Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Adult learning: second languages

Adult learning: second languages The effect of age on adult’s rate of achievement in learning second language 1 Abstract This study investigated the effects of age on adult’s rate of achievement in learning second language in the case of grammar,and pronunciation. Age is one of the most important and affective factor which causes many differences in both second and first language learning. When the brain is more developed so it is better for learning second language and also adult ´s capacity for learning and memory is higher than children. Results show that adults are able to produce grammatically correct sentences compared with children but as they become older they get into some problems in communication. Asher and Price figured out a fact that the younger a child had been when entering the United States, the higher the probability of a native like accent(Asher and Price, 1967, p. 83). Introduction It is very important that older people have the ability to learn a second language, especially English because the technology of our society is going to change rapidly base on English. Learning a second language will cause them a better opportunity such as employment, studying in abroad, having a better social contact and so on.What is the relationship between age and rate of learning second language?There are numerous findings about the relative abilities or inabilities of language learners of different age. Do children learn language faster? Is it impossible for adults to achieve fluency? This paper studied the effect of age on adult’s rate of achievement of grammar,and pronunciation in learning second language. The hypothesis is that older learners are more successful than younger in some cases, not all cases.Although different type of classes(teachers-centered class and student-centered class and other characteristic will effect it but there are not our main concern in thi s study. Review of literature This article provides a selective overview of theoretical issues and empirical findings relating to the question of age and the rate of aadult†²s second language acquisition. Many empirical researches were done on the rate of second language learning and overviews of this research can be found in Asher and Price(1967), Susan Oyama (1982), Fathman (1989), Falasca (2001),Dekeyser (2002), Dunkel and Pillet (2008), Johnson and Newport (2008),and Bista (2008). Methodology This paper studied the effect of age on adult’s rate of achievement of grammar,and pronunciationin learning second language. This research was done by studying previous related research which is done by famous researches. Information gathered from articles , books and internet sources. This paper has collected the best papers related to the effect of age on adult’s rate of achievement of grammar, and pronunciationin learning second language. the following pages review more than 10 studies that are theoretically and practically studied the relationship between age and on adult’s rate of second language acquisition. Adults as learners There are many definitions of the adults as learners ,different authors focus on different perspectives. Knowles (1980), forexample, identified the following characteristics of adult learners: †¢ adults are autonomous and self-directed; they need to be free to direct themselves †¢ adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities and previous education †¢ adults are relevancy-oriented; they must see a reason for learning something †¢ adults are more problem-centered than subject-centered inlearning †¢ adults are motivated to learn by internal factors rather thanexternal ones ( MerriamCaffarella, 1999,p 65) Grammar Many of adult second language learners pay more attention on learning grammar ,they believe in the significant relationship between grammatical accuracy and effective communication. They pay much attention to grammar because of doing office work and studying in abroad. They think by having proficiency in grammar part they will have a better social acceptance by native speakers. Adults are more aware of grammar points which they are using, that†²s why they can get these points and use them. Huangdid a research and in his study 118 Mandarin-speaking immigrants in the United States and 24 English native speakers as the baseline comparison group participated. The grammar knowledge estimated by a grammaticality judgment task. The findings showed thatthat post-puberty learners acquire second language better than pre-puberty learnersespecially in grammar part.His findings showed the method of teaching, amount of instruction and also length of residence have significant effects on learning grammar. Results revealed that adults had less difficulty in adapting to task. They are faster and made fewer mistakes, this will cause them to learn faster. And children made more mistakes at the early stages of learning. Asher and Price ( 1967) have carried out an experiment with96 students from the second, fourth and eighth grades of a school and 37 undergraduate students from a college. The subjects did not have any previous knowledge of Russian, the targeted language. After three short trainings conducted in Russian language, the results showed that the eight graders performed significantly better than the second graders and the fourth graders. They also noticed a consistently positive relationship with advancing age because of above average mental ability of the adults (p.76). A study which is done by Robert Dekeyser(2002)suggested:adult learners are more successful in learning grammar than the early-age learners(p.14). Learning grammar is sometimes abstract, that†²s why it is hard for children to get the point. Most of the time, children memorize it.The findings show that grammar is somehow boring for adults but they get to this conclusion that learning grammar is necessary and effective. Adults are more reliance on writing and they know about the value of grammar in writing, so they get it more serious. Pronunciation Researchers of SLA interested in assessing phonological skills of learners suggest a common belief that younger learners acquire a native like accent in the target language. Dunkel and Pillet compared the proficiency in French between elementary school pupils and beginning students of French from the university. They found that the younger learners’ pronunciation was better than that of the older ones. However, in both written and aural tests, the university students had better performance than the younger ones.(Bista,2008, p.8) Asher and price examined acquisition of pronunciation of 71 Cuban immigrants to California. The subjects were of aged groups from seven to 19 years. The majority of them had been in the United States for about five years. They concluded that â€Å"not one of the 71 Cuban subjects was judged to have American native pronunciation† (Asher and price, 1967, p. 83). They also figured out a fact that the younger a child had been when entering the United States, the higher the probability of a native like accent. In the study which is done by Susan Oyama (1982) 60 maleItalian immigrants were studied .They were at the age of 6 to 20 when they had come to the united states. Susan Oyama pointed out that the age is an important factor in order to have a native like accent. She declared that the younger the better in having an acceptable accent. She also pointed out her results about listening comprehension as follows: †¦those subjects who began learning English before age 11 showed comprehension score similar to those of native speakers, whereas later arrivals did less well; those who arrived after the age of 16 showed markedly lower comprehension scores than the native (Oyama, 1982, p. 23). Susan Oyama suggested (1982):The young learners are considered fluent in communication of the second language and achieve native like accent .Learners after the age of puberty do not acquire native like accent of a second language but have complex learning pattern.Research suggests that children and adults L2 learners pass through different developmental states ( p 12). Johnson and Newport ( 2008) found: native-like language abilities and the performance levels are lower in older children than younger in a study of forty-six Chinese and Koreans speakers(p.13). In another study, Fathman (1989) tested oral proficiency in English on 20 children and 20 adults in a formal setting in Mexico. Their finding also brought a similar conclusion that the children scored better in English pronunciation than the adults but the adults scored better than the children in syntax(p.32). Learning and technology As we know adults are more capable to use technology in order to improve and using technology can help learners to study faster, especially adults. Integrating technology in instruction for adult Englishlanguage learners may offer the flexibility to extend that available in a formal program and thus increase opportunities for language and literacy learning(Cummins, 2007, p. 26). Adult learners access to online learning more than others. Online learning is entirely Internet-based. This opportunity ables English learners to learn anywhere,any time. Electronic tools and internet which is used in teaching and learning motivate students to learn and become actively independent learners, this will happen for adults more than children. As we know adults have more problem in communication but internet can provides learners with opportunities to reinforce their learning skills, self-assessment, and their communication with the world. Some other effects of aging on learning: 1.as people become older they eyesight will become weak and this will affect the capacity for learning of the adults 2.changes in nuclear family roles,changes in other family roles and changes in work roles will affect on adults learning(Falasca, 2001, p.3) 3.Motivation to learn: Adults can be ordered into a classroom but nobody can force them to learn. Any adults who see a need or have a desire to know a new thing seems more successful. Conclusion A group of researchers including Singleton and Oyama believed that the young learners have higher learning potentiality than the adults whereas Johnson and Newport, Dekeyser, Asher and Price, opined the opposite. Thus the results of this study in general support that younger adults are better learner especially in pronunciation and there is a high level of opportunity to achieve to native like accent but we should consider that the amount of repetitions and also the length of resistance have much effect on having native like accent, on the other hand older adults are better in understanding grammar. When the brain is more developed so it is better for learning grammar, this is because of the fact that adult ´s capacity for learning and memory is higher than children . The findings showed that that post-puberty learners acquire second language better than pre-puberty learners especially in grammar part. In learning grammar, there is a consistently positive relationship with advancing age because of above average mental ability of the adults. Learning grammar is sometimes abstract, that†²s why it is hard for children to get the point. Also all of the tools which is available in the market, sources which is available in the internet, and software can help a lot older adult than younger adult in learning second language. We should consider that the main problem of adult is that in most cases they can not become lifelong learners.Age is not everything in second language learning. However, factors related to the age, for example the learning opportunities, the motivation to learn, individual differences, and learning styles, are also important determining variables that affect the rate of second language learning in various developmental stages of the learners. References: Asher, J. J., Price, B. S. (1967). The learning strategy of a total physical response: Some age differences. Child Development, 38, 1219-1227. Bialystok,E.(1997).The structure of age: In search of barriers to second language acquisition. Second language research,13(2),116_137. Bista,K.(2008).Age as an effective factor in second language acquision. The journal of English for Specific Purposes World.Issue 5 (21).Retrieved fromwww.esp-world.info/Articles_21/Docs/Age.pdf Birdsong, D. (2006). Age and second language acquisition and processing: A selective overview. Language Learning, 56 (1), 9-49. Cummins, J.(2007). Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters.Working Papers on Bilingualism, 19,197-205. DeKeyser, R.(2002).The robustness of Critical Period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in second language Acquisition,22(4),499-533. Fathman, A. (1989). The relationship between age and second language productive ability. Issues in second language research. London:Newbury House, 15-23. Falasca,M.(2001).Barriers to adult learning.Australian Journal of Adult learning.Volume56,number3,November2011. Retrieved from http://www.ajal.net.au/barriers-to-adult-learning-bridging-the-gap/ Johnson, J. S., Newport, E.L.(2008).Critical Period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on acquisition of English as a Second Language. Cognitive Psychology. 21,60-99. Klein, W. (1986).Second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Oyama, S. (1982).The sensitive period and comprehension of speech. In Krashen, S., Scarcell, R. Long, M. (Eds.), Issues in second language research. London: Newbury House, 39-51 Singleton, D. (2002).The age factor in second language acquisition (2nd ed.). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Monday, January 20, 2020

No Utopia Found in Wendell Berry’s What Are People For? :: What Are People For

No Utopia Found in Wendell Berry’s What Are People For? The preface to Wendell Berry’s What Are People For? is in the form of a two-part poem, titled â€Å"Damage† and â€Å"Healing.† By carefully digging through its cryptic obscurities (â€Å"It is despair that sees the work failing in one’s own failure†), we find the main message: The more diminutive, local, and settled a culture, the healthier it is and the less â€Å"damage† it inflicts upon its people and the land. Berry can be called a utopian but not in the traditional sense. He pines not for the future but for the past. Basing his lifestyle upon his boyhood memories of fifty years ago as well as America’s pioneer days, Berry is confident he has found the answer to the perfect existence. In this case, book and individual are difficult to separate. What Are People For? is Wendell Berry, so to criticize one is to criticize the other. His book is a compilation of contemplative essays on subjects ranging from literature to technology from the perspective of a Kentucky farmer. Having been in the same profession and location most of his young life, Berry in 1958 (at age twenty-four) accepted a Stanford University Stegner Fellowship. Intrigued, he decided to read Stegner’s books and take this professor’s writing seminar. Berry is reverent and testifies that Stegner filled the Jones Room of the Stanford Library with an aura of literary authority. It is here that Berry learns â€Å"responsible writing.† This is writing that contains the values one has â€Å"proven† by living exclusively in one country place and by perfecting one’s knowledge of the place so as to bring sustainable benefit to it. Responsible writing actively promotes â€Å"good agriculture and forestry† unlike writing â€Å"by self-styled smart people in the offices and laboratories of a centralized economy and then sold at the highest possible profit to the supposedly dumb country people.† What Berry says about his seminar experience is that it started him on his development toward working at home, and away from his assumption â€Å"that I was going to follow a literary career that would lead me far from [Henry County] to teach at a university in a large city.† In important ways Berry has some very good ideas. Concerned that radio and television have done too much to homogenize society, he uses â€Å"Nate Shaw† (a pseudonym) to provide an illustration of a man who lived without euphemistic clichà ©s.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Liberty University

I am a police officer and more times than not, I find myself dealing with school ages kids. Usually they range between the ages of 13-18. Most of the time I feel like a counselor because when we deal with juveniles, the juvenile judicial system has tied our hands in what they will incarcerate a juvenile for, so we usually give them a stern talking to and release them back to the custody of their parents. I also work closely with the middle and high school administrators. Sometimes we are in the schools dealing with problems or sometimes we take kids back to school that we find skipping class.This is why I chose to write this discussion board entry on the ethics of school counselors. There are several ethical standards for school counselors, so I will only be touching on a few of them, while comparing them to biblical passages. The first I would like to hit on is the counselor’s responsibilities to their students. They are to treat their students with respect at all time and al ways consider the students future when talking with them. Romans 12:10 states, â€Å"be devoted to one another in brotherly love, but give preference to one another in honor. I think this passage fits perfect here, because when a student goes to a counselor it is usually to talk about a problem they are having or advice on a particular topic. This verse is saying to be devoted to the person as you want the same devotion to you. Another ethical standard for school counselors is confidentiality. The administrators and counselors are not to discuss the student’s issues and school records with anyone unless a informed consent has been agreed on and signed. Proverbs 12:22 states, â€Å"lying lips are an abomination of the lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. Taking this passage word for word to me basically means that the lord frowns upon the lips that lie and lying is also one of the Ten Commandments that should be remembered when being trusted by another. One of the ethical standards is that counselors and administrators but inform parents and/or legal guardians if a student poses a danger to himself or another. The counselors are never to negate the risk of harm because some students will hide this in order to avoid any type of further scrutiny from other students, teachers or administrators. Corinthians 6:19-20 states, â€Å"do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify in your body. † I don’t think that many of these students who look to harm themselves or harm someone else are thinking past the injury and into the bible and what they are actually doing in the Lord’s eyes. The next ethical standard by which the counselors are held to is professionalism. They are to treat everything that you do in a way that is looked at as professional to society.They are to seek the consent of parents before conduc ting any research into a student or educational records, and treat every research opportunity with professionalism. Psalms 34:22 says, â€Å"The Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. † References: The New King James Study Bible, publisher Thomas Nelson, Inc. , 2007 undefined. (1984). American School Counselor Association. In Ethical Standards for School Counselors. Retrieved February 19, 2012, from http://www. mnschoolcounselors. org/EthicalStandards2010. pdf.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Essay about We Can but Should We - 909 Words

We Can, But Should We? Chamberlain College of Nursing NR361 Information Systems in Healthcare Kathleen Fabian, Professor Fall B 2010 Radio frequency identification, also known as RFID, is a breakthrough in technology and could just be the next big step in surveillance. Yet, how far is one willing to go to be sure that all of their past history is accurate? This sounds a little like George Orwell’s 1984; a chip inserted into one’s skin, embedded with data that can be transferred to a reading device and be read? Someone could be able to know every little thing about another person just by transferring data; sounds a little scary. RFID isn’t just for tracking patient’s data, according to Daniel Sieberg’s Is RFID tracking you?, â€Å"it†¦show more content†¦However, one of the biggest problems in healthcare is medical records; most of it is done on paper, which is hard to manage and easy to misplace. Msnbc.com’s article explains, â€Å"pushing for the strongest encryption algorithms to ensure hackers can’t nab medical data as information transfers from chip t o reader to secure database, will help address privacy concerns.† Still, if the strongest encryptions do not work, the most talented hackers may be able to read one’s private medical history. â€Å"The kind of RFID that is becoming widely used has no power source, and can send information over tens of feet†¦RFIDs potential for misuse and abuse is quite trivial,† (Sieberg, 2006). Yet, the companies that will make and use RFID will have a responsibility to be sure that the technology is safe and secure. The Food and Drug administration has approved the chip. When the chip was approved, according to Joseph Brownstein of Do Chip Implants Protect or Violate Privacy? , â€Å"it mentioned potential problems, including electromagnetic interference, failure of the chip to function properly and adverse bodily reactions.† The FDA’s letter never described the probability or severity of these risks. Brownstein interviewed Silverman, who had an RFID chip implanted years before it was approved by the FDA, and Silverman explained he never experienced any of the potential risks. Yet, there are less invasive ways to accomplish the same goal. The Medic-AlertShow MoreRelatedHow Can We Push Equality For The Level That It Should Be?967 Words   |  4 PagesHow can we push equality to the level that it should be? Not just in the United States, but in the entire world, a human being is a human being, whether in one country or another. The first step might be the percentage of women making important decisions alongside men, as equals in politicians and in office power, all across the world. The vision people have for those who are in politics is almost always the same. A middle-aged white man, never a person of color, even less a woman. To be a womanRead MoreWhy Should We Maintain The Agents Can Be Justified?2127 Words   |  9 PagesMEANINGFUL JUSTIFICATION REQUIRES THAT REASONS ARE MENTAL STATES In this essay I argue if we maintain that agents can be justified in action, reasons must be mental states, rather than facts as suggested by Alvarez and Hornsby . Reasons of fact would leave us with agents that are no more or less justified than any other agent in their decision making. I claim justification would be a pointless and arbitrary concept if reasons were not mental states. There are two important distinctions to makeRead More†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢We should not blame a gun itself for any crime or any acts of violence, any more than we can800 Words   |  4 Pages†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢We should not blame a gun itself for any crime or any acts of violence, any more than we can blame a pen for misspelling a word’† (Rodkey). This statement, made by Robert Bennett, makes a very valid about why citizens should be allowed to own firearms freely. It is a privilege clearly given to Americans in the United States Constitution. One mistake made by someone does not mean that guns should be taken away from other innocent people. Be able to own a firearm is a right given to us in theRead MoreHow Books Can Improve Reading Experience, And Should We Trade Our Books?2003 Words   |  9 Pagesa normal book does, except instead of the words being on paper the words are on a digital screen. The e-reader does have other capabilities than just being a book, it can downloa d other useful apps that can help you through your day. The question is are these other capabilities hurting or helping the reading experience, and should we trade our paper books for ebooks. Comprehension and connection, durability, and health benefits are reasons to keep your traditional books. Better comprehension is doneRead MoreWhy Did Jesus Use Parables to Convey Much of His Teaching? What Can We Learn from This About How We Should Communicate ‘Good News’ to the People Around Us?1131 Words   |  5 PagesWhat can we learn from this about how we should communicate ‘good news’ to the people around us? Introduction to the Gospels 23/02/2009 The Gospels of the New Testament contain 39 different parables told by Jesus (Phillips 2004, 18-19) and no doubt he spoke many more during his ministry. Jesus’ choice to use parables to teach his people is one that has intrigued many people throughout history. The aim of this essay is to get to discover why he chose to use those parables, and also what we canRead MoreThe Book of Proverbs Essay1238 Words   |  5 Pagestowards God and our parents. We should praise God for his wisdom because He created us and the world. God tells us that we need to be prepared when we serve Him because He will judge us when we die. We need to accept whatever falls upon us and make the best of it like God would want us to do. The book of Proverbs tells us that we need to cling on to Him which to me that means we should follow His teachings and do whatever it takes to be with God so we can share in Gods life in heavenRead MoreAsk Questions: we should ask question to clarify our understanding,so that we could understand it700 Words   |  3 PagesQuestions: we should ask question to clarify our understanding,so that we could understand it better. As well as to demonstrate interest in what is being said. Barriers to Accurate Perception: Stereotyping and generalizing: we should be carefull not to hold on to preconceptions about people over things.We often have propensity to see what we want to see. Not Investing Time: If we make assumptions and ignore the detail then it can lead to the misconceptions.When we ignore the detail we fail to lookRead MoreThe 21st Century Journalist s Creed Essay1474 Words   |  6 Pagestime without television, without the Internet, and without social media applications. Anyone with a social media application can â€Å"perform† the functions of journalism and it raises questions of accountability and accuracy for journalism as a whole. We must take a look at â€Å"The Journalist’s Creed† and rewrite it to include some ideas from the original and add others that can be used in the age of technology. Walter Williams highlights a few key ideas in his journalism creed, one of which is the professionRead MoreThe State Of Texas Is Not At Its Best Right Now914 Words   |  4 Pages I believe that Texas should be at the top of public education not only in the country, but in the world. We should change how and what teacher are teaching to students. Now days we go to school to memorize keywords so we can graduate and get a diploma. After that, some students that don’t go to college don’t reuse the information that was taught to them for four years, so basically the schools wasted resources and money, and students lost time. I believe we can and should strike for greatness andRead MoreEthical Issues Of The American Marketing Association Essay1716 Words   |  7 Pagesworld, humans face ethical problems and must come to decisions. We use our beliefs of what we think is right and wrong to come to an ethical decision in our day to day life. In the world of marketing and busi ness people are faced with even challenging, complex ethical issues. To help make reasonable ethical decisions business and organizations often make a code of ethics that relates to the business or field as a guide on how you should conduct and make business decisions. Relating to my field of