Business Auditing - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1933 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2018/12/30 Category Insurance Essay Type Report Level High school Topics: Organization Essay Did you like this example? Auditing refers to the systematic analysis of organization financial systems in the essence of tracking the business records. Big company firms may be audited for reasons such as security and the suspicious threat such as theft. Some companies may try to evade the revenue authorities by not paying the dues required, and thus the tax authority will do their audit annually. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Business Auditing" essay for you Create order Auditing may not judge the future of the business but analyses the current business environment. An audit involves collecting information on the clients and the competitors. The customer service is evaluated and based on the mode of purchase or the services requested. The main aim of auditing is to grow, maintain and achieve the strategic objectives of a business organization. Consider a company planning to migrate to its main competitors base. The company evaluates its sales and that of its main competitor. The following piece of work will audit the Oman insurance company basing on the customer and main competitor information. Oman Insurance Corporation Oman insurance corporation, OIC is one of the biggest leading insurance companies in the Middle East. The organization was formed in the year 1975 and OIC today is one of the largest financial giant institutions with over fifteen branches operating under head office located in Qatar. The Oman Insurance headquarters are in Dubai, UAE. The company is rated A-stable, by standard and Poors and an A, Excellent by AM best reinsurers. The companys vision is to provide unique insurance solutions which help, protect and create wellbeing and wealth. The Oman Insurance company operates under customer friendly services to attain quality products while underwriting the general types of risk, health and life insurances while surging forward to make unique covers based on a clients perception [3]. The Corporation provides some insurance services which include solutions from personal lines, motor, health and life coverage solutions. The company provides excellent lines covers from medium to large co mmercial and industrial enterprises. For energy, construction and marine sectors. The organization has the right board of directors who are qualified and consultants in various fields.H.E.Abdulaziz Abdulla Al-Ghulair is the current sitting chairman while Mr. Abdul is the vice president. The two executive directors work with other five board members. The chief executive officer of the company is Christos Adamantiadis. Oman Company has received many awards following its pursuit of quality services which are customer oriented which include the most innovative insurer, commercial lines insurer of the year, UAE insurer at the MENA awards 2015 and the best business insurance of the year at the UAE banker products awards 2015.OIC is a customer oriented company with a clear vision and focuses on service Even due to a slower growth rate of the market, Oman insurance company expectation is to continuous influence premium increment at the rate of 10-11% compound annual interest rates. The insurance corporation substantial investments in data mining and analytics will allow the insurance company to focus on the segments that guarantee highest returns and have the maximum chances to grow the business profitability over the projected three-year business strategy on health insurance coverage. The most significant agenda is to increase profits as compared to the previous years before the establishment of the business strategy The company notices that the sales have been going down and plans on auditing the sales information and that of the main competitors. The companys financial sales at the close of 2016/2017 financial year. This was the 40th annual report of the company. The gross premiums increased by 11.40% reaching 3.6 AED billion compare on the previous financial year 2015 with AED 3.19 billion. The 2016 realized profits were 100.4million compared to AED 50.6 million realized in 2015. The company also had a pleasure of enjoying the net incurred claims with a decrease to 786AED million compared to the previous year claims of 1060 AED million. The auditors audited the premier company sales for a way out in outsmarting the company in the active competition. However, the main competitor who happens to be the premier insurance company seemed to be far much better with the following sales. Premier insurance company Premier health insurance is a world based company. The organization is headed by the PA group and tailored to the non-US residents including the American civilians. The end of the 2016 financial year the company closed with a gross profit of 5.0 AED billion compared to the previous years profit of 11.5 AED. Moreover, the company had incurred small claims of around 400AED. The report depicts a higher profit margin. Basing the audit on the two companies the Oman insurance had to come up with the business strategies both internally and externally. External factors that may hinder realization of Oman Insurance business strategy To study the external factors, we will employ the SWOT (Jepsen, 2010) and PESTEL techniques (university, 2010). The SWOT will be used to view the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats of the business strategy plan while the PESTEL will analyze the political, economic, social, technology, environmental and legal framework. The three large factors include: Technological factors The technology involves the use of science in the production of goods and provision of services in an organization (Lacob Rucci, 2007). Technology enhances real competition among different business groups in the country. Technology has revolutionized the way Oman insurance company conducts its business. The use of technology has influenced communication processes. Emails, websites, texting and personal digital products applications have helped Oman insurance company to improve communication with clients. Oman insurance company aims at boosting its online services by creating a database which will enable their customers to access their health insurance coverage through the enterprises website. The site will be designed with a database which will capture customers monthly premiums. The site will also allow clients to either use their visas cards to make payments and also to make general inquiries about their cover. The database will involve the customers names, gender, age, location, p rofession, and nationality. Also, clients will be able to pay their premiums via mobile banking without necessarily traveling to the companys head office. The rise in technology leads to mechanization of operations which leads to retrenchment since machines replace human efforts. Growth in technology requires high initial setup cost which might deprive the Oman insurance company profits realized since the finances are needed to be invested in modern technological facilities which are too expensive. Many customers have aired feedback through these communication channels hence the organization has considered acting on the complaints and feedback to better their services on medical insurance cover business strategy. Information can now reach a broad market space faster and accurate. Technology also has helped Oman insurance organization increase the productivity of its employees. Business soft wares developed by the insurance company together with computer programs enable the insurance employees process more information on business matters than the previous manual methods. Oman insurance company has reached a broader market, thanks to the growth and development of technology. Technology has enhanced the use of retail websites which clients can access around the clock when they need to acquire insurance cover. Oman Insurance Corporation has achieved this through these of carefully placed web banners and ads. Outsourcing is another innovation as a result of the growth and development of technology. Oman insurance company has outsourced some of its operations to other businesses in the same business field countywide. Outsourcing has lowered its operations costs, and the organization has focused on completing the business function they do best. Economic factors Economic factors refer to the aggregate of the nature of the financial system of the country the bazaar composition of the economy to the economic policies of the government of the corporation of the capital market, business series, the nature of factor endowments and the socioeconomic infrastructure (Bohlin, 2004). For a business organization or entity to be high, the economic factors surrounding its operations must be considered. The forces of demand and supply, inflations; deflations also affect Oman insurance company health cover. The fluctuation foreign exchange rates might see a depreciation or appreciation in the purchasing power of a currency and the clients may opt to exit. A decrease in the rate of foreign exchange will result in low economic growth rate. Hence the clients will not be able to subscribe to the health insurance coverage offered by Oman Insurance Company. On the other hand, an increase in the rate of foreign exchange will mean a positive change in the economy leading to the high bargaining power of clients. When customers are economically enabled, they will tend to subscribe to t6he health cover as opposed to when the clients are financially disabled. Concerning the economic fluctuation, the Oman insurance company should invest in forecast plans whereby in the case of inflations, deflations, and shifts in demand and changes in supply the reasonable profits made by the corporation will not be negatively affected. Oman insurance company should formulate a sound market capture strategy which will enable the company to compete efficiently and even outdo its competitors in the insurance business market. In the case of economic growth, the Oman insurance company should equip its operations in such a way that more clients can subscribe to the health insurance coverage. The company should consider involving the all economic classes that are the lower class, middle class and the upper class in the society. The cover will include calculating premiums to be paid by the clients available disposable income. Catering across the economic classes will not only provide a sound base for the growth of the insurance company, but also it will ensure that the business strategy being developed reaches the largest market in the region of operations thereby making it possible to realize profit increase of 10-11% annually in accordance with the three years business strategy. In the case of technological factors, the Oman insurance company should consider investing in the modern technology. The choice of technology should be based on the reliability if the technology, efficiency, effectiveness, and accuracy of the technology, setup cost, and maintenance cost. The use of internet in carrying out the companys operations will result in involvement in less labor force whereby the company will save more money that would have been utilized in the payment of wages and salaries. Also due to changes in the world trends, technology upgrade will enable the Oman insurance company reaches more clients and hence be able to cover broader market for its products or services offered. Technology will also enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of the strategic business plan which is to develop a modern health insurance cover for the people of the United Arad Emirates. Government policy The government establishes rules which govern sales in any nation [4]. When government rules change, the company will tend to modify the way they operate. Mostly, government market regulations and policies in the economy influence the competitiveness and profitability of business organizations in a given country. Business owners must adhere to regulations and rules established by local governments, the national governments and the federal states which it operates .the government might affect the business strategy laid through the following. References Asad, M. (2012). PESTEL and SWOT Models.? SSRN Electronic Journal. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1987530 Mao, M., Yu, Y. (2015). Analysts Cash Flow Forecasts, Audit Effort, and Audit Opinions on Internal Control.? Journal Of Business Finance Accounting,? 42(5-6), 635-664. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12117 Premier Health Global An International Medical Plan. (2017). Premier Health Global An International Medical Plan.? International Travel Insurance Group. Retrieved 7 December 2017, from https://www.internationalinsurance.com/premier-health/ tameem. (2017).? tameem.? Tameen.ae. Retrieved 7 December 2017, from https://www.tameen.ae/PDFs/oic-annual-report-2016-en.pdf

Disneyland A Popular And Successful Theme Parks Essay

Introduction Disneyland is often considered as the most popular and successful theme parks in the world. It does not only create wealth for Walt Disney corporation, but also help the growth of economy and employment rate within the region. However, the popularity of Disneyland causes problem as well. For example, during holiday seasons, children and their families all want to go Disneyland at the same time, tourists compliant a lot about how long the queue is. Furthermore, when the traffic problems also increase at the same time, like lacking parking lots, flight tickets and hotel rooms. Apparently, people come to Disneyland have a seasonal tend. When children have their holidays like winter or summer break, their willingness of coming to Disneyland pushes the demand higher, while during school days, the demand is lower. It is the same situation for theme parks within Disneyland. People are more willing to attend popular theme parks like â€Å"Frozen† and â€Å"Star War†, whereas others have fewer tourists. To solve these problems, Disneyland introduces different price mechanisms to balance the amount of tourists, based on their sensitivity of price. This project is determined to analyze the price mechanism used by Disneyland and how those strategies are supposed to work like surge pricing, block pricing and two-part tariff. However, in practice, those pricing strategies fail to work under certain circumstances. Pricing Strategies The reason why different pricing strategies canShow MoreRelatedDisneyland Is The Most Successful Amusement Park1403 Words   |  6 PagesDisneyland is the most successful amusement park in the world. Since the original park opened in 1955 more than a half billion people have visited the Disney theme parks worldwide, making it the most visited theme park in history. It is a symbol of global Americanization and cultural expansionism. 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Action Plan for Better Setting of Goals and Organization

Question: What areThe benefits of using an action plan? Answer: The benefits of using an action plan are as follows: Action plan helps to comprehend the ways which can be used to accomplish the goals It provides clear timeline for the tasks to ensure that each job process can be properly tracked according to the goals. It provides lucidity to attain the required goals (Ramli Raml, 2016). It defines the objective and the final implementation of the planning procedure of the company. Action plan helps to execute the blueprint more effectively. The benefits of the staff participation are listed below as follows:i. Improvement in the morale of the employeesii. More effective production of managerial staff as other employees become more self sufficient.iii. Better cohesion among the members of the team.iv. Scope of innovation by the involvement of the other employeesv. Better use of the internal resources which saves the company from outsourcing cost and money. vi. Improving the commitment among the employees vii. Reducing the communication complexities viii. Reducing the boundary between the manager and the employee (Mowday et al.,2013)ix. Participation accounts for better loyalty and the identification within the organization. x. Participation results in better setting of the goals of the organization, which is often regarded as a better motivational technique (Leininger et al., 2015)According to White (2015), the purpose of budgeting is to effectively determine the income and expenditure of a particular operation of the business and also evaluate then profitably of the business. Budgeting also has a crucial role to play for the purpose of the decision making based on the forecasted figures from the budgeting data. Budgeting is of paramount importance when it comes to monitor the performance of a business process. Budgeting is also important for the planning of business operations. It plays a crucial role to provide the financial frame work of the organization and propose the course of action which is to be implemented for the via bility of the project (Koochakpour Tarokh 2016).

Sociology linguistic free essay sample

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

Psuedo Science essays

Psuedo Science essays Psychology and Psychologists alike view the psuedo sciences astrology as non-scientific, with no empirical evidence to support its many claims. Rather then using empirical research, astrology uses broad based statements that are likely to appeal to most people. Astrological readings almost always tell the reader that something good is going to happen and gives them some kind of false sense of hope, and this is why most people are coned into thinking that the position of the planets can influence their lives. Astrology also puts to use persuasive language to prey upon insecure people who are unhappy with the direction of their lives. In the star sign section of Sunday Life , Jessica Adams writes for the star sign libra You have always been skilled at wrapping your iron fist in a plush, pink velvet glove. That suits your style, as you are no less fond of control then the rest of us, but you also feel unbalanced by any situation where one side is allowed to be overbearing. Sure its true that we like to be in control, no one likes to have someone else telling them what to do. It isnt uncommon for someone to be the sort of person who feels unbalanced by any situation where one side is allowed to be overbearing. Approximately one twelfth of the world falls under the star sign of libra, yet this astrology reading targets people on an individual level, making them feel as though they are the only person in the world that something like that could be written for. I have never read an astrology forecast that predicts that something bad is going to happen and my life is going to become really hard to handle or that Saturns mood swing is going to cause the break up of a long running close relationship. People dont want to read things like this as they like to believe that they are in control and that life is good. If someone who has just had something bad happen i ...

Essay on Code-switching an essential phenomenon of the bilingual world part 2

Essay on Code-switching an essential phenomenon of the bilingual world part 2 Essay on Code-switching: an essential phenomenon of the bilingual world part 2 Essay on Code-switching: an essential phenomenon of the bilingual world part 2Essay on Code-switching: an essential phenomenon of the bilingual world part 1Gal (1979) claims that code-switching is also used to express solidarity with certain group or emphasize certain point of view. Some scientists are of the opinion that code-switching serves a number of pragmatic purposes such as aggravating or mitigating the communicative situation or message of a person. Recent studies on the question of code-switching have shown that it takes place in both informal and formal contexts of the communicative process and has long become a norm for bilinguals. Code-switching is now an inseparable part of the bilingual world that is functionally motivated and serves to fulfill one’s communicative intents.As for the purposes of code-switching, there should be mentioned the following:Code-switching serves as expressing one’s culture as any language is a direct sign of someone’s belo nging to a certain cultural group.It serves to make one’s speech more emotional and full of certain feelings as for this or that event or situation.Code-switching may also perform a function of an invitation or some kind of connection to a person spoken to. It is a sign of a friendly attitude to the addressee.Code-switching often serves as an expression of one’s identity and relation to certain language group. It happens when a person really values his or her language and wants to show respect to the language he or she uses on a daily basis with family or friends.Some people, especially those who are not bilingual, use code-switching for a simple play with language, so as to diversify their speech and make it livelier. Such a trick also serves as making one’s speech more humorous; it often happens that certain jokes or sayings seem more appropriate and up to the topic in another language.In some cases, code-switching is an expression of resistance to the promoti on of monolingualism being practiced in many countries of the world. In this case, a bilingual person tries to emphasize that he or she is against some sort of discrimination towards those using two or more languages on a daily basis.Finally, code-switching is known to be a widespread literary device used by many authors for different purposes, such as expressing some jokes that sound better in another language or emphasizing the cultural adherence of the author to this or that community.It should be admitted that this phenomenon serves as means of diversifying one’s speech, making it more emotional and filling it with expressiveness. Thus, by switching from one language to another, a bilingual person does not only show his language competence, but also makes his or her speech more emotional and bright. This creates a positive impression of a person and often leads to better understanding between the parties involved in a conversation. In such a way, it can be concluded that code-switching has more positive features than negative ones. The above-mentioned aspects of code-switching and its purposes lead to a conclusion that switching from one language or dialect to another is rather a useful phenomenon that diversifies one’s speech making it more comprehensive to the parties involved in a conversation that probably belong to different age groups, professions or cultures. In this regard, it can be rightfully admitted that code-switching unites nations and serves for establishing the relationships between people.To conclude, the above research contains a full-fledged analysis of the question of code-switching and the purposes it serves in the process of communication. It needs to be admitted that the research has covered many questions that often occur when speaking about code-switching. Thus, the research provides a deep analysis of why code-switching cannot be considered a sign of language incompetence. In fact, it is rather a sign of one’s language capability as bilingualism is a truly miraculous linguistic phenomenon that is, however, often interpreted in a wrong way. The above research has covered the most vital questions concerning code-switching on the basis of findings and investigations of a number of reputable linguists. It should be said that a lot is still to be discussed and many questions are still to be answered. The above research represents an attempt to prove that code-switching does not imply one’s language incapacity, having a number of positive sides that should be taken into account. Code-switching is clearly a useful phenomenon that fills the speech of bilinguals with emotions and encourages the two parties involved in a conversation to understand each other better.

Compare tsarist foreign policy in the period 1801-1854 with the period Essay

Compare tsarist foreign policy in the period 1801-1854 with the period 1856-1914. How and why did tsarist foreign policy change - Essay Example The Russian empire during this period had no system of government as they were led by a tsar whom they believed got his anointment from God. A tsar was, therefore, treated with much respect and made decisions on behalf of the other state members. The tsarist participated in the creation of the Armenian during the tsarist period. The Armenians’ however, later led in the revolutionary consciousness to the Russian Empire (Dmytryshyn, 2007). Until 1856, the Russian had not formulated a policy to moderate the number of immigrants whose number increased tremendously. Initially, Tsarist regime applied an assorted strategy that relied on the geographical location, difference in religion and the intensity of national awareness (Dmytryshyn, 2007). Significant transformation took place during the reign of the three rulers; Nicholas II, Alexander II and Alexander III from the dynasty of Romanov between 1856 and 1914. These rulers encountered different challenges despite personal qualities they acquired from their upbringing. The main objectives for change of tsarist foreign policy during this period comprised five main features. First, Russia is regarded superpowers and enjoys the prestige of holding the position. Second, the states’ realist and neorealist had an influence through the central power as the tsarist foreign policy designed a different manner of the major paradigm. The technicalities of matching the economic , military and technology applied by its rivals are the third element. Fourth, the modalities on how to match up to the standards determine on how contested Russians national identity connects domestic economic and political order with foreign strategy priorities and course. Finally, level to which western liberalism is a relevant representation for Russia (Dmytryshyn, 2007). The foreign policy created from 1856 to 1914 when Alexander III came into