The Mask of Melville’s Lawyer in Bartleby

Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener gives the reader an unnerving, yet nonchalant look at a story of a man dulled by the repetitiveness of urban life. Melville’s characters are rife with symbolism, but it is also the many allegories of modern life that makes it so powerful.   Indeed setting the story in 19th century Wall Street portends of the coming wealth and power of New York City, and the real life existence of the characters in Bartleby that predated this prosperity and who continue to exist today. The character of the Lawyer in Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener is thrust into an outright confusing situation that he has never encountered in his life. â€Å"All who know me, consider me an eminently safe man,† (Melville 2) he says as he describes himself.   Although a lawyer by profession, he does not involve himself with the intricacies and ethics of the law, merely content on dealing with property and other rich men’s businesses. As Davis says: Obviously, the lawyer is a man dedicated to the laws of the earth, and, not only has he dedicated himself to these laws, but deals exclusively with the laws of property, of rich men's bonds and mortgages and title deeds. The narrator seems to hold no interest, or, at the least, no ambition in practicing law that demands of him thoughts of â€Å"higher† things.   Before the appearance of Bartleby, by the narrator's own admission, he has not struggled with the ethics of justice, of good and evil; rather, he makes his way in this world comfortable by dealing with the physical, the tangible, that which he can know. (2) Relating this idea to Dunbar’s We Wear the Mask, the Lawyer who hires Bartleby has hidden himself from these higher functions from the world, and the people around him, by wearing this mask of feigned simple-mindedness.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes—â€Å" (Dunbar 1-2).   It prevents the Lawyer from actually accepting who Bartleby is till the end of the story.   Through the years, this mask becomes ingrained to the personality of the Lawyer, that he fails to understand anything that touches him through this shield. Yet this is exactly what Bartleby does, and what evokes the Lawyer and the reader’s interest at the same time.   We are curious as to who this strange creature is and why he is that odd.   Chisdes provides an interesting comparison   between the two main characters. This story is a story of contrast between Bartleby and the narrator.   The narrator does everything possible to reach out to his fellow humans; and Bartleby does everything possible to cut himself off from his fellow humans.   Whereas the narrator embraces life, Bartleby rejects it. (Chisdes par. 23) Bartleby does not choose a mask for himself, rather, his has already eroded into the sullen drudgery of office life.   The Lawyer’s narration of his â€Å"rumor† at the end, of how Bartleby was working at a Dead Letter Office (Melville 37) reveal that although Bartleby changed him, his mask remains on him.   In the words of Mason, â€Å"The lawyer gives Bartleby a peaceful and contented  ending to diminish his culpability in Bartleby’s demise.† (par 7). Till the end, the Lawyer does not recognize his relationship with Bartleby outside his mask of pretend virtue. He first decides to place him aside, but with his associates getting curious about this shell of a man in his office, he decides he cannot take anymore. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs?   Nay, let them only see us while, We wear the mask. (Dunbar 6-9) The Lawyer cannot stomach this aberration. Not because he is worried about himself, but about what other people think of him.   He only lets the world see him while wearing his mask. At last I was made aware that all through the circle of my professional acquaintance, a whisper of wonder was running round, having reference to the strange creature I kept at my office.   This worried me very much. (Melville 28) Bartleby only serves to highlight this deficiency in the Lawyer’s character, something that is true for each one of us. Dunbar’s poem reflects our inner weaknesses, that we only integrate with culture through a persona. As the Lawyer was presented with someone whom the mask of himself is not affecting, he becomes confused, leading to the darkly humorous events that follow. R E F E R E N C E S Chisdes, Jonathan. The Narrator in Melville's â€Å"Bartleby, the Scrivener†: Morally Corrupt or Deep Humanitarian?. May 12 1995. chisdes.com October 28, 2007. http://www.chisdes.com/bartleby.html Davis, Todd F. â€Å"The Narrator's Dilemma in â€Å"Bartleby the Scrivener†: The   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Excellently Illustrated Re-statement of a Problem. Spring 1997. Studies in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Short Fiction. October 28, 2007.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dunbar, Paul Laurence. â€Å"We Wear the Mask†. The Complete Poems of Paul   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Laurence Dunbar. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1913. Mason, Joe. Ideological Justification in Herman Melville’s â€Å"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street† and â€Å"Poor Man’s Pudding†. Southern Connecticut   University. 2005. October 28, 2007. Melville, Herman. Bartleby, the Scrivener. 1853.   Kessinger Publishing. 2004.   

Quest for Manhood Malcolm X Essay

Manhood is when a boy takes the leap from being a child to a true man. People say that leap happens at different times for every boy. People can tell it happens because they stop acting foolishly and deal with matters by themselves. The four stories The Autobiography of Malcolm X, â€Å"The Ethics of Living Jim Crow†, â€Å"The Man Who Killed a Shadow†, and â€Å"Almos’ a Man† all deal with African American boys and them becoming true men. The literature of Richard Wright and Malcolm X illustrate how African American males encountered much difficulty in asserting their manhood while living within the racist society of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Racism denied African American males the opportunity to gain economic power. In â€Å"The Ethics of Living Jim Crow†, the young African American boy gets a job in a factory. He works with white men and wants to learn more. One day he is told that the factory is â€Å"a white man’s work†¦and [he] better watch [him] self! † (241) The white men feel he is threatening their job even though he is just trying to support his family. They threaten him and make him quit his job. Unlike the young boy who already has a job, Malcolm X moves to Boston to search for a new job. During Malcolm X, Malcolm decides his life would be better if he moves in with his sister. He was walking through the city and noticed these people were â€Å"only a big city version of those successful Negro bootblacks and janitors back in Lansing† (42). Janitors and bootblacks were considered successful jobs for African Americans where that job for a white man would be around middle to lower class. Blacks don’t even have a chance at a good job like a lawyer or doctor. â€Å"The Man with a Shadow† is about an African American man growing up in life. He is working as a janitor and his boss has legs spread wide open and her panties showing. He is embarrassed and refuses to clean under her desk. The boss becomes angry and screams, â€Å"‘You’re being paid to clean, You black nigger†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (232). The black man feels real embarrassed and gets yelled at for not cleaning the same area again. He feels as if he is being treated like a slave. Also being called the N word is real offensive for African Americans. He has to quit because he accidentally killed the librarian. Economic power is one step in leading men to manhood, but exercising one’s freedom is also an important step. Racism prevented African American males from exercising their autonomy. In â€Å"The Ethics of Living Jim Crow†, the young African American boy has a job and is making a delivery. He is on his back to the store when â€Å"a police car, swerving toward [him], jammed [him] into the curbing† (244). Blacks in this time period were treated unfairly. He is just trying to do his job and even the cops wouldn’t let blacks exercise their own independence. Whites put fear into blacks in all different kinds of settings during this time period, from work places to social settings. During Malcolm X, Malcolm is in a theatre watching a show. When the show started, Malcolm â€Å"was the only Negro in the theatre†¦[and] felt like crawling under a rug† (33). People go to theatres all the time and shouldn’t be forced to feel uncomfortable while in them. Malcolm wants to watch the show, but since the country was so racist and he was the only black, he felt weird and wanted to leave. Later on in the book, Malcolm is thinking about what he wanted to do for his job. â€Å"Lansing certainly had no negro lawyers or doctors,† something he may have wanted to be (38). He wants to be successful in life, but as he recalls there are zero lawyers or doctors in Lansing. This quote shows that because of race alone, blacks can’t use their autonomy and get a job they aspire to be. Finding their independence was hard enough, but trying to protect each other was even harder. Racism would not allow African American males to defend themselves or others. The young boy in â€Å"The Ethics of a Living Jim Crow† is at a store working when an old woman gets beat. â€Å"They would not beat me if I knew enough to keep my mouth shut† even though they beat that old black lady (243). The white workers beat an old black lady for not paying her bill. He could not defend the old lady because he knew the whites would hurt him if I tried to help her. Later on in the story, a security guard slaps a fellow black female employee on the butt. The African American man feels embarrassed for letting his friend get slapped on the butt. The employee who got slapped says, â€Å"‘Don’t worry, you couldn’t help it†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (246). This quote shows that blacks had no chance to defend others because if they did, the whites would just beat them even more. The girl knows they can’t do anything about it and tells him not to worry. From white security guards to racist groups such as the KKK, whites could do basically whatever they want to do to blacks at this time. At the very beginning of Malcolm X, the KKK is at Malcolm’s house. They were surrounding the house, â€Å"brandishing their shotguns and rifles† (1). The KKK is around the house with weapons wanting Malcolm’s father to leave town. He had no way to defend himself because they had all weapons. Many people and organizations in town, and even the police are corrupt and don’t like the blacks. Part of being a man is defending others and the whites would not let them do this at this time. The four stories show how black males had different obstacles to overcome in gaining their manhood while living in the racist society during the mid 1900’s. The boys in all the stories had problems they encountered on their way to finding their manhood. They couldn’t gain economic power, exercise their autonomy, or defend themselves and others. The 30’s and 40’s were a bad time for African Americans to live in, but as the years have gone on, minorities have gained more rights in America. With the help of groups such as the NAACP, blacks have more rights than ever. Barack Obama, the United States President and Tiger Woods, the world’s most popular athlete are both examples of how far African Americans have come.

Operations Decision

Assignment 2 â€Å"Operations Decision† Assume you have been hired as a managing consultant by a company to offer some advice that will help it make a decision as to whether it should shut down completely or continue its operations. It currently uses 100 workers to produce 6,000 units of output per month (working 20 days / month). The daily wage (per worker) is $70, and the price of the firm's output is $32. The cost of other variable inputs is $2,000 per day. You are told that the firm's fixed cost is â€Å"high enough† so that the firm's total costs exceed its total revenue.The marginal cost of the last unit is $30. (Ch 7 & 8 to solve) This assignment allows you to determine the specific details about this fictitious company in order to conduct an environmental scan of this company. Write a three to four (3-4) page paper in which you: 1. Briefly describe the details of the fictitious business that you created for this assignment. 2. Assess the current environmental sc an factors that are relevant to the decision making process.Determine the factors that will have the greatest impact on plant operations and management’s decision to continue or discontinue operations. Provide a rationale for your determination. 3. Evaluate the financial performance of the company using the information provided in the scenario. Consider all the key drivers of performance, such as company profit or loss for both the short term and long term and how each factor influences managerial decisions. Be sure to show the calculations that helped you reach your conclusions. . Recommend how the company can improve its profitability to deliver more value to its stakeholders. Then, develop a brief plan to implement the recommendations. 5. Assess the circumstances in which the company should discontinue operations and how management should react when confronted with these circumstances. Provide a rationale with your response. 6. Use at least three (3) high-quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

WHO CAN HELP THE CEO Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

WHO CAN HELP THE CEO - Case Study Example Amory suggested that Eliot be set up with an executive coach. Eliot did not agree with the advice and regretted having called Amory. When Eliot became CEO of TrakVue he made some optimistic sales projections which came back to bite him. The board saw Eliot as being behind in his results due to the foolish projections he made two years earlier. Eliot also consulted his problems at the company with another friend, Bob Gellingham, who worked in public relations. He suggested that Eliot should land one or two big accounts to change attention away from the problems. The executive coach that Amory set up for him told Eliot he was in denial about the business problems. Another coach told him to seek advice. Eliot thought that it was the coachs job to give that advice. The coach also told him that he rarely seeks input from anyone: subordinates, peers outside the company, or customers. Eliot resented the advice because he sought the coach was uninformed about the dynamics of his business. He was worried that the board might fire him in their next meeting since he had lost two sales VP during his tenure as CEO. The article ended by offering three different views from commentators. Jerry Rao who was a CEO himself suggested that keeping the problems within is not the right rout. When he faced similar problems to Eliot he looked for the advice from the board of directors. He also said that colleagues may have agendas that lead to detrimental advice, thus it was a smart idea to use coaches or consultants. He said that assistants often can provide good insight. The second commentator, Susan Ashford, questioned Eliots leadership and that he did not admit his weaknesses. She said that Eliot avoided seeking advice from his colleagues. The last commentator, Stephen Socolof, said Eliot has to reassure the board about his capacity to run the company. He said Eliot should ask for help from mentors and other experienced people. The article showed the

Environmental Scan Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Environmental Scan - Research Paper Example It is headquartered in US and it has various subsidiaries across the world. On the other hand, Safaricom is a telecommunication service company that is headquartered in Kenya. It offers its services in mobile service, data and internet to its mobile subscribers. The company has the highest number of subscribers in the area. It is not a multinational company. Both companies have a competitive edge over their rival companies. According to Singh (2012), competitive edge refers to an advantage that a company has over its rival company (p. 19). This advantage arises through various ways including, offering services of high value by either providing services that are of higher benefits or by means or lowering the price of the products, using marketing strategies and many other ways that justifies higher prices (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, p. 28). Competitive advantage allows a company to earn high returns on its investments above the cost of investment (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, p. 28). Therefore, a competitive edge should not only project better performance when compared to competitors but should endeavor to provide genuine value to the customers to ensure that they remain dominant in the market. Dell’s competitive advantage is in its range of products that it offers. It offers wide range of products that are highly needed by the customers. Its products are of high quality. Furthermore, it has already established a brand in the market and this makes it have a competitive advantage. Furthermore, it engages in wide range of advertising and marketing strategies that have enabled it to reach out to many potential customers across the world. Its strategies include, ensuring that, they produce goods that match the needs of the clients. They also ensure that their products are distributed to the clients the moment they are ordered. This has made the company to remain competitive. On the other hand,

Reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 20

Reflection paper - Essay Example I assumed complete responsibility to come up to their expectations and prove myself before other students in general and those who were willing to replace me in that post in particular. As the editor of the college magazine, I was responsible to ensure that all content was free of plagiarism and was original, that the events and facts being reported were factual, to eliminate any kind of bias in the information, to structure the college magazine with respect to its content and make it organized, to make the features aesthetically appealing for the students and the readers, and keep track of the quality of the magazine as a whole with a view to improving in every successive edition. Understanding my responsibilities and taking care of all these things, I remained very conscious and mentally fully awake while editing the college magazine. One job that I loathed was the one in which I was employed by the police and was involved in different kinds of social services including working directly with the community and dealing with their complaints. This job was so loathsome because people came up to me with so petty complaints and expected me to assist them with overturning the accused parties. They did not understand much that my job was just to take notes and serve as a link between them and the police. I more served as a platform through which they could raise their concerns and have them conveyed to the police. My editing skills formally gained in the college helped me organize the work in this job too, but the main problem was the attitude of the complainants as well as the sorts of complaints they filed. For example, one man came to me and asked me to file a case against his neighbor because his cat had eaten one of his chicks, and even before the case could be filed or any legal proceedings could be made, he said t hat he would have nothing less than $30,000 as a compensation for this loss. Similarly, every single

A ceremonical speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A ceremonical speech - Essay Example Why is that you might ask? The reasons are multiple but the most important aspect of the relevance of this day to the rest of your lives is with regards to how it will impact on each and every one of the determinants that have been listed that might otherwise provide a powerful impact upon one’s future and happiness. This is not to say that the emotional and personal triumphs of life should be diminished with respect to something as â€Å"simple† as a graduation ceremony; instead, the understanding and purpose of the importance that this day portends has to do with the level and degree each and every one of you should now conduct yourselves. For instance, take the situation described above as the â€Å"first job†. Certainly, many of you might have already experienced that first summer job; doing something that you might otherwise not have wanted to do just as a means of making a bit of extra spending money. However, when you place it in context with the momentous nature of this day, you can readily see how your college degree will impact upon the way in which you consider work and what work you are suited for the rest of your entire life. In short, although it is quite possible to achieve a degree of success in this life without a college degree, the importance and momentousness of this day is contingent upon each and every one of you reducing such a hurdle to your future success. This is not to state that a college degree alone will be sufficient to pave the streets of gold for you and your loved ones; rather, it merely makes the door that much wider and gives you that much greater of an opportunity to succeed within this life. Similarly, the college diploma that each and every one of you now have will enable you to livea better and more comfortable life than most of the individuals within the current world system. This should not be seen as a means of encouraging arrogance; rather, it should allow for a deep moment of self reflection and introspection with regards to how each and every one of you can work towards bettering the world and seeking to ameliorate some of the miserable conditions that continue to exist within it. From a personal standpoint, the first home purchase, the first new car purchase, or any of the other â€Å"firsts† which will be engaged with as a function of the jobs and salaries you will receive will also be informed by a degree of knowledge that you have learned and must retain as a result of your college studies. In short, although there are a number of key firsts that are experienced within life, it is my understanding, as it should be yours as well, that from a professional as well as personal standpoint, this momentous day ranks very high on the list. Due to the fact that this single moment has the possibility for defining so many personal and professional decisions that you will make for the rest of your life, I encourage each and every one of you to consider the gravity that the current celebration holds. This is not to say that you should not celebrate this moment with your family and friends; quite the contrary. Instead, once the celebration has calmed down and once the procession has left this hall, once the cap and gown are stored in the back of the closets – long after the pictures of this day have made the rounds within the family, this day absolutely will continue to have an impact upon the decisions that you make as well as the means by which other individuals within society view you. In such a way, I implore each and every one of you to conduct yourselves as fully worthy of the honor that this degree has provided you. Most importantly of all, I personally congratulate you on your triumph and wish you all

Two_Short_Paragraphs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Two_Short_Paragraphs - Essay Example The old man, for example, tried to hang himself when at home because of desperation. When at the cafà ©, the same old man drinks his brandy with calmness and dignity. Even when he is drunk, he cannot spill his drink. The cafe is indeed a temporary respite from all the chaos in the world (Hemingway, 372-75). In the story, The Garden Party, the garden represents a place of endless pleasures. It is a place with a lot of promising energies where children and young adult look forward to a great future. The children resemble the arum lilies and brilliant butterflies that grow with an alarming vigor. The garden signifies a kind of Eden land where parents confine their children. The author conveys the land as one with a pleasant and warm feeling similar to the non-existent marvelous fairylands. The garden is covered with exotic flowers, green lawns, and various species of trees. There is a villa at the center of the garden, a tennis court and lake with the Sheridan’s garden. All these features make the garden symbolize a unique place full of potential for growth of its inhabitants. It is a place where all people long, hope or would wish to live (Mansfield

Choose Topic relevant to Human Services Research Paper

Choose Topic relevant to Human Services - Research Paper Example e implementation of the deliberations and assessing whether the proposed ideas and services are likely to be effective once they have been implemented. The main concerns that seemingly plagued the society were the inability to conduct early and timely/ helpful identification of symptoms, lack of knowledge on the activities that can help alleviate the onset of the disease in the sunset years of life, and care of the affected persons. The community felt ill equipped and prepared to handle the disease to the best of their abilities as they have been often left frustrated and fatigued in the process. It was clear that there was need to educate the society on the disease, how to avoid it, detect it early enough for swift interventions and how to care for the patients (whether at home or have the sick institutionalized). In addition, it was deemed important to introduce a scheme where families coping with the illness receive financial contributions from other households so that they can sufficiently manage the condition in terms of health care for the loved one and additional counseling sessions and therapy for the remainder of the famil y. Also, since the only known medical institution that is known to specialize on the condition was a distant away, it was observed as a necessity to have a local institution built that aids the community and its members in matters pertaining to the Alzheimer’s syndrome. The first part of tackling the problem is to involve the entire community in providing support to the families that have a patient living amongst them. This was to be in the form of moral support and visits where members are encouraged to be there for the affected families in times of their need such as in the evenings and also through financial support so that the families still had enough capital to look after the patient while still attending school and so on. Seeing members of the community more often can also aid the patient’s recovery and enhance memory and

Schools and Delinquency Essay Example for Free

Schools and Delinquency Essay The research done on chapter 5 from the book juvenile justice is very interesting to say the least. The way it made the information on it easy to understand is very helpful to me.. Also the research done describes the truancy and dropout rate and the thing that the state is doing to prevent them from increasing more. One of the reasons why researchers think that drop out accrues is because of the race or the ethnicity. One thing that is for sure is that they don’t know the order in which delinquency accurse whether it’s due to drop out or the other social factors or maybe something that’s happening in the youth’s family. They have put up curfews and other programs that have proven to drop the dropout rate and truancy. Which I think is great because the less time the youths have outside the less likely they are to get involved with gangs or start abusing drugs or alcohol. Another research is the shooting rate in schools and how it is a rare crime compared to any other youth related crime, and because it is a rare crime the media covers it and I shock the nation because of it. Because of this the states have given more funding’s to make the schools safer. They want to make sure that the schools are a place where the students can feel safe and not have to worry about being in danger all the time. But still schools still continue to have a high level of crime in them even with all the precautions that are being taken. Most of the time having to do with bullying or sometime it has to do with the fact that students are being introduced to illegal drugs in school premises. The research on bullying say that bullying is one of the factors in school shootings, and because of this research they have started to make programs for anti-bullying. Research also says that males are more likely to report being bullied than females. I think that this is because of the reason the females are more afraid of what is to happen then the males. Also they say that bullying has an effect on attendance for the reason that some kids don’t want to go to school for the reason that they are scared of the people there, and also it has proven to ave a long lasting effect that affect the victim of bullying for long periods of time. The way I think schools should deal with troublesome or kids engaged in delinquency are these. I think that they should be put in different classes. So that the teachers are more focused on the troublesome students and not have to worry about the other well behaved students. Another way to handle this situation is to make a school for youths that are going down the path of delinquency. In this school they should have stricter rules on attendance. If they missed school for to many days they should be taken on a trip to show them what there life could be in the future. I have seen a show where the parents take action and put their kids in a program where they take them to jail and they are treated like criminals. They also introduce them to male and female prisoners that yell and tell them the reasons why there are where they are. Some of the times this program helps put the youth back on track and show them that what they are doing is bad and the life that they could be living is behind bars in a squared box. In my opinion the schools are doing everything in their power to help the trouble some students. I do believe that some teachers don’t worry as much for the youths that are misbehaving because they think that they will get nowhere in life. For this reason is why I think that we should make the things that I mentioned earlier a must that way they get the attention that they need to get and everyone is learning in one way or another. From my experience I think that it is necessary to take action now. I have seen many people drop out of school because they thought that what they are learn is use less but because most of the time teachers don’t give them the attention they needed because sometimes when youth misbehaved was because they thought that the work was hard and the teachers would not help them with it because they may have not cared about them because of the way they behaved. Being involved in a youth’s life is important for many reasons and one main reason is so that the youth does not fall into the wrong steps in life. Having read all this research on delinquency has opened up my mind that it does not only happen for one reason but for many like for example being bullied or not understanding the work given to them at school and acting out on it in a bad way so that their peers don’t realize the reasons to why they never want to do their work.

Consumer Behaviour within LOreal

Consumer Behaviour within LOreal In the latter half of the 20th century a rapid growth of the global market resulted in a significant increase in the amount of brands and products present in most, if not all, industries with a focus on the end consumers. Companies are obliged to identify the underlying aesthetic reasons for the consumption as consumers have access to numerous choices. This alteration causes a need for differentiation in order to beat the competition by offering products that not only fulfil basic needs but also add value to the lifestyle customers desire to be a part of. Such brand intangible features of the brands that do not include any explicit qualities, are vital for providing exclusive aesthetic experiences for their customers. The objective of a company is to create an image, a sign of recognition and quality (Schmitt Simonson, 1997). Positive memories created in consumers minds can provide loyalty and premium price setting in the future as people are keen to return to the brands that previously delivered trustworthy satisfaction. The expansion of benefits of a strong brand is crucial (Keller Lehmann, 2006). The company behind the strong brand may, for example, gain easier access to new markets by utilising a brand extension- the process where novel products are released under the existing brand. This strategy effectively stimulates a feeling of recognition and approval the consumer might have towards the original brand line. The professional hair care industry serve as a good example where creating an aesthetic experience plays a big part in influencing consumer behaviour. For instance, we have experienced that many styling products often serve little utilitarian purpose and are not necessarily useful from a practical point of view; nevertheless these products seem to create intangible value and significance for the user. Professional styling products are being sold exclusively in hair salons and departmental stores where a symbolic atmosphere is created. The whole buying process is shaped around generating a social interaction, impulse and feeling. As a result hair product customer is not only influenced by the companies visual output but also by becoming emotionally connected with organisational values and beliefs. People often purchase products spontaneously without any clear consideration whether a certain product is actually needed or worth the price paid. Mick DeMoss (1990), suggest that this self -gifting phenomenon is provoked by the endeavour to motivate and indulge, relieve stress or just do something nice for oneself. Paula Begoun, author of the book Dont Go Shopping for Hair-Care Products without Me (1999), explains in an interview to CBS news (2005), that wasting money is not beautiful at all and asks the question: What is sexy and attractive about rinsing money down the drain? She finishes with the statement that, There is absolutely no difference between expensive products and inexpensive products, and I say that unequivocally. Why do people buy expensive styling products although there are cheaper, easily accessible hair care alternatives? Does the answer rest in getting cleaner, shinier hair or to obtain a confirmation that individuals by using these products will feel beautiful and indeed fit in the picture organisations create? Lastly, are there winning strategies for organisations to pursue in order to beat the competition in this multi-billion industry? This essay discusses the consumer buying behaviour for hair care products. This paper also discusses how marketers address these consumer behaviours using LOreal as an example. Consumer buying behaviour Society, individuals and organisations create a never-ending cycle in which the three largely affect each other. In order to be a part of the society, people have to fulfil certain unwritten norms and communicate in a way that is widely accepted and understood by other members of that same culture (Bowditch Buono, 2005). Consequentially, individuals often base their purchases on these premises to fit in within the group. According to McCracken (1986) this is a cause for organisations to constantly redevelop their product lines in order to match the expectations in society. When this occurs, cultural norms are passed on in products. When these later are purchased the meaning is once more shifted, this time to the customer, and the continuous cultural circle of society, individuals and organisations transform once more (please refer to the figure below). Figure: Transfer of cultural meaning, McCracken (1986). Beauty is a subject which is difficult to grasp especially since it is perceived differently and related to various cultural or social norms. Beauty might be seen as a powerful tool that can help one to achieve higher ambitions which might be significant for future growth and development (Hamermesh Biddle, 1994). According to Eco (2004), the word beautiful expresses something that we are fond of, enjoy looking at. For that reason a sense of personal fulfilment as well as indulgence is created (Prettejohn, 2005). Hair styling has emerged as one of the key fashion points in recent years as individuals, particularly young consumers realise that styling hairs in a trendy manner has an impact on peoples perception of their fashion sense. Hair styling is particularly interesting for consumers because hairstyle is one aspect of appearance which can be set in different styles as compared to rest of the face which the individuals can do little about except for wearing makeup. Aesthetics is defined by Berthon, et al., (2009) as a science of perception that relies on our ability to distinguish value or significance in the object of interest and thereby develop taste. In advertising beauty is produced by aesthetic images and symbols which are interpreted by consumers (Vacker, 1993). For that reason, as Schmitt Simonson (1997) state, aesthetics can be used as an influential tool for organisations to differentiate their products with. However, emotions can be easily abused by organisations and hence produce a false view of the scientific truth (Jensen, 1999). For instance, illusions can be formed by companies, that state that certain products are better than others and that customers gain more for the money they pay. As a result the companies will neglect the truth as long as consumers are convinced that the information is correct. Jensen discusses the problem further by claiming that a false rationality is eventually created in order to justify the purchases made. There is extensive scientific documentation that aesthetic experience undoubtedly affects consumer behaviour in several ways (Berthon, et al., 2009; Hirschman, 1983). Further, by using experiential and sensory marketing strategies (Schmitt, 1999), closely studying consumer attitudes and preferences (Gupta, et al., 2008), creating symbolic (Levy, 1959) and emotional (Bauman, 2001) values organisations can produce a luxurious and overpowering feeling of desire (Belk, et al., 2003) that hopefully end in both increased profits and improved consumer value. Thus, it is essential for organisations to identify what consumers desire, often before they actually know that themselves, and use the marketing strategies to enhance that desire. LOreals marketing strategy involves using attractive models with different hairstyles; Using these models LOreal creates a false perception among consumers that using LOreals products will make them look like the models. LOreals models use extensive makeup which highlight the fact that LOreals consumers are very sensitive about their appearance and may use lot of make up as well. Another key aspect of LOreals marketing strategy for hair care products is using models with different skin colours. This could be a strategy to improve the aesthetic appeal of LOreals hair care products. One key aspect of LOreals marketing strategy is to advertise a single shade of a hair colour. For example; when it advertises red hair colour, all the models in the advertisement will be wearing different shades of red hair colour only. 2.1 Emotional experiences Franzen Bouwman (2001) state that individual perceptions and memories are linked to emotional reactions. The cognitive part of the human brain reflects, analyses and makes decisions, the emotional part of the brain, on the other hand, reacts spontaneously on the perceived external stimulation. When a person is exposed to new information the brain has to make a choice whether or not, or to what extent he has to pay attention. Emotional experiences are actual impulses that cause human behaviour and it is possible to identify two types of recollections of emotional experiences; implicit and explicit emotional experience (Franzen Bouwman, 2001). People perceive most marketing unconsciously and superficially but they are still influenced by it in the future purchasing behaviour. As a result a perception of the brand can be seen as unconscious and implicit unless it has already been connected to concrete experiences which have led to explicit cognitive recollections (Franzen Bouwman, 20 01). LOreals marketing strategy is to market LOreal as a wholesome brand rather than as individual product lines which means that when consumers actually decide to purchase any product they are likely to remember LOreal brand. Through a multi-sensory experience, created by sensory perceptions, people respond to external stimulations as well as they react to emotional images which are either consciously or unconsciously. This creates possibilities for hedonic consumption which is, as explained by Hirschman Holbrook (1982, p. 92), a phenomenon that: designates those facets of consumer behaviour that relate to the multi-sensory, fantasy and emotive aspects of ones experience with products. It is essential for companies to identify the symbolic meaning of consumer goods which are increasingly becoming a part of our consumer identity and image. Symbolic meaning of hair care products such as hair colour is to give the hairs a colour which matches the personality, mood, occasion and the rest of the attire. This is often witnessed in case of air colour advertising by LOreal as often the products are advertised using models who are wearing the clothing and makeup which matches the hair colour. Thus, LOreal tries t o symbolise hairs as one part of the body which needs to be dressed like rest of the body to make the look complete. For hair care products, LOreals marketing strategy is to highlight the hairs as the most important part of the looks. This is often done by highlighting the hairs so that everything else looks meaningless (as is evident from some of the advertisements shown below): All these advertisements highlight hairs as the main part of the look. By highlighting the hairs as the most important part and noticing that it is possible to alter the appearance of hairs (by styling and colouring), LOreal tries to convey the message that it is possible to achieve the model looks. In other words, the highlight are the hairs which have been treated with LOreal products which means that the looks of the model in the advertisement are a result of LOreals product and hence the consumers can get the same looks if they use LOreal products. 2.2 Consumer behaviour and human needs When clarifying the consumer behaviour several authors describe purchases from a need-goal perspective (Schiffman Kanuk, 2000). With some difference in terminology they explain how a need is created for a human being, for example, a feeling of hunger or the aspiration to become an esteemed member of society. Maslow (1943) presents a hierarchy of needs and argues that the level below is always more important than the one above. The lowest level consists of what could be called innate or primary needs and higher up in the pyramid are the acquired or secondary needs. The above example of being an esteemed member of society fits into the second highest of these levels labelled esteem). Figure: Maslows pyramid. The levels represent different parts of the hierarchy. Needs work as motivation to reach a goal that can be generic or product-specific (Schiffman Kanuk, 2000). A generic goal to cleaner hair would be shampoo; a product specific goal would in turn be shampoo from one of the various brands in the market. LOreals marketing strategy targets both. For example, for hair colouring products, the generic strategy can be good and trendy looks while the product specific strategy can be to market LOreal hair colour products. LOreal extensively uses its brand name in marketing LOreal products 2.3 Marketing Gagliard (1996) explains that when the object is being experienced in a physical, tangible reality it is acknowledged through sensory experiences. Organisations can, in this context, be seen not only as physical settings that produce products but also as a brand with the capacity to nourish and promote peoples senses. Artefacts can be defined as a form of message, existing either independently of its creator, or being perceived by the senses. Through these, organisations can contribute to promoting their goals. According to Franzen Bouwman (2001) a brand can be defined as a sign or a symbol of recognition in form of logos, labels, names and colours which evokes associations in people and is commercially linked to saleable goods and services. It is a source of value to both consumers well as the companies. By maintaining a strong brand firms achieve loyalty and steady future sales. LOreal invests significantly in advertising LOreal brand. In fact, the brand LOreal is highlight of almost all marketing communications that the firm undertakes irrespective of the product. By highlighting the name LOreal experts the firm aims to send a signal that it is expert and hence trustworthy at producing the particular product. LOreal also uses the word Paris in its branding; this is to associate LOreal with Paris, the Meccah of fashion. Associating a brand with Paris automatically symbolises a high end fashion product and this strategy is wisely used by LOreal to influence its customers who may exhibit d esire for French fashion. Around the very core of the product there are a more or less equally valued attributes. Not only is a shampoo a hair-cleansing device but there are several other aspects that are taken into consideration during the creation process. Such attributes include quality, design, package, colour, smell and much more. LOreal packs its products in high quality packing with glossy covers. There is also product specific packing; for hair colours the packing will contain the face of a model with the same colour as the one in the pack. This is informative packing as LOreal aims to educate the consumer about how the hair will look after colouring using that particular colour. This is often done to reduce customers disappointment; for example, if detailed picture is not given, consumers may use the colour only to find that it does not look the way they hoped it to and this may lead to divorcing the brand altogether. To avoid this, LOreal, or in fact most of hair colour manufacturers provide an imag e of a model with the same hair colour. Gardner Levy (1955) define the brand as more than a label, established to distinguish the company from its competitors. Instead they view it as a symbol which makes up a complicated net of various attributes which are sent out by the company. Later these are interpreted and re-valued by the customers and results in an overall public image. For the company, the feelings and attitudes the customers have towards the brands are essential not only to promote and sell any current products but also to attempt to launch new products under the same brand umbrella. This view of the brand as a symbol that creates awareness, loyalty and associations has later become known under the summarising definition brand equity (Kotler, et. al., 2005). As Franzen Bouwman (2001) puts it, brands that succeed in strategically linking emotions to them are generally connected to products that have something to do with these emotions. In other words, when the emotional response reflects the brand and also the very product itself, the brand-owner has succeeded in what all companies seek to do today, to create a unified message to the consumer. 2.3.3 Sensory marketing Consumers respond to the overall product or service characteristics, both tangible and intangible, produced by a total product offering. Through sensory marketing, appealing to the consumers through smell, music, design and taste, companies not only differentiate their image and create a strong identity but also construct an overall satisfactory personal experience. The figure below shows how the bodily senses; either separately or in a combined way, creates an experience and reaction from the consumer. Figure: Senses attributing to a combined customer experience, Hultà ©n et al. (2008). For example, the sight sense comes through the visual images such as product design, packaging or particular style. It is essential for people who consume the final product to make sure that they can see the product of interest. LOreal achieves this by providing the customers wit the image of a model wearing the same hair colour as the one in the pack. Kotler (1973) suggests that the key factor is actually the place, or in other words the sensory quality of the space in which the product or service is purchased. In some cases it is more influential than the offering itself and can overrule the primary product.. The right atmosphere does not only draw potential customers but also send a message about its position or status and therefore increase the probability for future purchases. The importance of the possibility for a purchase and the atmosphere is presented by Kotler (1973) below: Figure: The Casual Chain Connection Atmosphere and Purchase Probability, Kotler (1973). The place aspect of advertisement is addressed by LOreal by selling its products through departmental stores and hair salons. 2.3.4 Experiential Marketing This theory states that consumers are viewed not only as rational decision makers, concerned with functionality and personal benefits, but as emotional human beings, willing to achieve something extraordinary, for instance a memorable and enjoyable experience (Schmitt, 1999). This is a strategy often used by LOreal who aims to market the message that by using its products it is possible to achieve model looks. As mentioned earlier, this is done by highlighting the hairs in the marketing images to suggest that hairs the most critical aspects of particular models looks and that the looks of these hairs is because of the marketed LOreal product. In other words, use this particular product and you can look the same. By generating the uniqueness effect and selecting certain attributes that purchasers value, organisation are awarded with premium price which exceeds the extra costs required for the differentiation (Porter, 2004). Figure: Difference in price consumers are willing to pay for professional and retail products. The figure above shows the price difference in products which consumers are willing to pay. The question mark represents the unknown factors that enable consumers to buy professional hair care products at such a high price compared to retail alternatives. LOreal hair colour products are in mid to expensive range and cost more than many of its rivals. These products may be strategically priced a bit high to increase their symbolic value. For example, if hair care products are priced to low, consumers may perceive the product as low standard. Raising the prices Too much would have an impact on the consumption level; consumers will either not buy or will not use the product that frequently. The problem with the latter is that if the consumers tend to become satisfied with their looks without using these products, they might stop the consumption of these product altogether. It is important for these firms to maintain the desire for these products and hence products are priced to stimulat e consumption. Conclusion In conclusion LOreal uses it marketing strategy according to desire aspect more than anything else. It selects the targeted consumer segments and addresses the desires of this consumer segment by using appropriate marketing signals. LOreals marketing strategy involves proving to the customers that it is possible for them to achieve the same looks as the models in its advertisements by using LOreal products. 2,968 Words

Importance of Teaching Listening Skills

Importance of Teaching Listening Skills Listening comprehension is an important language skill to develop. Language learners want to understand target language (L2) speakers and they want to be able to access the rich variety of aural and visual L2 texts available via network-based multimedia. Furthermore, listening comprehension is at the heart of L2 learning and the development of L2 listening skills has demonstrated a beneficial impact on the development of other skills (e.g. Dunkel 1991; Rost 2002). Therefore, it is important to develop L2 listening competence; yet, in spite of its importance, L2 learners are rarely taught how to listen effectively (e.g. Mendelsohn 2001, 2006; Berne 2004; LeLoup Pontiero 2007). In addition, listening is an essential skill which develops faster than speaking and often affects the development of reading and writing abilities in learning a new language (Scarcella and Oxford, 1992; Oxford, 1993). According to them, the main reason is that one receives input through listening to instructions or explanations prior to responding orally or in writing. Listening is not an easy skill to acquire because it requires listeners to make meaning from the oral input by drawing upon their background knowledge of the world and of the second language (Byrnes, 1984; Nagle Sanders, 1986; Young, 1997) and produce information in their long term memory and make their own interpretations of the spoken passages (Murphy, 1985; Mendelsohn, 1994; Young, 1997). In other words, listeners need to be active processors of information (Young, 1997). Meanwhile, Vandergrift (1996, 1997, and 2003) asserts that listening is a complex, active process of interpretation in which listeners try to su it what they hear with their prior knowledge. According to Richards (1983), this process is more complex for second language learners who have limited memory capacity of the target language. Therefore, it is necessary for them to utilize various listening strategies. As most English teachers Iran believe, although we have learned a lot about the nature of listening and the role of listening in communication, L2 listening has been considered to be the least researched of all four language skills. This may be due to its implicit nature, the ephemeral nature of the acoustic input and the difficulty in accessing the processes. In order to teach L2 listening more effectively, teachers need a richer understanding of the listening process. Research into L2 listening is important because a better understanding of the process will inform pedagogy. According to Vandergrift (2007), students who learn to control their listening processes can enhance their comprehension; This, in turn, affects the development of other skills and overall success in L2 learning. 1.2. Statement of Problem Listening comprehension may seem relatively straightforward to native language (L1) speakers but it is often a source of frustration for second and foreign language (L2) learners (e.g., Graham, 2006). Further, little attention has been focused on systematic practice in L2 listening (see DeKeyser, 2007) i.e.; on the integrated instruction of a sequential repertoire of strategies to help L2 learners develop comprehension skills for real-life listening (Berne, 2004; Mendelsohn, 1994; Vandergrift, 2004). A review on recent research on second or foreign listening instruction suggested a need for an analysis of the effectiveness of metacognitive instruction for developing L2 listening comprehension. Current approaches for effective L2 listening are toward real-life authentic ample-input listening with more of top-down approaches and process instruction. Most of the studies, support real-life listening with authentic materials (Buck, 2002; Goh, 2008; Richards, 2005; Vandergrift, 2007; Veenman et a1., 2006). Top-down approaches have drawn more recent favors than bottom-up approaches (Goh, 2008; Rost, 2002; Vandergrift, 2004). Process listening was favored to product listening (Vandergrift, 2004; Field, 2003; Buck, 1995; Krashen, 2008). Interest was also indicated in raising student awareness of the listening process (Vandergrift, 1999; Mendelsohn, as cited in Vandergrift, 2004). Among the approaches to L2 listening, metacognitive instruction for L2 listening was noted to be a most recent trend (Annevirta et al., 2007; Beasley et al., 2008; Chen, 2007; Derwing, 2008; Field, 2008; Goh, 2008; Graham et al., 2008; Lee Oxford, 2008; Vandergrift, 2007; Veenman et al., 2006; Zohar Peled, 2008). In general, comprehension historically has received only minimal treatment in the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL), but it is, in fact, one of the most important skills a second language (L2) learner must master to succeed in academic studies (Jung, 2003, Thompson Rubin, 1996). For learners to become proficient in listening comprehension, they must receive comprehensible input (Vandergrift, 1997, p. 495) as well as have ample opportunity to practice using, or producing, the language. In second language acquisition, listening comprehension used to be considered a passive activity; thus, it did not merit researchers attention (Jung, 2003; Thompson Rubin, 1996; Vandergrift, 2004). It had been assumed that a learners ability to comprehend spoken language would develop entirely on its own in an inductive way through repetition and imitation. As recently as the 1970s there were no textbooks devoted to teaching the skill of listening in a second language. It was assumed that the ability to comprehend spoken language would automatically improve because learners with exposure to the oral discourse would learn through practice. Listening texts are a relatively recent addition to the ESL or ESL curricula; the focus of earlier second or foreign language learning texts which included a focus on listening comprehension was primarily on testing students ability to listen to oral discourse and then answer comprehension questions based upon the information (Carrier, 2003; Field, 1998). Today, however, a growing body of research indicates that the focus has shifted to actively and intentionally teaching strategies for learning how to process, comprehend, and respond to spoken language with greater facility, competence, and confidence (Rost, 2007). Despite, recognizing the importance of listening strategies for the development of foreign language proficiency, very limited studies have been performed in Iran concerning the strategies employed by Iranian EFL learners in relation to listening proficiency levels. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine how strategies training may benefit L2 learners in their development of listening comprehension. 1.3. Significance of the Study The current study addresses the need for further research in the area of systematic teaching of listening strategies. Accoding to Carrier (2003), for L2 learners, the ability to use strategies effectively in their academic listening is crucial (Carrier, 2003). He believed that learners need to be able to actively and selectively choose the strategies most applicable for a given listening situation and evaluate strategy effectiveness in their everyday learning tasks. As Carrier (ibid) indicated in her study, students can benefit from instruction in strategies for academic listening in a variety of settings and incorporating many types of media. This study adds to the growing body of research of how adult EFL students pursuing academic study may benefit from explicit, systematic teaching of listening strategies. Doing this research contributes a method to introduce and model L2 listening strategies. Results of the study provide insight into participants self-perceptions of their use of listening strategies both before and after systematic classroom instruction. 1.4. Research Questions The following research questions formed the basis of the study: 1. Does explicit listening comprehension strategy training based on CALLA instructional model increase Iranian EFL learners listening comprehension 2. What metacognitive listening strategies, based on Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ), do Iranian EFL learners report before and after metacognitive training program? 1.5. Research Hypotheses Based on the above questions, the following hypotheses will be estimated: 1. Explicit listening comprehension strategy training based on CALLA instructional model cannot play any role in increasing Iranian EFL learners listening comprehension. 2. There is no significant difference in using metacognitive listening strategies, based on Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) by Iranian EFL learners before and after metacognitive training program. 1.6. Limitations of the Study One limitation of this study relates to the selection of participants. It was anticipated that the body of participants was likely to be of predominantly one language and cultural background. While this could provide insights into the strategy use of that particular language group, it might preclude broader multicultural generalizations of the study. In addition, it was impossible to randomize the selection of participants because of the structure of the research. The study needed to be conducted as a component of regularly scheduled EFL coursework. Limited randomization was provided in the anonymity of participant responses on the research instrument questionnaires as well as with proficiency leveling. Participants prior exposure to listening strategies instruction or to the manner in which such instruction may have taken place is another area that was impossible to determine. Indeed, students may consciously or unconsciously use strategies transferred from their learning and listening experiences in their first language. In addition, instructors may offer strategies instruction without intentionally planning to do so. If students have friends who are native speakers of English, spend much time watching American movies or listening to news broadcasts, or in other ways have a lot of exposure to English outside of class time, they may have adopted a variety of listening strategies that their classmates who do not engage in such activities have not. 1.7. Definition of Key Terms The following terms are used throughout this study and are defined as related to use in this research. Listening: an active process in which listeners select and interpret information that comes from auditory and visual clues in order to define what is going on and what the speakers are trying to express (Thompson Rubin, 1996, p. 331). For this study, the focus is on listening for academic purposes. That might include listening during academic lectures, seminars, group work, or any other aural discourse that is likely to occur in an academic classroom setting. Metacognition: Metacognition refers to the learners knowledge of whatever strategies s/he might use for specific tasks and under what conditions those strategies will be most effective (Pintrich, 2002). Strategy training: teaching explicitly how, when, and why to apply language learning and language use strategies to enhance students efforts to reach language program goals (Carrell, 1996; Cohen, 1998; Ellis Sinclair, 1989, as cited in Chen, 2005, p. 5). CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 2.1. Overview This chapter presents a brief historical timeline of the teaching of listening comprehension in EFL and ESL context. Of note is that listening research and teaching has a relatively short history as compared to that of reading, writing, grammar, and speaking. Certainly, the process of learning how to listen in a second language shares features with learning to listen in ones mother tongue; however, some features are different. The literature provides insight into these similarities and differences. Within this section, top-down and bottom-up processing as they function in the L2 listening process are explained, as is the interaction between the two processes. Finally, learning strategies, in particular, those used in the L2 listening process are presented. In most of the research accomplished to date, strategies have been classified in a descriptive manner. Researchers agree to the dearth of studies showing what types of intervention-or instruction-of listening strategies will help L 2 students to improve their listening comprehension. It is to this end that the current study was undertaken. 2.2. History of Teaching Listening Comprehension Though one of the most important but also most difficult skills a second language (L2) learner must master to succeed in academic studies, L2 listening comprehension has not received the research attention it deserves (Jung, 2003, Thompson Rubin, 1996). Though the focus in teaching today is on presenting listening as an active receptive skill which needs special attention in language study (Morley, 2001, p. 72.), listening was traditionally considered to be a passive skill, unlike speaking or grammar (Vandergrift, 2004). Even as recently as the 1970s there were no textbooks devoted to teaching the skill of listening in a second language. One hundred and fifty years ago, it was thought that speaking and writing in a second language were productive, or active skills, while listening and reading were receptive, and thus passive. In some of the earliest recorded language classes, listening was not taught at all. In one of the earliest of the language teaching approaches, Grammar Translation (Felder Enriquez, 1995; Flowerdew, Miller, 2005), teaching was conducted in the learners native tongue, and only the grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary of the foreign language, generally Greek or Latin, were taught so that learners could translate texts. The first of the language teaching methods that touched upon the importance of listening comprehension is known as the Direct Approach (Felder Enriquez, 1995), in which learners were immersed in the target language, with the L2 being the language of instruction (Flowerdew Miller, 2005). Taught inductively, learners mastered the grammar by creating rules based on their ever-growing experience with the language. Correctness in all aspects of the language was emphasized. In the Direct Approach, by necessity, listening comprehension played a major role. However, the development of listening comprehension was not actively taught; it was assumed that learners would pick up this skill in an inductive way, through repetition and use. Certainly, with its focus on inductive learning, no listening strategies were actively taught in the Direct Approach. Although listening comprehension was a component of the Grammar Approach also, students were constantly tested on their listening ability only as it related to their ability to simultaneously read and listen to a recorded piece of discourse and make sense of the grammatical and lexical rules of the language. One major drawback of this method was that the classroom activities did not relate in any meaningful way to everyday listening activities outside of the classroom (Flowerdew Miller, 2005). Students using this method were called upon to fill in missing words, a task they could easily perform without having any idea of the actual meaning of the discourse. The Audiolingual Approach (Larsen-Freeman, 2000), which became popular in the 1960s and 1970s, required the listener to recognize and practice utterances and then create similar utterances patterned after the ones they had heard in a dialogue. It was during this time and with this approach to teaching languages that the audio-cassette language labs became widely used (Ross, 2003). The language lab focus was based on drill and practice, requiring much repetition and error correction with the goal of instilling in students correct patterns of discourse. Developing listening comprehension strategies, again, was not the focus of this approach; rather listening skill was taught only as it pertained to the manipulation of newly learned grammatical and lexical structures. An unfortunate result was that in their learning process, students interacted much more with machines than with other humans. Then focus shifted toward student interaction in authentic language situations so that students could have exposure to comprehensible input as well as practice using the target language in real life situations. While cassette language laboratories are still in use today, many of these have been replaced or supplemented with computer laboratories and digital language laboratories. Emphasis on authentic tasks and projects, particularly those using the Internet, has become highly regarded (Ross, 2004). In the 1980s and 1990s, the Communicative Approach (Oxford et al., 1989)-one in which error was tolerated, provided the learners intended message could be conveyed and understoodbecame popular. The Communicative Approach, in which the focus is on use of authentic language, places the learner in a real exchange of meaning; the learner must process input and produce output such that each participant can understand the other. Once again, we see that listening strategies are assumed but not actively taught. Within this method, two schools developedthose who embrace the Cognitive Approach (Ellis, 1999) and those who embrace the Sociocognitive Approach (Warschauer Meskill, 2000). Another approach which came into existance was Cognitive Approach, the first of the two schools, which focuses on the view that all language learning is a unique psycholinguistic process (Warschauer Meskill, 2000, p. 3). Learners are said to have a built-in cognitive ability to interact with and communicate in language that is both meaningful and comprehensible to them and construct their own meaning. Making errors is seen as a positive learning process through which learners construct the rules of the target language based upon input/output. Technologies that support this learning theory/style include text-reconstruction software, concordancing software, telecommunications, and multimedia simulation software (p. 4). Teachers can easily manipulate authentic text to create meaningful exercises (cloze-type), and students can use all sorts of software and Internet access to discover computer microworlds that, at their best, simulate an immersion or a linguistic bath environment (p. 5). They can experience the target language by conducting searches, interacting with and manipulating their findings. In many cases, students need not actually interact with other humans at all. The other school within the Communicative Approach embraces Sociocognitive Approaches. This school of thought contends that learners benefit greatly from interaction with people. Students need to interact with other humans in authentic language situations so that they can have comprehensible input as well as exposure and practice in the types of speech acts in real life outside the classroom. Authentic tasks and projects, particularly those utilizing the Internet, are highly regarded in this approach. Teaching methods that exploit computer-assisted discussion have become accepted. We see synchronous and asynchronous chat becoming a major component of language learning. While this medium is seen as somewhat artificial, it is still said to give students authentic practice in extended discourse and to provide an extra layer of language practice for students, one that is democratic. Students who are hesitant to use oral language in the classroom have greater opportunity to use language w ithout fear of making mistakes and thus losing face. The result can be class discussions that are both highly democratic and collaborative. Next in the progression of accepted language teaching approaches is one known as the Task-Based Approach (Brown, 1987; Bruton, 2005). This approach requires the learner to listen and, based on the input, complete some sort of task, perhaps note-taking or filling in a chart or form. The tasks tend to be oriented to real-world needs of the learner but are frequently based upon discourse (lectures or passages) that is at least partially contrived. While not exactly authentic, these types of activities provide practice in completing the types of tasks students might be called upon to use in real life, such as noting information or completing forms. In current language learning approaches, we have the Learner-Strategy Approach (Floweredew Miller, 2005; Mendelsohn, 1994). This approach accounts for learners needs to initiate and recognize their own listening strategies what works for each individual learner. The Learner-Strategy approach examines listening comprehension from the perspective of individual learners and their independent learning with activities created to help learners discover what particular strategy works for them, including foci on schema activation, authentic tasks, presentation of many types of activities in many different contexts, and total interaction with the task. It is in this approach that metacognitive realization plays a significant role. Metacognition refers to the learners knowledge of whatever strategies s/he might use for specific tasks and under what conditions those strategies will be most effective (Pintrich, 2002). Pintrich pointed out that metacognition refers to knowledge of strategies; h aving the knowledge doesnt necessarily mean that the learner actually uses the strategies. It is important, however, for learners to identify which of their own listening strategies produce success, and it is helpful for them to share their strategies. Not only does the sharing help them to activate schemata and to recognize how the strategy works for them, their sharing may also serve to activate other learners schemata and be instructive for fellow learners. Both learner and fellow students become more autonomous and develop more control over their own learning, the goal of this particular approach. The more aware learners are of the learning process, more specifically, their own learning process, the greater the chance they can influence conscious learning (Nakatani, 2005, p. 77) and enhance their own strategic competence. According to Osada (2002), with the development of research, new theories, and development of second language curriculum, researchers interest in listening comprehension has grown. The 1990s showed a far greater interest in this skill than had previously been realized. Today, it is a widely accepted belief (Flowerdew Miller, 2005; Jung, 2003; Savignon, 2001; Wilson, 2003) that all skills, certainly including listening comprehension, require active negotiation with the language. Savignon (2001) likened the collaborative process involved in oral/aural communication to the game of football. The different strategies players use and the different moves they make as they avoid, block, or tackle the opposing teams players are similar to the strategies language learners use to negotiate meaning with their interlocutors in the new language. Not only do learners need to know the sound system, grammar, and syntax of the new language, but they also need to understand the pragmatic, or discourse meanings of the language. A final learning approach that is worth mentioning here is the Integrated Approach (Flowerdew Miller, 2005). Teachers of today recognize readily the need to actively teach strategies for developing accuracy in listening comprehension. The goal is to make students able to listen for and identify main ideas as well as details, to develop their critical listening and thinking skills, and to enable them to manipulate the language and show that they comprehend and can use what they have heard. An expected outcome is for students to be able to use heard information and present it in an intelligent and intelligible way. In the Integrated Approach, we see complementary strategies at play as students use aspects of the various approaches to language teaching and learning to comprehend, manipulate, and produce language in authentic, meaningful language tasks. 2.3. Different perspectives toward listening 2.3.1. Listening as Negotiation of Meaning That most peoples daily experiences are often not linked to reading and writing- but to situations where the spoken word is the dominant medium has already been noted in the context of first language (LI) listening (see, for example, Bohlken, 1999; Frest, 1999; Furnis, 2004). In academic contexts, for example, research on LI listening has shown that listening comprises more than 50% of college students total average communication day followed by reading (17%), speaking (16%) and writing (11%) (Emanuel et al, 2008). With the significant role that listening plays in our lives, therefore, it would be worthwhile to examine what facilitates and/or hinders listening. Changes in listening behavior have been associated with different factors including purpose for listening (Wolvin Coakley, 1996), types of interaction possible or required in a listening situation (Rost, 1990; 2002), personal dispositions (Sargent, Fitch-Hauser, Weaver, 1997), gender (Sargent Weaver, 2003), and cultural context (Keiwitz, Weaver, Brosius, Weiman, 1997). Imhof (2004) posits that, while listening, individuals tend to adjust swiftly to perceived characteristics of the [listening] situation (p. 43) such as the status they hold as compared to their speaking partner. In a study of listeners and speakers with English as a first language (ELI), Harms (1961) found that listeners comprehension was highest when listeners held the same status as the speakers. These findings accord with the results of the Varonis and Gass (1985) study on EL1-ESL and ESL-ESL interlocutor dyads, which demonstrated that meaning negotiations occurred less frequently between EL1-ESL interlocutors t han ESL-ESL. Varonis and Gass (1985) concluded that ESL speakers recognize the inequality of the conversation situation (p. 85) and thus are reluctant to attempt any further negotiation of meaning. In a critique of the cognitively-oriented L2 listening studies that have ignored the social context in which conversation occurs, Carrier (1999) argued that unequal status between ELI and ESL interlocutors hinders negotiations of meanings and thus has an adverse effect on comprehension. Carrier also suggested that status unequals may perceive their relationship as sharing no common base socially, occupationally, and economically (p. 74). In the context of L2 classroom settings, Pica (1992) reported that social relationships between teachers and students give them unequal status as interlocutors, which can hinder L2 comprehension, production and ultimately acquisition (p. 4). In an interesting case study of an intermediate level learners progress in listening comprehension during and after a pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes course, Lynch (1997) reported the discrepancies between performance within the sheltered setting of the language classroom and success in real interaction in the (non-sheltered) academic world. The study, which included evidence from performance (entry and exit listening tests), process (negotiation of meaning in the classroom) and perceptions (of listening difficulties after the course), pointed to the ways in which the listeners fears about being labeled as an ESL student hindered his negotiations of meaning in the classroom and ultimately his performance. When asked to make a conscious effort in applying meaning negotiation strategies (which he had learned in the sheltered language course) in his academic courses, the ESL listener replied, But I am the only foreign student and so I cannot interrupt very much (Lynch, 1997, 394). These results are in line with other work on first language listening, which demonstrate that inter-individ ual differences affect patterns of communication between listeners and speakers (Beatty, Marschal, Rudd, 2001; Imhof, 2004). 2.3.2 Listening as Comprehension Listening has been demonstrated to be one of the essentials of language learning (Rost 2002; Tafaghodtari Vandergrift, 2008; Vandergrift, 2007). Yet, with the diffusion of new technologies, which have particularly changed the ways in which university students spend their time (Emanuel et al., 2008), listening has become one of the most challenging aspects of L2 development for adult learners (e.g. Hasan 2000; Graham, 2003; Kim, 2002; Vandergrift, 2007). In a review of the recent developments in L2 listening research, Vandergrift (2007) rightly points to the significance that listening has in todays reality of L2 learners lives: Language learners want to understand target language (L2) and they want to be able to access the rich variety of aural and visual L2 texts available today via network-based multimedia, such as online audio and video, YouTube, podcasts and blogs (p. 191). Given its central role in the new media age, listening has remained surprisingly underresearched in the field of L2 education, and those studies which seem to address this neglected aspect of language development have been generally concerned with listening as an end-point, rather than an active process of meaning making. Many, for example, reduce listening to finding the right answer to a set of comprehension questions at the end of a passage. This focus, which reflects the nature of commercial and high-stakes tests, ignores the processes involved in any meaning making situation, listening being no exception. This trend has also fallen short of providing a framework for adequately taking account of the variables which affect listening ability (Tafaghodtari Vandergrift, 2008). 2.3.3 L2 Listening: A Cognitive Perspective Drawing on a wide range of disciplines (e.g., cognitive psychology, LI speech education, language pathology and artificial intelligence), current L2 listening theorists recognize that L2 listening draws on multiple sources of information such as linguistic, contextual, and schematic knowledge (e.g., Buck, 2001; Lynch, 1994; Vandergrift, 2006). A consequence of such recognition has been a focus on different textual, cognitive and affective variables such as memory, discourse markers, prior knowledge and anxiety which are believed to affect performance in L2 listening. Based on earlier work by Buck (2001), at least three types of variables are posited to be critical to L2 listening success: linguistic, strategic and learner variables. Linguistic variables entail knowledge of the sound system (phonological), grammar (syntactic), vocabulary (semantic) and contextual influences on interpretation (pragmatic) of the L2 (Flowerdew Miller, 2005). Listeners use L2 phonological knowledge to se gment the stream of sound into meaningful sound units. This includes knowledge about phonemes, stress, intonation, assimilation and elision. Grammatical or syntactic L2 knowledge helps listeners to process or parse the sound stream for meaningful units of language and contributes to comprehension by assigning semantic roles to words (Rost, 2002). L2 semantic knowledge helps listeners assign meaning to word-level units as well as the relationship between those words at the discourse level. L2 pragmatic knowledge helps the listener to infer the speakers intention, particularly if there is any ambiguity in the literal meaning of the utterance. This is closely related to sociolinguistic knowledge (e.g., formal/informal registers, idioms and slang) which listeners use to further interpret the utterance (Buck, 2001). These five elements of linguistic knowledge involved in speech perception are an essential part of any model of listening. Yet, research has shown that listening comprehension is more than speech perception (e.g., Rost, 2004; Schmidt-Rinehart, 1994). Comprehension includes matching what is heard with what is known. According to Rost (2004), the central component in the comprehension process is the activation of schemata in the listeners memory structures to anticipate and monitor,

John Keats Essay -- essays research papers

English Literature Biographical Speech Keats, John (1795-1821) English poet, one of the most gifted and appealing of the 19th century and a seminal figure of the romantic movement. Keats was born in London, October 31, 1795,and was the eldest of four children. His father was a livery-stable owner, however he was killed in a riding accident when Keats was only nine and his mother died six years later of tuberculosis. Keats was educated at the Clarke School, in Enfield, and at the age of 15 was apprenticed to a surgeon. Subsequently, from 1814 to 1816, Keats studied medicine in London hospitals; in 1816 he became a licensed apothecary (druggist) but never practiced his profession, deciding instead to be a poet. Early Works Keats had already written a translation of Vergil's Aeneid and some verse; his first published poems (1816) were the sonnets "Oh, Solitude if I with Thee Must Dwell" and "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer." Both poems appeared in the Examiner, a literary periodical edited by the essayist and poet Leigh Hunt, one of the champions of the romantic movement in English literature. Hunt introduced Keats to a circle of literary men, including the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; the group's influence enabled Keats to see his first volume published, Poems by John Keats (1817). The principal poems in the volume were the sonnet on Chapman's Homer, the sonnet "To One Who Has Been Long in City Pent," "I Stood Tip-Toe upon a Littl...

The Usefulness of Blogs Essay -- Internet

The Usefulness of Blogs "Think of a weblog as a journal of one person's explorations as he or she cruises uncharted sectors of the Net, reporting on the interesting life-forms and geological formations (Frauenfelder)." Weblogs, or blogs, are rapidly growing among the cyber population of today. There are many reasons that people use blogs, whether for business, to maintain a relationship, or as a source of therapy for problems that occur in a blogger's life. Most of the blogs that I have observed over the past few weeks have been the equivalent of an online journal. People, or bloggers, write blogs to keep track of daily events in their lives no matter what the significance of those events might be. Growing up, some children keep diaries to write down what’s going on in their life. Children often grow out of this habit of journaling as they get older. However, with the rise of computers and the internet in the past years, people have again begun to rely on journals. Now, though, these journals are online and not as private. The lock and key no longer exists and anyone can see these journals anytime that they would like to. Why would anyone want to write in an online journal where others could see their private thoughts and events that happened that day or week? After reading Margaret Jirik’s observation journal I came across an interesting statement by Malavika about why she blogs. Malavika is the woman who posts to the blog â€Å"My Daily Ranting† at http://www.mydailyranting.blogspot.com/ that Margaret is observing. She states, "Well, I figured this is a great way to whine to absolutely everyone and no one about my one and a million problems so... bear with me? You might get to know me in the process. I think... ...ing to do." Works Cited Frauenfelder, Mark. â€Å"Blogging. (weblogs).† Whole Earth. 22 December 2000. 26 March 2002 <Via www.findarcticles.com [http://www.findarticles.com/m0GER/200_Winter/68617361/pl/article.jhtml]> Grohol, John M., Psy.D. â€Å"Internet Addiction Guide.† PsychCentral December 1999. 26 March 2002. http://www.psychcentral.com/netaddiction/ Grohol. John M. Psy.D. â€Å"Psychology of Weblogs† PsychCentral April 2001. 26 March 2002-04-06 http://psychcentral.com/blogs/ Hoyum, Sonya J. Group C Observation Journal 6 March 2002 ENGL 1102 Discussion â€Å"addictive?† (6.1.1) 4 April 2002 http://caldialogue.bemidjistate.edu Jirik, Margaret. Group A Observation Journal 27 February 2002. ENGL 1102 Discussion â€Å"why?† (3.2) 4 April 2002 http://caldialogue.bemidjistate.edu â€Å"Journaling your Life† 4 April 2002. http://h.arce.tripod.com/journalingyourlife/

Amazon Books and Writers Essay

Miss Furr and Miss Keene has a reputation of being one of Gertrude Stein’s more controversial works. Originally published in 1922, the story tells of the lives of two women who live together. The story is written with a limited lexicon and contains the word â€Å"gay† which appears over a hundred times. It is purported to be one of the first coming out stories published, and through its reprinting in Vanity Fair in 1923, the underground meaning of â€Å"gay† became more widely known (Amazon Books and Writers, 2008). Stein’s style of writing uses repetition as a literary device. Those who grew up reading Dr. Seuss will have no trouble reading Miss Furr and Miss Skeene while those who are unfamiliar with Dr. Seuss will find the text quite confusing. This is because Stein, as a linguist and naturalist, utilizes repetition as a means of achieving the natural primary processes of perception and thought (Kimball, 1998). This is the primary reason why Stein’s writing is oftentimes regarded as gibberish. However, those who study her body of work will find that it is through this method that Stein conveys â€Å"the gradually changing present of human consciousness, the instability of emotion and thought† (Perloff, 1999, p. 98). This method allows Stein to let the reader experience the thoughts being conveyed as they are being written (natural) instead of conveying the thought after it has been written (synthesized). Her use of this playful style in Miss Furr and Miss Skeene is intended to rouse confusion both literally and metaphorically to reflect the thoughts of the writer (as Stein is also a lesbian) and the characters in the story. This also enables Stein to dissect one event into many while still pertaining to that one event—like an episode of 24 where the focus is that one hour but seen in different contexts. Repeating is used here as â€Å"a deliberate regression of sorts—an attempt to get at (sometimes to get back to and recover) the â€Å"real† things lying below the surface (the unconscious, the â€Å"primitive,† the primary â€Å"raw† passions of desire, love, jealousy, power, prestige, etc. ) in order to illuminate the nuanced ways that characters negotiate subconscious desires through the coded conventions of everyday polite conversation† (Nelson 2000). Stein’s depiction of these women, like the way she usually depicts her subjects, are meant to be taken as they are. Stein’s modernist style of writing â€Å"remains impervious to such an easy reading for it never allows us to make secure judgments about characters and action† (Behling, 2001, p. 127). Thus, it is literally impossible to say if the characters were caricatures or not. Stein’s unique technique solely focuses on the action and its multiple contexts instead of one singular notion. This is evident in her use of repetition without literally repeating. Instead, each perceived repetition is in fact designed to convey a new meaning. An example of this is the repetition of the word â€Å"gay. † In its first use in the seventh sentence of the story, â€Å"she did not find it gay living in the same place she has been living,† the word â€Å"gay† is used in the context of being bored. However, with each new variation, the word â€Å"gay† is transformed to mean other things, including that of today’s contemporary definition. This method of wordplay allows for the double entendre of the story. To the (then) sophisticated, the story is about Helen Furr coming out as a lesbian, while to the less informed, it is a simple story of two women living together. This style is meant to be experienced as it was intended by the author. In fact, Stein’s works, be it prose or poetry, are often discussed out loud primarily to evoke and channel that which is â€Å"natural† while also appreciating the style’s lyricism. Hence, Miss Furr and Miss Skeene would benefit from being read aloud by allowing the reader to experience â€Å"living where many were living and cultivating in themselves something† (Stein, 1993, p. 257) References Amazon Books and Writers (2008). Gertrude Stein (1874-1946). Amazon. com. Retrieved November 21, 2008 from http://www. kirjasto. sci. fi/gstein. htm. Behling, L. (2001). The Masculine Woman in America, 1890-1935. Illinois: University of Illinois Press. Kimball, J. (1998). Gertrude Stein and the natural world. Time Sense An Electronic Quarterly on the Art of Gertrude Stein. Retrieved November 21, 2008 from http://www. tenderbuttons. com/gsonline/timesense/1_1kimball. html. Nelson, C. (2000). On Gertrude Stein and Dr. Seuss. University of Illinois. Retrieved Novenber 21, 2008 from http://www2. english. uiuc. edu/finnegan/English%20251/stein_and_seuss. htm. Perloffe, M. (1999). The Poetics of Indeterminacy: Rimbaud to Cage. Illinois: Northwestern University Press. Stein, G. (1993). â€Å"Miss Furr and Miss Keene. † In G. Stein & U. E. Dydo (Ed. ) A Stein Reader (pp. 254– 259). Illinois: Northwestern University Press.

A Loaf of Breasd Essay

â€Å"A Loaf of Bread† by James Alan McPherson is a story about a man named Harold Green who is accused of cheating customers due to his overpriced products being sold at one of his supermarkets. Throughout the story, Green is faced with a plethora of different obstacles that he has to overcome in order to prove not only to his family, but to himself that he is a honest and caring man. There are many different lessons and themes you can pick out from this story, but one in particular that I feel is important is the relationship between Harold Green and Nelson Reed. Both men are introduced as complete opposites of each other, but as the story progresses they both discover that they are very much alike and the animosity they once shared was nothing more than a mere misunderstanding. By the end of the story, they both learn a lot from each other and that judging someone without knowing their position or seeing things from their perspective can often lead to false verdicts. â€Å"I did not make this world,† he repeated. â€Å"I only make my way in it† This quote perfectly describes Harold Green and his perspective on life. In the beginning of the story, Green is introduced as a selfish but honest man. He knew that he was overcharging customers in his store, but to him it was something he had to do in order to provide for his family even if it meant losing them. â€Å"What is the color of these people?† he asked. â€Å"Black,† his wife said. â€Å"And what is the name of my children?† â€Å"Green.† The grocer smiled. â€Å"There is your answer,† he told his wife. â€Å"Green is the only color I am interested in.† This furthermore shows that Green starts off as a selfish man. He chose to ignore the needs of his customers due to his lust for cash. Nelson Reed on the other hand, was introduced as a very proud and caring Christian man. He believed that what Green was doing was wrong, and felt the need to stand up for his people. Although both men seem to be complete opposites of each other, they still shared similar characteristics. They were both very stubborn and determined to stand up for what they believe in. Green at first, did not want to give in to his wife and give away his products for free. He refused to because he believed he was right, and that he needed to stand up for himself. Reed, although different from Green, shared a similar perspective about the whole situation. He felt the need to stand up for himself and his people. As the two characters progress, they both come to terms on one thing; money rules the world. â€Å"The only thing that matters in this world is money.† This quote by Reed depicts a better understanding between the two. Reed is finally starting to see things through Green’s eyes and realizes that he would’ve done the same thing as Green if he had owed the store. â€Å"Place yourself in my situation†¦ Say on a profit scale of fifteen to forty percent, at what point in between would you draw the line?† â€Å"Forty? Maybe even forty-five or fifty?† the grocer breathed in Reed’s ear. â€Å"In the supermarkets, you know, they have more subtle ways of accomplishing such feats.† Reed slapped his coffee cup with the back of his right hand. The brown liquid swirled across the counter top, wetting the books. â€Å"Damn this!† he shouted.† Although Reed is reluctant to believe he is like Green, he is now putting himself in Green’s shoes. In a way, it’s almost like Reed is giving in to himself. Green does the same thing. One morning Green decides to give in to himself and give out his products for free. In the end, as Green is in the middle of giving out items, Reed walks in and insists that he pay for the loaf of bread his wife had taken for free earlier. â€Å"I think it was brown bread. Don’t that cost more than white?† â€Å"In my store, yes,† Harold Green said. He rang the register with the most casual movement of his finger. The register read fifty-five cents. Nelson Reed held out a dollar. â€Å"And two cents tax,† the grocer said. The man held out the dollar. â€Å"After all,† Harold Green said. â€Å"We are all, after all, Mr. Reed, in debt to the government.† This last quote from the story sums up the change we see in both characters. Green has now learned that there is more to life than just money and himself, whereas Reed learns to respect Green’s profession. The fact that Reed paid full price for the bread shows that he understands Green’s position in contrast to the beginning where he saw it as a crime how Green had overpriced his items. In the end, both men had learned valuable lessons, and although at first were very different and opposing of each other, came to terms that they are no more than two similar people making money for the government.

Emergency Room Services

Emergency rooms in the USA are under increasing pressure to provide emergency care to all, even if they are non life threatening. This trend in approaching ER for every singly problem is costing the healthcare system a large amount of costs, with the result that the number of ER services and hospitals are decreasing with increased pressure on the remaining healthcare facilities.Other contributing factors are not helping either. In addition to this the issue of increased alcohol consumption and ER admissions is also beginning to negatively affect the quality of healthcare. Nurses are under more pressure than ever to handle ER efficiently, which is showing no signs of decreasing the number of unnecessary ER admissions.Alcohol and Drug Abuse Are Main Abusers of Emergency Room ServicesMany reports now confirm that Emergency room services are among the most misused healthcare services employed by the patients. Of the many problems with which the patients come into the ER with, the most co mmon are due to alcohol and drug abuse.According to McGeary (2000) â€Å"chronic illicit drug use is a positive as well as a significant determinant of the probability of utilizing the ER.† (McGeary et al, 2000) Substance abusers were 30 percent more likely to utilize the ER services than any other emergencies. (McGeary et al, 2000)The above statements and study results point out to many issues and findings. Firstly, that drug users or abusers are the most prominent patient crowd of the ERs. This leads to the next conclusion that in order to improve ER services, we must be able to identify and care for the main target patients, who are drug users, alcoholics and such related substance abusers.ER is also a most likely place where screening for psychiatric symptoms and drug abuse can be identified, and further treatments carried out. In this way, an ER can be looked at as a diagnostic, screening and treatment facility for those who are substance or drug abusers, with or without psychological symptoms.This also means that in order to improve services in the ER, the prime patient population in focus should be such people, and effective measures and policies must be introduced to provide care for this group. The costs utilized in the education and prevention of alcohol abuse is far less than the costs that it takes to treat alcohol cases.The trend in opting for emergency visit initially may have been limited to emergency cases, but in the recent years has grown to include insignificant calls that may not need emergency initiatives. The problem lies in lack of awareness among people about what constitutes an emergency and what not.To many this increase in the recent years in the emergency room entries and calls are due to the increasing size of the populations, the reduction of services and number of hospitals, the decrease in the number of nurses, and the problems of not having insurance and coverage in the American population. The current concept of ER has changed to become a place that provides round the clock services for all healthcare related problems instead of a service that is essentially made to save lives in critical danger.The complications are leading to more admissions, with the danger that many patients who may be in actual need of the critical treatment may experience delays in their treatment, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. (Severson, 2000) The current statistics reveal that one in five of the visits to the ER are for non-urgent conditions. (Osheraoff, 2004)Of the most common abusers of the ER system, men, poor families and African Americans are seen to abuse them the most. These numbers are high in all of the American states. In California, this includes a quarter million of the Californian adults and 60,000 children.The increase these admissions and care treatments cost are six times more than the normal clinical expenditures. Of the abusers, the non citizens were more likely to utilize the ER service s when compared to the citizens. All these increases in the numbers are thought to take place due to the reasons mentioned above. The ER services nation wide are in deep trouble. (Sacremento State News, 2004)In the last ten years from 1993 to 2003, America as experienced an increase of 12 percent in its population, but the ER reports and admissions have increased by 27 percent. This was coupled by the closing of 425 emergency departments, 700 hospitals and 200,000 beds. This means that as the number of ER services is decreasing, the remaining services are experiencing a sharp rise in the admissions and therefore more work with lesser amount of quality provision. (Brown, 2006)What many of the Americans refuse to acknowledge is that the ER visit is also costly for them, apart from the increased cost that the healthcare sector pays. This trend to have every thing taken care of in the ER is usually due to two reasons on the patients’ behalf. One is to save oneself from waiting fo r an appointment with the primary healthcare provider, and second is the lack of awareness among the Americans as to what constitutes an emergency. (Osheroff, 2006)The drug related admissions in hospital ERs is increasing precariously. In 2004, there were near 2 million admissions in the ER for drug related mishaps, of which 1.3 million were due to drug misuse or abuse. (SAMSHA, 2006)Of the 1.3 million, 30 percent comprised of illicit drug abuse cases, 25 percent were related to over the counter and prescribed medications, 8 percent were alcohol abuse cases in people under age 21, and the rest included combinations of illicit drugs, pharmaceuticals and alcohols in various combinations and percentages.The drugs that were primarily involved comprised of cocaine, marijuana, heroine, stimulants, amphetamines and methamphetamines, PCP, Ecstasy and GHB in the largest amounts. The problem will continue to increase in number as many predict due to the increased number of teenagers and young adults taking up these substances. (Samsha, 2006)