Critical thinking | Analysis

Critical thinking | Analysis Critical thinking Nowadays, critical thinking is an interest, important and vital topic in whole modern educations. Modern Education meant that all education tailored to the needs of this age because Modern education is a tool used to learn how to survive in this era. Because of that, all educators are interested to teach their students to think critically. Many academic of departments hope that the teacher, lecturers, professors and instructors will be teaching an information about the strategies of critical thinking skills and identifying areas in persons as a great place to emphasize, to develop, to improve and to use some of the problems in the tests or exams that test their critical thinking skills. The purpose of this paper is to explain the definition, the way to master, the advantages, and all about critical thinking. Manuals of critical thinking and all information have been prepared and provided shortly and clearly so that the reader will have the time and opportunity to read and follow the advice that contained in this paper and help other peoples to achieve the goal of this paper. The explanations will be emphasized in student life. DEFINITION Ennis (in the Costa, 1985) introduced critical thinking as reflective thinking that is focused on making decisions about what is believed or done. Critical thinking actually is the ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective assessments based on well-supported reasons. This is the ability to find defects in the arguments and reject the claim that doesnt have supporting evidence. However, critical thinking isnt just same as negative thinking, it also encourages the ability to be creative and constructive to generate possible explanations for the findings, think about the implications, and apply new knowledge to the variety of social and personal problems. In truth critical thinking cannot completely separate from the creative thinking, because it is only when you question what is that you can begin to imagine what could. (Wade and Tavris, pp.4-5) The best meaning of critical thinking is as the ability of thinkers to take over their own thoughts. The specific purpose of teaching this critical thinking in science or in other discipline is to improve the skills of someones thinking for better prepared to succeed in the world.And then the critical thinker is someone who can use or even master critical thinking. They can think critically and creatively, to distinguish between facts and opinions, ask questions, make detailed observations, uncovering assumptions and define their terms, and make statements based on logic sound and solid evidence. The ideal critical thinker has a sense of great curiosity, Actual, his reason can be trusted, open minded, flexible, balanced in the evaluation, honest in facing personal prejudices, be careful in making decisions, willing to reconsider, the issue of transparency, smart in finding relevant information, reasonable in choosing the criteria, the focus in inquiry, and persistent in seeking discovery. In the form of simple, critical thinking is based on the values of the universal intellectual, namely: clarity, accur acy, precision (precision), consistency, relevance, the facts are reliable, for reasons good, deep, broad, and according to (Scriven and Paul, 2007). CHARACTERISTICS OF CRITICAL THINKER To find the people who have the ability of critical thinking, there are 27 characteristics of critical thinking developed by Ennis (in Costa, 1985), namely: (1) They are looking for a clear question and a question of theory;(2) they are looking for a reason; (3) they are trying to be an Actual; (4) they are using the resources that can be trusted and express; (5) they explain the entire situation; (6) they are trying to stay relevant with the main idea; (7) they are keeping the basic and original idea in the mind;(8) they are looking for an alternative; (9) they are open-minded; (10) they are taking a position (and change the position) when the evidence and possible reasons to do so; (11) they are searching for documents with precision; (12) they agreed in an orderly manner with the parts of the whole complex; (13) they are sensitive to the feelings, knowledge, and intelligence of others; (14) they ask relevant questions; (15) they may admit a lack of understanding or information; (16) they are curious; (17) they are interested in finding new solutions; (18) they can clearly; (19) they define a set of criteria for analyzing ideas; (20) t hey are willing to examine beliefs, assumptions, and opinions and consider them against the facts; (21) they are listening carefully to others and is; (9) they are able to provide feedback; (22) they see that Critical thinking is a lifelong process of self assessment; (23) they suspend judgments until all the facts have been gathered and considered; (24) they find evidence to support assumptions and beliefs; (25) they can adjust opinions when new facts are discovered; (26) they examined the problem closely; (27) they are able to reject information that is untrue or irrelevant.[1] In addition, there are 12 indicators of critical thinking skills that are divided into five major groups below: (1) Provides a simple explanation: a) focus on the question, b) analyze the arguments, c) asking and answering of an explanation or challenge; (2) build basic skills: d) to consider the credibility of the source, e) observed and considered a report of observations; (3)concluded: f) deduce and consider the results of deduction, g) induces and consider the results of induction, h) to make and determine the value of the consideration; (4) further explanation: i) define the term and consider the definition, j) identifying assumptions; (5) setting the strategy and tactics: k) determines the action, l) to interact with others. ASPECTS OF CRITICAL THINKING Critical thinking is a manner that can influence people. That influence is called Aspects of Critical thinking and that aspects are divided by the critical thinking process which has five phases. A full cycle of critical thinking, as described below, usually leads to another triggering event and another journey through the critical thinking process. New assumptions may be challenged, new information gathered and new approaches developed. As they pass through these phases, critical thinkers will engage the four components of critical thinking. At every point they identify and challenge old assumptions, analyze context, look for bias and seek alternatives. These phases lay as follow: Phase 1: Trigger Event. Most people are motivated to start thinking critically by some kind of external event or ideal. This is usually unexpected and causes some kind of inner discomfort or confusion. Trigger events can be both positive and negative. Phase 2: Appraisal. After the triggering event, an uncomfortable period of doubt may follow. This phase can involve an attempt to make light of a concern. Others may keep worrying through this stage, and decide they need to find another approach to dealing with the issue. Phase 3: Exploration. In this phase, people accept that they are moving toward some kind of change or transformation. They ask questions, develop options and make discoveries. They find out about other people who are dealing with similar things. They gather more information. Phase 4: Finding Alternatives. This phase can also be called the transition stage when old ideas are either left behind, or clarified, and new ways of thinking or acting are started. Decisions are made about how far change should go, and how fast. Phase 5: Integration. This phase involves finding ways to fit new ideas and information into everyday lives. In some cases this means making major changes. In other cases, it means confirming the old ideas. STAGES OF CRITICAL THINKER Critical thinking skill also has stages. These stages is a phase that Critical thinker will master the skills. There are 6 stages of Critical thinking laid out are as follows: Stage One: The Unreflective Thinker. Unreflective thinkers most are unaware of the role of determining that the thinking is to play in their lives and the many ways in thinking that the problems that caused the problem in their lives. Unreflective thinkers lack the ability to explicitly assess their thinking and improve it. Stage Two: The Challenged Thinker. Thinkers move to the â€Å"challenged† stage when they become initially aware of the determining role that thinking is playing in their lives, and of the fact that problems in their thinking are causing them serious and significant problems. Stage Three: The Beginning Thinker. Those who move to the beginning thinker stage are actively taking up the challenge to begin to take explicit command of their thinking across multiple domains of their lives. Thinkers at this stage recognize that they have basic problems in their thinking and make initial attempts to better understand how they can take charge of and improve it. Based on this initial understanding, beginning thinkers begin to modify some of their thinking, but have limited insight into deeper levels of the trouble inherent in their thinking. Most importantly, they lack a systematic plan for improving their thinking, they hence their efforts are hit and miss. Stage Four: The Practicing Thinker. Thinkers at this stage have a sense of the habits they need to develop to take charge of their thinking. They are not only recognizing that problems exist in their thinking, but they are also recognizing the need to attack these problems globally and systematically. Based on their sense of the need to practice regularly, they are actively analyzing their thinking in a number of domains. However, since practicing thinkers are only beginning to approach the improvement of their thinking in a systematic way, they still have limited insight into deeper levels of thought, and thus into deeper levels of the problems embedded in thinking. Principal Challenge is to begin to develop awareness of the need for systematic practice in thinking. Stage Five: The Advanced Thinker. Thinkers at this stage have now established good habits of thought which are â€Å"paying off.† Based on these habits, advanced thinkers not only actively analyze their thinking in all the significant domains of their lives, but also have significant insight into problems at deeper levels of thought. While advanced thinkers are able to think well across the important dimensions of their lives, they are not yet able to think at a consistently high level across all of these dimensions. Advanced thinkers have good general command over their egocentric nature. They continually strive to be fair-minded. Of course, they sometimes lapse into egocentrism and reason in a one-sided way. Stage Six: The Master Thinker. Master thinkers not only have systematically taken charge of their thinking, but are also continually monitoring, revising, and re-thinking strategies for continual improvement of their thinking. They have deeply internalized the basic skills of thought, so that critical thinking is, for them, both conscious and highly intuitive. As Piaget would put it, they regularly raise their thinking to the level of conscious realization. Through extensive experience and practice in engaging in self-assessment, master thinkers are not only actively analyzing their thinking in all the significant domains of their lives, but are also continually developing new insights into problems at deeper levels of thought. Master thinkers are deeply committed to fair-minded thinking, and have a high level of, but not perfect, control over their egocentric nature. TYPES OF CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS As explained before, critical thinking is a process of thinking about an idea or ideas in a methodical way and from a variety of angles. One method of thinking critically involves a series of questions to be applied to the idea under consideration. These questions can be broken down into three categories: (1) Questions which help us observe a text; (2) Questions which help us evaluate the text; (3) Questions which help us respond to and use (or apply) the text critically. First skill: Observation skills. Observation skills are the skill of someone to observe the case with given question. The question of observation can be divided into a two subcategories: (1) Those relating to the immediately sated assertion, reasoning, evidence, and conclusion; (2) Those relation to the derived meaning for the reader. Observational questioning includes the personal response of the reader since the reader constructs and in therefore part of the text. Here are some observation-based questions, those which help us identify the assertions, line of reasoning, and systematic explanations: 1. What are the meanings of the special terms in this text? 2. What is the point of the text, namely the authors conclusion (thesis)? 3. What evidence does the author give? 4. What is the actual path of reasoning offered? Second skill: Evaluation Skills. Evaluation Skills is evaluating the stated text in relation to the history of its ideas and imbedded beliefs and looking at contextual elements such as the method of gathering, evidence, the mode of presentation, the assumption behind the logic of the reasoning, and the events which led to the methods, presentational form, and assumptions. In other words, in evaluation questions, we historicize the stated text. Here are some examples of evaluation skill questions: 1. Are the meanings of the special terms ambiguous in any way? How so? 2. Does the evidence make sense? Why or why not? 3. Does evidence match the conclusions? If not, what might explain the mismatch? 4. Does the reasoning lead well from assertion through evidence to conclusion or are there gaps in the sequencing or ambiguity in the language? 5. What other conclusions might be drawn? 6. What other evidence might be brought to bear on the reasoning? 7. What other assertions might have been made? 8. Why might the author have left out evidence which changes the meaning of the text? Third skill: Critical Response and Application skills. To further reveal the mosaic of idea, evidence, and intention, the critical thinker will usually include him/her in some way part of the context, using a third set of questions. The following response/application questions lead to a critical understanding of the readers relationship to a text: 1. What is it about this text that interests me? 2. Did I agree or disagree strongly with the author any time during the course of reading the text? What is the precise language I disagree with? 3. Does the idea under consideration relate in any way to my own life or lives of people I know? How so? 4. Why I am interested in this text? 5. Is there something I might gain or lose by accepting the conclusion of the author? What is the gain or loss? 6. Do the values and beliefs of the author appear to match my own? If not, is this mismatch responsible for my judgment of the idea? The response/application questions, like evaluation questions, are â€Å"why† questions. They dig into the casual factors shaping ideas, evidence, methods, and presentational forms of thought. As such, they are the foundation of thoughtful critique and argumentation. HOW TO BE A GOOD CRITICAL THINKER Furthermore, the next topic is the way to be a good critical thinker. Here are the steps that can be followed by someone who wants to be critical thinkers. The questions related to each other following allows people to evaluate their own thoughts and ideas of others. If people use these questions with organized to assess their thoughts on various topics or evaluate ideas they find in articles, books, conversations and other places, they will come to the conclusion that an independent and credible. By using these questions on a regular basis, people learn to examine assumptions, facing prejudice, recognize different points of view, considering the meaning of the word, noting the implications of the conclusions and evaluate evidence.Each person can learn to think critically because the human brain is constantly trying to understand the experience. In continuing quest for meaning, the brain connects abstract ideas with real-world context.The following steps are presented in the form of a question. Because by answering questions, people involved in mental activities that they need to obtain a deep understanding. These questions are presented in the order thoroughly examine each problem, issue, project, or the decisions faced by the people especially the students in the face of learning in the classroom or personal experience.The steps of critical thinking are as follows: Ask questions; be willing to wonder. Always be on the lookout for questions that have not been answered in the textbooks, by the experts in the field or by the media. Be willing to ask whats wrong here? and/or Why is this way it is, and how did it come to be that way? Define the problem. An inadequate formulation of question can produce misleading or incomplete answers. Ask neutral questions that dont presuppose answers. Examine the evidence. Ask yourself, What evidence supports or refutes this argument and its opposition? Just because many people believe, including so-called experts, it doesnt make it so. Analyze assumptions and biases. All of us are subject to biases, beliefs that prevent us from being impartial. Evaluate the assumptions and biases that lie behind arguments, including your own. Avoid emotional reasoning: If I feel this way, it must be true. Passionate commitment to a view can motivate a person to think boldly without fear of what others will say, but when gut feelings replace clear thinking, the results can be disastrous. Dont oversimplify. Look beyond the obvious, rest easy generalizations, reject either/or thinking. Dont argue by anecdote. Consider other interpretations. Formulate hypotheses that offer reasonable explanations of characteristics, behavior, and events. Tolerate uncertainty. Sometimes the evidence merely allows us to draw tentative conclusions. Dont be afraid to say I dont know. Dont demand the answer. REQUIREMENTS TO BE A CRITICAL THINKER If there is a way, there is also a requirement. This matter also occurred in Critical thinking. These are 16 requirements to be Critical Thinker that must be fulfilled to reach the goal: (1) state and explain goals and purposes; (2) clarify the questions they need to answer and the problems they need to solve; (3) gather and organize information and data; (4) explicitly assess the meaning and significance of information you give them; (5) demonstrate that they understand concepts; (6) identify assumptions;( 7) consider implications and consequences; (8) examine things from more than one point of view; (9) state what they say clearly; (10) test and check for accuracy; (11) stick to questions, issues, or problems; and not wander in their thinking; (12) express themselves precisely and exactly; (13) deal with complexities in problems and issues; (14) consider the point of view of others (15) express their thinking logically; (16) Distinguish significant matters from insignificant ones.[2] APPLYING CRITICAL THINKING In peoples life there are many types of Critical thinking can be applied, but in this explanation will be focused just on two Applications. They are Application Critical thinking in Reading and American History. Apply to Reading (Critical Reading). One alternative to increase students critical thinking skills is to become familiar with critical reading. Habituation is not only done by teachers or Lecturers language (more specifically the faculty to read) but also by all teachers of all disciplines. Is not the modern learning process, in the field / discipline of any kind, theres always reading.There are equal parts between the activities of critical thinking with reading activities. Both require the brain works. The core activities of critical thinking are the use of reason in judging the truth of something. Similarly, reading activities, in which there is a process of reasoning to understand the meaning of written symbols. Thus, the process of learning and habituation to read is essentially a process of learning and habituation to think too. One type of reading activity in which obviously requires the ability to think critically is a critical reading. Critical Reading is the ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective assessments based on well-supported reason in the reading. These seven critical reading strategies can be learned readily and then applied not only to reading selections in a Literature class, but also to your other college reading. Mastering these strategies will help to handle difficult material with confidence. Annotating. Annotating is an important skill to employ if you want to read critically. Successful critical readers read with a pencil in their hand, making notes in the text as they read. Instead of reading passively, they create an active relationship with what they are reading by talking back to the text in its margins. And annotation is a key component of close reading. Since we will annotate texts all year, you need to develop a system Effective annotating is both economical and consistent. The techniques are almost limitless. Use any combination of the following: (1) Make a brief comments in the margins. Use any white space available inside cover, random blank pages; (2) make brief comments between or within lines of the text. Do not be afraid to mark within the text itself; (3) circle or put boxes, triangles, or clouds around words or phrases; (4) use abbreviations or symbols brackets, stars, exclamation points, question marks, numbers, etc; (5)Connect words, phrases, ideas, circles, boxes, etc. with lines or arrows; (6) underline (CAUTION: Use this method sparingly). Underline only a few words. Always combine with another method such as comment. Never underline an entire passage. Doing so takes too much time and loses effectiveness. If you wish to mark an entire paragraph or passage, draw a line down the margin or use brackets; (7) highlight See underline. You cannot write with a highlighter anyway; (8) create your own code. (9) Use post-it notes only if you have exhausted all available space (unlikely). Previewing. Previewing is learning about a text before really reading it. Previewing enables readers to get a sense of what the text is about and how it is organized before reading it closely. This simple strategy includes seeing what you can learn from the headnotes or other introductory material, skimming to get an overview of the content and organization, and identifying the rhetorical situation. Previewing is especially useful for getting a general idea of heavy reading like long magazine or newspaper articles, business reports, and non-fiction books.It can give you as much as half the comprehension in as little as on tenth the time. For example, you should be able to preview eight or ten 100-page reports in an hour. After previewing, youll be able to decide which reports (or which parts of which reports) are worth a closer look.Heres how to preview: Read the entire first two paragraphs of whatever youve chosen. Next read only the first sentence of each successive paragraph. Then read the entire last two paragraphs.Previewing doesnt give you all the details. But it does keep you from spending time on things you dont really want-or need-to read.Notice that the previewing gives you a quick, overall view of long, unfamiliar material. For short, light reading, theres a better technique. Contextualizing. The contextualizing is the way to placing a text in its historical, biographical, and cultural contexts. When you read a text, you read it through the lens of your own experience. Your understanding of the words on the page and their significance is informed by what you have come to know and value from living in a particular time and place. But the texts you read were all written in the past, sometimes in a radically different time and place. To read critically, you need to contextualize, to recognize the differences between your contemporary values and attitudes and those represented in the text. Questioning. Questioning is about understanding and remembering by asking questions about the content. Questions are designed to help you understand a reading and respond to it more fully, and often this technique works. When you need to understand and use new information though it is most beneficial if you write the questions, as you read the text for the first time. With this strategy, you can write questions any time, but in difficult academic readings, you will understand the material better and remember it longer if you write a question for every paragraph or brief section. Each question should focus on a main idea, not on illustrations or details, and each should be expressed in your own words, not just copied from parts of the paragraph. Reflecting. It means that reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and values by examining your personal responses. The reading that you do for this class might challenge your attitudes, your unconsciously held beliefs, or your positions on current issues. The steps are bellow: (1) As you read a text for the first time, mark an X in the margin at each point where you fell a personal challenge to your attitudes, beliefs, or status. (2) Make a brief note in the margin about what you feel or about what in the text created the challenge. (3) Now look again at the places you marked in the text where you felt personally challenged. (4) Then check the patterns that you see. Outlining and summarizing. Outlining and summarizing is identifying the main ideas and restating them in your own words. Outlining and summarizing are especially helpful strategies for understanding the content and structure of a reading selection. Whereas outlining reveals the basic structure of the text, summarizing synopsizes a selections main argument in brief. Outlining may be part of the annotating process, or it may be done separately (as it is in this class). The key to both outlining and summarizing is being able to distinguish between the main ideas and the supporting ideas and examples. The main ideas form the backbone, the strand that holds the various parts and pieces of the text together. Outlining the main ideas helps you to discover this structure. When you make an outline, dont use the texts exact words. Summarizing. Summarizing begins with outlining, but instead of merely listing the main ideas, a summary recomposes them to form a new text. Whereas outlining depends on a close analysis of each paragraph, summarizing also requires creative synthesis. Putting ideas together again in your own words and in a condensed form shows how reading critically can lead to deeper understanding of any text. Evaluating an argument. Evaluating an argument means testing the logic of a text as well as its credibility and emotional impact. All writers make assertions that want you to accept as true. As a critical reader, you should not accept anything on face value but to recognize every assertion as an argument that must be carefully evaluated. An argument has two essential parts: a claim and support. The claim asserts a conclusion an idea, an opinion, a judgment, or a point of view that the writer wants you to accept. The support includes reasons (shared beliefs, assumptions, and values) and evidence (facts, examples, statistics, and authorities) that give readers the basis for accepting the conclusion. When you assess an argument, you are concerned with the process of reasoning as well as its truthfulness (these are not the same thing). At the most basic level, in order for an argument to be acceptable, the support must be appropriate to the claim and the statements must be consistent w ith one another. Comparing and contrasting related readings. Comparing and contrasting related readings means Exploring likenesses and differences between texts to understand them better. Many of the authors on the subject of thinking critically approach the topic in different ways. Fitting a text into an ongoing dialectic helps increase understanding of why an author approached a particular issue or question in the way he or she did. Apply to American History. Being able to distinguish between a statement of fact, an opinion or an inference is an important skill to critical thinking. It involves knowing what can be proven directly, what is a legitimate implication derived from the facts, and what is fair to conclude from the historical record. Historians typically interweave statements of fact, inferences they derive from the facts, and statements of their own opinion into a seamless historical narrative. Critical thinkers must be able to distinguish among these three types of communication. (1) FACT: reports information that can be directly observed or can be verified or checked for accuracy. (2) OPINION: expresses an evaluation based on a personal judgment or belief which may or may not be verifiable. (3) INFERENCE: a logical conclusion or a legitimate implication based on factual information. Generally, facts are constants in historical study. But a compendium of facts is inevitably incomplete and deathly dull to read. Historians construct history by closing the gaps in their knowledge about the past, enlarge our under- standing, and enliven their narrative by drawing logical inferences from their assembled facts. Often, they then use their expertise to arrive at a considered judgment about the wisdom or significance of past decisions and events. ADVANTAGES BECOME CRITICAL THINKER Each good manner must have its advantages. If people have succeeded mastering Critical Thinker, he/she will get big advantages. Many advantages that they can get, ten of them is: (1) They will learn content at a deeper and more permanent level; (2) They will be are better able to explain and apply what they learn; (2) They will be better able to connect what they are learning in one class with what they are learning in other classes; (3) They will ask more and better questions in class; (4)They will understand the textbook better; (5) They will follow directions better; (6)of course, they will understand more of what you present in class; (7) They will write better; (8) They will apply more of what they are learning to their everyday life; (9)They will become more motivated learners in general; (10) They will become progressively easier to teach. Advantages in education Some research in education was indicated that critical thinking can prepare students to think in different disciplines, and can be used to fulfill the intellectual needs and development of potential students, because it can prepare students for careers in real lives (Liliasari, 1996; Adams, 2003). Furthermore, Chiras (1992, in Kurniati, 2001) explains that critical thinking that is learned in science class also affects the lives of students long after they leave their formal education by providing a tool where they can analyze a large number of issues they will face in their daily lives days. Unfortunately, the education system does not teach how to think. Education system more focused on delivering information rather than developing the ability to think. And yet the information into knowledge to analy

Why Foreign Language Should Be a Core Subject

Silvana Domaz Professor Hussein ENG108: Writing Project #4 22 April 2012 Why Foreign Language Should be a Core Subject in Public Elementary School The benefits of learning a foreign language go beyond learning a different culture or being able to communicate with people of different backgrounds. It is essential that Americans speak languages other than English in order to compete internationally, keep the country safe, and prepare children to be world citizens.Several language organizations, educators, and policy makers have recommended the introduction of a second language at the elementary school level as a way of assuring a high level of language proficiency (Pufahl and Rhodes 273). However, the reality of foreign language education in the United States is far from that goal.The Center for Applied Linguistics conducted a nationwide survey of public and private schools in 2008 and discovered that â€Å"since 1997, the percentage of elementary and middle schools that offer foreign language courses has fallen significantly, from 31 percent to 25 percent at the elementary level and from 75 percent to 58 percent at the middle school level† (Pufahl and Rhodes 261). One of the reasons for the decline could be attributed to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 signed by President George W. Bush.The NCLB act is a framework aimed at improving the performance of America's elementary and secondary schools, with a stronger emphasis on reading. About one third of all public schools with foreign language programs reported being affected by NCLB (Pufahl and Rhodes 270). Educators and politicians see the need for improving students’ achievement in reading and math and for a better score on standardized tests (Stewart 11). For that reason schools are under pressure to allocate time and resources to math and English-language arts instruction.Educators and school administrators are left with no budget, resources or time to use for foreign language education (Pufahl and Rhodes 273). In contrast, in June 2004, the Department of Defense and the University of Maryland joined for a summit on National Language Policy. It became very clear that â€Å"there is an immediate need for governmental personnel who can function at the advanced proficiency level in foreign languages† (Byrnes 247). The government needs people who are able to communicate in other languages, people who can understand different cultures and analyze critical content and ideas from other countries.Projections for the total numbers of speakers of various languages for the year 2050 indicate that Mandarin will surpass English (Byrnes 254). Thus, it is likely that trade and diplomacy will be increasingly conducted with those who speak languages other than English, such as Mandarin. In 2000, the Center for Applied Linguistics conducted a study to collect data from 19 countries on their foreign language programs and methodologies so that the results could help improve la nguage teaching in the U. S.Those countries were Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Spain, and Thailand. Some of the recommendations drawn from the study results are: 1) start language education early; 2) push for stronger federal leadership in language teaching; 3) improve teacher education; and 4) take advantage of the rich sociolinguistic context in the United States (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 3).Starting language education at an early age will lead to higher levels of language proficiency not only in one language but also in multiple languages. Based on the survey, most countries begin foreign language instruction in the elementary grades, while most schools in the U. S start at age 14. In Arizona, foreign language courses are not a requirement. According to Jill Campos, World Language Academic Coach for the Scottsdale School District, â€Å"f oreign language is introduced for a semester at 6th and 7th grades as an exploratory course.Eight graders can take the first year of a world language for high school credit and continue, if they so choose, through the 5th year†. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) report that â€Å"the language areas of the brain seem to go through the most dynamic period of growth between the ages of 6 and 13† (qtd. in Talukder 3). The UCLA study instead suggests that â€Å"the elementary and middle school years are the biologically most advantageous times for acquisition of a second language† (qtd. in Talukder 3).It is during the first years of life that â€Å"the foundations for thinking, language, vision, attitudes, aptitudes, and other characteristics are laid down,† says Ronald Kotulak, author of Inside the Brain (qtd. in Dryden and Voss 266). Studies of the brain show that a second language is stored in the same part of the brain as a fir st language when learned by age 8. After that age, a second language is stored in a different part of the brain. However, simply introducing a program at the elementary level is not enough.The second recommendation is that a successful language program has to be consistent and coherent among all organizations and educational sectors. The federal government can provide leadership in developing long term policies for enhanced teacher training, incentives for school districts to offer early language instruction, and conduct long term research on language education (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 16). Effective teaching strategies must be implemented such as foreign language as a medium of subject instruction, immersion or dual-language programs.Foreign languages should have the same status as other core subjects such as math and reading and they should be carried through elementary to college (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 17). The third recommendation is enhanced teacher training. Based on the survey results, teacher training that integrates academic subject studies with pedagogical studies and teaching practice, was one of the most successful aspects of foreign language education in their respective countries (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 10).The fourth recommendation is that educators need to take advantage of our ethnic diversity by promoting the learning of heritage languages. The United States is one of the world’s largest Spanish-speaking countries; however, we don’t capitalize on this powerful human resource or in any other heritage languages. The majority of public schools don’t offer programs for immigrant students to build on their home languages even when there’s a large group in the community who speaks the same language.Promoting strong bilingual programs such as dual-immersion where half the students speak another language than English and both groups study together and become bilingual in both languages of instruc tion (Pufahl and Rhodes and Christian 19). A major change needs to happen in the United States in regards to foreign language education, from the national to local level. Besides personal and academic achievement, being proficient in foreign languages is extremely important for international trade, diplomacy, and national security.It is important that the federal government creates a sizable budget for language education and establishes foreign language as a core subject. Educators and teachers should benefit from the country’s sociolinguistic context and promote bilingual programs that capitalize on heritage languages. Schools should create long term programs so that students can continue their foreign language education all the way to college if they so choose. Works Cited Campos, Jill. â€Å"Re: foreign languages in elementary schools. Message to the author. 04 Feb. 2012. Email. Hines, Marion E. â€Å"Foreign Language Curriculum Concerns in Times of Conflict. † Del ta Kappa Gamma Bulletin 70. 1 (2003): 15-21. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. Larew, Leonor. â€Å"The Optimum Age for Beginning a foreign Language. † Modern Language Journal 45. 5 (1961): 203. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. Meyers-Scotton, Carol. â€Å"Why Bilingualism Matters. † American Speech 75. 3 (2000): 290-292. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 012. Pufahl, Ingrid, and Nancy Rhodes. â€Å"Foreign Language Instruction in U. S. Schools: Results of a National Survey of Elementary and Secondary Schools. † Foreign Language Annals 44. 2 (2011): 258-288. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. Pufahl, Ingrid, Christian Donna, and Nancy Rhodes. â€Å"Foreign Language Teaching: What the United States Can Learn from Other Countries. † ERIC Clearing House on Languages and Linguistics (2000):1-35. Eric Digest. Web 18 Apr. 2012 (2011): 258-288.Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. Schick, Jo-Anne E. , and Paul B. Nelson. à ¢â‚¬Å"Language Teacher Education: The Challenge for the Twenty-First Century. † Clearing House 74. 6 (2001): 301-304. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. Talukder, Gargi. How the Brain Learns a Second Language. 2001 Brain Connection. Web. 21 Apr. 2012. Zehr, Mary Ann. â€Å"Elementary Foreign Language Instruction on Descent. † Education Week 28. 23 (2009):8-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Mar. 2012.

International Monetary Fund And The European Union Has...

With Greece struggling under the weight of the country’s worst economic recession in recent history, the economic, political, and social environment of both the native and immigrant people has changed dramatically, with employment and income rapidly shrinking, and competition within the two groups increasing. This has resulted in lower wages, a contracting labor market, and fewer regularized immigrants; all of which drawing attention to immigration as a growing threat to the cohesion of modern Greek society. Greece is currently undergoing a considerable hindrance regarding the economic recession. Huge public debt and the government s decision to borrow from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union has changed the†¦show more content†¦As a result, Greece has received the highest percentage of immigrants in relation to its workforce in the 1990s. This is true despite it being one of the less-developed nations in Europe at that time. By 2001, Greece had an immigrant population of just over 762,000. Greece s geography became especially important after the formation of Europe s borderless Schengen Area. It has also contributed to the country s transition to an immigrant-receiving nation. Greece has become a common route for those seeking entry into Europe, with its favorable position, extensive coastlines, and crossable borders. economic recession-natives: The economic crisis in Greece began through government policies that promoted overspending, while relying extensive ly on external loans to finance it. This issue was increased when Greece entered the European Monetary Union, therefore making the cost of borrowing very favorable. For the past decade, Greece could borrow money with interest rates close to those afforded by much more advanced economies. As a result, the national debt grew exponentially until Greece could not borrow any more money. The Greek government asked the European Union for assistance in 2009, and soon afterward the European partners, along with the IMF, agreed to a series of loans and debt reductions for more sustainable debt levels for Greece. As a condition for this aid, they requested the

China vs. Rome Compare and Contrast - 1390 Words

China and Rome China and Rome were astonishing civilizations that managed to advance technology and civilations. Both civilizations were rapidly growing and making changes to the world. The two cultures were pretty similar, yet very different. Their religions were something to be modest about. When it came to religion it helped the decline of both societies, by religion changing. When it came to technology though, its change is what caused the societies to flourish. As for education the both leaders of China and Rome worked on making it easier, evident from the letters, for common people to gain knowledge. Changing things in their kingdom clearly took time. With politics being something of a fight in many respects; came as part†¦show more content†¦When it came to water like the Romans Chinese were controlling it like putty in their hands. The main thing was the grand canal which brought water from one city to another and acted as a road way. The Grand Canal is the world s longest man- made waterway, being 1,800 kilometers long. The canal connects the present cities of Beijing in the north and Hangzhou in the south, which served as dynastic capitals in the past, and contains 24 locks and 60 bridges. Since most of China s major rivers flow from west to east, the fact that the Grand Canal runs north and south provides it as an important connector between the Yangtze River valley and the Yellow River valley. A good example of their care for water is in Document 1 â€Å"I request that you establish water conservation offices in each district and staff them with people who are experienced in the ways of water.† When it says this you can tell how much they care about the water. Both societies clearly had a good grip on the control of water, for their benefit and their pleasure. The last topic that shows the intellect of the people and the emperor, it seems that these peoples were highly intelligent. 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