The Importance of Outside Classroom Activities in Promoting Oral Essay

The Importance of Outside Classroom Activities in Promoting Oral Fluency in an EFL Context - Essay Example Consequently, creating opportunities outside the classroom for students to speak English is an effective strategy in compensating for students’ limited use of the L2. Research studies have shown that external classroom activities have equal significance in enabling students learn English as a second language. In addition, it has been asserted that such activities provide a non-educational environment from which a student may feel free and comfortable to acquire new language skills. This study investigates the significance of outside classroom activities in promoting students’ oral proficiency. In addition, it reports on students’ perceptions of such activities. Fifteen participants from the American University of Kuwait took part in this study. Open-ended interviews were done to find out what the participants thought of these activities, and what they gained from them. Interview results show that students found outside classroom activities very effective in improving not only their oral fluency skills, but their confidence and critical thinking skills as well. The implications of this research study are for language practitioners and language programs in the EFL context to be aware of the benefits of incorporating outside classroom activities in language teaching. Approximations indicate that in the beginning of the 21st century, around 400-500 million English speakers existed [1]. Obviously, by now the number has dramatically increased. The reason for that is many countries have picked up English as the primary foreign language as the world continues to connect more and more. In these countries, it is estimated that there is 20-30% of the population that speaks English. Thus, the author notes that around 1.5 to 2 billion English speakers exist worldwide. The numbers are inclusive of native language speakers who use English as their first language, and non-native English speakers who use English as their secondary language. While studying English in

Business Organisation & Policy Topshop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business Organisation & Policy Topshop - Essay Example High street retail business like Topshop has been affected by a number of factors like price and cost pressure, concentration in the industry etc. Topshop specializes in women’s fashion products such as clothing and apparels. This retail sector is expanding both horizontally and vertically with retailers taking broader strategies to adapt to it (Burt and Sparks, 2003, p. 15). Polarisation increases in the sector with the growth of the bigger companies. Hence, innovation is the critical element which the retailers need to do for their development. With economies opening them to outer world, the competition is increasing and the retailers are developing strategy to survive. But while developing strategy they need to take into consideration the external factors which will impact them. Political Structure and Trends Topshop and other high street outlets i.e. its competitors are affected by the political structure in a number of ways. One of the main way that politician in UK can affect the high street retail outlet businesses is through their exercise of power in the land-use planning system. Though land-use planning is the function of local authority, the national government can intervene in for the development and growth of high street retail outlet business like Topshop. Recently there have been restrictions on green field development project and hence it is becoming harder for retailers to open in the new shopping centres (Bluff, 2012, p.15). Therefore, as a high street outlet, Topshop needs to take a close look at current business policies and re-strategise their decisions for future expansion. The environment of shopping has changed over the years, because the shoppers can now choose between the leisure and experience component. They now face a more functional price driven appeal from the shoppers (APCO Worldwide, 2012, p. 4). With technological advancement the price has become a major component as the consumers can easily compare the price. Hence, the company needs to offer products of varied price ranges and develop and implement effective branding and promotional strategies so that they can position themselves differentially in the market. The competition commission in UK has found out that consumer have accepted many of the changes in the high street retail sector like the online shopping. As discussed the land-use planning affects the location of the outlets, there are other instruments which governments can use to affect the operations like retail trading legislations and the public policies which regulate such working conditions of the industry, like employment practices etc. Economic Structures and Trends The UK high street retail sector is affected by the macro-level position of the country. If the general economic condition is good this sector will experien ce a high volume of retails sales. If the economic condition of the country improves then there is a possibility of significant investment by other players. Like in India with the Opening up of FDI in the retail sector, many foreign retailers like Walmart, Ikea is going to open themselves up in the country. Like in UK

Equity Valuation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Equity Valuation - Essay Example Through equity valuation, shareholders of the firm decide whether to hold, buy or sell the firm’s stock. The long term risk of holding the share is also reflected in the valuation analysis i.e. upside and downside margin. Such critical analysis of firm’s equity leads to better financial performance evaluation and finding the growth prospects of a firm. The project has taken British Telecommunication’s financial statements into consideration in explaining the various processes of equity valuation. The telecom industry in UK is one of the largest in Europe that is characterised by the rising competition in broadcast, mobile communication and broadband segment. It has witnessed significant growth in the mobile communication and broadband market and it is above the European average growth rate. The digital TV penetration has risen to 90% of UK population. The operational capacity has also witnessed significant growth owing to the investments made by Virgin media, Next generation networks and British telecom. The major players in the industry are COLT telecom, BT, Virgin Media, Orange, Kcom and O2. The UK market is divided between two kinds of players’ mobile carriers and fixed line. Key players in the mobile carriers market are O2, Vodafone and Hutchison and BT dominates the fixed line carriers. British Telecom is a UK based telecom company that caters to more than 17 million customers in UK and more than 160 countries worldwide. Its main service divisions are digital TV, broadband and mobile communication. It was earlier a subsidiary of the General post office but in 1984, it was privatised and became British Telecommunication Plc. More than 50% of its shares have been sold to investors and further divestment was made in 1993. BT Plc in the current fiscal have plans to takeover EE Ltd for an amount of  £12.1 billion (BT Group Plc, 2014a). The stock valuation

Analogue-digital and Digital-analogue conversion Essay

Analogue-digital and Digital-analogue conversion - Essay Example music record (Dallet and Silva, 2005). Analogue signals are usually continuous and variable in nature are they can be represented by a variable wave. On the other hand, digital signals are multi-level in the sense that it only varies after some predetermined time hence it is easier to predict its future processes. The essence of analogue to digital is to convert the data contained in an analogue signals into a more presentable form without altering the initial content (Pelgrom, 2013). There are numerous methods that are in use when it comes to analogue to digital conversion the type of techniques that is chosen depends on the requirements of the user. For instance, is the user wants a quick conversion technique then he/she will opt for a faster ADC, alternatively if he/she wants an accurate conversion process then he will indeed opt for an accurate ADC. However, in all case the same principle is utilised to conduct the conversion process. The sequence of bits in a typical digital representation infers a number that whereby each bit has twice the weight of the next bit in the sequence, for instance; bn-1, bn-2†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦b0 (Shoop, 2001). There are different procedures for A/D transformation, including flash, half blaze, integrator, delta sigma or modulator, progressively rough guess, and voltage-to-recurrence. A flash ADC applies the info in parallel to numerous quick comparators whose edges are just as dispersed all through the sought data voltage range, ordinarily 1V. At any minute, all the comparators that have edges underneath the info voltage are on, and the rest are off. Half-streak simple to advanced converters focus their yield code by digitally joining the aftereffects of two successively performed lower-determination streak changes. An integrator is an ADC whose return system speaks to the standard estimation of the voltage information more than a given time

International Competitiveness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International Competitiveness - Essay Example The richest countries will become even richer, and the poorest countries will become much poorer. The only solution is fair trade that takes into account cooperation and competition at the same time. The rich countries should cooperate with the poor countries so they can adapt themselves to an ethical globalisation process not only in the economic sense but also in all the dimensions of global integration. Globalisation is here to stay. The worldwide integration is possible thanks to the technological and scientific advances of human kind. Anup Shah makes the following assertion about the current state of globalisation: "The world is becoming more globalized, there is no doubt about that. While that sounds promising, the current form of globalization, neoliberalism, free trade and open markets are coming under much criticism. The interests of powerful nations and corporations are shaping the terms of world trade." (Shah, 2007). In this global scenario, developing countries should be protected against the greedy interests of the developed countries. Shah states the following remarks that should be taken into account by all interested parties: "Margaret Thatcher's slogan of "there is no alternative" rings sharply. ... Global Policy Forum (2007) recognises that the theory behind global economic integration sounds good for everybody, but at the same time everybody should be aware of its shortcomings: "Capitalist economic theory holds that a completely liberalized global market is the most efficient way to foster growth, because each country specializes in producing the goods and services in which it has a comparative advantage. Yet, in practice, cutting trade barriers and opening markets do not necessarily generate development. Rich countries and large corporations dominate the global marketplace and create very unequal relations of power and information. As a result, trade is inherently unequal and poor countries seldom experience rising well-being but increasing unemployment, poverty, and income inequality." (Global Policiy Forum, 2007). S. Matt (2005) points out 8 different positions in relation to the trade debate as follows: "Position 1. The neo-classical story: free trade on the basis of comparative advantage. () Position 2. Free trade but a. Strategic traders & Competitive advantage (). b. Yes to free trade, no to free financial markets. () Position 3. Anti-Free-Trade - traditional arguments. () Position 4. Fair Trade. () Position 5. Yes to trade - no to free trade; Exogenous development; Reform the WTO. () Position 6. Abolish the WTO; Endogenous development. () Position 7. Abolish the WTO; abolish capitalism. () Position 8. Localism - no to trade in general. ()" (Matt, 2005). Positions 4 and 5 should be taken into consideration with great emphasis as they represent solid positions that can help in the economic and human

Singapore Airlines Essay Example for Free

Singapore Airlines Essay Over the past four decades, it has earned a stellar reputation in the ï ¬ ercely competitive commercial aviation business by providing customers with high-quality service and dominating the business-travel segments.  World’s Best Airline award from Condà © Nast  Traveler 21 out of the 22 times it has been  awarded and Skytrax’s Airline of the Year  award three times over the past decade. What’s not so well known is that despite the  quality of its services, SIA is also one of the industry’s most cost-effective operators. From 2001 to 2009, its costs per available seat kilometer (ASK) were just 4.58 cents. According to a 2007 International Air Transport Association  study, costs for full-service European airlines  were 8 to 16 cents, for U.S. airlines 7 to 8 cents,  and for Asian airlines 5 to 7 cents. In fact, SIA  had lower costs than most European and  American budget carriers, which ranged from  4 to 8 cents and 5 to 6 cents respectively. It’s intriguing that SIA has combined the  supposedly incompatible strategies of differ-  harvard business review †¢ july–august 2010  entiation—which it pursues through service  excellence and continuous innovation—and  cost leadership. Few enterprises have executed a dual strategy proï ¬ tably; indeed, management experts such as Michael Porter argue that it’s impossible to do so for a sustained period since dual strategies entail contradictory investments and organizational processes. Yet pursuing dual strategies is becoming an imperative. The demand for valuefor-money products and services has shot up since the recent recession, particularly in developed countries, so even producers of premium offerings have to ï ¬ gure out how to grab opportunities in the middle and the low end  of the market. Moreover, multinational corporations face competition from rivals— many of them from emerging markets—that  use new technologies and business models to  provide good-enough offerings at attractive  prices. Incumbents can ï ¬ ght back by cutting  prices or further differentiating products and  services, but it’s often a losing battle.

The Reflective Report Audit Trail Nursing Essay

The Reflective Report Audit Trail Nursing Essay I wish to reflect on the whole learning activities that I have been done for this module in this reflective report. I have learned a few strengths and potential weaknesses of myself which would help me in my future journey. I derive five important skills while go through this process which are communication skills, presentation skills, teamwork, time management and critical thinking. All these skills are useful for me to uncover my strengths and weaknesses which I can refer back on my working life. Communication skills This is not my first time doing a presentation, but it is the first time I have a group with the international students. Normally, my group members are my Chinese friends. At first, I found it was difficult to talk with my group members and to express my ideas. I did a lot of simple grammar mistakes and I am always the one who talks too little during our discussions. I think my group members are having problem to understand what I am saying. Therefore, I felt distressed and anxious for coming to discussions. However, they have given me ample opportunities to learn to communicate my points and thoughts. According to Collins and Miller (1994), self-disclosure is the act of disclosing personal information to another people. To develop a good communication in a relationship, self-disclosure is one of the important mechanisms. I believed that a good relationship is based on trust so I decided to let my group members to know things about myself. I remember feeling uncomfortable when I did some of the mistakes, but my group members were not judgemental and helped me to solve the problem. After this, I felt that by sharing opinion and thought with each other can really strengthen my confidence. I am glad that the wall which blocking me from communicate with others had been removed and I am able to speak out my opinion now. As pointed out by one of my lecturer, Mr Mahathir, good communication in the workplace will maximise work efficiency. From his past experiences, I learn that we must not being shy to meet the boss because the boss is the one who evaluate our performance in the workplace. Having good communication might also benefit me in my later on working life as I can ask for help from colleagues when having problems. Presentation skills Although I managed to finish my speech during first presentation, I think my performance was not very well. Overall presentation as a group was good because my group members presented confidently and able to provide convincing answers when questions were asked by the tutor. I definitely found that a presenter must have great knowledge of the topic so that he can elaborate it by himself without looking at notes. I had a problem with this in my presentation. I involved all the information in such a limited presentation. I think I should make the information more relevant to the audience in my future presentations. Besides that, nervousness is a major problem for me. It wasnt my first time to speak in the public but I still felt nervous and resulted in me left out some parts that I was going to say. I think that it can be solved with experience and confidence. Therefore, I should overcome this weakness. After a couple weeks of practicing, this was reflected during my presentation as I was successful in explaining the proposed solutions to my peers. I made eye contact with the audience, and was able to acquire their attention towards my presentation. Hence, I would say that I think I did above average for my presentation and I am happy with my performance. However, I do believe that there is still much room for improvement such as research more tools (eg Youtube) to use and make it simplistic yet complex. Since I have had rehearsals for a couple of times, I believed that I was well prepared for my presentation. This resulted in one of the main strengths of my presentation was that my verbal messages were presented quite fluently. Also, I felt that I projected my voice effectively throughout my presentation and this is really the main cause of my satisfaction with my presentation. This is because I have received feedback from my classmates that the volume of my voice was not loud enough when I was speaking. I am glad that I have managed to speak at an appropriate volume. I liked my slides as well, as I felt that its simple layout was easy on the eyes and yet, it still managed to be visually attractive. I realise that the delivery of the presentation is important for its success and the key to delivering a good presentation is practice, confidence, have an interest and knowledge of the topic, not memorized the whole things. I have reflected on my strengths and weaknesses, and I am ready to perform better in the near future. Teamwork Working in group can be more trouble as conflicts may occur during discussion; however, I think it provided an opportunity for us to understand other peoples point of view. This exactly happened in my group as we always discuss the questions together at first. Each of us had different opinions so that the end result will be a combination of best ideas. I am glad that we were able to finish our presentations quickly yet maintain good quality. I learned that communication, trust and leadership are the three main components of a strong teamwork skill. Good communication enables the group to perform well and each member must trust one another so that progress can be made efficiently. A team without a leader will result in fail. This module has contributed the improvement of my teamwork skills. I have learned to be an effective team member which requires active participation in group discussions. Through the group presentations, I believe that my experience can be readily applied into future working environment because high level of teamwork is important in todays workplace. Overall it has been very learning experience for me because teamwork allows me to be involved and participate in equal ways. This helps to broaden my thinking to achieve the best outcomes and able to collaborate with others in the future. Time management One of the major challenges that I faced is time management. Time management is one of the skills that no one will teach you in school but you have to learn it. I was the worst procrastinator because I would put things off until the very last minute. That turned into me having a lot of late work, or not very good quality work. One of my lecturers had mentioned that, When it comes to time management it is important to find a system that works for you. I think that I could improve my time management skills making a schedule. It was very beneficial to keep a schedule. Instead of cramming everything all at once, set a schedule helped me to get better grades. I believe that as mentioned earlier, having a calendar that states those deadlines will help motivate me because all the deadlines are visibly in sight. I can also track the progress of my assignments by categorizing the tasks and see which stages I am in at the current progress. I have to always remember that we may delay, but time will not. I believe that proper planning is the key to managing my time well. With proper planning, I can prepare to take on the task mentally. Thus, time management is a very valuable skill in todays society.   Critical Thinking As for critical thinking, Taylor (1992) stated that it is a result of reflecting on ones learning and developing a meta-awareness by reflecting on ones thoughts, feelings and actions. Critical thinking is considered to be one of the most important indicators of student learning quality. For me, I learned to think critically when I was doing the report. I analysed the issues and gave evidence to support my opinions. I have learned a lot of critical thinking through doing this report. Although it is not an easy experience but it helped me to understand the pros and cons of every possible outcome and to value them according to the goals that I wanted to achieve. When I apply critical thinking concepts in the workplace, I will develop more ideas, make fewer mistakes and reach better decision. We know that not only the managers have the responsibility of taking decisions, but people at all levels into an organisation may also call to face and resolve problems. I think it also has a good impact on the relationship between colleagues. By using critical thinking, I can enjoy the benefits throughout my life in the future. (1500 words)