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How to Teach Speaking Skill to The Older Learners

Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in various contexts” (Chaney: 1998). Speaking with young learners is like playing with words and sounds. It is important for the development of young learners in their overall language-learning process. So, teaching speaking skills to young learners is one of the most crucial areas to teach a target language.

Group to be discussed and their characteristics:

The main concern of this paper is how to teach speaking skills to older learners under young learners whose age is above 7. According to Jean Piaget (1896-1980), the famous child psychologist, this group is in the concrete operational stage and in the formal operational stage. To him, this is the turning point in the cognitive development of a child. The common characteristics of this group are showing interest in analytical approaches and starting to think beyond the context which means abstract terms. They also showed interest in the world around them and gradually started to know about real-life issues.

Concerns and difficulties to teach speaking skills to older learners:

As a teacher, it is important to know about the learner's background knowledge, interests, their needs to develop their speaking skill in the target language before giving any task to them. At this level, learners have to learn how to manage a simple conversation in front of any person or a group. To handle simple conversations, what are the necessary steps the learner should follow, the teacher should teach them.

However, teachers frequently come up with some difficulties in teaching speaking skills because many elements are interconnected to speak fluently like vocabulary, pronunciation, structures, functions, and so on. To make teaching speaking easier to older learners, teachers can first teach them some phrases which are useful in the classroom like, sorry I did not get it, it is your turn, etc. to make them prepared for difficult tasks.

As older learners can apply and control language better than younger group teachers can give them some less controlled activities. Like, as storytelling, information gathering, role play, etc. But the teacher should be concerned that the activities must have a purpose, and meaning as well as not be so difficult and must create fun. So, the learner gets a challenge to complete the task which is motivating and not boring. 

Moreover, the teacher should be concerned about the talking time of the learners. He or she has to be aware of increasing the talking time of the learners by giving them any task or asking them any question where learners have to talk much. For example, ask to describe that object or animal not ask what is? If needed, help the learner to describe by giving hints or vocabulary lists. Teachers also may correct the mistakes of the learners but not often, because, in that case, the learners can lose their confidence level and their speaking flow will be broken down. So, when learners cannot go forward with their learning process, teachers can help them as better capable persons to make their progress in performance. This concept is known as ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which was promoted by Russian Psychologist, Lev Vygotsky. He argues that working within the ZPD is a fertile ground for learning (Learning and Development). So, to teach speaking skills to older learners, teachers can use ZPD in various ways. It is also possible for strong peers to make a discussion environment.

Preferable activities:

1. Storytelling activity

The teacher will provide some papers to the learners individually and each of the papers will contain some pictures step by step which generate a short story. Then ask the learners to construct the story by using their learned knowledge of the target language and tell the others in the class the story one by one. If anyone in the class will not understand what the others said

; He or she can ask questions to clarify. 

In this clarification part, teachers may help the learners to give proper clarification if they will face any problem to clarify the matter for a proper vocabulary or grammatical structures.

By doing this task learners can express their ideas and thoughts by maintaining the format of beginning, development, and ending including the characters and setting of the story. It will also help them to develop their speaking quality and confidence level.

2. Role play activity

The teacher will divide the learners into groups of two or three persons and give each group one small piece of paper where a real-life situation that is very familiar to them like, the student with a librarian, or customer with a shopkeeper, or a waiter with a customer in a restaurant, or two strangers in public transport, etc. will be given according to the number of group members and tell the learners to discuss the situation among their partners and also decide their roles based on that situation for 10-15 minutes. Here, the teacher may give some useful vocabulary based on the situations in the paper but keep in mind the learner's age.

After the discussion period, the teacher will call one after one group in front of the class to act out the situation by playing their roles and ask them to listen and watch carefully while the other groups perform because after this session all the groups will have to give comments on the other group's performance.

By doing this task the learners can use some functional language of real-life context and get fun acting the role of their familiar person.

Conclusion

Speaking is a productive skill where the speaker has to think and speak simultaneously. To teach this skill to older learners, teachers have to diagnose the learner’s schemata about the target language as well as bear in mind that they always have to try to make an optimistic learning environment where learners feel secure to talk and get enough encouragement to gradually develop themselves.

“Shakespeare and the Social Influences in His Plays”

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet. Four centuries after his death, we are still using Shakespeare's phrases in our everyday speech. These phrases Shakespeare invented are a testament that the Bard has had a huge influence on the English language. Hamlet tops the list simply because it is so perfectly written and sets a new standard for English literature – a standard that writers of today still try to meet! The character Hamlet is one of the most psychologically complex characters ever penned – even by today’s standards. But what makes this so remarkable is the fact that Shakespeare constructed this character centuries before the concept of psychology had emerged – at the time of writing, Shakespeare’s contemporaries were writing two-dimensional characters. Shakespeare’s plays altered the course of English drama and the films, plays and TV programs of today still use many of the Bard’s conventions. But the masterpieces of Shakespeare are always unique and remarkable as context. Social influences on Shakespeare and his writings are visible to the readers and audiences. The list of plays is easy to find out though but the information is not exact and authentic sometimes.

 

                          “Shakespeare; Human Relations and Social Complexity"

 

William Shakespeare (April 1564- April 23, 1616) has become the most prominent and influential author in English Literature. It’s very easy to think of Shakespeare as a one-off genius with a unique perspective on the world around him. There were very much cultural shifts occurring in Elizabethan England during his lifetime. He was working in the theatre at the height of the Renaissance movement, something that is reflected in Shakespeare’s plays. The Renaissance movement is used to describe how Europeans moved away from the restrictive ideas of the middle ages. The focus on humanity created a new-found freedom for artists, writers, and philosophers to be inquisitive about the world around them. In fact, Shakespeare himself has been Catholic. Shakespeare was born during the Renaissance period and was one of the first to bring the Renaissance’s core values to the theatre.

 

• Shakespeare updated the simplistic, two-dimensional writing style of pre-renaissance drama. He focused on creating “human” characters with psychological complexity. Hamlet is perhaps the most famous example of this.
• The upheaval in the accepted social hierarchy allowed Shakespeare to explore the humanity of every character regardless of their social position. Even monarchs are given human emotions and are capable of making mistakes.
• Shakespeare utilized his knowledge of Greek and Roman classics when writing his plays. Before the Renaissance, these texts had been suppressed by the Catholic Church.

His plays are often categorized as historical, tragedies or comedies. But most of the time reader will find out the similarity of our social complexity in his writings. Readers will find the politics, romance, essence of love, muscular feud, gigantic death, and so many things. Intellectuals say that he has established his own brand. Shakespeare’s words have an uncanny ability to reach out beyond their original place and time and to speak directly to us. In his writings, readers will discover quotes and quotas. Those quotes have a sharpness to hit on human’s mind to change their point of view about life. The lines of Shakespeare undoubtedly throw a light on his stories and characters. He has also expressed how the human brain and mind fight to take any decision through his writing patterns. He has tried to dramatize the sufferings of a human when he faces the debate between mind and brain.

 

The general consensus is that Shakespeare wrote thirty-seven plays. If we include The Two Noble Kinsmen (1634) and two lost plays attributed to Shakespeare, Cardenio (1653) and Love's Labour's Won (mid-1590), then we could say he wrote, either alone or in collaboration, forty plays. Shakespeare's Sonnets is the title of a collection of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare, which covers themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty, and mortality.

Putting Shakespeare in context, examining the relevance of his work to the controversies of his day, and developing conceptions of history that connect Shakespeare's time and our own, offer to rescue Shakespeare from an abstract "greatness" and make his works meaningful to students and their lives, societies in today's world.

Shakespeare’s plays reflect the cultural, social, political, philosophical, and psychological conditions of the Elizabethan age. In Shakespeare’s play, the social influences and concerns are very close. The social issues of Shakespeare’s day which feature in the plays- class division, racism, sexuality, intolerance, the role and status of women, crime, war, death, disease- are still the burning issues in today’s dysfunctional global society.

Furthermore, the themes of Shakespeare’s writings are Ambition, Appearance & Reality, Betrayal, Conflict, Corruption, Deception, Good & Evil, Hatred, Order & Disorder, Revenge, Suffering, and Transformation.

 

Play & Themes: 

Romeo and Juliet- 1597

Youth violence, love across ethnic divisions, sexuality & censorship, parent/child relations, teenage suicide

Macbeth-1623

Code of manhood, stereotypes of women, witchcraft and women, the relation of humans and environment, authority/rebellion

Hamlet-1603

Role of women, family power dynamics, teenage suicide, social class

Taming of the Shrew-1900

Role of women, male/female relationships, Renaissance Education

The Tempest-1623

Colonialism, racism, gender relations

Othello-1604

Racism, spousal abuse, gender relations, social class issues

Merchant of Venice-1710

Anti-Semitism, gender relations, social class

Midsummer

Night's Dream-1600

Social class, gender roles, and relations

King Lear-1608

Masters and servants, patriarchy, religion

 

William Shakespeare is a rich and suggestive author in terms of alerting students to issues in women's studies and gender ideology. Although Shakespeare reflects and at times supports the English Renaissance stereotypes of women and men and their various roles and responsibilities in society, he is also a writer who questions, challenges and modifies those representations. His stories, as we all know, are used in secondary and college classrooms even today and, thus, afford opportunities not only to understand Renaissance culture better but also to confront our own contemporary generalizations about gender, especially what it means to be female. In his own time, Shakespeare seems to have been raising questions about the standard images of males and females, about what the characteristics of each gender are, what is defined as masculine and feminine, about how each gender possesses both masculine and feminine qualities and behaviors, about the nature and power of hegemonic patriarchy, and about the roles women and men should play in acting out the stories of their lives. Since feminist criticism today focuses on many of these same issues, we can bring such critical inquiry into the classroom by asking straightforward questions of and about Shakespeare's stories.

 

The drama – Hamlet is one of the most great tragedy plays by William Shakespeare. It is Shakespeare’s most famous play but also one of the most influential and significant works in all of Western literature. The theme of this drama covers indecision, revenge, retribution, ambition, loyalty, and fate. It was first published in 1600.

There are several aspects of Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, which reflect the social conflicts and mores of that era. Two come easily to mind: the first strong social conflict that relates to Elizabethan values deals with committing regicide—the killing of a king.

Killing a king is a weighty matter, and many modern critics have argued that, in his particular circumstances, Hamlet is wise to defer action.

While people of Shakespeare's time would have debated the righteous act of Hamlet killing Claudius, the King, another issue present would be whether it was ever justifiable to kill a king if he was evil and dishonorable, like Claudius, or Macbeth in Shakespeare's play by the same name. The presence of the supernatural, the witches especially, would have represented a common value that things and people in the service of the devil should be brought to God, and/or killed. The conflict over regicide and the supernatural was part of the social fiber of the time.

 

Themes within William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Hamlet are central to understanding Hamlet as a revenge tragedy and identifying Shakespeare's social and political commentary.

Mortality:  The weight of one's mortality and the complexities of life and death are introduced at the beginning of Hamlet. In the wake of his father's death, Hamlet can't stop pondering and considering the meaning of life — and its eventual ending.

Madness: Hamlet originally acts mad (crazy, not angry) to fool people into thinking he is harmless while proving his father's death and Claudius's involvement.

Women: The presence of only two named female characters says something about the role of women within Hamlet. The death of both women also indicates a social commentary.

Political Livelihood: The state of the nation in Denmark is deteriorating. The death of a king throws any nation into political turmoil. With a new king on the throne and the deceased king's son acting erratically, something's clearly off.

 

If we think something like the events Hamlet dramatizes could never happen to us (wherein the ghost of one’s murdered father demands vengeance)—well, okay, we are probably correct about that in the particulars. But we are often called upon not to care when certain lives are rendered disposable, and there are plenty of instances in our digital world where what initially seems like straightforward retaliation gets out of hand.

For example, ‘Haider’ is a 2014 Indian movie directed by Vishal Bharadwaj which is adapted from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Vishal Bharadwaj transmutes Hamlet into Haider with an unbilled fearlessness. In ‘Haider’ besides Hamlet, the other truly tragic hero is this cinematic marvel ‘Kashmir’.

The plot outline of ‘Haider’ is similar to Hamlet but not the same.

Almost all corresponding characters’ names start with the same letter.

Like Hamlet in ‘Haider’, Ghazala Gertrude has wielded power both as a lover and a mother.

Haider broods like Hamlet feels cheated feels betrayed.

 Khurram plays Claudius with such grayness such stunning complexity that actually cannot sympathize with Haider’s choice of violence. He manages to become truly Shakespeares.

A puppet show or drama played by Haider like Hamlet which is exposing the truth about Khurram.

Both play and the movie leave the end open for the audience’s interpretation. 

The movie is set in a different era.

‘Haider’ is just not an intriguing film on love and revenge but may offer much more of the Kashmir Valley.

A certain character is missing in the movie especially Horiatis- a good friend of Hamlet.

The revenge system is quite different than what we see in the movie. Hence climax is different.

Hamlet sees a ghost who told Hamlet about his father’s death but here this role has played by Rhuddhar who was the prisoner mate of Haider’s father.

In the movie, Ghazala didn’t know about her husband’s death. She thought her husband was alive but in Hamlet, Gertrude knows about her husband’s death.

Hamlet is a Shakespeare’s tragedy where a very major character dies unlike a movie like ‘Haider’ and his father’s murderer is alive at the end of the movie.

 

This adapted movie ‘Haider’ is the perfect resemblance of masterpiece Hamlet. Through this movie, we can connect with Shakespeare’s play Hamlet and the Elizabethan age and conditions like social conflicts, political feuds, death, religion, social class, revenge, pride, politics, and social isolation. And talking of films, this modern medium has given Shakespeare’s plays a new lease of life and introduced them to a much wider audience than would ever contemplate going to the theatre.

‘Haider’ is a remark in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I think director Vishal Bharadwaj successfully transmutes Hamlet into Haider. Besides this movie has shown the condition of Kashmir and there people. The movie has also shown the brutality of the Indian army against the Kashmir people. Kashmir is just like a prison and the people of that area are prisoners if they want to take a breath they need permission.

The movie ‘Haider’ is a little bit long but the choreographing, plot, and casting of this movie are very praiseworthy. It is difficult to compare and contrast line by line Haider with Hamlet. The movie tries to keep the theme of Hamlet in Haider. Here is also some Bollywoodish touch like- Salman’s character. The noticeable point of this movie is that the puppet show and Bismill Song through Haider tried to expose the truth and set to a thrilling folk rhythm and Kashmir traditional instrument. Even each and every actor and actress has played their role very well. All are gives their best in their role. Shahid Kapoor as Hamlet and Shraddha Kapoor as Ophelia’s sparkling chemistry and Tabu as Gertrude’s eye-catching presence is really praise worthy. The director didn’t bring so many changes in the movie except for the last climax scene where the audience gets a surprise.

Actually, Shakespeare knew how to write to please audiences of all classes; he was successful enough to gain royal patronage and to attract the enmity of rival playwrights and poets. He also had the magical ability to write the most amazing plays to entertain his contemporaries. Those plays are still entertaining people, whether in authentic historical performances or modern interpretations on the stage or in countless films and TV adaptations throughout the world.

 

Shakespeare was writing for the mass audience and his plays were incredibly popular in his own lifetime ... popular enough to enable him to perform to Queen Elizabeth I and to retire a wealthy gentleman. Shakespeare’s writing lives on in today’s language, culture, and literary traditions because his influence (especially the influence of the Renaissance) became an essential building block in the development of the English language. His writing is so deeply ingrained that it is impossible to imagine modern literature without his influence and idea of social conventions.

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

2. https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-shakespeares-plays-reflect-cultural-social-204057 ( October 4, 2010 at 11:58 PM )

3. http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/plays.php

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All texts are public domain.

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4.  http://www.folger.edu/shakespeares-works

 

 

 

Protests at EWU

This paper is about protests at EWU which have thrust private university students’ into limelight. This paper focuses on the causes, effects, results and benefits of protest. Protest is the strong disapproval, disagreement or opposition of autocratic behavior. The main focus is on students’ activities during the protests. The unity of students, power of youth, demanding the rights are the spirit of those protests. However, public reaction changed towards private university and it was the main factor. Private university students were claimed timid by the people but this term paper will show how much courageous they are. For example, I have included some incidents and interview. EWU students’ unity was broken by the strictness of authority but in the 2nd protest students proved wrong everyone, and clarified that unity has a power to change the wrongdoing. Private university students’ have the potentiality in their own way and they can raise the voice against wrongdoing in the proper time. The benefits of the protests seem very vigorously and enormously. Authority should be more careful and reliable. Government and law enforcement ought to be more honest and dutiful. Students are sophisticated and they should be handled in a sophisticated way. If the entire community comes forward and works together, then students’ rights can be preserved. For the purposes of my term paper, I proposed to analyze the information about the situations and conditions of EWU at those time and how much effective these protests were for young generations.    

‘A strong complaint expressing disagreement, disapproval, or opposition’ is the meaning of ‘Protest’. It may occur in many different ways. East West University is the renowned private institution of Bangladesh. Like other universities EWU also has the glorious and significant past events as well as protest. Three most unique protests are the example of student awareness of student rights, youth power and student unity. 

23rd May in 2014 was the remarkable day for EWU. At first glance, students raised their voice against authority on demand of air conditioner, lift, auditorium and other facilities. University should provide the service properly whereas students are paying immense tuition fees with other activities fee. EWU is a non-profit organization whether authority failed to maintain their responsibilities of trustees of charitable organization. In the very beginning, there was no lift service at new campus of EWU. Air condition did not work properly at summer season and students became sick due to intolerable high temperature. There were several problems like lack of auditorium, indoor playground and proper ventilation but authority did not take any initiative before the protest. Students became united during the protest period and university remained closed for 10days.

This protest was the start of a new era for private universities. EWU students opened a face book event and became united. Students showed up as missile likewise warriors. The unafraid students emerged the protest peacefully without any violence. Without having any political alliance and without any political interference students formed their unity. As a non-political group EWU students appeared with youth power and fought for their rights. 

As a result, general students got their equipments but authority rusticated three students among all. It was a despotic intention and waywardness of authority. So, everyone’s consolations were with them (3boys) though some students were afraid of authority’s strictness. The Bengali newspaper ‘Bangladesh Protidin’ and other online papers published this news on their daily news portal. Normal students’ condolences were with those three boys. Even still now we remember them after being detached. For instance, two weeks ago an old friend of mine said to me that do not ask anything about it. I do not want to say any word because my favorite three brothers got punishment for a fault which they did not commit even. She also mentioned that authority was too harsh and cruel to them. 

Efficiently, one of the three dismissed boys filed a case against EWU and won the case because they were in correct position whether authorities’ allegations were willful. In the meanwhile, three expelled students were the ideal role model of heroic, lionhearted and courageous souls. 

After Finance Minister’s proposed budget of 2015-2016, EWU students raised their voice against 10% vat on education. It was a crucial protest not only for EWU students’ but also for all over private universities students’. EWU students’ initiative was breathtaking. First day of protest against imposed vat, students of EWU staged demonstration on 9th September, 2015 by blocking the entry to Aftab Nagar at Rampura. On information, police rushed in and tried to disperse the EWU students. Students chanted slogans blocking the road in favor of their demand. Police charged baton and opened fire on the students. At least 23 students and 1 deputy registrar were injured and were taken to local hospital. This news got viral on social media and students of several private universities had expressed solidarity with the movement. It was an outburst of a series of events because it was a matter of principles.  

People no longer seemed able to come together to stand for what they believed to be right but the ‘’no Vat on education’ movement brought out by thousands of private university students which had stirred the whole nation. EWU led this national protest very calmly without any fury. The significance of this mass protest lied in its enormity, its reach, its impact. The significance of this mass protest lied in its enormity, its reach, its impact, on how students carried out their protest peacefully. They chanted slogan, carried placard and signed petition to the Prime Minister. They showed up without any violence or brutality. They gave flowers to the police officers. I was a witness and I closely observed that general people were happy with the matter of protesting; even an aunty gave five hundreds taka in front of me to buy water for students. There was several example of devotion like this one. As a witness of this protest, I can say that that challenging protest proclaimed the power of youth, citizens’ awareness and unity.  

‘Education is the great equalizer’ and government obliged to provide the basic needs. Government failed to fulfill the citizens’ right of basic needs and welfares. Government should be more careful. A non-political outrage or turmoil turned into peaceable outcry. EWU students led the protest to secure the students’ rights and dignity in a full disciplinary way. Justice had been served and the glory of joy was not only for EWU, but also for all people.

Convocation is not only a large formal assembly of people but also the sentimental issue for graduates and their parents. Parents are always very emotional for their children and they have always a daydream to attend their kids’ convocation. However, the authority of EWU tried to demolish the wish of these parents. In the recent 17th convocation, they instructed ‘not to bring anyone’ by a notice at 15th January of 2017. The 9th condition of EWU’s convocation notice was “you are requested not to bring anyone with you at the convocation ceremony. You are advised to follow the above instruction to avoid any embarrassment.” EWU students roared against that condition because it was not about money or anything else. The point was the ‘disgrace’ authority had shown towards the parents and their stimulus. Students gathered at the ground and appealed to the authority to permission for bringing parents. Authority considered the sophisticated issue and gave permission to bring only one parent at least. Students become satisfied and agreed with the decision. 

Moreover, another joyful victory came and it established that without being member of any political party or without having any political alignment, how to aim or how much easy to get the achievement. 

Undoubtedly, we can say that EWU students are the real life legends who helped to combine the people from the isolation. Not only students but also overall people came out from their isolated attitudes. Nowadays, if normal people or citizens of our nation face any problem or turmoil, they upraise their voice against it. For example, recent issues like ‘say no to Rampal power plant’, ‘protest against assault on NSU student in Bashundhara’, ‘suspension of four BCL intern doctors’ and so on. People are becoming aware of their rights and raising their voice with denial. Maybe, they understand that protest is the best way to demand or deny anything. Even private university students were outrageous and called ‘Broiler Chicken’ by public university students and general people. After the consequences of these protests, the viewpoint has totally changed. To some extents, the distinction between public and private university has removed from the society. Unexpectedly, general people supported the peaceful way of protest, how EWU students had performed at it. 

Finally, EWU students proved that it is our responsibility to secure our rights, and freedom of speech is too much essential. Protests at EWU are the great example of renewal the standard of redemption for youth generation from arbitrariness of autocratic or anti-democratic society. 

                                                       ________O_________

Bibliography:

Google

East West University

ইস্ট ওয়েস্টে ৩ ছাত্র বহিষ্কার!

2015 Bangladesh student protests

Bangladesh students protest education tax

Advertising Ethics (Professional Writing)

 

Advertisement

According to Philip Kotler, “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation & promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.” In simple words, “Advertising is a means of informing and communicating essential information.”

Frank Presbrey said, “Advertising is a printed, written, oral, and illustrated art of selling.”

 

The field of advertising is extremely broad and diverse. In general terms, of course, an advertisement is simply a public notice meant to convey information and invite patronage or some other response. Advertising has two basic purposes: to inform and to persuade, and while these purposes are distinguishable — both very often are simultaneously present.

Advertising is not the same as marketing (the complex commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producers and consumers) or public relations (the systematic effort to create a favorable public impression or ‘image’ of some person, group, or entity). In many cases, it is a technique or instrument employed by one or both of these. Advertising can be straightforward — a local, even neighborhood phenomenon, or it can be very complex, involving sophisticated research and multimedia campaigns that span the globe. It differs according to its intended audience. Not only are many different media and techniques employed in advertising; but also advertising itself is of several different kinds: commercial advertising for products and services; public service advertising on behalf of various institutions, programs, and causes; political advertising in the interests of parties and candidates.

 

Advertising Ethics

With the growth in technology, new ways of reaching consumers have emerged, and it is essential for advertisers to maintain high levels of honesty and ethics. Thus, advertising ethics means a set of specific principles that regulate the methods of communication between the buyer and the seller. In addition, advertising ethics covers ethical concerns about the advertising message, the consumers targeted by the advert, advertising of controversial products and services, and the effects of advertising on social values.

 

Ethics is an essential aspect of the advertising industry. Even though there are numerous benefits of advertising, there are some advertising points that do not match the ethical standards of advertising. Therefore, ethical ads are the ones that do not lie, are within the limits of decency, and do not make false or fake claims.

Today, many ads are over-exaggerated, and many advertisers usually puff their adverts. This makes the advertisers seem like they lack an understanding of ethical principles and norms. Most advertisers do not understand or are unable to determine what is correct or wrong.

Their primary interest is to increase their sales, attract more customers and increase their product’s demand through well-decorated, colorful, and puffed adverts. Many advertisers like to present their product as the best and unique on the market or cheaper and more beneficial than the competitor’s product. However, many of these ads have been proven false and deceptive to customers, thus making them unethical.

 

The Principles of Advertising Ethics

The following are the principles that govern advertising ethics, according to the Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE):

v  The advertising industry should maintain high ethical standards and share the objective of truth when serving the public.

v  High personal ethics should be used when creating and disseminating information to people.

v  The advertising industry should clearly differentiate editorial and news content from paid ads to avoid confusing the public.

v  All ads should clearly reveal if the researcher has received any payment from the brand.

v  Advertisers should use discretion and care depending on the types of advertisements offered and the target audience.

v  Advertisers should safeguard customers’ discretion in marketing communications, and be straightforward with customers about gathering information.

v  Advertisers should comply with the advertising industry guidelines as well as follow the local, federal, and state laws governing advertisement. 

v  Advertisers should hold private discussions about ethical concerns, and all participating members should freely express their ideas.

 

Importance of Ethics in Advertising

Ethics in advertising is important because by acting ethically with their advertising, a company is being responsible towards the needs of the customer. Ethical advertising evens the playing field for the consumer by giving them the information they need to make an informed decision on what products to buy and how these products will enhance their lives--whether they need the product or they just want that product.

Companies need to show they have morals when advertising to consumers because that makes consumers feel like the company cares about what they need. Companies must provide their customers with fair knowledge of what they are trying to achieve with their company mission and vision. By sharing this vision, they are helping people to understand the thought process behind their decision-making and how the company feels their products or services will be of benefit to people without using false advertising to entice people into buying the product. Honesty is important for customers in order to create trust between a brand and a consumer, so maintaining ethics in advertising efforts will help to make the relationship stronger. By doing the right thing, brands can act in a responsible manner towards the community and the customers they are working for.

 

Language Learning Strategies, Compensation Strategies Used by Learners, and How It Matters

 

There is an old Chinese proverb- “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime”. This proverb interprets a meaning to the language learning and teaching arena. If students do not solve their problems and they are provided with the answers, the immediate problem might be solved. But if they are taught the strategies to solve their problems for themselves that can facilitate them more and they will be empowered to manage their own learning.   

There are many factors which influence our language acquisition and skill development. The elements which affect our language learning abilities are motivation, intelligence, methods, techniques, and appropriate language strategies. Language learning strategies are the main factors that indicate how and how well- the students learn a second or foreign language independently or autonomously.

One of the earliest researchers, Rubin (1975, p.43) provided a definition of learning strategies as, “the techniques or devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge”.

Rigney (1978, p.23) defined it as, “operations or steps used by a learner that will facilitate the acquisition, storage, retrieval or use of information”.

Learning strategies are defined as “specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques – such as seeking out conversation partners, or giving oneself encouragement to tackle a difficult language task – used by students to enhance their own learning” (Scarcella & Oxford, 1922, p.63).

Language learning strategies are “specific actions taken by the learners to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-direct, more effective and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford, 1990, p.8).

The study habits and learning expectations may become obstacles to learning a language. In fact, it is important to know that how the students apply different language strategies in solving linguistic problems. A strategic learner gradually becomes more confident. Brown (1994:96) considers “strategies investment, the learner’s own personal commitment of time, effort, and attention” which related to student achievement and proficiency. Though good language learners consistently use certain types of learning strategies, but skilled teachers should help their students develop an awareness of learning strategies and provide some instructions to students learn how to use more relevant and powerful learning strategies. 

Now the questions can be asked like what makes a strategy positive and helpful for a learner, and how they (teachers and students both) can identify which one is good and which one is bad for a learner? A strategy is useful when some facts are present- if the strategy relates well to the L2 task, if the strategy fits the particular student’s learning style preferences, if the students can employ the strategy effectively, and as well as, link it with other relevant strategies. Learning strategies can also enable students to become more independent, autonomous, and lifelong learners (Allwright, 1990; Little, 1991). 

There are two major classes of strategies- direct strategies and indirect strategies, which are subdivided into three groups. On the authority of Oxford (1990; p.17), strategies system includes: 

 

Direct Strategies -  

                                I.            Cognitive Strategies - practicing, receiving and sending messages, analyzing and reasoning, creating the structure for input and output.         

                             II.            Memory Strategies – creating mental linkage, applying images and sounds, reviewing well, employing action.

                          III.            Compensation Strategies – guessing intelligently, overcoming limitations in speaking and writing.

 

         Indirect Strategies:

                                      I.            Metacognitive Strategies – centering your learning, arranging and planning your learning, evaluating your learning.

                                   II.            Affective Strategies – lowering your anxiety, encouraging yourself, taking your emotional temperature.

                                III.            Social Strategies – empathizing with others.     

 

Compensation strategies refer to strategies that learners use to solve a linguistic problem using their available linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge. Oxford (1990; p.47) defines compensation strategies as, “Enable learners to use the new language for either comprehension or production despite limitations in Knowledge. Compensation strategies are intended to make up for an inadequate repertoire of grammar and, especially, of vocabulary”.

It is really difficult to compensate when the learner does not know the exact word or the meaning of it. Oxford (1990) deals with the difficulty of whether a compensation strategy like looking for synonyms when the exact word is unknown is a learning strategy or a communication strategy. The compensation strategies are used to overcome knowledge gaps and to continue production in an L2.

Moreover, Oxford (1990: p.49) offers 10 compensation strategies for us – guessing by linguistic clues, guessing by other clues, switching to the mother language, getting help, using mime or gesture, avoiding communication partially or totally, selecting the topic, adjusting or approximating the message, coining words, and using circumlocution or synonymy. It helps all levels of learners who do not know the exact expression, who fail to hear something clearly and who are faced with the situation where they are not clear about the meaning of the vocabulary. Generally, guessing is useful for listening and reading. It also helps the students to think about their knowledge and to overcome the limitation of the four language skills.

The students often avoid communication and give up or turn out two ‘strategies’ or ‘reactions’ that are not very effective for learning or maintaining communication. Teaching students positive strategies to communication on idea with limited vocabulary and grammar will improve test scores, increase conversation practice, and help students become more confident and competent in terms of communication.

However, Gardner (1985: p.18) suggests that maintaining or increasing the student motivation is one of the challenges that teachers face in improving language learning. Abdesslem (1996: p91) argues that highly motivated students become more wary of classroom that tend to focus on form instead of enabling them to interact in the target language, which means accuracy over fluency. On the other hand, students without high motivation can experience successful interaction in the target language. Thus, teaching students compensation strategies can increase motivation, improve students’ potential for success in learning, and effectively engage in meaningful communication. 

Ultimately, Oxford (1990; p.80) developed her view of compensation strategies within the framework of language learning strategies that aim to teach skills to help students become autonomous learners. As can be seen, compensation strategies are beneficial for communicative competence, the students should be made aware that the use of more than one strategy is preferable.

 

References:

1.      Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learning strategies that every teacher should know. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

2.      Rubin, J. (1987). Learner strategies: Theoretical assumptions, research history and typology. In A. L. Wenden & J. Rubin (Eds.) Learner strategies in language learning (pp. 15-30). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

3.      Windle, S. (2000). From Confusing to Confucian: Towards an Understanding. The English Connection, 4(6), 1, 6-8.

4.      Taghinezhad, A., Azizi, M., Shahmohammadi, S., Kashanifar, F. S., & Azadikhah, M. (2016). Comparing the Effects of Direct and Indirect Learning Strategies on Iranian EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Learning. Comparing the Effects of Direct and Indirect Learning Strategies, 3(1), 133-144.

5.      Abdesslem, H. (1996). Communication Strategies or Discourse Strategies in Foreign Language Performance. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, Sheffield UK. 34(1), 49-62.

6.      Brown, H. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

7.      Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: the role of attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.

8.      Rigney, JW (1978). Learning strategies: A theoretical perspective. In H F O’Neil (Jr) (ed) 165-205.

9.      Allwright, D., 1990: AutonomyinLanguagePedagogy. CRILEWorkingPaper6. Centrefor ResearchinEducation,UniversityofLancaster,U.K.

10.  Abdul, S. M., Sahib. (Mar, 2016). Compensation Strategies Used by EFL Learners in Speaking and Listening Skills. Journal of University of Thi-Qar, 11(1).

11.  LearningStyles&Strategies/Oxford, GALA2003.

12.  K. C. (2015). Direct Language Learning Strategies in the theory by Rebecca Oxford in English vocabulary acquisition at the age group of 11-12 year olds. World Scientific News, 7, 179-206.