Importance of Language on Literacy Development of Deaf Child

Importance of Language on Literacy Development of Deaf Child A relationship between language and text needs to be established to become literate. What specific challenges may deaf children face in forming this relationship? How may such skills be developed in deaf children? As there is an increasing number of deaf children being identified and amplified at an earlier age and with the quality of this amplification improving, the expectation that these children develop at a similar rate academically to their hearing peers has become more explicit. Sadly, this is not always the case. In this essay, I will be focusing on the challenges deaf children face when obtaining literacy skills and how the relationship between language and text can be developed. Being literate is much more than the ability to decode print into words. Connie Mayer (2007) stated that Writing systems have evolved to encode spoken language, and even the one major system that has appeared to be an exception, Chinese, turns out to be a more complex case, based generally on spoken language morphology and phonology. This means that to become literate, an individual most first have access to the language that is being decoded, which for some deaf children is one of the first obstacles they will face in the development of their literacy skills. There is a vast amount of research available that discusses how childrens abilities to learn reading and writing is influenced by their early experiences in life. Goberis et al. (2012) investigated the complex language of hearing, hard of hearing and deaf children using a pragmatics check list. They discovered that a hearing child acquires the ability to use complex language, including basic syntax and age appropriate vocabulary in socially appropriate situations between the age of 3 and 4 years old. Sadly deaf and hard of hearing children acquired these skills much later in life, even when strategies had been put in place and these then cause challenges in writing and abstract conversational dialogue. Swanwick and Watson (2007) looked at how book sharing can positively impact a deaf childs literacy and language development and noted that both oral and signed parents created a shared interaction that allowed for sharing meaning and attention between parent and child in a physical setting that allowed for closeness. When parents are using BSL to share stories, the child is often placed opposite the adult to ensure they can see the signs, where hearing and oral story tellers usually sit adjacent to one another, which allows for a better listening position. Swanwick and Watson observed that parents using oral English tended to stick to the written story and explored the vocabulary and sounds through turn taking and interacting, where the parents using BSL did not always follow the text and retold the story using their own signs without using voice or lip patterns. Their focus was to share the actual story rather than sharing the written text and the parents were ensuring children unde rstood the story cognitively by asking the children to repeat the signs used. Parents who used oral English emphasised the actual written text and thus focussed on the active listening skills of the child, which means the focus was on the literacy and language skills, instead of the story. This study shows that the parents of these children had a view and approach towards their childs literacy development but were not always focussing on all aspects when sharing a text. However, it is important to note that the parents involved in this study were all very involved in their childs early literacy development and results might have been different if the participants came from a background where oral retelling took priority over sharing written text or households where parents do not recognise the potential value of childrens picture books. As a teacher of the deaf, it is crucial to support and encourage parents to discuss a range of linguistic skills including pragmatics, syntax, graph ophonical knowledge and semantics but most importantly to encourage a love of reading by repeating favourite books, which Sulzby (1993) stated builds a rich vocabulary and by singing nursery rhymes and clapping games with repeated patterns to further develop early language skills or to attend reading and story activity groups at a local library or play group. There is plenty of research that shows that shared reading or interactive story book reading has a huge impact on childrens early literacy development and show the benefits of these social interactions around stories and text, allowing the child to understand that text and language are connected. (Yaden, Smolkin, Conlon, 1989) Frequent and effective shared reading during the first 6 years of a childs life aids the development of vocabulary, labelling, and oral and written abilties. Crain-Thorensen, Dahlin and Powell (2001) also proved that parents and caregivers use more complex language when book sharing and thus children get the opportunity to be exposed to new vocabulary which they might not encounter in their day to day life. Justice et al. (2005) conducted a study regarding parents sharing books with hearing and deaf children and concluded that storybooks can provide a wealth of new vocabulary for children. She noted that deaf children responded less to implicit questions than hearing children and showed that parental scaffolding was a key element in word recall for deaf children, where joint attention was more important for hearing children. This shows that the parents of deaf children had to ensure they were building on their childrens prior knowledge to ensure they understood the language and vocabulary in the story told. She concluded that shared reading, retelling and discussing stories are paramount for early reading development. When sharing a book, the opportunity should be used to take turns discussing vocabulary, events and characters in the book and ensuring that both explicit and implicit questions are asked, suitable to the childs current abilities. The First Steps Viewing Map of Development shows that literacy acquisition is a linear process that develops a childs use of texts, understanding of the context, understanding of conventions and development of the use of a range of strategies to extract meaning from print. Williams (2004) mentions that deaf children progress at a similar level as hearing children in their development of early reading and writing, however several cases studies, such as Traxler (2000) and Marschark, Lang Alertini (2002) showed that a high percentage of deaf children graduated with a considerably lower literacy ability than their hearing peer, suggesting that their learning trajectories later changed drastically. One must consider, though, that recent advances in audiological equipment and management might show different results in more recent longitudal studies. Reading requires a combination of several complex skills. Adams (2001) stated that to learn to read one must be have a context processor to be able to interpret the text, a semantic processor to understand the meaning of words, an orthographic processor to be able to recognise and identify the letters and spellings and a phonological processor to identify the speech sounds, which requires adequate audiological amplification or access to other abilities such as cued speech. When it comes to emergent reading, one of the first skills a child must master is recognizing the letters of the alphabets and knowing that these letters are linked to 44 sounds in the English language, which then in turn can be put together to form words. Hearing children and those with early adequate amplification will begin to recognize certain letters and sounds in their own names and some keywords they might have been taught through rhymes or songs. To aid this early process, the child should be encouraged to say the phonemes in the word and then repeat them to see if they can hear which word it makes. It sometimes helps if the adult repeats the sounds so the child can focus on hearing the word. Another strategy is finding familiar letter patterns in words to aid with blending, such as cat, pat, mat, sat. This could also be turned into a little game where the initial sound is changed to see how many real and nonsense words can be made. Kyle and Harris (2011) noted that hard of hearing and deaf children cannot hear all these sounds, despite using audiological equipment and thus other strategies are needed to support them. Visual phonics is one of the strategies that can be used to help deaf and hard of hearing children to learn phonics by combining handcues and written symbols to aid phonetic awareness and decoding skills. Shared reading has also been shown to aid the development of phonological awareness in both hearing and deaf children, especially where parents take the time to point out sounds children are familiar with and getting them to recall and blend familiar sound patterns. Once the initial recognition of print and understanding of the alphabet and their related sounds has been formed, the child should, through frequent exposure to written words in signs, shared books, labels, etc,. be able to recall an increasing number of high frequency words and words that can be blended phonologically. The focus of reading activities then shift towards understanding that text carries meaning, rather than simply reading word for word. Reading books for the children at this skill level generally have smaller print and more complex sentence structures and fewer illustrations. Kyle and Harris (2010) conducted a longitudal study to investigate reading and spelling abilities of emergent deaf children. They found out that at first, deaf children applied a whole word strategy to reading, however after 2 years of learning they were using a more alphabetic reading strategy based on phonological representations derived from speech reading skills. However, hearing children applied this alphabetic ability based on speechreading from the first year of reading, hence different reading strategies were applied by hearing and deaf children. This made them conclude that If the information derived through speechreading is incorporated into underlying phonological representations, which in turn are used to support the phonological judgments required to complete phonological awareness tasks, then it is plausible that speechreading could be a strong initial predictor of reading in both deaf and hearing. In addition, for the deaf children, speechreading could essentially act as a marker or proxy for the quality of the underlying phonological representations (Kyle and Harris, 2010, p.14) Unfortunately, the deaf and hearing children in this study were picked by their class teachers and thus their reading abilities were not always as closely matched as initially intended. In a study by Bouton et al. (2011) it was discovered that children with cochlear implants greatly benefited from learning cued speech. Cued speech shows a hearing child hand movements near the mouth to clarify lip and mouth movements so they can have a visual aid to better grasp lip reading. Bourton et al. found that cued speech improved the CI childrens performance in reading tasks and phonetical awareness, compared to CI children who had not been exposed to cued speech. Additional research into the link between cued speech and phonetical awareness, spelling and reading abilities is required, however it does show that offering a CI child additional support through cued speech can have a positive impact on their language and literacy development. Once children have mastered the word attack skills they are then faced by longer and more complex texts which require a greater understanding of the world and fewer illustrations as prompts. At this stage, young readers will need to comprehend a huge variety of phrases and clauses to understand the meaning of the text and recognising that text can come in a variety of different genres and serve different purposes. To support deaf childrens understanding, it is important that as a teacher of the deaf, a variety of strategies are offered to ensure the child fully understand the texts they are working with. These strategies include giving the child the opportunity to retell the story in his/her own words, sequencing key elements of the text, discussing characters and settings and ensuring the child understand the vocabulary by clarifying and offering synonyms or visual representations. The child should be given the opportunity to ask and answer questions and to predict what might happen next. Another strategy is linking the key elements of the story with their own personal experiences or other stories familiar to the child, to allow the child to expand and comment on what has been read. Once the child becomes a fluent reader, the focus shifts from being able to read to understanding the text and utilising it for further personal development. With this also comes the realisation that reading have a multitude of functions, such as reading for pleasure, deriving information, receiving instructions and interacting with a multitude of devices and multimedia platforms. Sadly, the transition from emergent to fluent reader does not always happen as smoothly as desired for deaf children. Geers and Hayes (2011) conducted a study with early implanted deaf adolescents to see if they managed to keep their academic trajectory in literacy skills at a consistent level with their hearing peers and to investigate to what degree the childs phonological skills and family characteristics influenced their literacy development. Geers and Hayes discovered that early implanted children who were classed as age related in their phonological awareness in preschool, managed to make age appropri ate progress compared to their hearing peers as adolescents with good audiological management and family support, however they did not perform as well on spelling and expository writing and they discovered that the development of phonological awareness is crucial to literacy success. Due to an increasing number of children being implanted prior to 12 months of age thanks to the Infant Screening Programme, it would be interesting to repeat this study with a cohort that was implanted sooner in life. Being literate does not simply comprise of being able to read print. Reading and writing have often been said to go hand in hand and develop linearly. Mayer (2010) noted that there has been considerably little research in the implications of deafness on writing development and most of the research that has been published focusses primarily on spelling rather than writing composition. It is clear that children learn that writing carries meaning and that it is a useful tool for communication. There is debate about the multitude of strategies available for teaching reading and writing, for example phonological approaches or visual orthographic strategies. Simply learning how to spell words is not sufficient to become literate. The English language has a complex system of syntax and grammar. Cormier et al (2012) investigated the impact of age of acquisition of a signed language on grammatical abilities in deaf children. He noted that successfully acquiring a language, signed or oral, is crucial to developing grammatical awareness of that language and successfully acquiring a second language, i.e. BSL or English depending on L1. Grosjean (2001) also commented that bilingual education is a deaf childs best chance of acquiring good literacy skills in both signed and written/spoken languages, however it is important to note that it is the parents right to choose the preferred communication method for their child. Miller (2005) also found that elementary children were able to find meaning in sentences by using the meaning of the actual words in these sentences but lacked the ability to process syntactic information. These studies show that a greater focus needs to be on the acquisition of grammatical awareness and syntax to ensure that deaf children get a greater understanding of the complex language structures in written texts. Further developing a childs spoken language will aid their abilities to produce more complex written sentences and therefor reduce the amount o f baked sentences, e.g. using the same sentence starters over and over again such as I like or I can. To ensure an adequate support programme is put in place for the deaf child, it is paramount that the teacher of the deaf thoroughly assesses the current reading and writing skills and language abilities, both receptive and expressive, of the child and has a good understanding of the support the child receives at home and in the class room. The childs specific characteristics, attitudes to learning, preferred learning styles and personal, social and emotional development and their strengths and weaknesses are all crucial in a whole child approach towards progress. The teacher of the deaf should work together with parents, schools and other agencies to ensure the best strategies are put in place for the child. Goberis et al. (2012) suggested that parents should target specific language skills at home using natural, day to day opportunities and the teachers should be given strategies to practise in the class room environment. It must be stressed that speech intelligibility does not give a clear picture of the childs actual language abilities and time should be spend finding out where the strengths and weaknesses lay, especially when it comes to pragmatic language skills, grammar and vocabulary. Some of the strategies to put in place to further develop language could be following instructions and then allowing the child the opportunity to give instructions too to further develop the childs theory of mind. The child should be encouraged to provide instructions that are clear and have sufficient information for the other person to follow. This coul d be scaffolded by adding picutres at first so the child can have a visual representation prior to building the sentences. Playing playground games or very easy board games are a great way to develop instructional language as a set of rules must be followed to be successful. The child could also be encouraged to explain the game to a peer with the help of an adult. Goberis et al. (2012) also states that it is important to encourage deaf children to answer why questions and ask them to consider options or discussing cause and effect of certain behaviours. They must also develop the recognition that other children might have a different point of view and talkinga bout other childrens likes and dislikes will allow them to further develop their pragmatic skills and allows them to develop their theory of mind. Categorization is also an important step in language development. Playing sorting games or guessing games can help the child build these categories in their minds. It is also impor tant for them to learn that not all statements are true and they must consider whether the information given to them is factual or not. References: Alvord, S ; Adams, W ; Barker, R ; Garner, B ; Rosengren, K ; Shaver, G, (2001), Relationship between WRAML and NEPSY subtest performance and reading acquisition in early elementary school children , Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, Vol. 16(8), pp.773-787 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Bouton, S., Bertoncini, J., Serniclaes, W. and Cole, P. (2011) Reading and reading-related skills in children using Cochlear Implants: Prospects for the influence of cued speech, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Vol. 16(4), pp.458-473 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Cormier, K., Schembri, A., Vinson, D. and Orfanidou, E. (2012) First language acquisition differs from second language acquisition in prelingually deaf signers: Evidence from sensitivity to grammaticality judgement in British sign language, Cognition, Vol.124(1), p.50-65 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Crain-Thoreson, C., Dahlin, M.P. and Powell, T.A. (2001) Parent-child interaction in Three conversational contexts: Variations in style and strategy, New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2001(92), p. 23. discussion 91-8 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Geers, A.E. and Hayes, H. (2011) Reading, writing, and Phonological processing skills of adolescents with 10 or more years of Cochlear implant experience, Ear and Hearing, Vol.32(1 Suppl), pp.49S-59S [Peer Reviewed Journal] Goberis, D., Beams, D., Dalpes, M., Abrisch, A., Baca, R. and Yoshinaga-Itano, C. (2012) The missing link in language development of deaf and hard of hearing children: Pragmatic language development, Seminars in Speech and Language, Vol.33(4), pp.297-309 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Grosjean, F. (2001) The right of the deaf child to grow up bilingual, Sign Language Studies, 1(2), pp.110-114. Justice, L.M., Meier, J. and Walpole, S. (2005) Learning new words from Storybooks, Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, Vol. 36, pp.17-32 Kyle, F.E. and Harris, M. (2011) Longitudinal patterns of emerging literacy in beginning deaf and hearing readers, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Vol. 16(3), pp. 289-304. Marschark, M., Lang, H., Albertini, J. (2002). Educating deaf students: From research to practice. New York: Oxford University Press Mayer, C. (2007) What really matters in the early literacy development of deaf children, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, , Vol. 12, No. 4 (FALL 2007), pp. 411-431 Miller, P. (2005) Reading comprehension and its relation to the quality of functional hearing: Evidence from readers with different functional hearing abilities, American Annals of the Deaf, Vol. 150(3), pp. 305-323 Perfetti, C.A. (2000) Reading Optimally builds on spoken language: Implications for deaf readers, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Vol. 5(1), pp. 32-50 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Sulzby, E., Edwards, P. A. (1993). The role of parents in supporting literacy development. In B. Spodek O. N. Saracho (Eds.), Language and literacy in early childhood education (pp. 156-177). New York: Teachers College Press. Swanwick, R. and Watson, L. (2007) Parents sharing books with young deaf children in spoken English and in BSL: The common and diverse features of different language settings, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Vol. 12(3), pp. 385-405 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Traxler, C.B. (2000) The Stanford Achievement test, 9th edition: National Norming and performance standards for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 5(4), pp. 337-348 Williams, C. and Mayer, C. (2015) Writing in young deaf children, Review of Educational Research, Vol. 85(4), pp. 630-666 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Yaden, D.B., Smolkin, L.B. and Conlon, A. (1989) Preschoolers questions about pictures, print conventions, and story text during reading aloud at home, Reading Research Quarterly, 24(2), p. 188.

Traditional Concepts To Modern Knowledge Intensive Concepts Management Essay

Traditional Concepts To Modern Knowledge Intensive Concepts Management Essay Introduction: Innovation and Change are 2 of the most used buzz words in the modern corporate era. Some industries are entirely based on innovation. The survivability of companies operating in such industries are, to a large extent, based on their ability to innovate. The electronic consumer goods industry is a great example. The frequency in which firms like Apple and Google scrap their penultimate design and go for the new one is just alarming. On the other hand, Change is another equally important concept for companies in the modern era. Change becomes inevitable for firms operating in volatile industries as they have to respond quickly to the ripples in the market and adjust their own internal processes as a reaction. This necessitates effective change management every time an organization undergoes a change initiative. As Kotter(XXXX) observed rightly; The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades. Through this piece of work, I would like to look at knowledge theory and how the concepts of innovation and change have evolved from traditional linear model to the modern knowledge intensive forms. The essay would be focusing mainly on information technology functions of firms and how they manage their innovation and change process. We would also explore the practical implications of widely used academic terms like knowledge management, knowledge workers, boundary objects, stickiness of knowledge etc with the help of some examples from the technology front. Knowledge theory: For the scope of this essay, we shall use the term Knowledge theory as the one which refers to the concepts of knowledge management and the appreciation of intellectual capital as an integral part of an organisations asset. As a broad term, this also includes the various terms frequently used in knowledge work like knowledge boundaries, boundary objects etc. During the industrial revolution, labour and capital were considered as the major resources to build an organisation. Management emphasis was on effectively handling these resources and the role of managers was limited largely to financial management and human resource management. However, with the advent of the information age, we have seen managers being increasingly aware of another major resource knowledge. This increasing importance of knowledge management is reflected in the works of several academics as well. Bell (1973) suggested that knowledge would be a central feature of post-industrial societies. The concept of knowledge management mainly revolves around 2 popular views on knowledge, the knowledge as possession view and the epistemology of practice. Knowledge as a possession considers knowledge as something that an individual/organisation can possess, and pass on to others seamlessly across different situations and contexts. However, the practice view of knowledge takes into account the importance of tacit knowledge and argues that knowledge is intrinsic to specific contexts and is created and negotiated through social interactions (Newell et al., 2009). Thus knowledge work could be defined as any work that deals with knowledge. However, for a specific spectrum of analysis, we shall limit our analysis only to the so called knowledge intensive firms. These are firms which have a high percentage of highly qualified staff who trade in knowledge itself (Starbuck, 1992). Consultancy firms like Ernst and Young or Deloitte are prime examples for knowledge intensive organisations. Co nsultants sell their knowledge to organisations or individual and organisations in need and quite evidently does knowledge work on a daily basis. Organisations like Google and Apple, where research and development is key to gaining competitive advantage over rivals are also knowledge intensive. Other examples of knowledge intensive professionals include pharmacists, educationists, doctors, accountants etc. The majority of knowledge intensive firms are under increasing pressure from the external environment in terms of staying competitive and profitable. Thus essentially, ability to innovate and change is integral to their success as organisations. We shall now briefly look at the traditional views on innovation and change through the work of some academics and the gradual shift in concept in the information era. This would set the stage for our analysis on how and where knowledge management fits in the processes of change and innovation. Definition of Innovation: Several academics have clearly differentiated the concepts of creativity and innovation. Organisational creativity refers to the generation of novel and useful ideas, whereas organisational innovation describes the realization of those ideas(Cook,1998; Jones, 1995). Thus innovation can be defined as the process by which a new element becomes available within the marketplace or is introduced into an organization with the intention of changing or challenging the status quo (King, 1995). The innovation process can be classified into 5 types (Andriopoulos and Dawson, 2009): Product innovation As the name suggests, this refers to the creation of a new product. Common examples include the ipod and the latest ipad devices from Apple, which took the market by storm. Innovative methods of computing are being released each year and this is changing the face of the IT arena. Service innovations This refers to the creation of new and improved services. Hotmail worlds first free web based email service is a prime example. Process innovations Here, the innovation is on the process rather than on the end product or service. In the United States, Netflix offers subscription based DVD rentals online. This is now the largest of its kind in the world due to several innovations in its process. The firm uses distributed warehouse system to deliver DVDs to its customers via post. The returned DVDs are scanned first if they are requested again before it goes back to the warehouse. This streamlined and fast delivery model has helped Netflix become the market leader.(Rappa, 2008) Management innovations The adoption of Japanese manufacturing techniques by American and European companies during the eighties and nineties is an example of Management innovation. Market or position innovation This refers to the creation of new markets as a result of innovation. With the advent of Second life, a whole new virtual reality market has sprung up and is fast growing. Before this, this market simply did not exist. Traditional view on innovation: The traditional view on innovation considers it as a linear process starting from creation of the innovation, going through several stages until the innovation is accepted or rejected by the adopting unit. Rogers (1995), in support of the linear approach, used the term diffusion for the process of communicating the innovation through the channels of a social system. The innovation-decision process according to this model can be depicted as below: Knowledge Persuasion Decision Implementation Confirmation Fig1.1 Innovation-Decision process (Rogers, 1995) Knowledge The manager or decision maker or more generally the adopting unit becomes aware of the innovation. Persuasion The unit develops either a favourable or unfavourable attitude towards the innovation. Decision The unit undergoes a series of activities leading to the choice of acceptance or rejection of the innovation. Implementation The unit puts the innovation to use. Confirmation The innovation is confirmed and the innovation becomes a routine if the overall feedback from the unit is favourable. Otherwise, the innovation is rejected. The traditional model also looks at innovation as a rational process in which managers use industry-wide accepted standards or best practises. This model revolves around the idea that best practises, once created, all that is left in the innovation process is the communication of this across the organisation. Thus the traditional model of innovation essentially proposed that innovation can be carried out in a linear fashion and can be overlooked with rational thinking. However, this models inability to explain the complex and dynamic innovations in the modern era has led to various criticisms, which would be discussed at a later stage in the essay. Definition of Organisational Change: Andriopoulos and Dawson (2009) define organisational change broadly as new ways of organizing and working. And more specifically(p14): Organizational change is the process of moving from some current state that, whether planned or unplanned, comprises the unexpected and unforeseen as well as the expected The definition clearly identifies 3 integral parts of organizational change (1) the as-is state, (2) the to-be state and (3) the transition path. However, the transition from as-is to to-be state, in the views of several academics, rarely takes the planned or expected path as evident from the above definition. Studies on organizational change process have been conducted extensively by academics. However, the dynamic nature of the topic itself has meant that we still dont have a prescriptive explanation in terms of theory and concept as far as the topic of Organization change is concerned, as evidently expressed by Pettigrew et al. (2003:p351): This constant process of change and renewal means that, whilst scholars and managers can take forward certain key messages, there will always be a need for more research on innovative forms of organizing Organizational change can be of varied degree and form from minor changes in the organizational processes to major organization wide re-structuring initiatives. Palmer et al. (2006) identifies 2 types of changes: Incremental adaptive change is when one firm plays catch-up in response to another firms activity in an incremental adaptive fashion. E.g Microsoft and Yahoo largely followed google applications like maps and videos. Reactive frame breaking change deals with a much larger scale of change. E.g Major restructuring and downsizing was required for investment banks like RBS as they came under increasing government and public control after the recession driven bailouts using taxpayer money. It is interesting to note that most banks havent cut down on their IT spending as they have identified IT as a tool to improve efficiency and cut costs. Outside these two more reactive changes, there is of course the strategy driven large scale operational changes that organizations undergo. Linear views on Organisational Change: The traditional theories on organisational change have been modelled mainly around the concept of unfreeze-change-refreeze put forward by Lewin (Collins, 1998). This 3-step model essentially looked at organisational change process as a linear one. In this model, Lewin(1958) also talks about the helping and restraining forces for and against the change. Unfreeze Change Freeze Fig1.2 Lewins 3-step change model (Lewin, 1958) An extended 7-step model was proposed by Lippitt, Watson and Westley (1958) which increasingly focussed on the role of the change agent than the actual change. The 7 stages were: Diagnosing the problem Assessing capacity and motivation for change Assess motivation and capacity of the change agent Choose progressive change objects Clear segregation of role of the change agent Maintain the change Termination of the change agent (Lippitt et, al. ,1958) Kotter(1995) later proposed his 8-step model for effective change management in his analysis on why most change projects fail. These change theories as we can see, largely revolves around a certain degree of predictability of the overall change process. They have invited criticism from the supporters of chaos or complexity theories as we would examine later in the piece. Criticisms on traditional views: The traditional linear view on innovation process has been fairly criticised by the advocates of process views on innovation. These academics argue that innovation is very rarely rational and linear and is in most times, a network based concept(Abrahamson, 1996; Swan and Scarbrough, 2005). The concept of best practices were deemed inappropriate by some academics as innovation is a highly context specific concept(Swan et al., 1999) Some other criticisms include: Scarbrough(2008) argues that innovation is not a linear process and that the importance of feedback into the process could not be neglected at any stage of the process. Rogers(1995) did speak about two-way communication between the original sender and receiver in a knowledge diffusion process, however, it is clear that the critics of the linear model propose a much wider network-based mesh-like communication process during innovation. Swan and Scarbrough(2005:p3) states that since knowledge is increasingly dispersed across organizational boundaries, it is at these interstices, through the operation of networks, that distributed networks can be brought together and integrated into new products, processes and services. Newell et al.(2009) observes that most innovation processes are not predictable and cannot be considered as a technical fix. Clark (2003) observed that innovation often required considerable re-engineering of the existing process and thus cannot be considered as an entity that can be used as an add-on to an organisational context. The linear freeze-change-unfreeze view of organisational change has been countered by supporters of complexity theory or chaos theory. According to the chaos theory, it has become impossible to predict the outcome of long term organisational changes as this would require knowledge of the present state at a very high accuracy (Tsoukas, 1998). Certainly, the high rate of failure of Enterprise Systems implementations (70%) reinforces the concept of unpredictable nature of change. It can also be seen from relevant literature that organisational change need not be segregated from innovation as such. Andriopoulos and Dawson (2009), maintains that there are no clear boundaries between the concepts of creativity, innovation and change as in practise, they interlock and overlap over time. Moreover, it can also be argued that their concept of process innovation is quite similar in some respects to the concept of organisational change. Thus we shall consider innovation and change as one broad area further in this work. Knowledge based innovation and change: As discussed earlier in the essay, the traditional liner view on the innovation process have been attacked and countered with the process view. The processual, network based view on innovation looks at the process as a set of iterative, overlapping and interdependent episodes rather than linear stages (Newell et al, 2009). This model as we can see, clearly addresses the unpredictability of the innovation process. The episodes overlap and iterate, leaving room for the occurrences of good or bad co-incidences and also takes into account the social and organisational factors that may affect the innovation process. The importance of knowledge work during innovation is also emphasized in this model. From agenda formation to routinization of the innovation, the success of the change lies in effective creation, diffusion, implementation and use of knowledge. Due to several reasons, we can see that such an open-ended framework is more appropriate when we look at some of the recent innovations in IT. Thus, understanding of knowledge concepts are critical to any innovation and change project in the modern era. The communication channel between the change agent and the unit undergoing a change is no longer the straightforward 2-way communication as seen in Rogers (1995). Innovation and change processes are increasingly becoming network based, spanning across practises, institutions and geographies. The success of Research in Motions blackberry phone can be hugely attributed to the innovative feature of email on a hand held. However, the product was actually just meant to be a start-up product, designed to enable the company to enter the wireless market. The huge popularity of this new way of working among its users resulted in immense pressure on the development team to refine and come up with the blackberry we know now. Thus it can be argued that the users were part of the innovation project as well. Further on this example, during the 9/11 strike on the world trade centre, there were several media reports that people trapped inside the building used their blackberry phones to keep in touch with their loved ones since all other forms of wired and mobile connectivity had gone down. Along with huge popularity, this event added even more social value to the otherwise technological product. This clearly qualifies for the external factor depicted in the Clark model. Other innovations like Open Source Software Development, Extreme programming(XP) and Agile methodologies are also examples for experimental innovation models including dynamic, planning, testing and regular releases (Beck, 2000; Highsmith, 2002). The open source developers community consists of developers from across the globe and from different functions of life. In spite of the existence of semantic, syntactic and pragmatic knowledge boundaries among them, they still manage to interact remarkable well and come up with innovative solutions. Information technology interestingly plays the role of a boundary object in the form of the Knowledge Management (KM) portal or forum. The open source KM forum is exceptionally well maintained and strictly moderated, just as well as the knowledge intensive firms, if not better. In a more organisational context, knowledge intensive firms like consulting and software services companies consider knowledge management as an integral part of innovation and change projects. The amount of money they spend on maintaining a centralised repository for knowledge management is testament to this fact. The consultancy firm Ernst and Young spends 6% of their revenue on knowledge management (HBS, 2001). It may seem that the abundance of knowledge workers and technology would automatically foster a favourable environment for KM in such companies; some academics believe that this is not always the case. Andriopoulos (2003) suggests that knowledge can be a double headed sword. Since knowledge workers in such organisations are highly specialized in their area, this may enslave them inside a pattern of thought, thus inhibiting innovation and change (Bengtson, 1982). Such a view of experts becoming not receptive to new ideas was shared by Starbuck (1992) as well. On similar lines , Carla ODell, president of American Productivity Quality Center said: The number-one reason KM initiatives may not function is that the evangelists fail to connect with the real business issues. Relevant academic literature suggest that such organizations try to work around this problem by creating a strong culture and by involving the specialists more and more in organisational dialogues (Blackler, 1995). Such enabling contexts created by the organisation would be an important factor for fostering knowledge creation for innovation and change. Google, for example, gives one day a week for its employees to work on their pet projects and ideas. The ideas can be posted by anyone on the repository via email. Rocket ride, as it is called, has also led its competitors to create similar projects like Microsofts Technorati and Yahoos Exalead (Business Week, 2005). The concepts of knowledge theory has indeed influenced the way organizations go about undertaking innovation projects as evident from the above illustrations. Conclusion: Through this piece, we have looked at knowledge theory as a term relevant to the scope of the topic. We have also looked the traditional view on innovation and change process via the works of several academics and some industry examples. Some of the criticisms against these views were also discussed. In the specific area of knowledge intensive firms, we analyzed how these knowledge theories affect the innovation and change process. Having looked at the modern unpredictable and network based modes of innovation and change, it may seem that the traditional concepts are now outdated. However, majority of knowledge management work is still based on the assumption that most forms of knowledge can be codified, stored and distributed. Change consultants still follow the step by step approach for organisational innovation and change. Thus the apt conclusion here would be one of a compromise between the two. It is imperative that organisations, especially the knowledge intensive ones cannot ignore the importance of knowledge management for innovation and change. However, the approach shall be decided upon considering the institutional context in detail.

Politeness - a comparison between Chinese and English :: essays research papers

Table of contents 1. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 2. Politeness – a theoretical approach  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3 3. the concept of limao  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4 4. Request strategies  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4.1. Request strategies in Chinese  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4.2. Request strategies in English  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5 5. Forms of address  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5.1. Forms of address in Chinese  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5.2. Forms of address in English  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7 6. Chinese: Politeness across social groups  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8 7. Conclusion  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9 References  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11 1. Introduction In many parts of this world, former existing borders are removed and people move closer together. It has to be admitted that most of the time this happens due to economical reasons, and the phenomenon of mass media has to be mentioned in this context as well. Therefore it becomes even more important to be able to understand cultures of different life-styles. But the success or failure of communication does not only depend on how well a language is spoken, but also on intonation and body language. Dr. Mehrabian, a prominent and successful psychologist, is perhaps best known for the investigation of the role of non-verbal communication. He published findings indicating that spoken words only account for 7% of what a listener perceives. The remaining 93% of what a listener comprehends originate from the speaker's body language and tone employed in the delivery of the words. Not only because of studies like this, non-verbal communication plays an important role when studying language in its social context. A very interesting topic in this large field is politeness, since forms of politeness are often misinterpreted and lead to misunderstandings. So I chose to have a closer look at the differences between politeness in Chinese and English. Since it is very difficult to collect data concerning politeness in the language of Chinese, this paper is theory-based only. Nevertheless, many books that cover this topic can be found. Some of the books used for the research of this paper were written by native speakers of Chinese, which is an indication for the author’s competence of the language. Therefore, collecting additional data would not only have been difficult, but also inefficient. This paper will deal with the topic of request strategies used by speakers of the People’s Republic of China and the terms of address in Chinese and English. Besides, it will focus on request strategies across societal structures and social groups. In addition, it will discuss the concept of limao, the traditional concept of politeness in China. This paper will not allow to cover all important issues concerning this topic, but it shall give a rough overview and should give the reader an incentive to have a closer look at this field of study.

Comparing Felicite of Flauberts A Simple Heart and Nelly Dean of Brontes Wuthering Heights :: comparison compare contrast essays

Comparing Felicite of Flaubert's A Simple Heart and Nelly Dean of Bronte's Wuthering Heights Nelly Dean and Felicite are both characters that are in stark contrast to the characters that surround them. They are both good Christian women in there own way who are serving those who have no real interest in godliness and place no real emphasis on it. Nelly Dean is a realistic character in a romantic novel, while Felicite is a romanticized character in a realistic story. Nelly Dean is a servant in a household that is filled with people that are difficult to get along with. They are in constant turmoil with each other, and they almost seem to enjoy the conflict they cause. Nelly Dean is the one character that does not usually allow herself to be pulled into the conflicts that the rest of the characters embroil themselves in. She is able to stand back from the situation and give sound advice. Felicite does not seem as able to distance herself from the problems around her until she gets older and is physically unable to participate. Both women are passed from master to master because of no true faults of their own, and neither woman seems to have much control over her own destiny. While Nelly Dean stays with the same family, she has to move and get accustomed to new bosses every time some one dies. Felicite just seems to have plain bad luck in her choice of employers at the beginning of her career. In spite of this, both women seem quite satisfied with their lives, while the people who are in charge of them seem a lot less happy with their own lives. The characters in ‚"Wuthering Heights‚" frequently have severe fits of negative emotion, while Nelly quietly looks on. The only time that we see Felicite completely overcome with grief is when she thought she was going to have control, and she lost it. This happens when Felicite is still relatively young. She falls in love with a boy, and when he decides to marry some one else, ‚ÄÃ ºshe threw herself on the ground, screamed, called to the God of mercy, and moaned‚ÄÃ ¹ (1021). After this first display of emotion, she picked herself up and moved on with her life.

Free Hamlet Essays: Hamlet Interpreted :: The Tragedy of Hamlet Essays

Hamlet Interpreted It is clear Hamlet can be interpreted from a multitude of perspectives on numerous levels. I cannot quite grasp Mr. Bloom's contention that this is a work of near biblical importance nor can I accept his allusions to Jesus or the Buddha. "Hamlet remains apart; something transcendent about him places him more aptly with the biblical King David, or with even more exalted scriptural figures."(Bloom, 384). My immediate response is that when Mr. Bloom shuffles off this mortal coil, I don't believe Billy Shakespeare will be waiting with a pint of ale. Professor Schechner's enjoyable production increased my appreciation of the value of wardrobe and inflection of voice. Prior to this performance I did not see Polonius as a buffoon (as portrayed by Mr. Shapli), nor the incestuous nature of Ophelia's familial relationships (Ms. Cole's ability to transform from coquette to lunatic was shocking). Doubtless there are near as many interpretations of Hamlet as there are Shakespearean aficionados. My own expertise lies in the political arena. I believe Hamlet could be construed as a treatise on aggressive, imperialist behavior. Throughout the Dramaturgic Analysis of Hamlet Prince of Denmark the indecisiveness of Hamlet is noted. He does not immediately seek vengeance but continually schemes, rants and raves (both in his rational and insane moments). Whether cowardice, caution, or simply indifference dominate his persona is unclear - what is clear is his distaste for his own behavior: "How stand I then, That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,...And let all sleep, while to my shame I see The imminent death of twenty thousand men... (sic)." (Shakespeare, 116). The impending doom of the twenty thousand men alludes to a campaign waged by Fortinbas, the Prince of Norway. Though the battleground is said to be of little value, Fortinbas is warring on principles of honor and the subsequent expansion of Norway. An enraged Hamlet mistakenly slays Polonius. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent to their inconsequential deaths only when he is inspired by pirates to save his own life. These murders involved no elaborate schemes but were simply enacted. Yet with all his planning, his opportunities, his justification, why can he not kill Claudius? The portrayal of the pirates as "merciful thieves" (Shakespeare, 124) and the fact that warlike Fortinbras succeeds in Poland and obtains the Kingdom of Denmark by play's end - may be a commentary on decisive, imperialistic behavior.

Discuss the nature and quality of make-belief play Essay

Discuss the nature and quality of make-belief play, and the particular ways in which it relates to drama.  Drama in education requires an atmosphere of ‘playfulness’. We must be prepared to play with ideas, our bodies, voice, self and others. Young children do this naturally, learning by thrilling experience of living. Children ‘make’ their world in ways not dissimilar from theatrical form. Children’s play and theatre can be seen as constituting two ends of a continuum. These are theatre games and theatre. Drama in education inhabits the area in between. It can move towards the play end, where very young children are engaging in drama that is close to their own form of free play. The difference, however, is that it takes place as a result of teacher intervention, in that the teacher locates the drama activity in a particular aspect of living. Older students may work very close to the ‘theatre’ end of the continuum, where performance skills and communicative intention are paramount. At any one time, the teacher of drama needs to know at what point on the continuum she/he is working. For young children, dramatic play provides a journey into the world of â€Å"let’s pretend,† where they can readily transform themselves into the role of any character they choose. A story can be created as a script, often with a theme, where expressive actions convey a sequence of events that construct the plot. Whether the style of drama appears connected to occupations such as being a fire-fighter, a community happening such as a big snowstorm, or a fictional representation of The Three Bears, children are actors, producers, directors and set designers. By engaging in meaningful dialogue, their language and non-verbal gestures gradually reveal what they know and what they want to express. Dramatic play benefits children in all developmental areas. As children engage in fantasy play, they re-live experiences by symbolically imitating what they observe around them. Through children’s interpersonal relationships within socio-dramatic play, opportunities arise for in-depth thinking such as imagining, recalling, reasoning and negotiating (Vygotsky). By exploring life’s situations from the community and home, a child can re-create an identity that fulfils personal emotional needs and desires. The compelling urge to become physically powerful and socially dominant is fulfilled when a child adopts the role of a superheroine such as Princess Xena .While a traumatic family event can be played out as therapeutic drama when a child transfers inner feelings of rejection or hostility towards dolls or soft toys. The need for reassurance can be provided in dramatic play when a child knows it is acceptable to take on the role of being a baby, so that any sense of displacement, caused by the arrival of a new sibling within the family, is eased. Children have the freedom to be active and spontaneous in dramatic play, because, as Eden says, â€Å"it can be undertaken without regard for external goals and sanctions.†

An Overview of the Life of John Kennedy

John F. Kennedy was one of the most liked and dedicated presidents of the United States of America. His presidency ran The second of nine children, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in a three story wooden house on May 29, 1917; in Brooklyn, Massachusetts. His parents were Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Joseph Kennedy intended for his sons to receive the finest private school education possible. Johns education started at a private Dexter school in Brookline. During fourth, fifth, and sixth grades John enrolled at Riverdale Country Day School. At the age of thirteen, John entered the Canterbury School in Milford, Connecticut. The spring of 1931, John suffered an attack of appendicitis. He had to stay home and rest for the remainder of the school year. Kennedy†s† parents decided to hire a tutor to help him catch-up during the summer. John passed Math, English, and Latin. When he finally recovered completely, he entered Choate, a fine prep school in Wallingford, Connecticut. When John graduated from Choate, in 1935, he planned to study for a year at Londons School of Economics. Then at eighteen years old, John came down with an illness called Jaundice. In the fall, John joined his friends, Lem Billings and Rip Horton at Princeton University. He later had another attack of Jaundice that forced him to miss school for one semester. Johns father then encouraged his son to enter Harvard University in the fall of 1936. John graduated from Harvard in 1940, with a degree in Political Science. He then entered Stanford University in California. While there he studied Economics and tried his hand at writing. During this time, the war was raging in Europe. John decided to enlist in the Navy on September 22, 1941. He served four years and was ischarged when the war ended in 1945. At 28 years of age, he was heading for a successful career as a newspaperman. His father began pushing him towards another career— Politics — He believed that since Johns older brother was dead, that it was his responsibility to run On January 3, 1947, John took the oath of office as a US Congressman. Later, in 1952, Kennedy decided to run for United States Senate. In 1953†¦. Kennedy decided to marry and wed Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. He was 36 and she was just 24 when they were married in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Later that year, John began suffering terrible back pain. In 1955, he underwent surgery to repair a spinal injury. While recuperating, he wrote a book called, Profile in Courage The book was about American Political leaders who defied the publics opinion to vote according to their consciences. For this work, he received the Pulitzer Prize. He then returned to his political career. Although John barely lost the Democratic Vice-presidential nomination in 1956, his overwhelming re-election as Senator in 1958 helped him towards his goal of becoming a Presidential Candidate. In 1960 John Fitzgerald Kennedy became President of the United States. At 43 years of age, he was the youngest man to ever hold this title. On November 22, 1963 John was 46 years old and just ending his third year as President. He was just planning his campaign to run for a second term as President. On this date, John and his wife, Jackie, flew to Texas to take part in his political tour. After there arrival, they got into the back of an open limousine with Texas Governor, John B. Connally and his wife. About 12:30 Mrs. Connally remarked, â€Å"you certainly can†t say that the people f Dallas haven†t given you a nice welcome,† as people lined up everywhere. Before Kennedy could respond, a shot was fired. From a sixth-floor window. a sudden rifle shot rang out, fatally wounding the president, a second shot hit the Governor, and a third shot struck Kennedy in the back of the head, causing his death. At one p. m. , that same day, reporters rushed from the hospital to spread the horrible news. As a victim of assassination— the President of the United States was dead. The whole country mourned the death of J. F. K. Those who knew him or knew of him will forever remember this wonderful man.