate students are usually unwilling to learn what their teachers try to teach them. To make a change about students learning attitudes, teachers can use role play to increase their confidence because role-play proves to be a good choice for them to understand and handle the learning content. James G. Clawson (1997, p4) indicated that role play helps improve learners abilities to communicate their thoughts and feelings in effective and productive ways among peers. They will find themselves better motivated to learn if they are recognized as a part of the class. Motivation is important because it helps create good start. Role-play can also help reinforce students knowledge gained through constant practice and acting. Also, students learn to how to cooperate well with each other through working and discussing English together, which will lead to mutual affection. He pointed that emotional climate is a good motivation during learning process (Ray, 1992, p.9). Students can gain more confidence in a safe environment brought by role play method. The learning environment ha s become particularly important for students. Ray (1992) also agreed that students prefer a consistent learning environment with good order at which they feel safe. (p.5). In other words, students can learn better in a little pressure environment. Furthermore, role-play helps create peer relationships which have become very important in improving attitudes. Ray said that the main motivational factor for pre intermediate students is the social incentives reflected in peer relationships (1992, p.13). The speaking and practicing subjects would be their classmates, who are familiar to the students and cause them less pressure and nervousness. Students work in small or big groups and there is a competitiveness among these groups. By this kind of stimulus, students are able to increase their learning attitudes, and to learn the second language further. Therefore, in the context of this research study, the findings above show that role-play could affect students attitudes positively in four aspects: improving students confidence, motivating their participation, creating interest in speaking lessons, and improving peer relationships through moderate competition. In conclusion, the literature above may lead to the fact that the main function of role-play is to help students improve speaking skills. Below context will indicate that there is a need to examine how role-play can facilitate students speaking ability in Vietnams education environment. 3. CONTEXT In Vietnam, the teaching of English has been criticized with lack of practice and heavy focus on written examination. In most universities in Vietnam, students are tested in written form, meanwhile, oral tests are ignored since they are time consuming and too difficult for students. Many pre- intermediate students are reported with lack of English communicative ability due to their emphasis on the written exam in previous grades. Adian Doff (2002) stated that teachers would look at prior tests to assure that they covered the subject matter of the test or test objectives (p.2). The Entrance Exam is the main examination for high school students to enter university. There are two parts of questions. The first part include multiple choice grammar questions for each of which students must choose the best answer. The second part is a reading comprehension assessment that includes cloze tests (Ministry of Education and Training, 1999). Thus, students focus on writing and reading rather than speaking skills. Also, starting their learning in universities, pre-intermediate students are lack of chance to improve their speaking skills. They feel shy and can hardly speak and listen to English in their daily lives. Although they are taught the curriculum Lifeline set (Hutchinson, 2001) with four skills, the speaking skills are often ignored due to limited time in one period. Grammar or reading exercises are taken greater priority. Besides, teaching speaking seems to put a lot of effort into and not every teacher will be successful in a speaking lesson. As a matter of fact, so many teachers of English in Vietnam universities are trained with grammar translation method. That is the reason why they will face a big challenge to create an environment in which students are given more opportunities to use English as a means of communication. It has become more and more difficult for Vietnamese teachers when they have to work with large classes which are more suitable to give lectures instead of asking students to work in small groups. Teachers of English make it impossible to control such large classes if they have intention of teaching English in communicative way. A serious problem teachers in Vietnam have to tackle is that although there is a number of a method of teaching speaking skill, it is not easy at all to find out appropriate methods which help Vietnamese students, especially those at pre-intermediate leve l make some improvements in speaking skill. Researchers argue that role-play can help learners improve it. Firstly, role-play helps improve students listening ability. In viewpoint of Salies (1995, p.8), role-play makes students aware of the listener. Therefore, listening ability is as important as speaking ability and role-play might help to improve this skill. Secondly, role -play contributes to improve speaking ability. In order to speak well in a daily conversation, one should take consideration about the pronunciation as well because clear pronunciation helps speaking become two-way communication. In this case, while students are performing in speaking lessons, teachers will be able to listen to each students pronunciation and correct him/her individually during speaking sessions. In conclusion, the context above is critical because it indicates that there is a need to examine how role-play can facilitate pre intermediate students speaking ability in Vietnams universities. 4. METHODOLOGY According to C. Pope and N. Mays (1995), the goal of qualitative research is the development of concepts which help us to understand social phenomena in natural (rather than experimental) settings, giving due emphasis to the meanings, experiences, and views of all the participants. In the researchers viewpoint, qualitative method is proper to discover pre-students attitudes towards role play and how role play motivates them in speaking lessons. This part presents subjects, data collection instruments consisting of oral tests, interview and observation via two role play activities. 4.1. Subjects Participants Six students are randomly chosen. All are between the age of 19 and 20 and study English at pre-intermediate level. Students at pre-intermediate level but not other levels are chosen as they have more chance to take part in communication activities. In order to get an exact result, the participants English speaking ability is different. The backgrounds of participants are stated below. Name Sex Background English Level Nam Male He is quite good at English. He performs enthusiastically and confidently in English class. Good Mai Female Her English is at medium. However, she is willing to learn and perform in class. Medium Trung Male He is a person who is enthusiastic in English lesson even though his English is not as good as others. Medium Hoa Female Her English level is medium. She is very shy. She likes English, especially English speaking skill. But she is too shy to perform in class. Medium Sy Male He likes taking part in all games in class. Although his English is not good, he is not afraid to speak English. Not good Phuong Female She likes to talk loud in class, but not in English. Due to her weakness at English she seems to be very quiet in English lessons. Not good Teaching materials The main pilot teaching material is The New Headway Pre-intermediate textbook compiled by Liz John Soars. There are two dialogues used in this research. The researcher asked the informants to play the roles of the dialogues. Students are voluntarily encouraged to contribute their own ideas to make the play role activities more creative and interesting. 4.2. Instruments of data collection 4.2.1. Oral tests and Interviews Two oral tests and interviews were conducted for this study with the participation of six students. The first oral test was done before the two-week experiment, and the second oral test was held after the experiment of the two-week experiment. Moreover, during the interview the researcher asked them related questions to clarify the purpose of the study. Yes-no questions and WH- questions that students have to answer are included in oral test questions. Yes-no questions are for students who can not have long answers, and WH- questions are for students who are at better learners. The questions are displayed in Appendix A. After finishing the pre-oral test, the study proceeded to the main part, which was role-play. During role-play, I interviewed every student individually. The interview questions were based on some basic questions but might be changed to adapt the situations and students reactions (see Appendix C). Moreover, students were interviewed in their mother tongue so that they felt at ease to express their feelings. When the pre-oral test, two role play activities and interview were finished, it was time to examine how students improve their speaking ability. And the post-oral test was done to compare the students performances from the beginning to the end (see Appendix A). 4.2.2. Observation The researcher observed six pre-intermediate students participation during two role play activities. The observation in this study was done via my note-taking or keeping diary, and tape-recording through the pilot teaching. The purpose of this part is to see what pre-intermediate students behaviors are when role play is employed as a speaking activity. Furthermore, during the pilot teaching, tape recording was also carried out to get the data for the research. The students utterances were recorded and analyzed later to find out how the role play was used and how it motivated students. 5. DATA ANALYSIS Descriptive data are analyzed by qualitative method. 5.1. Descriptive data of oral tests The oral tests were arranged and conducted at the participants convenience. The oral tests (see Appendix A) were given before and after the two-week experiment. In order to give descriptive data of oral tests, interviews and observation, I have based on seven criteria to review pre-intermediate students English speaking ability including: 1) the influency of speaking, 2) the frequency of using words that have been taught, 3) the accuracy of grammar application, 4) the listening skills absorption, 5) the anxiety of students, 6) the accuracy of pronunciation, 7) the pause while interviewing. The oral tests showed that students speaking ability did improve after the use of role-play. Specifically, three fourth of the participants spoke more fluently. While doing the oral test, I also felt that students would try hard to answer in English. They might not give complete sentences, but they would manage to use the words they had learned. They also tried to use correct grammar when giving answers. However, some students who were not good at English such as Sy and Phuong sometimes produced wrong grammar sentences. Moreover, students not only understood what I asked during the oral tests, but also tried hard to listen to whole sentences and digested them. I, myself, had a strong feeling that students tried very hard to pay attention to the post-oral test, because most students had enthusiastic responses with me. Moreover, students anxiety had been decreased during the second oral test. One of the reasons that the researcher postulated was that students were familiar with the res earcher, and might not be afraid to speak English. They also learned how to pay due attention to their pronunciation while performing in front of their classmates. This also made them have better pronunciation during the oral tests. Some of them even tried to improve their pronunciation by making repetition of what they spoke. The pause frequency of interviewees was really high during the first oral tests, but it seemed lower during the second. Some students said I dont know or I have no idea when they could not find the answers to the questions. In general, the oral-tests showed that role-play had a positive influence on pre-elementary students speaking skill. Most students might not have the ability to answer in complete sentences, but they showed positive attitudes during the oral tests. They paid due attention to the questions, and answered the questions using the vocabulary they had learnt, which showed their willingness to attempt to learn English in general and speak English in particular. Therefore, I can conclude that role-play not only stimulated students when they learned English in speaking lessons, but also made them eager to learn more. 5.2. Descriptive data of observation In order to assess the participation and effectiveness of using role-play in speaking lessons, I based on four levels: 1-3 (bad), 4-6 (medium), 7-9 (good), 10 (excellent). In this part, I would like to use two dialogues and asked participants to play role (see appendix B). For the first role play activity, the researcher used the telephone conversation between the receptionist and client in book New Headway Pre-intermediate by Liz and John Soars (p.77, unit 9). I asked the participants to work in pairs which mean three couples did the same role play. In order to make the role play more effective and to have an exact observation, I asked Nam to work with Mai, Trung with Phuong, and Sy with Hoa. Nam, Trung, Sy played the role of the receptionist whereas Mai, Phuong, Hoa played the role of the client. The researcher instructed first and three pairs presented in turn. During the role play activity, I would observe, take notes, and record. The first role play is easy and simple so that students can feel comfortable and confident to take part in. The results of observation basing on the four levels are presented as below. For the second role play activity, the researcher used a more difficult role play activity which was extracted from the book New Headway Pre-intermediate by Liz and John Soars (p.57, unit 7). This role play was an interview with the band Style. Participants had to play the role of an interviewer a journalist and the role of two interviewees Suzie and Guy. In this part, students worked in group of three. Nam, Mai, Sy were the first group. Trung, Hoa, Phuong were the second group. Nam, Hoa who are better at English were the interviewers. The rest were the interviewees in which Mai, Phuong played the role of Suzie, and Sy, Trung played the role of Guy. Similar to the first role play, the researcher instructed first, and the two groups presented in turn. The results of observation from the second role play activity basing on the four levels are stated as below. The second role play After experiencing the two role-play activities, the researcher found that the pre-elementary students English speaking ability has been improved. Specifically, four out of six participants made a clear progress in the influence of speaking ability, and the ability of expressing him/her self. Moreover, half of participants used grammar more correctly. Also, half of participants became more confident such as Mai, Trung, Sy. In addition, Nam the best participant at English speaking improved his vocabulary. Thus, the observations results show that pre-students English speaking skill has been improved when the researcher uses the role play in speaking lessons. 5.3. Descriptive data of interview The interview was conducted during and after role play. All the students were interviewed once. Additionally, the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese. During the interviews, the whole procedure was recorded and taken notes. The questions of interview are available in Appendix C When being asked to compare the traditional teaching method most of the students answered that they really like the role-play teaching method. They explained that role-play gave them a joyful feeling and avoid being sleepy in class. In general, most students feel that role play is an interesting teaching activity and they really like it. In other words, their feeling of this teaching method is positive. For example, one of the interviewees, Hoa, expressed that: Well, I extremely like this teaching activity. It helps me be more confident in speaking English. Especially, it makes me more interested in lesson instead of being sleepy. I always feel bored and sleepy in lessons which are given in a traditional way. Another participant Nam said that: I think using role play in speaking lessons is good because we get more confident when playing role and speaking in front of other friends. I like this teaching method than the traditional method. For the second question Do you think that your speaking skill has been improved after doing role-play in class? all participants answer Yes. For example, Sy pointed out that role-play can help him improve his speaking skill: I thinkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ my speaking is better after doing role-play several times. My speaking ability seems to be more fluent. Andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.I feel more confident. When replying this question, Trung also determined that his speaking English skill had been improved. He said Ummà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.You know that now I can speak English a little bit fluently. I feel more confident to speak in front of other students. Does it mean that my English speaking skill has been improved? Furthermore, I asked the participants whether there are any negative sides when applying role-play in class. And most of them answered that the problem is the class order was not very good in that case. Sometimes, there was too much noise for students to act in class. Participants, however, still show a positive attitude. Mai said: I think noise is unavoidable when we learn speaking skill. I really like this kind of teaching activity. It is fun. It makes me want to study English and want to speak English in class. However, in order to add to the negative sides of using role play in class, Hoa stated that Sometimes role play takes much time. In my opinion, it is a negative side of role play. I asked the students if it was tiring or stressful for them to plan the dialogues beforehand. As a result, most students showed a positive response to the preparation. Phuong who is not good at English expressed that I feel difficult to have a good preparation at first. My English is not very good. I can not study it at home without teachers instruction. However, after preparing for the class for several times, I start to feel that preview is really important. I know the lesson prior to class and I can understand what the teacher talks about in class. Furthermore, as I have had preparation before class, I become less nervous and shy when speaking on the stage in English. Similarly, Trung said eagerly: Well, my teacher also asked us to prepare in advance. For the first time I felt quiet tired because I didnt get familiar with this learning method. But for the third time, everything seemed to be better. And now I have no problem with preparation in advance. When observing participants doing the first role-play, the researcher recognized that some of the students were very extroverted. However when they were asked to perform the role play in class, they started to keep avoiding from this opportunity. I wanted to know what resulted in such a reaction. Some students told me that they were really shy; some of them could not find out the proper way to act. However, after doing the second role-play the participants responses seemed to be more positive. They participated to the activity more enthusiastically. They did not appear to be shy any more. For example, Trung said that I am an extroverted person. However, I dont feel confident when speaking English in class because I know that my English is not good and as a result, I dont want to speak English in class. But now I feel better. After doing the first and the second role-play activities I recognize that theres no reason to be shyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦please take part in the activity, please spea k. Wellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it is really good. In short, most of the participants hold the positive attitudes to the role-play teaching activity in speaking lessons. For example, students showed more interest in learning speaking English with the role -play activity, students agreed that role-play helped improve their speaking skills, and they showed higher willingness to perform in public. 6. REFLECTION This study was designed to research the effectiveness of using the role-play to motivate pre-intermediate students in speaking lessons. There were six participants in the research. Also, the researcher used qualitative method to do the research in which oral tests, interviews, and observation are used to collect data. Based on the results of the study, the findings have been drawn. These findings are: (1) participants have a positive attitude to role-play in speaking lessons. (2) Role-play motivates pre-intermediate students in learning speaking. Moreover, the findings of this study may offer three practical implications for English teachers in Vietnam to help students develop speaking ability. The first implication for English teachers is that they should apply a communicative teaching technique in English speaking classes such as role play. However, role play should be merged with the traditional English teaching. The second implication is that teachers can affect students learning attitudes/motivation positively by lively activities. The last implication is to provide a safe environment with tender discipline in class because this will make student feel more comfortable and eager to learn, especially to speak English in class. In other words, English teaching in Vietnam should be added lively and interesting communicative teaching methods in class, especially in English speaking class. I believe that the study is successful. Also, it is proper to use the qualitative method for this study. However, there is one limitation which may influence the outcome of the study. The limitation referred in this study is time limitation. Because of limited time, I can only give two role-play activities to experience and test the effectiveness of role-play on pre-intermediate students. Suggestions for further research In order to have a more accurate and complete result, further study can be done with the cooperation of the involved students English teacher. Working with the English teacher is advantageous as he/she might help me understand every students English level in a short time. Moreover, it would be better to have two instructors to review students during oral tests and performances. Besides role-play, I would like to add some other activities to class and think of some interesting topics for students to act in role-play. It would be boring if the whole period of class was proceeding in the role-play teaching activity only, thus, added activities may help students concentrate in class more effectively. The dialogues in students textbooks did not really attract them. Students already had those contents in their regular English classes. It would affect students attitudes/motivation positively if there were more interesting topics for students to discuss and act. Last but not least, in a future research, I may have more chances to videotape the whole process of the experiment which includes the oral tests, interviews and performances. Students gestures, facial expressions or body languages could serve as the sources to interpret their intentions as well. Besides, some non-verbal languages could appear beyond expectation, so those expressions are also important for descriptive data. 7. CONCLUSION I would like to conclude my research in two aspects. Firstly, role play is not beneficial only for the pre intermediate students but even students of upper levels as well as lower levels. Role play proves to be a good way to motivate English learners to speak out what they want to say. In fact, students have to experience different situations in real life. The final and the most important goal of teaching English is none other than helping students use English in those situations. Role-play creates many daily situations for students to practice their English. In addition, it really creates a safe environment and productive learning environment in language class which would be interesting to absorb knowledge. Secondly, although role play works well in speaking lessons as well as with pre-intermediate university students, it is not the only method for teachers to apply in every lesson. In other words, there are numerous different ways Vietnamese teachers are offered to apply to motivate students communicate in English naturally and effectively, to affect their attitudes positively and to increase s

The Importance of a Good Supervisor Essay examples -- Business Managem

Nurturing a child is comparable to supervising employees. They are both two of the most crucial roles any one can perform, however only a small number of people are satisfactorily taught or qualified to do them. For the most part people learn by trying different alternatives with varying amounts of achievement. This paper will describe the role of a supervisor in a typical organization, covering three traits of an effective manager and how these traits fit the four functions of management. This paper will also examine the relationship between managers, supervisors, and employees, and how these relationships assist in guiding organizations to achieve their maximum potential. Finally, this paper will assess and describe the importance of finding the right employee and the challenges supervisors face in a multicultural society. The functions and responsibilities of a supervisor will vary based upon the duties that the supervisor was appointed to oversee. Components such as the supervisor’s trade, business and division all play a part in establishing the duties and responsibilities. There are many roles a supervisor may have in a standard organization. As a supervisor motivates, nurtures, and guides people as they work, a supervisor will distinguish the best people for the job (Cassidy & Kreitner, 2010, p. 9). Communicating in writing or orally to others, delivering information competently to meet the needs of the audience is another important role of a supervisor. They need to give their total attention to others’ responses, taking the time to absorb the views, ask questions if needed and then adjust procedures in accordance to those responses. There are many traits that a supervisor should possess. Effective ... ...otential. Finally, this paper assessed and described the importance of finding the right employee and the challenges supervisors face in a multicultural society. Works Cited Cassidy, C., Kreitner, R. (2010). Supervision: setting people up for success. p. 8-199. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Daft, R. (2010). Innovative management for turbulent times. Chapter 1, p. 8. South-Western Cengage Learning. Retrieved from http://www.ppt2txt.com/r/9d2a1ad4/ Erickson, R. (27 July 2005). How to hire the right employee for the job and your company. Retrieved from http://www.googobits.com/articles/1810-how-to-hire-the-right-employee- for-the-job-and-your-company.html Moglia, T. (Author). (1997). Supervising for success: A guide for supervisors. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10058839

Merchant of Venice and the Crucible Comparison

All communities run successfully with qualities of fairness and equality. The well-being of the citizens depends on the support and guidance they receive from those with power and influence in their society. When the people become corrupt and start having intentions that do not contribute back to the community, the society will fall apart and be unable to maintain balance and stability. In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the reader sees examples of injustice inflicted on the victims within the plays through the people with power within the community.The Christians in The Merchant of Venice mock Shylock the Jew countless times while the high court in The Crucible believe citizens are practicing witchcraft without a proper testimony. In both situations, the Christians and the court see themselves doing the right thing and believe they are contributing to the society when in reality, they break apart the community by persecutin g those that are different.The victims in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible suffer from injustice as power being placed in the wrong hands leads to the formation of biased decision, the limited free will of citizens and severe punishments. The limited free will of the victims within the societies due to the manipulative mannerisms of the Christians and court subjects them to injustice. The way the Christians hate Shylock makes him have limited free will in the Venetian community.Shylock is unable to interact with the Christians due to his reputation as a moneylender. Shylock is unable to choose his occupation and as a moneylender, his only source of income is the interest he gains from it, resulting in the Christians hating him. This injustice forces him to be shunned from society and he ends up losing everything that he owns. The Jews only had moneylenders as their occupation and this injustice forces them to be unable to re late and communicate with society. â€Å"I am as like to call thee [dog] again, / To spit on thee again, to purn thee too† (1. 3. 126-127) demonstrates the abuse Shylock receives. His limitedness in his occupation highlights the lack of orientation in their community and the need to force those that are different away. Solanio is â€Å"sure the duke will never grant this forfeiture to hold† (3. 3. 24-25) and as the play continues, Shylock faces a losing battle in which the power is evident in contributing to his destruction. He is faced with injustice every time he meets a Christian and this is limiting him in his performance in the community.Similarly, the court exerts limited free will on all citizens of Salem when they stay a devout Christian. All citizens need to be part of the theocracy and if one strays away from it, they are accused of being affiliated with the devil. â€Å"No crack in a fortress may be accounted small† (Miller 64) demonstrates the limite d possibility of people in Salem to have another choice of religion. The power of the court forces those that were not part of the theocratic government to be eliminated from society. These are all landholding farmers, members of the church†¦ they’ve known the women many years and never saw no sign they had dealings with the Devil†¦ should be summoned† (Miller 86-87) shows how those that wanted to prove the innocence of the accused are taken in to court to be questioned. Regardless of the many times the citizens of Salem tries to tell the court about the absurdity of witchcraft, the court would not listen. John Proctor goes â€Å"twenty-six time in seventeen month† (Miller 61) and it was not enough, thus he is accused of trying to overthrow the government.The injustice causes many people to die without being at fault. The flaws in the ruling of the government are evident throughout the play as the court refuses to listen and uses its power to determine the rules of society on its own. Due to the injustice in the communities of Venice and Salem put by the power in the wrong hands, severe punishments are placed on the victims. The punishments determined by the Christians affect Shylock severely and he ends up losing all that he has.The injustice Shylock receives is more than enough to prove his continuous suffering throughout the play. Antonio â€Å"call[s him] misbeliever, cut-throat dog,† (1. 3. 107), demonstrating the abusive treatment he receives as the Christians make fun of him and throw hateful words at him. Shylock has no one to stand up for him, appearing alone in most scenes whereas the Christians always arrive in groups. This â€Å"ganging up† gives the Christians power over Shylock and when they use this power to hurt Shylock emotionally, the injustice and damage created is exponential.The court is already in favour to Antonio winning as shown by the Duke saying he â€Å"think[s] so too, / That [Shylock] b ut lead’st this fashion of [his] malice to the last hour of act. † (4. 1. 17-19) the power is unequal and this ruling forces Shylock to surrender and accept his defeat. It is unjust for this to happen as Shylock does not get a fair trial and ends up losing everything. Likewise, the court overuses its power and ends up killing the entire community. The power of the court enforces theocracy to a degree that results in the citizens being accused of not following them correctly and turning to witchcraft.John Proctor succumbs to saying he is associated with the devil and â€Å"sign[s himself] to lies† (Miller 133) by confessing to an act he did not commit. The unequal treatment of the accused shows how the court enjoys abusing the abundance of power it has in its hands. The accused have no one to turn to and â€Å"God send[s] his mercy on [them]† (Miller 129) when they admit to witchcraft. The court takes pleasure in watching the citizens get accused and delved in the fact the power they owned is essential in the sufferance of the citizens. It is this cruel act of the community that makes the entire community suffer.The punishments are apparent due to the contrast between the victims and the authoritative power in the Christians and the court, ultimately affecting the overall injustice within each society. When decisions are influenced and become biased, the opposite side of the party becomes affected. While one party might benefit and receive a positive bias, the reverse will happen for the other, resulting in the victims being wrongly accused. The choices the Christians make end up harming Shylock when he loses all of his wealth and property and is converted to a Christian.The biased decision causes injustice on Shylock as he is shunned and hated in the Venetian community. As Shylock begins his famous speech â€Å"Hath not a Jew eyes? † (3. 1. 54) he demonstrates that he feels the same pains and joys that the Christians feel and should be treated equally but the biased views the Christians have of him eliminates him from any form of respect he deserves. When Jessica robs him and leaves with a Christian Solanio, pretending to be Shylock, cries out â€Å"My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! † (2. 8. 15) in a mocking manner, creating a bias on Shylock in which readers are able to agree with.Shylock is portrayed as a cruel and revengeful character and as Solanio imitates him, no sympathy is felt for his loss. The Christians are only able to see Shylock as the Jew and do not relate any emotions to him. Similarly, the opinion of the court forces the whole town of Salem to follow suit. The young girls are able to gain power and with the help of the court, they are able to hang those they dislike. Their innocence and sense of vulnerability enables the court to believe and support them. Abigail’s â€Å"name is good in the village† (Miller 12) makes her able to easily accuse those not in favo ur with the court.The court believes her and only hears her side of the story, taking all that she says as the truth. Once Abigail accuses the citizens, their chance of redemption is next to none. Proctor stands up for himself, questioning why they never â€Å"wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? † (Miller 73). The biased opinion of the court made many innocent people wait to be proven guilty. The power of Abigail and her friends inflict injustice on the citizens they disliked, forcing many families to die in Salem.Their lack of consideration for others makes for a bias against the accused. The communities in which abused power is present as a result is torn apart, compelling the victims to suffer. The biased decision of the Christians and the court result in injustice in their society, playing a crucial role in splitting up the community. The formation of biased decisions, the limited free will, and severe punishments is a result of injus tice in the communities when power is placed in the wrong hands in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Miller’s The Crucible.The biased decisions of the Christians and the court help them to form favoured decisions and prefer one group over another. The limited free will Shylock and the citizens receive result in the lack of choices they make in their daily lives. The severe punishments the victims in both texts receive cause the injustice in the community to grow as those with power abuse their ability and use it to harm those that did not need to be harmed. The injustice shows the need to fix problems in societies, teaching one that power used properly is essential for a community to function.

Why did Project Baton fail? Essay

1. The two teams concentrated on different parts of the product, Indian team focus on lowering the cost while the US team on the design. Actually they did not corporate well; 2. The time difference (reasons for the late conference calls), different communication styles and different working styles caused misunderstanding and distrust; 3. The success of Fiit Project did not provide Indian team much experience of working internationally. Production 1. The outset issues caused the quality of the component of the product (the noise problem); 2. The cost of Project Baton is very difficult to cut; 3. The Indian team had the experience of EKG production but they did not have enough experience of stress test system; 4. The components from Asian suppliers were often delayed. Management 1. Unexpected departure of manager caused chaos for several weeks, delaying the project; 2. The initial goal of the project was too ambitious and too fast than comparable projects, which is difficult to achieve; 3. The project was far behind the schedule, causing heavy cash burden on the company. Should Bella India take on Project TKO and develop an EKG specifically for the local market? I believe Bella should start the Project TKO. 1. India has the manufacturing advantages such as well-trained, extremely motivated and English-speaking engineers and lower-cost labor. 2. From previous experience (both success and failure), the teams have gained experience in working globally, which is valuable assets for the company. 3. Other competitors (China & Korea) that could use lower labor costs in manufacturing EKG would not be able to produce high quality products in the near future. 4. Both the demand and purchasing power of the emerging market (such as India) are growing. 5. Also, Indian patients are getting heart disease symptoms at younger age; and there are approximately 30 million CAD patients in India, which is a huge potential market. 6. Bella already has an India team, which could help the company to achieve a â€Å"local for local† R&D strategy. This would help the TKO product targeted on Indian market