The occurence of the earthquake Essay Example for Free

The occurence of the earthquake Essay The occurrence of the earthquake hazard and the highest level of vulnerability is centred upon the economically developing nations. Discuss the truth of this statement and make recommendations concerning how LEDC’s might manage the earthquake hazards. Earthquake hazards are one of the three geological hazards that occur. Earthquakes have lots of energy that cause destruction on the planet. There are up to 3000 earthquakes per year and about 30 cause serious damage. Most of the damage occurs in LEDC’s because poor infrastructure and housing is not earthquake proof. The way forward is to manage earthquakes hazards in LEDC’s so when they do strike the area is not likely to suffer lots of damage and loss of life. The earth is made up of many different plate tectonics, some large like the Pacific plate and some small like the Nazca plate. Most activity happens are plate boundaries and there are three types of boundaries. Destructive plate boundaries are where one plate the less dense Nazca (sima) is sub ducting under another more dense plate, South American (sial). Conservative plate boundaries merely slide place each other and are quite inactive. Earthquakes are very rare here compared to destructive plate boundaries. There is also constructive plate boundaries, where plates are pulling apart and sea trenches and ridges appear. When friction builds up between the two plates moving towards each other cause friction to release and cause an earthquake. LEDC have highest amount of vulnerability due to the amount of poor infrastructure and poor emergency response. The seismic gap theory helps scientists accurately predict where an earthquake is going to occur, however they cannot say when. Istanbul in Turkey is on the 1500 km fault line called the San Antonio. Scientists are able to say that Istanbul will be the next spot because of the accurate prediction of the Izmit Bay Earthquake. It is before Istanbul on the fault line and scientists said it was next in 1998 and in August 1999 their predictions came true. It was a magnitude of 2. 4 and lasted for approximately 45 seconds. Just because Turkey is considered an LEDC’s doesn’t mean that it has a more likely chance of an earthquake occurring. Japan is seen as a MEDC and is a hotspot for earthquakes as it is the meeting point for plates such as the Pacific from the East and the Eurasian from the west. Kobe has an earthquake in 1995 and caused mass destruction to the area. It caused 4,500 deaths and upto 100,000 people were made homeless. It was seen as the most costly disaster in history because Kobe is a developed city and its infrastructure and buildings collapsed in the disaster. 56,000 buildings were destroyed and many electricity and gas lines were disrupted. It came as a shock when so many buildings collapsed as back in 1981 new building regulation were introduced. To make buildings earthquake proof it is only a couple of percentage of the total cost of the building so it is worth it. However many of the buildings in Kobe are old and the cost of upgrading them would be between $50-100 billion. Mexico is also a hotspot for many earthquakes as it is on the meeting point of the plates. The subduction of the Cocos Plate under the North American plate has created the mountain range in Mexico is also the cause of many eartquakes and volcanoes. Mexico City has a large population of 8. 8 million inhabitats. The city has a problem as it is built on a lake. The area has been drained, but when an earthquake occurs liquefaction happens and this is where buildings sink in the muddy soil. One building is considered the safest in the world and it is located in New Mexico, Mexico. Torres Major has foundations that are 3 times as deep as the Empire Building at 60m. These steady foundations go into the hard bedrock beneath and absorb the energy from the earthquake. The designer Dr Leonardo Zeevaert when took the project on considered ways in which he could make the building as earthquake proof as possible. Shock absorbers were added to the buildings so that when the earth shock the building would move with it. This was to prevent the building becoming to stationary and beening shock to death when a earthquake occurs. Although Mexico City has one of the safetest building much of the rest of the city has no such luck. More than 1,000 private homes need more attention, but they have no where else to go, so the work cannot take place. There is also severe overcrowding in the city which has caused 32 apartments in the city to be crammed with 450 people. This has caused the problem of families knocking down supporting walls to make the apartments bigger. Knocking down walls has caused the buildings’ stability to weaken and more chance of collapsing. There is also the problem that there is no building regulations and no education to the local people about how to make homes safer, which should be the government’s priority. LEDC’s are more likely to suffer building damage because of poor construction and unreliable building materials. In Istanbul, Turkey the country should try and get ready for the earthquake that is predicted to come, however they are not. There has been an increase in the number of buildings both illegal and legal due to the increase of population that are migrating to the capital. 50% of the new builds are illegal as the contractors are more concerned about money and profits than safety. It is predicted that if the earthquake happens about 70% of the buildings will be flattened due to the vibrations. It would be recommended that for places like Turkey, to rigorously enforce building regulations. There should be an improvement in the way buildings are designed such as having deeper foundations or added cross bracing for more stability. The way in which concrete is mixed is also important in helping the structure be sturdier. Overall lots of damage has occurred in LEDC’s because of lack of money in building better and more earthquake proof buildings. In the future places like Turkey that are bound to have an earthquake should have more inspectors to enforce and insure better housing is built. Although Mexico has built the safest building in the world, they have neglected much of the private houses in which the poorest of people live. If there is an earthquake in the near future Mexico and other LEDC countries will still have the same destruction as they did before.

Self Efficacy In Writing Performance Psychology Essay

Self Efficacy In Writing Performance Psychology Essay Writing, is a complex process and competent writing is frequently accepted as being the last language skill to be acquired. Al-Mekhlafi, 2011 Due to its complex process, writing is regarded as a challenging task not only for native speakers of a language but also for second language learners. As it is the case for any other acquired skill, writing skill also evolves continuously until the product, a piece of writing, meets the expectations of both the writer and reader. However, when it comes to learning how to apply certain conventions of writing in a formal learning environment, the role and responsibility of the learner becomes even more important. As cited in Sheila Matoti and Almon Shumba (2011), writing problems identified by previous studies are grammar, spelling, punctuation, expression, and the ability to explain, structure and interpret facts as well as vocabulary and referencing. Although it can be claimed that the problems listed above can be fixed, to a certain extent, through formal instruction and learners effort, it is a fact that having some sort of knowledge about ones capabilities and skills can indeed play an important role in motivating human behaviours. (Bandura,1986) According to Banduras Social Cognitive Theory, individuals possess a system of self-beliefs that enables them to exercise control over their thoughts, feelings, and actions. (as cited in Garcia Fidalgo,2008, Rahimpour Jahan, 2010, Al-Mekhlafi, 2011, Shah et al. 2011, Galligan ,2011, Alexander Schmidt, 2012). Broaddus (2012) explained that social cognitive theory forms the roots of both writing self-efficacy and motivation both of which change from course to course, depending on students interest, efficacy for performing tasks in the course, and other social and environmental factors. In other words, learners may create their own path of learning through engaging themselves in tasks. Therefore, students set their goals for learning a specific subject. Self-efficacy is a construct proposed by Bandura (1977) and has been tested in a variety of fields, focusing on a variety of topics. Broaddus (2012) and Bong (1999) define self-efficacy as peoples convictions about their own capability for successfully executing a course of action that leads to a desired outcome. Schmidt and Alexander (2012) argued that self efficacy is not only a current but also future disposition requiring learners or participants in a research to evaluate their beliefs in their future abilities. Therefore, self-efficacy requires self-evaluation, about what one can do and what can be improved. As well as self-evaluation, there are two more factors affecting self-efficacy: modeling (coaching) such as coding the information for retention, being capable of producing the presented patterns, and maintaining a certain level of motivation; goal setting, such as acquiring skills and knowledge or making good grades. (Schunk, 2003). When considered specifically for the writing ability, writing self-efficacy translates into a strong sense of confidence for the task of writing.( Pajares Valiante,1997). In other words, once learners have sufficient self-belief in their ability to write in their second language, their interest in writing may increase, they may display constant efforts, and great eagerness and resiliency when they are working on a writing task. In his study conducted in 2012, Broaddus concluded that journalism course students who hold high self-efficacy for grammar have put more effort into their time management and environmental resources while studying and it was found that these high efficacy attitude towards grammar resulted in better grammar skills. This was interpreted as these students determine where the challenge or obstacle related to the task lies and they develop strategies so as to succeed in their writing assignments. Garcia and Fidalgo stated in their 2008 study that in difficult tasks such as writing which includes many recursively employed cognitive processes, self-efficacy plays a the key role. While acquiring writing skills, students need to use their cognitive, behavioral and motivational engagement and learning. Recently, an enormous amount of research has been done on the writing composition proceses that student writers undertake(Erkan Saban, 2011). Although writing instruction has gone through numerous changes, according to an action research carried out by Yavuz and Genà § ( 1998), students tend to display negative attitudes towards writing. Yavuz and Genà § (1998) concluded their research findings as, for students writing is an obligation in order to pass final exam. Erkan and Saban (2004) suggest that this attitude can be interpreted as students apprehension and lack of self-efficacy in writing. The reason for students apprehension and lack of self efficacy may be due to limited time allocated for writing practice in classes. As cited in Leki and Carson (1994), according to the results of structured interviews of a study, university students who completed language courses in intensive English program at five different university reported that they only spent 10 % of their time on writing assignments across the curriculum. However, it should be noted that in order to succeed in their academic studies, second language learners, especially the students at universities are required to gain a certain ability to write well since writing is integral to academic success.Although the time spared for writing practice may not always be possible, the use of a variety of writing assignments, with clear, concise evalution criteria, could help student writers in the development of their self-efficacy while dealing with a writing task. (Broaddus, 2012) When examined specifically, Turkish students practising the conventions of writing in English, even students who are proficient at other language skills share the same problems with writing: they are afraid to make writing errors; they lack self-efficacy in writing.(Erkan Saban, 2011)In her study, Erkan concluded , similar to previous research findings, it was confirmed that the degree of students negative attitude, writing apprehension, does affect Turkish Tertiary level students writing performance. In other words, the higher the apprehension, the weaker the writing skills / performance. This aspect of Erkans study, one that specifically looks at relationships between writing apprehension and writing performance, is an expansion in the research area since the number of studies conducted to investigate second language learners wiriting apprehension is very few. However, as cited in Garcia and Fidalgo (2008), Bandura maintained that misjudgement in ones beliefs about potential performance may be detrimental, which is proved by some research that it can be prevalent in writing classes. Although there is a great number of research examining the relationship between self-efficacy,to the best knowledge of the researchers Rahimpour and Jahan, there is no research on relationship between general self-efficacy and writing (Rahimpour and Jahan, 2010). Rahimpour and Jahan claimed that all the previous research mainly focused on the investigation of self-efficacy among groups with a very limited range of proficiency. Therefore, Rahimpour and Jahan determined their research area as the impact of self-efficacy and proficiency on EFL learners written task performance regarding load, fluency, complexity, and accuracy. The participants chosen were low-proficiency and high-proficiency learners of English aged between 18-25. In addition to completing three separate tasks, the participants were asked to fill out the General Perceived Self-Efficacy questionnaire, through which the participants level of confidence was aimed to rate. The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between self-efficacy and personal tasks in terms of concept load in high proficieny participants; however, there was not a significant relationship when it came to fluency, complexity, and accuracy only for low but also high proficieny participants performance. Another area of research on self-efficacy is related to help seeking which is recognized as a component of self-efficacy. Help seeking is comprised of two types of behaviour: adaptive and nonadaptive behaviours. (as cited in Williams Takaku, 2011) Various studies yielded significant correlations between self-efficacy and help seeking. Williams and Takaku cited that while high self-efficacy students tend to express high help seeking behaviour, low self-efficacy students, despite being under similar circumstances, less willing to seek help. It is commonly accepted by researchers in the field that just as help seeking, self-efficacy belief has been found to be a predictor of academic success. In addition to their teachers, most students may seek help at writing centers remedial courses in the institutions they attend. Writing centers have been proved to be helpful when it comes to improving students writing performance. Williams and Takaku (2011) hypothesized that writing self-efficacy would influence writing performance. The participants of the study were both native and nonnative university students who attended a one semester intensive writing course for all content areas. In contrast to the researchers anticipation, the analysis showed that the frequent visitors to writing center in order to receive professional assistance from the writng center staff, managed to get higher grades than the ones who did not. What makes the results of the study more noteworthy is the fact that these results apply for both ESL learners and native-English- speakers. When the results are generalized, it can be argued that when appropriate assistance is provided, every student practising the conventions of writing can improve himself or herself. A study carried out ,by Shah,Wan Mahmoud, Din,Yusof, Pardi in 2011 with Malaysian secondary school learners in order to determine the students self-efficacy in writing. The results indicated that there is ,indeed, a large, significant positive correlation between self-efficacy and writing performance. That is, it was,again, confirmed that learners with high self-efficacy tend to pursue opportunities to write, put more effort into writing, and be more persistent in seeking writing competence. Another research conducted by Early and De Costa-Smith, in 2011, confirmed Banduras social cognitive theory. To put it differently, self-efficacy beliefs can be developed by mastery experience, social models and lived experiences, and social persuasion. The impact of multiple opportunities to practice any genre, along with peer and teacher feedback and interaction during the intervention may play a key role on the increase in students self-efficacy beliefs related to the genre. All in all, while strong efficacy leads to success, overly high or low efficacy can undermine the proper development of cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral skills. (Broaddus, 2012) On the other hand, Igo (2002) asserted that the students overestimated their self-efficacy because of several reasons, namely, high school teachers failure to provide appropiate and correctional feedback, the teachers negligence of promoting the importance of producing good work, and teachers overappraisal of mere student participation in the writing process. Conversely, when individuals see that another person, in our context a classmate, performing a desired task, self efficacy believes are positively affected. To pplace this into the context of university English preparatory school classrooms, when a student witnesses that a friend of his or her succeeds in writing a well-organized essay, he or she may be more willing to try writing an essay on his own. As Broaddus (2012) cited observers self-efficacy beliefs would be reduced if they see their peers repeatedly fail to accomplish a required task. Whether high or low, self-efficacy in writing has a crucial role in students writing performance. Broaddus (2012) cites from Bandura (1997) and draws our attention to environmental context and says that it often affects efficacy. In a formal language learning environment where there is only limited time can be allocated to writing, it is an undeniable fact that determining students with low self-efficacy and assisting these students while they are developing their writing skills is highly important. Instructors should not only provide the standard techniques of writing and provide corrective feedback on vocabulary and grammar but also provide one-to-one assistance whenever their students seek help. The amount of assistance provided by teachers should also have limits. As cited in Broaddus (2012), Bandura (1997) says Successes achieved with external assistance carry little efficacy value because they are likely to be credited to external aids rather than to personal capabilities METHOD Participants Participants were 20 Turkish learners of English at a preparatory school of an English medium university, Turkey. The participants initially took a standard language proficiency test prepared by the preparatory school testing office. The proficiency test consisted of 80 four-option multiple choice questions before the semester started. The multiple choice items aimed to test the students level of grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension abilities, The passing grade for the proficiency test was determined as 60.The students who got lower than 60 took the placement test consisting of 80 questions. The students were also required to write an essay on a topic provided by the testing office after completing the multiple choice section. According to the placement test scores, the students were placed in three different levels-A, B, and C levels. The intermediate level students were placed in A level classes. In other words, the participants can understand and speak English with some confidence and they have the grammar and the vocabulary to talk and read about a wide number of subjects. Moreover, they can assess and consciously improve their own pronunciation. They have studied all the main tenses and can confidently make sentences, question forms and clauses in all of them. However, intermediate students are only in the beginning phase of improving their use of phrasal verbs and modal verbs. On the other hand, intermediate level is equivalent to IELTS score 4.5 5.5, TOEFL IBT score 55, TOEIC score 450 650, Cambridge PET. Out of 20 participants, there were only 3 students who were private high school graduates. In Turkey, private high schools English curriculum is more intense when compared to state schools English curriculum. Both males and females were involved in the study. They ranged in age from 18 to 20. Instrument The questionnaire administered in the study was developed for the purpose of assessing international students in Marquette University, U.S.A. Marquette University is a private university in Milwaukee, U.S.A. The development of the questionnaire was one of the four assessment areas that Marquette university aimed to assess the four advanced ESL academic bridge courses, one of which focused on international students efficacy in their writing performance. The original questionnaire is a 36-item self-assessment scale to grade the strength of participants belief, or self-efficacy, in their writing performance. However, the questionnaire used to investigate the relationship between students self-report on their writing efficacy and their writing performance is a 20-item questionnaire. The reason why the original questionnaire was not used in the current study was the fact that some of the items did not serve the purpose of the study. The adopted writing efficacy questionnaire features 20 i tems with positive polarity (I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦).The instrument of 20 item questionnaire was used to assess students self- efficacy beliefs related to the skills needed in different essay organizations and other factors that determine students writing performance as successful or unsuccessful. Some of the investigated factors through the questionnaire are brainstorming, outlining, as well as their self- efficacy in terms of grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. Level of efficacy in writing ability was measured on a five point- likert scale included the responses (usually not true of me, somewhat true of me, usually true of me, always or almost always true of me). The questionnaire will be used as the independent variable when the relationship between self-efficacy and writing scores is investigated. Procedure Questionnaire is distributed to participants at the beginning of the semester as a self-completing questioonnaire. Since they were not received any writing instructions before the semester, it is assumed that this questionnaire served to measure their self-efficacy without any intervention of teacher. During the semester, they learned basics of essay writing such as paragraph organization, thesis statement and some grammar backup. Quiz scores which will be used as the dependent variable in my essay are based on the Second Quiz, took after XXXXXXX which constitutes 20% percent of the midterm grade. Findings Self-Efficacy of Participants Table 1. Mean Standard Deviation Coefficient of Variation item3 topic sentence 3,75 0,64 0,17 item11 clear thesis statement 3,75 0,79 0,21 item20 using my independent thinking 3,70 0,66 0,18 item14 effectively brainstorm 3,65 0,81 0,22 item9 support /develop main point 3,60 0,60 0,17 item1 summary 3,50 0,61 0,17 item8 spell, capital, punctuation 3,45 0,83 0,24 item13 a good conclusion 3,45 0,76 0,22 item17 wording, gram., pun,spelling 3,40 0,88 0,26 item15 outline to logically organize 3,40 0,75 0,22 item10 a good introduction 3,40 0,82 0,24 item7 various sent.structures 3,35 0,59 0,18 item6 vocab/ word forms 3,25 0,55 0,17 item4 paragraph organization 3,15 0,67 0,21 item18 effectively write under time constraints 3,13 0,56 0,18 item16 revise to improve dev. org. 3,05 0,69 0,23 item19 write quickly in English 2,95 1,03 0,35 item2 paragraph 2,95 0,51 0,17 item12 different types of organization 2,85 0,93 0,33 item5 academic style tone 2,58 0,67 0,26 Above table shows descriptive statistics of items used in the questionnaire. Since the questionnaire is composed of Likert scale questions, 1 stands for the lowest score and 5 is the highest possible score. According to this table, participants self-efficacy is relatively high in items like topic sentence, clear thesis statement, using my independent thinking, effectively brainstorm and support/develop main point where average scores are above 3,50 over 5. Their weakest points are stated as academic styletone, different types of organization, paragraph and write quickly in English, where averages are below 3 over 5. Generally speaking, participants seem to be confident in idea development and they feel themselves relatively weaker in the structural aspects such as academic style and tone. Coefficient of variations, calculated by dividing standard deviation to mean for each items show how responses are dispersed in each item. Highest dispersion is observed on item19, write quickly in English and on item12, which measures self-perception about the ability to use different types of organization, both coefficient of variations are above 0,34. Lowest scores are observed on these items topic sentence, support/develop main point, summary, vocab/word forms and paragraph, all of them are 0,17. Descriptive statistics give some hints about overall level of self-efficacy of participants, and it is almost sure that this is not something uni-dimensional. However a multivariate analysis is beyond the limits of this essay and number of cases is very small to conduct further analyses. Consequently remaining parts of this essay will be based on the assumption that self-efficacy is uni-dimensional, something possible to measure in a single dimension. Efficacy scores of respondents are calculated on their raw scores obtained by using above described self-efficacy questionnaire. Total efficacy score is calculated by using a simple summation of responses. Theoretical maximum score is 100 showing the highest self-efficacy score, and minimum theoretical score is 20, indicating that respondent stated him/herself on the lowest end in each question. Table . Descriptives of Self Efficacy Scores Average Std. Dev. Min. Max. Efficacy 66,15 7,34 53 86 Descriptive statistics are presented above. Mean self-efficacy score is 66,15 with a standard deviation of 7,34. Coefficient of variation (V) is 0,11, indicating a low level of variation. Minimum score is 53, which is above theoretical minimum and observed maximum 86 is below theoretical maximum. These findings show that scores are located between 60 and 90. In order to facilitate interpretation of analyses, all raw scores are transformed to standardized (Z) scores. Newly created self-efficacy scores have a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1. Distribution of this new scores are presented in the below histogram. Although number of participants is limited (we have only 20 cases), this distribution is very close to be normally distributed. Figure . Histogram of Standardized Self Efficacy Scores Measurement of Academic Performance: Quiz Scores It is so far argued that quiz scores are used to measure academic performance of participants. Quiz scores are graded over 100. Table . Descriptives of Quiz Scores Average Std. Dev. Min. Max. Cause and Effect Quiz Scores 60,05 7,78 52 83 Above table shows that average quiz score is 60, and standard deviation is 7,78. If we consider that range between minimum and maximum scores is only 31, it is possible to conclude that quiz scores are relatively less dispersed. Correlation Analysis Our expectation is that academic performance of students is correlated with their self efficacy. As one students is more confident about his/her efficacy, it is expected that he/she performs better in courses; and as he/she performas better academically; his/her self efficacy increases. Since direction of causality is not clear; correlation analysis is the best tool to present the nature of the relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance. In our cases, self-efficacy of participants are measured by using a self completed questionnaire and their self efficacy scores are calculated based on their answers; meanwhile their quiz scores are accepted as indicators of their academic performance. Table . Correlation Analysis Compare and Contrast Quiz Self Efficacy 0,60 Above table shows that correlation coefficient between self efficacy and compare and contrast quiz scores is 0.60. Correlation coefficient is a score located between -1 and 1, where -1 stands for perfect negative correlation and 1 stands for perfect positive correlation. As this coefficient comes closer to 0, it shows that power of relationship is relatively week, if it is 0, it means that there is no relationship between examined variables. A correlation coefficient of 0.60 means that there is a positive correlation between self efficacy of participants and their academic performance, a finding not falsifying our expectations. If we emphasize on the strength of this relationship, 0.60 shows a more than moderate relationship between our two variables. This finding shows that there is a positive relationship between self-efficacy of participants and their academic performance. As ones self efficacy increases, his/her academic performance also increases; and since correlation coefficient is a symmetrical measure; this finding also shows that as ones academic performance increases; his/her self-efficacy also increases. Although the measurement of self-efficacy precedes the measurement of academic performance; it is not sufficient to talk about a causal relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance; because self-efficacy of participants most probably affected by their previous academic performance, such as their performance in the high school or other exams they attended. Consequently accepting self-efficacy scores as an indicator of academic performance is a less risky choice compared to using them to forecast future academic success. In order to make such a forecasting, we need much more detailed measurement of academic performance and self-efficacy and higher number of respondents. Anova Test A further analysis is conducted to see whether there is a significant difference between students, based on their self-efficacy scores. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is preferred because it allows us to test statistical significance of an intervening factor on a dependent variable. We expect that students having high level of self-efficacy are more successful in academic terms. Above discussed measurement of self-efficacy is accepted as the independent variable and Quiz Scores are dependent. Since self-efficacy is an interval level variable, recoding these scores to a nominal level variable is needed. It is preferred to use standardized self-efficacy scores to facilitate interpretation. Standardized self-efficacy scores are recoded as follows: Those having a score less than 0 are recoded as low efficacy and those having a score less than or equal to 0 are accepted as high efficacy. 12 students are categorized as low-efficacy students and 8 are grouped as high efficacy students. Table . Descriptives of Quiz Scores according to the Level of Self Efficacy Average Std. Dev. Std. Error N Low Self Efficacy 57.33 3.45 0.995 12 High Self Efficacy 64.13 10.7 3.772 8 Total 60.05 7.78 1.739 20 Descriptive statistics of both groups are presented above. It is known that overall average of quiz scores is 60.05 with a standard deviation of 7.78. Students with low self-efficacy scores have an average of 57.33 and standard deviation of this group is 3.45. Meanwhile, students having high self-efficacy scores are also more successful in quizzes, their average is 64.13. At this point, we need to consider that standard deviation of these students is very high, 10.7; compared to other students. Table . ANOVA Results Sum of Squares Df. Mean Square F. Sig. Low Self Efficacy 221.41 1 221.41 4.30 0.05 High Self Efficacy 927.54 18 51.53 Total 1148.95 19 Above presented results of ANOVA shows that difference between average quiz scores of low self-efficacy and high self-efficacy students is statistically significant. F score is 4.3 and this score is statistically significant at 0.05 level. Thus, we can falsify our hypothesis that group means are equal, meaning that students with high self-efficacy scores have higher scores in the Quiz, than students with low self-efficacy scores. Similar to correlation analysis, ANOVA analysis does not allow us to make generalizations about the causal relationship between self-efficacy of students and their academic performance. However, it is clear that there is a statistically significant difference between these two groups of students. I believe that causal relationship has to elaborated by using more sophisticated data analysis tools and using these instruments with higher number of participants. DISCUSSION This essay targeted to discover whether there is a relationship between students perceptions about their efficacy in the English language and their academic performance. Literature review led us to think that there is a positive relationship between self-efficacy scores of students and their academic performance. There are a lot of reasons of this relationship discussed in details in literature review section of the essay. Our hypothetical expectation is that as self-efficacy scores of students increase, their academic performance in writing also increases. Since this relationship is recursive, meaning that self- efficacy leads to better performance in exams and better performance may also lead to higher self-efficacy, causal relationship wont be tested in this essay. In order to measure self-efficacy of students, an adopted version of the questionnaire developed by the Marquette University has been used with 20 students at the beginning of semester. Original questionnaire was shortened to limit it with writing related items. By using these questionnaires, an index of self-efficacy is calculated and standardized. Meanwhile academic performance of students are measured with their grades in a Quiz held on XXXth week of the semester. Correlation analysis showed that there is a positive correlation between self-efficacy of students and their academic performance. With a coefficient of 0.60, this relationship seems to be moderately powerful. As a result of restrictions of correlation analysis, it is not possible to understand direction of causality between these two variables. My second analysis also showed that difference between mean quiz scores of students with high and low level of self-efficacy is statistically significant. Standardized self-efficacy scores are transformed to a binary variable. ANOVA showed that these two groups have different mean quiz scores and this difference is statistically significant. While correlation analysis showed that there is a positive relationship between self-efficacy scores and academic performance; ANOVA results presented that students having high and low level self-efficacy scores have different quiz scores. Both findings indicate that self-efficacy scores matter. It is so far argued that these findings cannot give any idea about direction of causality, since relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance is recursive. However, my analyses presented the existence of a relationship and it deserves further discussion. It is possible to repeat this exercise with a larger sample and to prevent a possible falsification of hypotheses as a result of small sample size. Questionnaire revised to measure self-efficacy may be refined and developed to make a better measurement of this concept. Fu

Essay --

In Homer’s epic The Odyssey a powerful symbol is the dual role of food. Throughout the novel, food was apart of their culture but it also represents situations in which feasting was a form of temptation. There were many feast and celebrations because hospitality was very important in their culture. It ranged from feasting of wine, meat, and bread, and even cheese. Food becomes a test for the weak, and sick men who accompanies Odysseus along the journey. The temptation began when Odysseus men did not return home after the war. It was first shown by the Lotus Eaters. The Lotus Eaters are people who do nothing at all during the day and sit and fulfill their appetites on this appealing plant. In result of them eating the plant they tend to become very lazy and forget their intended task, which was to get back home to Ithaca. Due to them falling into temptation Odysseus had to pull them himself back to the ship. His men fall prey to this food, and you can conclude that Odysseus’ men lack self-control. Along the journey Odysseus’ men are constantly tempted by food but the gluttony come...

The Effects Of Divorce on Students :: Essays Papers

The Effects Of Divorce on Students How significant is the impact of divorce on children? There have been studies that show that divorce has a negative effect on children. The impact on a child's life often varies depending on the type of divorce and the age of the child during the divorce. The influence of a separation normally effects a child's learning and behavior skills. For a young child the concept of divorce is something that creates many misconceptions. Children do not understand the true meaning or reasoning behind why their parents would ever want to be separated. The initial reaction for most children is to blame themselves or to create a type of reasoning that they can relate to. Due to this, many children often concentrate on rebuilding their family structure instead of engaging in normal childhood activities. Sudden changes in a household can disturb a child's psychological well being. Children sometimes have a tough time being separated from their parents; they fear that if one parent can leave them why can't the other. Role changes often also occur; the mother may begin to work or a baby-sitter may now play a role in the child's life. The feeling of sadness, loss and abandonment are emotions that almost all children go through. As children develop in households that have experienced divorces, problems begin to come out in many phases of the child's life. After reading an article about the effects of divorce on young children I learned many interesting issues dealing with divorce. The authors say â€Å"Although there is considerable variability in outcomes over time, children in divorced and remarried families are more likely than children from non divorced families to have problems in their relationships with parents, siblings, and peers as well as lower self-esteem and academic problems† (Hetherington, Bridges, & Insabella, 1998,pg#2-3). The article also discuses the fact that the percentage of children who drop out of school and have divorced parents is greater then drop out rate of students who's parents are still married (Pedro-Carroll, 1999 pg.3). Over the years organizations have been established to help children cope with issues that have to due with divorce. An organization called The Children of Divorce Intervention Program (CODIP) is a support program that was formed to meet the needs of children.

Course Project: Leadership and Organizational Behavior

My course project is based on organization of Creative Images, Inc. Creative Images is a California based company in computer graphic design studio who’s affiliated with Hollywood movie production companies. Creative Images work very closely with their clients and well known clients are Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Company, and many other animation movie makers. Numbers of intelligent computer graphic designers are working hard to meet the status quo on current animated production movies and projects for the customers in night and weekends. The company is all about providing highest quality of work to world giant animated movie production companies and its well getting recognized by their customers. But only problem is that employees’ at Creative Images are not satisfied with their current benefits of their job since many people are subject to provide the project status and meeting deadlines which it requires for them to work nights and weekends without getting over-time paid. I am a Human Resource analysis just recently got hired by Creative Images to provide the best quality assurance to employees so that all employees are satisfy with their jobs and benefits so that it increases employee’s morale. I will be reviewing current job duties and functionalities so that their compensation and benefits are competitive with current market as well as provide them with incentives and rewards so that it increases employee’s morale and reduce number of high turnovers. Problem Statement The problem that Creative Images faces employee’s compensation and benefits package which it makes the company is not competitive and enjoyable work place. According to Human Resource’s firm wide hiring analysis, they have been showing increases of job turnovers in the past 2-3 years. During their exit interview, number of employee reported complains of their stressful working hours and have not been compensated for their amount of work that they provided in after working hours. After working excessive hours, their team or department did not recognized their showmanship for delivering high quality work and company did not award them or no creases in bonuses either. Since Creative Images are known for proving highest quality of work to their customers, in seldom, several other design studios who’s competition to Creative Images are trying to offer a job to elite and talented individuals from Creative Images to get the best people of for them. It’s causing the huge headache to the firm since many of them who left company are key employees who bring revenue to the company. To avoid any high turnovers, we need to provide very competitive salaries, incentives as well as reward programs to keep the Creative Images employees and bring higher standards and morale.

Developmentally Appropriate Environment

For many years, teachers, parents and child care providers saw how young children learn through play. Studies of child development play, reading, and writing show that young children learn differently from adults. Young children must be active while they learn. They must experience first hand and in very real ways how things work, how spoken words can be written, and how reading helps them function in the world. Structured learning activities such as paper and pencil tasks, workbook pages, drill, and sitting and listening for long periods of time do not work for young children. The National Association for the Education of Young Children represents the early childhood profession. Their book on developmentally appropriate practice and accreditation criteria define quality programs for young children. Developmentally appropriate environments help children develop in all areas—physical, social, creative, emotional, and cognitive. No one area of development is more important than another in the early years of a child’s life. It is often not possible to separate children’s development in one area from another. For example, as a child masters a physical skill such as climbing, self-esteem grows. The new physical skill makes it possible for the child to learn more about the world and to interact with friends. Children use problem solving to learn and perfect each new mental, social or physical skill. This integrated approach to learning is one of the hallmarks of a developmentally appropriate program. Parents want a warm and loving person to care for their children. Research supports the importance of this relationship. Staff characteristics are the most important criteria for determining quality care. A trained provider will interact well with children because of her knowledge and expectations of behavior for that age group. A developmentally appropriate provider knows and works with each child as an individual. Individual children have their own interests that motivate their learning and good behavior. Developmentally appropriate programs value individual interests as strengths that help children learn In appropriate settings, teachers arrange learning centers in which small groups of children can work and play. These centers may be for different types of play: quiet, messy, and active. Most programs have an area for block building, art, water play, playing house, music, books, table toys, and games. For school-aged children, there is an area for doing homework or projects. What most adults remember from their own public school experiences will not be in a quality early childhood program. There are no individual desks where each child sits to listen to the teacher and do work. There is no large space where everyone has to do the same thing at the same time. Children can choose to be with a friend or alone. This increases success in getting along with others. They do not need to compete for materials or attention. It is easier to take turns. They learn to listen to others, express themselves, and eventually understand another person’s viewpoint.. The curriculum is everything that goes on throughout the day. Chances for learning occur during play and routines like snack, lunch and rest times. Children learn good health practices, positive social interactions, independence in self-care and decision making, as well as science, mathematics, music, art, language, and social studies. The caregiver plans learning activities after seeing the children’s interests and abilities. Children learn the same thing in a variety of activities. They learn a variety of things in one activity. For instance, learning colors can take place in art, through songs and stories, through table games, cooking activities, and in costumes for play. There is no need to have children sit down and teach them the color red all at one time. There are many opportunities throughout the day for children to learn about colors as they actively work with materials. The children who already know about colors are not bored. They attend to other things like shape. Trained child care teachers know that children grow according to predictable developmental patterns. They match activities to the children’s age and stage. For instance, children younger than three will have difficulty sharing. To reduce the conflicts over toys, a teacher provides more than one of each toy. The teachers model sharing as they work together. When a child does share, the teachers consistently compliment and encourage the child’s sharing. In an inappropriate program, the adults would impose sharing before children are developmentally ready to share, then they punish children for not sharing. This results in frustration, behavior problems and unhappiness for children, parents and staff. Look for activities planned for an individual child. For example, you told the teachers that your family goes camping on weekends. The teacher puts out a tent, sleeping bags and picnic supplies for the children to use in play. A caregiver will provide musical instruments and recorded music for a child who shows an interest in music. After a child has been in the hospital, the teacher puts books and objects related to hospitals in the classroom for the children to use. The child can tell others about the experience and play through fears and concerns. Individual children and their families feel valued when these activities relate to their interests and cultural backgrounds. A trained provider will not rush children to be ready for the next stage of development. Living this year fully is more important than getting an early start on next year’s curriculum. Children with diverse interests and learning styles do not experience boredom and frustration when the program offers creative activities and challenges so children can learn at their own pace.

Religion and Beliefs in Myanmar Essay

Burma is a predominantly Theravada Buddhist country. An appreciation of Buddhism and its history in Myanmar is a prerequisite for outsiders wishing to better understand the Burmese mind. There are no totally reliable demographic statistics from Burma, but the following is an estimate of the religious composition of the country: Buddhists: 89% Animists: 1% Christians: 4% Muslims: 4% Hindus: 2% Most Myanmar are Buddhist of the Theravada stream. Central to their religious beliefs is karma, the concept that good begets good and evil begets evils. The ultimate aim in life according to Buddhist belief is to escape the cycle of rebirth and reach Nirvana. Meritorious deeds that will help a person to achieve Nirvana include giving donations (especially to monks) and abiding by the Five Precepts and practicing Bavana (meditation). Some Myanmar people, especially those from the rural areas, have many superstitions. Astrology, palmistry and clairvoyance are sometimes relied upon to make important decisions. These may include marriage, going into a business partnership, naming a baby, and others. To offset bad luck, certain meritorious deeds or yadaya may be performed such as setting free some live birds or animals, building a footbridge, or mending a road. Religion and Beliefs in MyanmarBurma is a predominantly Theravada Buddhist country. An appreciation of Buddhism and its history i n Myanmar is a prerequisite for outsiders wishing to better understand the Burmese mind. There are no totally reliable demographic statistics from Burma, but the following is an estimate of the religious composition of the country:Buddhists: 89%Animists: 1%Christians: 4%Muslims: 4%Hindus: 2%Most Myanmar are Buddhist of the Theravada stream. Central to their religious beliefs is karma, the concept that good begets good and evil begets evils. The ultimate aim in life according to Buddhist belief is to escape the cycle of rebirth and reach Nirvana. Meritorious deeds that will help a person to achieve Nirvana include giving donations (especially to monks) and abiding by the Five Precepts and practicing Bavana (meditation).Some Myanmar people, especially  those from the rural areas, have many superstitions. Astrology, palmistry and clairvoyance are sometimes relied upon to make important decisions. These may include marriage, going into a business partnership, naming a baby, and others. To offset bad luck, certain meritorious deeds or yadaya may be performed such as setting free some live birds or animals, building a footbridge, or mending a road. http://asia.isp.msu.edu/wbwoa/southeast_asia/burma/history.htm http://asia.isp.msu.edu/wbwoa/southeast_asia/burma/history.htm