Popular Culture Essay Example Popular culture and globalization

Popular culture and globalization â€Å"All the world’s a stage and all the men and women, merely players†, said the bard. This prescient observation of Shakespeare over four centuries ago is seen today as everyday experience of common people. We open our newspapers and read about local, national and international events. We switch on the televisions and view / hear about events anywhere in the world, in real time and space. Common people are effortlessly exposed to each other through the media. Our everyday experiences these days are shaped by the technological revolution of the past five decades on the one hand, and the movement of the world economies towards globalization on the other. Globalization is an opportunity and not a cost. Today it is possible to see the entire world as a market place, and each country as a potential source for gaining competitive advantages. Economical local costs and talent make globalization an opportunity to be exploited in every field. Globalization of economies of the world permits each country to exploit its natural advantages and play its rightful part in global trade. In the popular culture field, while the Hollywood films in the English language could reach a section of the people around world at one time, we see them dubbed into local languages for the vast global audience today. MTV which started airing its original US programs in English was soon facing stiff competition from other music channels that offered a great deal of local content in the local language, and had to follow suit. Television channels, be they for children or for grown-ups, be they for city based audience or for small town / village viewers, are now routinely offering content in a multi-language platform and gaining larger viewership and therefore revenues through advertisements. Movies and film music based events from Mumbai are huge draws for the Indian immigrants in UK and the USA. Madam Tussauds wax museum in London has attracted twice the number of South Asian visitors this year as compared to a year ago, after it launched its wax model of the current Hindi film star ( Deccan Chronicle). In the eyes of some groups, globalization is not an undiluted blessing. With particular reference to popular culture, some fear that the dominant cultures exploit mass media to overrun others, and that this results in loss of diversity, independence of thought and promotes decadent life style. For example, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola brands invite as much accolades from the younger generation all over the world, as they incur the wrath of the environmental groups for the popularization of unhealthy food and drink habits; Feature articles from The Spectator, NYT or The Herald Tribune appear simultaneously in the Indian newspapers and shape public opinion; commentators like Tom Friedman or Rod Liddle are familiar names in English educated urban households; so also are the popular TV channels like BBC and CNN, much to the dislike of traditionalists. The above facts reveal a significant difference in the mindset of the different groups – governments promoting their geo-political strategies by manipulating public opinion; multinational companies exploiting global opportunities for increasing their business volumes and profits; environmental groups seeing this as an assault on the diversity of human culture and promoting decadent life styles, etc. Reference UK Honour for Bachchan, Deccan Chronicle 1 Dec 2007. Available: http://www.deccan.com as retrieved on 1 Dec 2007. Get Your Research Paper from Us We have the best quality research paper for sale online; exactly the kind you are looking for. The earlier you place the order, the more favors you do to yourself. Here’s why; you will be able to place the order with a longer deadline, and also have ample time to ask for a revision, just in case. So delaying really doesn’t work in your favor. Talk to us now.

How to Get 36 on ACT Reading 11 Strategies from a Perfect Scorer

How to Get 36 on ACT Reading Strategies from a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you scoring in the 26–34 range on ACT Critical Reading? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible- to a perfect 36? Getting to a 36 ACT Reading score isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 36 on Reading on my real ACTs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score- or get very close. Brief note: This article is suited for students already scoring a 26 on ACT Reading or above. If you're below this range, my "How to Improve your ACT Reading Score to a 26" article is more appropriate for you. Follow the advice in that article, then come back to this one when you've reached a 26. Overview Most guides on the internet on how to score a 36 are pretty bad quality. They're often written by people who never scored a 36 themselves. You can tell because their advice is usually vague and not very pragmatic. In contrast, I've written what I believe to be the best guide on getting a 36 available anywhere. I have confidence that these strategies work because I used them myself to score 36 on ACT Reading consistently. They've also worked for thousands of my students at PrepScholar. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring a 36 is a good idea, what it takes to score a 36, and then go into the 10 key strategies so you know how to get a 36 on ACT Reading. Stick with me- as an advanced student, you probably already know that scoring high is good. But it's important to know why a 36 Reading score is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score. Final note: in this guide, I talk mainly about getting to a 36. But if your goal is a 34, these strategies still equally apply. Understand the Stakes: Why a 36 ACT Reading? Let's make something clear: for all intents and purposes, a 34 on an ACT is equivalent to a perfect 36. No top college is going to give you more credit for a 36 than a 34. You've already crossed their score threshold, and whether you get in now depends on the rest of your application. So if you're already scoring a 34, don't waste your time studying trying to get a 36. You're already set for the top colleges, and it's time to work on the rest of your application. But if you're scoring a 33 or below AND you want to go to a top 10 college, it's worth your time to push your score up to a 34 or above. There's a big difference between a 32 and a 34, largely because it's easy to get a 32 (and a lot more applicants do) and a lot harder to get a 34. A 33 places you right around average at Harvard and Princeton and when it comes to admissions, being average is bad, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%. So why get a 36 on ACT Reading? Because it helps you compensate for weaknesses in other sections. By and large, schools consider your ACT composite score more than your individual section scores. If you can get a 36 in ACT Reading, that gives you more flexibility in your Math, English, and Science scores. It can compensate for a 32 in one other section, for example, to bring your average back up to 34. Harvard's 75th percentile Reading score is likely a 36. There's another scenario where a 36 in ACT Reading is really important. First is if you're planning to apply as a humanities or social science major (like English, political science, communications) to a top school. Here's the reason: college admissions is all about comparisons between applicants. The school wants to admit the best, and you're competing with other people in the same "bucket" as you. By applying as a humanities/social science major, you're competing against other humanities/social science folks: people for whom ACT Reading is easy. Really easy. Here are a few examples from schools. For Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and U Chicago, the 75th percentile SAT Reading score is an 800, or equivalent to a 36 in ACT Reading. That means at least 25% of all students at these schools have a 36 in ACT Reading. But if you can work your way to a 36, you show that you're at an equal level (at least on this metric). Even if it takes you a ton of work, all that matters is the score you achieve at the end. I'll be honest- ACT Reading wasn't my strong suit in high school. When I started studying, I was scoring around the 31–32 range. I was always stronger in math and science. But I learned the tricks of the test, and I developed the strategies below to raise my score to a 36. Now I'm sharing them with you. Know that You Can Do It This isn't just some fuzzy feel-good message you see on the back of a Starbucks cup. I mean, literally, you and every other reasonably intelligent student can score a 36 on ACT Reading. The reason most people don't is they don't try hard enough or they don't study the right way. Even if language isn't your strongest suit, or you got a B+ in AP English, you're capable of this. Because I know that more than anything else, your ACT score is a reflection of how hard you work and how smartly you study. ACT Reading is Designed to Trick You. You Need to Learn How Here's why: the ACT is a weird test. When you take the Reading section, don't you get the sense that the questions are nothing like what you've seen in school? I bet you've had this problem: in ACT Reading passages, you often miss questions because of an "unlucky guess." You'll try to eliminate a few answer choices, and the remaining answer choices will all sound equally good to you. Well, you throw up your hands and randomly guess. This was one of the major issues for myself when I was studying ACT Reading, and I know they affect thousands of my students at PrepScholar. The ACT is purposely designed this way to confuse you. Literally millions of other students have the exact same problem you do. And the ACT knows this. Normally in your school's English class, the teacher tells you that all interpretations of the text are valid. You can write an essay about anything you want, and English teachers aren't (usually) allowed to tell you that your opinion is wrong. This is because they can get in trouble for telling you what to think, especially for complex issues like slavery or poverty. But the ACT has an entirely different problem. It's a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. It needs a solid test to compare students with each other. Every question needs a single, unambiguously, 100% correct answer. There's only ever one correct answer. Find a way to eliminate three incorrect answers. Imagine if this weren't the case. Imagine that each reading answer had two answer choices that might each be plausibly correct. When the scores came out, every single student who got the question wrong would complain to the ACT, Inc. about the test being wrong. If this were true, the ACT, Inc. would then have to invalidate the question, which weakens the power of the test. The ACT, Inc. wants to avoid this nightmare scenario. Therefore, every single Reading passage question has only one, single correct answer. But the ACT disguises this fact. It asks questions that sound subjective, like: The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements? The first paragraph primarily serves to: In line 20, 'dark' most nearly means: Notice a pattern here? The ACT always disguises the fact that there's always one unambiguous answer. It tries to make you waver between two or three answer choices that are most likely. And then you guess randomly. And then you get it wrong. You can bet that students fall for this. Millions of times every year. Students who don't prepare for the ACT in the right way don't appreciate this. But, if you prepare for the ACT in the right way, you'll learn the tricks the ACT plays on you. And you'll raise your score. The ACT Reading section is full of patterns like these. To improve your score, you just need to: learn the types of questions that the ACT tests, like the one above learn strategies to solve these questions, using skills you already know practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes The point is that you can learn these skills, even if you don't consider yourself a good reader or a great English student. I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. One last point: let's make sure we understand how many questions we can miss and still score a 36. What It Takes to Get a 36 in Reading If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. Unlike for English and Math, there's a large amount of variation in grading scale for the Reading and Science sections. On some tests, a certain raw score could get you a 36; on others, that same raw score could drop you down to a 34. I've compiled the conversion tables from 4 official ACT practice tests to show you what I mean. (If you could use a refresher on how the ACT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.) ACT Reading Score Raw Scores Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 36 40 38–40 40 40 35 39 37 39 39 34 38 36 38 38 33 – 35 37 – 32 37 34 36 37 31 36 – 35 36 30 35 33 34 35 29 34 32 32–33 34 28 32–33 30–31 31 33 27 31 29 30 32 Notice that Test 1 is the strictest grading scale out of the four. In this case, missing one question drops you to a 35; miss another and you'll drop to a 34; miss one more, and you drop to a 32. This is a very unforgiving test that requires perfection. Test 2, on the other hand, is much more forgiving. You can miss two questions- with a raw score of 38- and still get a 36! The reason these tests differ so much is that the ACT tries to make the scores from every test equivalent to all other tests. A 36 on one test should mean the same as a 36 on another. So if a test has particularly difficult passages or questions, they'll soften the curve. Regardless: The safest thing to do is to aim for perfection. On every practice test, you need to aim for a perfect raw score for a 36. Notice that in three of the four tests, you needed a perfect raw score to get a 36. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 36. For example, if you're scoring a 30 now, you need to answer five to seven more questions right to get to a 36. As a final example, here's a screenshot from my ACT score report. You can see that I likely missed one question, since I scored a 17 on Social Studies/Sciences. Also notice that a single mistake already drops me down to a 97 percentile- there are a lot of students who do extremely well on this test! OK- so we've covered why scoring a higher Reading score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you need to get to your target. Now we'll get into the meat of the article: actionable strategies and reading tips that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. Strategies to Get a 36 on ACT Reading What's your greatest weakness? Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness: Time Management, Passage Strategy, or Vocabulary Every student has different flaws in ACT Reading. Some people don't have good strategies for tackling the passage questions. Others don't read quickly enough and struggle to get through all the questions. Here's how you can figure out which one applies more to you: Find an official ACT practice test, and take only the Reading section. We have the complete list of free practice tests here. For that section, use a timer for 35 minutes. Treat it like a real test. If time runs out and you're not done yet, keep working for as long as you need. But starting now, for every new answer or answer that you change, mark it with a special note as "Extra Time." Grade your test using the answer key and score chart, but we want two scores: the realistic score you got under normal timing conditions, and the extra time score. This is why you marked the questions you answered or changed during Extra Time. Get what we're doing here? By marking which questions you did under Extra Time, we can figure out what score you got if you were given all the time you needed. This will help us figure out where your weaknesses lie. If you didn't take any extra time, then your Extra Time score is the same as your Realistic score. Here's a flowchart to help you figure this out: Was your Extra Time score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32), then you have remaining content weaknesses. You might have weaknesses across a range of subjects, or a deep weakness in only a few subjects. (We'll cover this later). Your first plan of attack should be to develop more comfort with all ACT Reading subjects. If YES (Extra Time score 32), then: Was your Realistic score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32, Realistic 32), then that means you have a difference between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this difference is more than 2 points, then you have some big problems with time management. We need to figure out why this is. Are you generally slow across most questions? Or did particular questions slow you down more than others? Or are you spending too much time on reading the passage? Generally, doing a lot of practice questions and learning the most efficient solutions will help reduce your time. More on this later. If YES (both Extra Time and Realistic scores 32), then you have a really good shot at getting an 36. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score- if they differed by more than one point, then you would benefit from learning how to solve questions more quickly. If not, then you likely can benefit from shoring up on your last skill weaknesses and avoiding careless mistakes (more on this strategy later). Hopefully that makes sense. Typically I see that students have both timing and content issues, but you might find that one is much more dominant for you than the other. For example, if you can get a 36 with extra time, but score a 32 in regular time, you know exactly that you need to work on time management to get an 36. This type of analysis is so important that it's a central part of my prep program, PrepScholar. When a new student joins, he or she gets a diagnostic that figures out specific strengths and weaknesses. The program then automatically customizes your learning so that you're always studying according to where you can make the most improvement. No matter what your weakness is, my following strategies will address all weaknesses comprehensively. Strategy 2: Learn to Eliminate 3 Wrong Answers This strategy was by far the most effective for me in raising my Reading score. It completely changed the way I viewed passage questions. I spent some time talking above about how the ACT always has one unambiguous answer. This has a huge implication for the strategy you should use to find the right ACT Reading answer. Here's the other way to see it: Out of the four answer choices, three of them have something that is totally wrong about them. Only one answer is 100% correct, which means the other three are 100% wrong. You know how you try to eliminate answer choices, and then end up with a few at the end that all seem equally likely to be correct? "Well, this can work...but then again this could work as well..." STOP doing that. You're not doing a good enough job of eliminating answer choices. Remember- every single wrong choice can be crossed out for its own reasons. You need to do a 180 on your approach to Reading questions. Instead of trying to find the one right answer, find a reason to eliminate three answer choices. "Can I find a reason to eliminate this answer choice? How about this one?" You have to learn how to eliminate three answer choices for every single question. "Great, Allen. But this doesn't tell me anything about HOW to eliminate answer choices." Thanks for asking. One thing to remember is that even a single word can make an answer choice wrong. Every single word in each answer choice is put there by the ACT for a reason. If a single word in the answer choice isn't supported by the passage text, you need to eliminate it, even if the rest of the answer sounds good. There are a few classic wrong answer choices the ACT loves to use. Here's an example question. For example, let’s imagine you just read a passage talking about how human evolution shaped the environment. It gives a few examples. First, it talks about how the transition from earlier species like Homo habilis to neanderthals led to more tool usage like fire, which caused wildfires and shaped the ecology. It then talks about Homo sapiens 40,000 years ago and their overhunting of species like woolly mammoths to extinction. So then we run into a question asking, "Which of the following best describes the main subject of the passage?" Here are the answer choices: A: The transition between Homo habilis and neanderthals B: The study of evolution C: How the environment shaped human evolution D: The plausibility of evolution E: The influence of human development on ecology (I know the ACT only has four answer choices, but we'll just pretend they have five for this example to discuss the different kinds of wrong answers.) As you're reading these answer choices, a few of them probably started sounded really plausible to you. Surprise! Each of the answers from A–D has something seriously wrong about it. Each one is a classic example of a wrong answer type given by the ACT. Wrong Answer 1: Too Specific A: The transition between Homo habilis and neanderthals This type of wrong answer focuses on a smaller detail in the passage. It’s meant to trick you because you might think to yourself, "well, I see this mentioned in the passage, so it’s a plausible answer choice." Wrong! Think to yourself- can this answer choice really describe the entire passage? Can it basically function as the title of this passage? You’ll find that it’s just way too specific to convey the point of the overall passage. Wrong Answer 2: Too Broad B: The study of evolution This type of wrong answer has the opposite problem- it’s way too broad. Yes, theoretically the passage concerns the study of evolution, but only one aspect of it, and especially as it relates to the impact on the environment. To give another ludicrous example, if you talked to your friend about losing your cell phone, and he said your main point was about the universe. Yes, you were talking about the universe (since we all live in this universe), but you were talking about only a tiny, tiny fraction of it. This is way too broad. Wrong Answer 3: Reversed Relationship C: How the environment shaped human evolution This wrong answer choice can be tricky because it mentions all the right words. But of course the relationship between those words needs to be correct as well. Here, the relationship is flipped. Students who read too quickly make careless mistakes like these! Wrong Answer 4: Unrelated Concept D: The plausibility of evolution Finally, this kind of wrong answer preys on the tendency of students to overthink the question. If you’re passionate about arguing about evolution, this might be a trigger answer since any discussion of evolution becomes a chance to argue about the plausibility of evolution. Of course, this concept will appear nowhere in the passage, but some students just won’t be able to resist. Do you see the point? On the surface, each of the answer choices sounds possibly correct. A less prepared student would think that all of these were plausible answers. But plausible isn't good enough. The right answer needs to be 100%, totally right. Wrong answers might be off by even one word- you need to eliminate these. Carry this thought into every ACT Reading passage question you do and I guarantee you will start raising your score. Strategy 3: Predict the Answer Before Reading the Answer Choices As we've discussed already, the ACT is designed to goad you into making mistakes by putting really similar answer choices next to each other. In Strategy 2, we covered the strategy of ruthless, unforgiving elimination of answer choices. Here's another Strategy that works well for me. Before reading the answer choices, come up with your own answer to the question. Gaze into your crystal ball and predict the right answer. This strategy is exactly designed to counteract the trickiness of the answer choices. If you don't apply this strategy, your thinking process likely resembles something like this: "OK, I just read the question. Answer A is definitely out. B can kind of work. C...it doesn't exactly fit, but I can see how it can work." and so on. By now, you've already fallen into ACT, Inc.'s trap of starting to muddle the answer choices. Take the opposite approach. While you're reading the question, come up with your own ideal answer to the question before reading the answer choices. This prevents you from getting biased by the ACT's answer choices, especially the incorrect ones. If it's a "Big Picture" type question asking about the main point of the passage, answer for yourself, "What would make a good title for this passage?" If it's an "Inference" question, answer for yourself, "What would the author think about the situation given in the question?" Even if you can't answer the question straight away- for example, if you have to refer back to the line number to remember what the passage was saying- try to form a hunch briefly before looking at the answer choices. (There are of course some detail-oriented questions that are hard to solve this way. For example, questions that ask "All of these were mentioned as details EXCEPT FOR" require you to look at the passage. Even in these cases, you can form hunches about details that you remember reading about, and those you don't.) The key here is that the passage must support your answer choice. Every correct answer on ACT passages needs to be justified by the passage- otherwise the answer would be ambiguous, which would cause problems of cancelling questions I referred to earlier. Note that this only works if you can read and understand passages well! That's why I don't recommend this strategy yet before you hit a 26 level since you're more likely to come up with the wrong answer choice in your head. Strategy 4: Experiment with Passage Reading Strategies and Find the Best for You In your prep for the ACT, you may have read different strategies for how to read a passage and answer questions. Some students read the questions before reading the passage. Others read the passage in detail first. At your high level, I can't predict which method will work best for you. We're going for perfection, which means that your strategy needs to line up with your strengths and weaknesses perfectly, or else you'll make mistakes or run out of time. What I will do, however, is go through the most effective methods. You'll then have to figure out through your test data which one leads to the highest score for you. Passage Method 1: Skim the Passage, then Read the Questions This is the most common strategy I recommend to our students, and in my eyes the most effective. I prefer this one myself. Here it is: Skim the passage on the first read through. Don't try to understand every single line, or write notes predicting what the questions will be. Just get a general understanding of the passage. You want to try to finish reading the passage in three minutes, if possible. Next, go to the questions. If the question refers to a line number, then go back to that line number and understand the text around it. If you can't answer a question within 30 seconds, skip it. My preferred way to tackle a passage: skimming it on the first read-through. This strategy is a revelation for students who used to close-read every detail about a passage and run out of time. This skimming method works because the questions will ask about far fewer lines than the passage actually contains. For example, lines 5-20 of a reading passage might not be relevant to any question that follows. Therefore, if you spend time trying to deeply understand lines 5-20, you’ll be wasting time. By taking the opposite approach of going back to the passage when you need to refer to it, you guarantee reading efficiency. You're focusing only on the parts of the passage that are important to answering questions. Critical Skill: You must be able to skim effectively. This means being able to quickly digest a text without having to slowly read every word. If you're not quite good at this yet, practice it on newspaper articles and your homework reading. Passage Method 2: Read the Questions First and Mark the Passage This is the second most common strategy and, if used well, as effective as the first method. But it has some pitfalls if you don't do it correctly. Here's how it goes: Before you read the passage, go to the questions and read each one. If the question refers to a series of lines, mark those lines on the passage. Take a brief note about the gist of the question. Go back to the passage and skim it. When you reach one of your notes, slow down and take more notice of the question. Answer the questions. Here's an example passage that I marked up, with questions on the right. Notice that beyond marking the lines and phrases referenced in the question, I left clues for myself on what's important to get out of this phrase. In the hands of an ACT expert, this is a powerful strategy. Just like Method 1 above, you save time by skipping parts of the passage that aren't asked about. Furthermore, you get a head start on the questions by trying to answer them beforehand. But there are serious potential pitfalls to this method if you're not careful or prepared enough. Here's one: when you first read the questions before the passage, you won't have enough time to digest the actual answer choices (nor will they make sense to you). So you have to make your best guess for what the question is asking when you're writing a note along the passage. In some cases, this can lead you astray. Take this example from above: When I read the question, I saw that it referred to lines 75-76, starting with "Like an eagle." So I marked this in the passage and added a note to myself: "Meaning?" The problem is, it's not obvious what this is supposed to mean. What does it mean for a person's words to "slip regally and strike with awful ease?" This is especially difficult with figurative language. If I were the obsessive type, I might struggle for far too long trying to understand what this means. What meaning am I supposed to extract from these lines? How deeply should I read into this? But when I read the answer choices, I can see the answer choice is actually pretty obvious. The line is referring to the rich customer's words. It has nothing to do with the narrator and her relationship with her parents. It's clear then that the answer is G. The customer is implying that most of the house is dirty, and that the narrator's mother should take care to find a place where there aren't cockroaches scampering about. Critical Skill: You need to have so much experience with the ACT Reading section that you can anticipate what the question is going to ask you for your notes to be helpful. If you're not sure of this, you can easily be led down the wrong track and focus on the wrong aspect of the passage. Passage Method 3: Read the Passage In Detail, then Answer Questions This method is what beginner students usually use by default, because it's what they've been trained to do in school. Some beginner books like Princeton Review and Kaplan also suggest this as a strategy. It's my least favorite method because there are so many ways for it to go wrong. But for the sake of completeness, I'm listing it here in case it works best for you. Here's how it goes: Read the passage in detail, line by line. Take notes to yourself about the main point of each paragraph. Answer the questions. As you might guess, I don't like this method for the following reasons: By reading the passage closely, you absorb a lot of details that aren't useful for answering questions. The notes you take aren't directed toward helping you answer the questions. By interpreting the passage ahead of time, you risk being led astray. But this might work especially well for you if you're very good at reading for understanding, and if you have so much expertise with the ACT that you can predict what the test is going to ask you about anyway. This can also work if taking notes forces you to read the passage much more closely than you would otherwise. In all other cases, I haven't seen this strategy work very well. Choose Which Works Best for You, Based on Test Data Because I can't predict which one will work best for you, you need to figure this out yourself. To do this, you need cold, hard data from your test scores. Try each method on two sample test passages each, and tally up your percentage score for each. If one of them is a clear winner for you, then develop that method further. If there isn't a clear winner, choose the one that feels most comfortable for you. As part of our PrepScholar program, we give you advanced statistics on your score performance so that you can experiment with methods that work best for you. Next strategy: find your weak links and fix them. Strategy 5: Understand Every Single Mistake You Make On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even just two mistakes will knock you down from a 36. The first step is simply to do a ton of practice. If you're studying from free materials or from books, you have access to a lot of practice questions in bulk. As part of our PrepScholar program, we have over 1,500 ACT questions customized to each skill. The second step- and the more important part- is to be ruthless about understanding your mistakes. Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason. If you don't understand exactly why you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. I've seen students who have done 20 practice tests. They've solved over 3,000 questions, but they're still nowhere near a 36 on ACT Reading. Why? They never understood their mistakes. They just hit their heads against the wall over and over again. Think of yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes are cockroaches. You need to eliminate every single one- and find the source of each one- or else the restaurant you work for will be shut down. Here's what you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark every question that you're even 20% unsure about. When you grade your test or quiz, review every single question that you marked, and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down the gist of the question, why you missed it, and what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by question type (vocab questions, big picture questions, inference questions, etc.). It's not enough to just think about it and move on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. You have to think hard about why you specifically failed on this question. By taking this structured approach to your mistakes, you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Always Go Deeper- Why Did You Miss a Reading Question? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't get this question right." That's a cop out. Always take it one step further- what specifically did you miss, and what do you have to improve in the future? Here are some examples of common reasons you miss a Reading question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Elimination: I couldn't eliminate enough incorrect answer choices, or I eliminated the correct answer. One step further: Why couldn't I eliminate the answer choice during the test? How can I eliminate answer choices like this in the future? Careless Error: I misread what the question was asking for or answered for the wrong thing. One step further: Why did I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Vocab: I didn't know what the key word meant. One step further: What word was this? What is the definition? Are there other words in this question I didn't know? Get the idea? You're really digging into understanding why you're missing questions. Yes, this is hard, and it's draining, and it takes work. That's why most students who study ineffectively don't improve. But you're different. Just by reading this guide, you're already proving that you care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too. Reviewing mistakes is so important that in PrepScholar, for every one of our 1,500+ practice questions, we explain in detail how to get the correct answer, and why incorrect answers are wrong. We also point out bait answers so that you can you can learn the tricks that the ACT plays on test takers like you. Bonus Tip: Re-solve the Question Before Reading the Answer Explanation When you're reviewing practice questions, the first thing you probably do is read the answer explanation and at most reflect on it a little. This is a little too easy. I consider this passive learning- you're not actively engaging with the mistake you made. Instead, try something different- find the correct answer choice (A-D or F-J), but don't look at the explanation. Instead, try to re-solve the question once over again and try to get to the correct answer. This will often be hard. You couldn't solve it the first time, so why could you solve it the second time around? But this time, with less time pressure, you might spot a new reason to eliminate the wrong answer choice, or something else will pop up. Something will just "click" for you. When this happens, what you learned will stick with you for 20 times longer than if you just read an answer explanation. I know this from personal experience. Because you've struggled with it and reached a breakthrough, you retain that information far better than if you just passively absorbed the information. It's too easy to just read an answer explanation and have it go in one ear and out the other. You won't actually learn from your mistake, and you'll make that mistake over and over again. Treat each wrong question like a puzzle. Struggle with each wrong answer for up to 10 minutes. Only then if you don't get it should you read the answer explanation. Strategy 6: Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them Reading passage questions might look similar, but they actually test very different skills. At PrepScholar we believe the major passage skills to be: #1: Big Picture/Main Point: What is the main point of the passage or paragraph?#2: Little Picture/Detail: What does this small detail mean? Where in the passage was the following detailed mentioned?#3: Inference: What would the author most likely feel about the following hypothetical scenario?#4: Vocabulary in Context: What does this word or phrase mean in the context of the passage?#5: Author Method: How does the author construct the passage? What is the author's purpose in utilizing the following method? Each of these question types uses different skills in how you read and analyze a passage. They each require a different method of prep and focused practice. Luckily, there aren't very many unique skills on ACT Reading. There are only five above, compared to 18 for ACT English, and 24 for ACT Math. The passage tends to repeat these types of questions over and over again for the entire section. The flipside is, getting better at these skills is often a bit harder than mastering a narrow math skill like trigonometry. Because you've been reading and making logical arguments your entire life, bad habits are a lot harder to unlearn. The ACT requires a lot of skills. Make sure you know which ones are your weaknesses. If you're like most students, you're better at some areas in Reading than others. You might be better at getting the Big Picture of a passage, compared to the Inference. Or you might be great at reading passages quickly, but bad at memorizing details. If you're like most students, you also don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. This means for every hour you study for the ACT, it needs to be the most effective hour possible. In concrete terms, you need to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those. Too many students study the "dumb" way. They just buy a book and read it cover to cover. When they don't improve, they're shocked. I'm not. Studying effectively for the ACT isn't like painting a house. You're not trying to cover all your bases with a very thin layer of understanding. What these students did wrong was they wasted time on subjects they already knew, and they didn't spend enough time on their weaknesses. Instead, studying effectively for the ACT is like plugging up the holes of a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole, and fill it. Then you find the next biggest hole, and you fix that. Soon you'll find that your boat isn't sinking at all. How does this relate to ACT Reading? You need to find the sub-skills that you're weakest in, and then drill those until you're no longer weak in them. Fixing up the biggest holes. Within reading, you need to figure out whether you have patterns to your mistakes. Is it that you don't get Inference questions? Or maybe you're really weak at interpreting details? Or from Strategy 1: is it that you're running out of time in reading passages? For every question that you miss, you need to identify the type of question it is. When you notice patterns to the questions you miss, you then need to find extra practice for this subskill. Say you miss a lot of inference questions (this is typically the hardest type of question for students to get). You need to find a way to get focused practice questions for this skill so you can drill your mistakes. Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our ACT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work. When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty ACT skills. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: Strategy 7: Force Yourself to Be Fascinated by the Passage Subject Matter The ACT has passages about a lot of weird topics. Victorian novels, underwater basket-weaving, and the evolution of gerbils are all fair game. It's unlikely that you're naturally thrilled about all the subjects you'll read about. This makes it easy to tune out when you're reading the passage. This makes it harder to answer the questions, which will make you more frustrated. Instead, adopt this mindset: For the next 10 minutes, I am the world's most passionate person about whatever subject this passage is about. For every single passage, be as excited as she is. Force yourself to care about what the passage is telling you. Pretend that your life depends on understanding this passage. Maybe you're about to give a lecture on this subject. Or someone's holding a puppy hostage if you don't answer enough questions correctly. When I was preparing for the ACT in high school, I even took this so extremely that I ended up genuinely interested in whatever the passage was telling me about. I remember reading a passage about Native American life and thinking, "Wow, I'm really glad I just learned this." (I know this sounds crazy.) If you stay engaged while reading, you'll understand the passage so much better, and you'll answer questions with way more accuracy. Strategy 8: Finish With Extra Time and Double-Check Your goal at the end of all this work is to get so good at ACT Reading that you solve every question and have extra time left over at the end of the section to recheck your work. I'll admit, this is hard for the ACT. You have 35 minutes for 40 questions, which means less than 10 minutes per passage and less than 60 seconds per question on average. After reading the passage, this might mean less than 30-40 seconds per question. But you get better at speed. In high school and even now, I can finish the 40 minute Reading section in 30 minutes or less. I then have 10 minutes left over to recheck my answers two times over. The best way to get faster is, as explained above, to choose an efficient reading strategy that works best for you, and to do so many questions that you're fluent at interpreting what the ACT wants you to do. Here are some time benchmarks that might help: You should finish skimming a long passage within three minutes. This ultimately means less than two seconds per line. If a question takes you more than 30 seconds to solve, and you're not within 30 seconds of the answer, skip it immediately. If you can do this well, you'll get a little less than a minute per remaining passage question. What's the best way to double-check your work? I have a reliable method that I follow: Double-check any questions you marked that you're unsure of. Try hard to eliminate answer choices. Make sure that the passage supports your answer. If I'm 100% sure I'm right on a question, I mark it as such and never look at it again. If I'm not sure, I'll come back to it on the third pass. At least two minutes before time's up, I rapidly double-check that I bubbled the answers correctly. I try to do this all at once so as not to waste time looking back and forth between the test book and the answer sheet. Go five at a time ("A J D F B") for more speed. If you notice yourself spending more than 30 seconds on a problem and aren't clear how you'll get to the answer, skip and go to the next question. Even though you need a near perfect raw score for a 36, don't be afraid to skip. You can come back to it later, and for now it's more important to get as many points as possible. Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers Here's a bubbling tip that will save you two minutes per section. When I first started test taking in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself between two distinct tasks- solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This costs you time in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, then bubble all of them in at once. This has several huge advantages: you focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just five seconds per question, you get back 200 seconds on a section that has 40 questions. This is huge. Note: If you use this strategy, you should already be finishing the section with ample extra time to spare. Otherwise, you might run out of time before you have the chance to bubble in the answer choices all at once. Strategy 9: Be Ready for Turbulence in Scores Now you know what it takes to achieve perfection in ACT Reading. You know the best strategies to use for tackling the passage. You know how to identify your weaknesses and learn from them. You know how to save time, and you know to stay engaged while reading a passage. Even despite all this, sometimes a passage just won't click with you. Of all ACT sections, I find that Reading has the most volatile score. How you vibe with a passage has a big impact on your score. You might get a string of questions wrong just because you couldn't really understand what the passage was really about. This doesn't happen on Math or Writing. No matter what happens, you need to keep calm and keep working. You might swing from a 36 on one practice test to a 32 on another. Don't let that faze you. Remember from the scoring charts above that there's a huge variation from test to test, which also suggests that students tend to vary significantly from test to test. Don't start doubting all the hard work you've put in. Keep a calm head, and, like always, work hard on reviewing your mistakes. This might even happen on the real ACT. You might get below your target score and be crestfallen. Pick yourself up. This happens. If you've consistently been getting 36's on practice tests, you should take the test again and try to score higher. Very likely, you will. And because many schools nowadays Superscore the ACT, you can combine that new 36 with your other sections for an awesome ACT score. Strategy 10: Don't Focus On Reading Other Texts One strategy for ACT Reading I hear proposed often is to read a lot of advanced writing like the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, and the New Yorker. Their logic is, the more you practice reading, the better you'll get at ACT Reading. This seems so plainly obvious that many don't question it. I don't fully agree with this approach. As I mentioned above, ACT Reading tests very specific skill sets- can you read a passage of a certain length and type, and can you answer specific types of questions about it. When you're reading a text casually, you're not going to treat it with the same type of scrutiny and mindset. You're in more of a general understanding mode, trying to get the gist of the reading. You're not actively in the mindset to pick apart what specific lines mean, or to infer what the author would feel about a specific situation. If you'd have to force yourself to read an hour a day to pick up this habit, it's far more effective to practice on ACT Reading passages. The skills you'll use align far more closely this way. Now, if reading these texts is already part of your regular routine, by all means continue doing it. You're likely reading at a very high level, and you can only get better at reading more quickly and with better comprehension. But if these kinds of texts are difficult for you, or you don't regularly do this as a habit, focus your time on the ACT. Your score will thank you. (Note that reading in general is a fantastic habit, and as a nation we don't do enough of it. It can lead to a lot of personal growth, so I encourage you to do it for your overall growth- just not if the purpose is to improve at ACT Reading). In Overview Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your ACT Reading score to a 36. If you're scoring above a 26 right now, with hard work and smart studying, you can raise it to a perfect ACT Reading score. Even though we covered a lot of strategies, the main point is still this: you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. Keep reading for more resources on how to boost your ACT score. What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides to raise your ACT score. Read our accompanying guide to a 36 on ACT Math. Read our complete guide to a perfect 36, written by me, a perfect scorer. Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 12 ACT essay, step by step. Make sure you study ACT vocab using the most effective way possible. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

Ways To Improve Starbucks' Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ways To Improve Starbucks' Services - Essay Example Indeed, Starbucks needs to drastically change the way they distributes their service so as to increase customer satisfaction to remain competitive in the particular industry. Starbuck was founded in 1971 as a Seattle coffee bean retailer and roaster and since then has expanded quickly. Thus Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegel obtained the idea from Peet Alfred(of the famous Peet’s coffee)/.Initially the store just sold coffee making equipment and coffee beans as opposed to selling drinks, of which they have become popular globally. After a decade, Schultz Howard was contracted as a Director of Retail Operations and concluded that they ought to be selling drinks instead of machines and beans. Failing to convince the owners, they parted ways and Howard started the II Giornale series of coffee bars in the year 1986. The following year, Baldwin and company decided to sell Starbucks to Schultz who immediately changed the name of his II Giornale locations to Starbucks and began expanding. After dominating Seattle the chain of coffeehouses spread throughout the US and later on became international. Over the length of time, Starbucks has been in e xistence, it has acquired and bought companies such as Seattle’s and Peet’s Best Coffee and taken over several locations of Coffee people and Diedrich Coffee stores. From 1987, Starbucks has been opening 2 new stores everyday on average. The first ever store outside of the US or Canada was opened in 1996 in Tokyo and it Starbucks still maintains a considerable presence in Japan even to date. Today Starbucks has been able to expand to more than 17,200 stores in more than 55 nations worldwide. They have the biggest presence in the US, which has over 11,200 stores. Starbucks can be located in such diverse nations as Romania, Chile, Bulgaria and Bahrain. The very recent expansion took place in Budapest. Presently the overseas stores make up about one third of Starbuck’s

Enterprise infrastructure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Enterprise infrastructure - Essay Example It is subdivided into smaller sections within a large portal. An EIP allows users to get information in the desired context. It categorizes information for easy access to users. It also allows employees to collaborate by sharing information regardless of their geographical locations. An EIP allows an organization to disseminate information efficiently. It also enables an organization to consolidate all its websites in a single platform. In addition, it provides quick access to information within an organization. EIP allows employees in an organization to access relevant personalized information quickly. EIP can also provide targeted employee information depending on their roles preferences. One of the most important guidelines for determining the best information sharing approach is information security. In any communication, the message is supposed to remain confidential. It should not reach unintended parties. An EIP is relatively secure for sharing organizational information because various categories of users can access different portals. The system allows authorized users to login to respective accounts and get personalized information. The second factor that determines the approach of sharing information within an organization is the accessibility of the information. A good system of sharing information should be easy to use and widely available. It should not be confined to specific places alone. It should enable users to get what they want at any place and time. The third factor that determines information sharing strategy in an organization is the speed of dissemination. Information should reach the recipient within the shortest time possible. A good information sharing system should, therefore, transmit the information to the recipient within a short period. An organization should encourage the use of three information flows within the organization. The three information flows are downward, upward and

Competent to Counsel...by Jay Adams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Competent to Counsel...by Jay Adams - Essay Example The first chapter of the book, 'Christianity and Psychiatry today', deals with psychiatry in general in relation to Christianity. According to the author, "psychiatry, that illegitimate child of psychology which historically has made the most grandiose claims, is itself in a serious trouble." (Adams, 1986, P 1). The main subtopics of the chapter include 'Psychiatry is in Trouble', 'The Freudian Ethic', 'Freudian Theory and Therapy', 'The Revolution in Psychology', 'Freud: An Enemy, not a Friend', and 'Where Does This Leave Us'. The ideas disseminated through the various chapters of the book, especially with regard to nouthetic counseling, have a great relevance to the ministry of a pastor in developing a general approach to Christian counseling and specific response to particular problems faced by the people. The second chapter of the book, 'The Holy Spirit and Counseling', establishes that counseling is the work of the Holy Spirit and effective counseling cannot be done apart from Him. "Counseling, to be Christian, must be carried on in harmony with the regenerating work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called 'Holy' because of his nature and his work. All holiness stems from His activity in human lives. All of the personality traits that might be held forth to counselees as fundamental goals for growth (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) God declares to be the 'fruit' of the Spirit." (Adams, 1986, P 20). Through the main sub-topics of the chapter, 'Counseling is the Work of the Spirit', 'How does the Holy Spirit work in Counseling', 'The Holy Spirit's works through Means', 'The Holy Spirit's Work is Sovereign', and 'The Holy Spirit Works by means of His Word', the author establishes the link between counseling and the Holy Spirit. The next chapter, "What is Wrong with the Mentally Ill", deals with the issues related with psychological problems of the individuals through the analysis of the case of Leo held. To the author, mental illness is a misnomer and he discusses other topics such as 'People with Personal Problems often use Camouflage', 'Homosexuality Fits the Pattern', and Adrenachrome or Schizophrenia' In the fourth chapter of the book, "What is Nouthetic Counseling", Jay Adams investigates the various aspects of nouthetic counseling in relation to the works of the Church and the main points include 'Nouthetic Confrontation: By the Whole Church', 'Peculiarly the Work of the Ministry', 'Three Elements in Nouthetic Confrontation', Nouthetic and the Purpose of Scripture', 'Nouthetic Involvement', 'Love is the Goal', 'Authoritative Counseling', 'Failure in Nouthetic Confrontation', 'Some Reasons for Failure', 'Qualifications for Counseling' and 'Pastoral Applications'. As the author establishes in the chapter, Jesus Christ is at the center of all true Christian counseling and the nouthetic activity specifically characterizes the work of the ministry. "Nouthetic confrontation consists of at least three basic elements. The word is used frequently in conjunction with didasko (which means 'to teach') Nouthetic confrontation always implies a problem, and presupposes an obstacle that must be overcome; something is wrong in the life of the one who is confronted." (Adams, 1986, P 20). Therefore, the author gives convincing explanation of Nouthetic confrontation and helps us realize nouthetic counsel

Motivation For Language Learning Among Libyan Students English Language Essay

Motivation For Language Learning Among Libyan Students English Language Essay The motivation to learn a foreign or second language is a subject of some considerable interest nowadays. This has not always been the case. In 1956, Wally and Lambert believed that learning another language involved verbal ability and intelligence but notions like motivation, attitudes and anxiety were not considered to be of significance. Opinions have since changed and one might occasionally think that affective variables are the only influences worthy of consideration. Learning a foreign language can be a difficult and lengthy process and I would not be at all surprised to learn that several variables, so far not considered significant, were found to be of importance in second-language acquisition. Hitherto, research has concentrated on individual difference features of the student such as, language anxiety, attitudes and motivation, self-confidence, personality variables (e.g. risk-taking, desire to succeed, empathy and so on), intelligence, field independence, language learning strategies, and language aptitude. However, there are other variables and other classes of variables that could be considered. This essay will focus on motivation, as I believe that many of these other variables are reliant on motivation for their effects to be realized. For example, language-learning strategies are unlikely to be used if the learner is not motivated to learn the second language and a learner will be disinclined to take risks using the second language if he / she has little intention of learning it. Therefore, motivation is crucial, in the same way that language aptitude is, in determining the success or otherwise of learning a foreign language in a classroom setting. Ellis (1985) states that motivated individuals who integrate both linguistic and non-linguistic outcomes of the learning experience will accomplish desirable attitudes and a higher degree of second-language proficiency. Recent years have seen an increase in the number of Libyan students coming to the UK to study for postgraduate degrees. A major issue for most of these students is their poor command of English, both verbal and written. This naturally has a negative impact on their ability to integrate into life in England, both on and off campus. An examination of their motivation to learn English may highlight the linguistic challenges they face in England and the process of their adaptation to both their degree study and the new society and culture. Therefore, this essay will first undertake a literature review to look at research carried out into motivation for second-language acquisition. It will then describe and examine adult Libyan students instrumental and integrative motivation in learning English as a second language. Secondly, it will introduce a short semi-structured interview with postgraduate Libyan students who have not long been in the UK. The purpose of the interview is to establish whether their goal orientation is mainly instrumental or integrative. Some conclusions will be made before some implications for classroom teaching are drawn. Literature Review According to Dornyei (2009), it is necessary to know what motivation is so as to enhance the motivational intensity of students. He defines motivation as a cluster of factors that energize the behaviour and give it direction. Alkinson (2000: 123) defines motivation as the effort that learners put into learning a second language as a result of their needs or desire to learn it. According to Gardner and Lambert (1972), there are two types of motivation: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. Gardner and Lambert (1972) state that integrative motivation occurs when learners are interested in learning about the second languages culture and want to communicate with speakers of that language and become integrated into that culture: a more interpersonal quality of learning. On the other hand, Gardner (1996) states that instrumental motivation refers to those students who learn a second language in order to gain some kind of advantage be it economic (better paid job) or social (better status). They are thus more practical and self-oriented. Lamp (2004) finds that most Libyan students who study English as a second language are instrumentally rather than integratively orientated. Dornyei Ushioda (2009: 53) believe that integrative orientation is an essential source of motivation because it is based firmly in learners personalities. As such it is likely to exert its influence over an extended period and to sustain learning efforts over the time which is necessary to achieve language learning success. Also, Skehan (1989) suggests that being integratively oriented leads to greater motivation, which in turn helps to sustain the learner throughout the long process of mastering a second language, particularly when that learner only starts learning the new language in high school. Instrumental motivation on the other hand is less effective because it is not rooted in the learners personality. It is therefore more susceptible to negative external influences and the learner is less likely to put in the effort required to attain cumulative progress. According to Lamb (2004), over the last few years, motivation has nevertheless been reconceptualised. He argues that integrative motivation is becoming increasingly unimportant in a globalizing world in which English is the medium of communication between speakers of many languages, from many cultures, for many purposes. The desire to integrate with the first language community hardly makes sense anymore. Therefore, the debate about the integrative concept has intensified and has taken a new turn. Dornyei Ushioda (2009), ask whether we can apply the concept of integrative orientation when there is no specific target reference group of speaker. In other words, does it makes sense to talk about integrative attitudes when ownership of English does not necessarily rest with a specific community of speaker, whether American English or British English? Moreover, does the notion of integrative motivation of learning English have any real meaning, given the increasing curricular reframing o f English as a universal basic skill to be taught from primary level alongside literacy and numeracy, and given the predicted decline in numbers of English as a foreign language learners by the end of this decade? These questions have led some second-language motivation researchers to rethink the concept of integrative motivation. Yashima (2002: 57), for example, expands the notion of integrativeness to refer to a generalised international outlook or international posture, which she defines with reference to Japanese learners of English who have an interest in foreign or international affairs, willingness to go overseas to stay or work, readiness to interact with intercultural patterns, and openness or a non-ethnocentric attitude toward different culture. Dornyei Ushioda (2009) expand this concept of international posture such that the external reference group moves from being a specific geographic and enthnolinguistic community to being a non-specific global community of English language users. Ushioda (2006) questions whether it is meaningful to conceptualise these points, i.e. is it meaningful to conceptualise the global community as an external reference group or as part of ones internal representation of oneself as a defacto member of that global community? This theoretical shift of focus to the internal domain of self and identity by researchers such as those mentioned above makes this a radical rethink of the original integrative concept. Dornyei and Csizer (2002) speculate that the process of identification theorised to underpin integrativeness might be better explained as an internal process of identification within the persons self-concept, rather than identification with an external reference group. Dornyei (2005: 175) developed this idea further by drawing on the psychological theory of possible selves. According to this theory, possible selves represent individuals ideas of what what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they afraid of becoming, and so provide a conceptual link between the self concept and motivation. Dornyei (2005) also builds on this theory of possible selves to develop a new conceptualisation of second- language motivation, the second language motivational self-system. Its central concept is the idea of self, which refers to the representation of the attributes that someone would ideally like to possess (i.e. a representation of personal hopes, aspirations or desires). In relation to second-language motivation, Breen (2001) argues that second-language aquisition theorists have not developed a comprehensive theory of identity that integrates the language learners and the language-learning context. Breen (2001) uses the term identity to describe how a person understands his/her relationship to the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how the person understands possibilities for the future. Breen (2001: 45) developed the motivational concept of investment to capture the socially and historically constructed relationship of the learner to the target language, and their often ambivalent desire to learn and practise it. When learners are interested in a language, they do so with the understanding that they will acquire a wider range of symbolic and material resources, which will enhance their culture capital, their identity and their desires for the future. Therefore, an investment in the target language is an investment in the learners own identity. Arnold (2002) proposed that in addition to the current research and theories, there is a need to draw on a wider variety of theoretical viewpoints in order to further our understanding of motivation in second-language learning. Of these, the more important ones that are relevant to this essay include the cognitive perspective of learner goal orientation, the theory of goal-setting and attributional theory, all of which will now be briefly discussed. Firstly, according to Pintrich (1989), the cognitive perspective differentiates two major learner goal orientations: intrinsic and extrinsic. Students demonstrate an extrinsic orientation if their reasons for engaging in a task are to acquire grades, rewards, or approval from others. Conversely, Arnold (2000) maintains that if the rationale for students engaging in a task is curiosity, challenge, mastery, or learning, then they are considered to be intrinsically oriented. Arnold (2000) also adds that there is much evidence in second-language acquisition literature to support the claim that intrinsic motivation is strongly connected to the outcomes of second-language learning. Harmer (2007) suggests, even where the original reason for taking up a language course, for example, is extrinsic, the chance of success will be greatly enhanced if the students come to love the learning process. According to Philips (2005) most Libyan students are extrinsically oriented. For example, all Libyan schools place a strong emphasis on tests, grades and competitiveness, all of which only serve to promote Libyan students extrinsic motivation. The students are only learning the second language to impress their parents and teachers rather than learning it because they love to do so. As a result, adult students who come to study in the UK have been extrinsically motivated to simply do enough to pass exams and get a well-paid job after graduating. Secondly, according to Locke Latham (1994: 55) the theory of goal setting is based on the principle that much human action is purposeful, because it is directed by conscious goals. This theory explains why some people carry out tasks better than others: those who are goal oriented perform better and achieve more. Garden (1985) states that there are two important aspects of goals: goal mechanisms and goal attributes. Content and intensity are the most widely studied goal attributes. However, goal specificity and goal difficulty are aspects of content which are most researched. Dornyei (2005) states that commitment is the most commonly studied feature of intensity and this is the degree to which a person is attracted to the goal, considers it significant, is determined to achieve it, and sticks with it in the face of difficulties. Locke and Latham (1996: 40) propose three direct mechanisms by which goals regulate performance: Firstly, goals direct activity toward actions which are goal appropriate at the expense of actions that are inappropriate. Secondly, goals adjust expenditure in that individuals regulate their effort according to the complexity level of the goal or task. Thirdly, goals influence the perseverance of action in situations where there are no time limits. Finally, Dornyei Ushioda (2009) define the attributional theory of motivation. This portrays human beings as scientists who are motivated to achieve a causal understanding of the world. These strivings for a causal explanation are supposed to have behavioural implications. In an achievement-related context, the chief sets of causes considered responsible for failure and success are: effort, ability, luck and task characteristics. Weiner (1992) states that these are analysed along two dimensions: stability and lack of control. The stability dimension contrasts ability and task difficulty, both of which are thought to be unchangeable, with effort and luck possibly changing on subsequent attempts to carry out a task. The lack of control aspect contrasts ability and effort (both internal factors) with task difficulty and luck (both external factors). In principle, individuals might attribute causes to any one of these four factors. Dont know if this is what you mean also not sure if it s very clear, especially the bit about dimensions and the following couple of sentences Motivation for Language Learning among Adult Libyan students in the UK: Instrumental or Integrative? It has been established that individuals learn a second language in two main ways: they are either instrumentally or integratively motivated. Among Libyan students, it would appear that instrumental motivation is more evident than integrative motivation and that teaching and learning for exams have dominated foreign language teaching in Libya. According to Philips (2005), in Libyan education, English is compulsory. The majority of Libyan language learners do not choose to learn English; consequently, many lack the internal drive for learning English and they have to depend on external driving forces. Philips (2005) adds that because English is compulsory, students see it as a means of improving their social standing. Moreover, the Libyan people think that almost everything can be attained through hard work, even if they take no personal interest in it. So, it is not unusual that Libyan EFL students learn English to qualify for graduate and postgraduate education, to prepare themselve s for the best future employment possible and to pass exams; all of which are external factors and which align with several collective social expectations. Johnson Krug (1980) believe integrative motivation to be more prevalent than instrumental motivation in the learning process, since without external influencing factors, the student becomes unmotivated to learn. This however is not the case in cross-cultural situations. Johnson Krug (1980) find that external driving forces, particularly those nurtured and supported by the exam system and curriculum in formal education, continue to motivate the Libyan EFL student. Many studies have looked at motivation in a Libyan context, and found that instrumental orientation is very common among Libyan EFL students. Kara (1992) maintains that 99% of Libyan students of English are only learning English for reasons of certificate motivation. Philips (2005) argues that most Libyan individuals learn English for utilitarian and patriotic reasons, for personal advancement as well as for national modernization and material gains. Libyan students are motivated to learn English because they believe that they will be financially better off in the future. Interview The aim of this short and semi-structured interview is to prove what has been shown through the research discussed above: namely that adult Libyan students who come to study in the UK exhibit signs of instrumental orientation rather than integrative orientation when it comes to their English learning experiences. This researcher will examine the motivation behind second-language acquisition in an informal setting and will interview postgraduate Libyan students who are undertaking MA and PhD studies in the UK. Research Questions Several questions were considered important for the purposes of this research. These were as follows: What has motivated Libyan students in the UK to learn English? Do you think it is important to learn English, and why? What was your reason for learning English in the UK? What are your attitudes towards British people? And finally what work youll be doing in your country after graduating in the UK? Participants and Data Collection Procedures Two postgraduate Libyan students who are studying for degrees in the UK participated in this study. For both students, this was their first time in the UK and their first time in an English speaking country. Both respondents were found through my own social network and were friends of a friend. See further details in Table (1) below. Name Gender Age Current subject Duration of study in the UK Mohammed Male 26 MA Medicines Three years Laila Female 29 PhD TESOL Four years Table 1 Data were collected from both students separately and at different times. Both students had already been in the UK for 18 months. Each interview took approximately 30 minutes. Both students gave permission for their answers to be taped during the interviews. Discussion Both respondents believe that English is of great importance to their academic education in the UK. Both had come to study at a postgraduate level in the UK in order to improve their career prospects and benefit financially upon graduating. As discussed before, these reasons show a distinct instrumental orientation in their motivation for learning English. Both respondents felt a current and urgent need to further improve their four skills reading, listening, speaking and writing of English despite their achievements in learning English in Libya before they came to the UK. Their experience of learning English in Libya involved particular training programs and / or formal instruction. This meant that they excelled at passing English exams rather than being able to converse in a practical way with English-speaking people. Having recognised that they might have some problems when they got to the UK, both respondents spent a year improving their knowledge of English before applying for their postgraduate courses. They also did this to assist them in their actual postgraduate work as both felt that they needed additional language skills in order to cope with their studies. Mohammed said oral skills are important to me because they help me to communicate with people from different parts of the world and also help me in my academic degree. With good oral skills I can cope more easily with academic activities such as communication or discussions with my supervisor, understanding seminars and talking to other students about their studies. Laila however, said (English) reading and writing skills are particularly significant when it comes to writing my thesis. It was obvious that both respondents tended to be more preoccupied with an instrumental orientation. Kara (1992) found that Libyas motivation for learning English is very job-oriented and certainly very pragmatic. Libyans learn English because learning English provides them with a sense of achievement and helps them secure better-paid jobs. For Mohammed, the practical aspects of the English language seemed to far outweigh the integrative dimension. He said Ill need English for my future career because I desire to work in the UK after graduating. My area of study is popular with the medical field in many countries, particularly in the UK. Working in the UK will be more lucrative for me than working in Libya. However, he added that if I were to find a job as a doctor and live in the UK, maybe I will have intrinsic goal orientations when it comes to learning English then because then I will want to be able to communicate with English people and have a deeper understanding of their comm unity and culture so that I can integrate and adjust to the society. The second interviewee, Laila said Studying English is essential to me since without it, an individual cannot be successful in any respected field, and also for me, studying English can be significant because if I am skilled in English, others will respect me more. In addition, she said, In my country Libya, people who get a good degree in an English speaking country find it easier to find a well-paid job because my country lacks qualified English teachers in higher education. She also added I am interested in using the Internet as a communication tool to help me learn about people from different countries. It is also useful for finding information and learning materials in English. Both respondents had negative attitudes towards British people that they had met. They felt that British people were arrogant, impatient and prejudiced. This could be considered further evidence of instrumental orientation. According to Dornyei Ushioda (2009), negative attitudes towards the target language community, may lead to a lack of interest in interacting with the people of the target language. Mohammed had experience of being treated rudely and impatiently by an English person when he had asked for directions. Having had this experience, he was less willing to interact with English people in case it happened again. Laila said my English landlord treated me less favourably in the allocation of rooms than English tenants who shared the same house. This is a sad example of a negative experience as a result of Lailas aspiration towards integrative motivation. Laila felt that her landlord was prejudiced against individuals from developing countries. She too has had negative experiences when trying to interact with ordinary British people in the street. Laila asked a woman for some directions to the coach station and this woman not only ignored the question but also walked quickly away. As a result, Laila has felt frustrated by some British people who she found to be very arrogant and would have preferred to avoid. Both respondents, despite their negative attitudes toward English people, felt that they were more successful in learning English in the UK than at home. Johnson Krug (1980) suggest that people who rated foreign people negatively were more successful than those who rated them positively and that the expression of negative feeling towards them only spurred them on to overcome and manipulate the people of the target language. Finally, both respondents were able to agree that their motivational goals with regard to learning English were instrumental. Both said that they hoped to get better-paid jobs after graduating and English skills were part of this overall plan. In summary, the interview process has shown that both Libyans were highly motivated to learn English and that they had a higher degree of instrumental motivation than integrative motivation. According to Pintrich (1989) and from his cognitive perspective, the data would indicate that both respondents exhibited extrinsic goal orientations. Both believed that learning English would assist them in their postgraduate studies, enhance their career prospects, improve their English interactions and communications and assist them in integrating into British communities. In other words, learning English was seen to improve their quality of life in the UK. Conclusion Motivation is one of the most significant factors influencing learners second-language proficiency and achievement. Libyan students show signs of being instrumentally motivated rather than integratively motivated. In order to illustrate this, an interview was set up to investigate motivation to learn English among Libyan postgraduate students. Data gathered during the interviews supported the theory that they had been motivated to learn out of the belief in the instrumental or extrinsic value of English, primarily for their studies and future career prospects. Some research showed that current English teaching methods in Libya are targeted towards achieving good grades rather than promoting proficiency. Whilst many Libyan students do well in the English exams in Libya, their ability to use English in an English-speaking environment on a day-to-day basis remains limited. It has been shown that instrumentally motivated EFL students in Libya learn English to increase their employment pr ospects, increase their salary expectations and for social advancement. Instrumental motivation is maintained through the exam system and its attendant teaching environment. Classroom implications According to Dornyei and Csizer (2001), teachers play an important role in maximizing students motivation to learn a second language in the classroom. To this end, there are some teaching and learning strategies, which could be employed in the English-learning classroom. Firstly, Dornyei and Csizer (2001) suggest that teachers should dispense with the traditional teacher-centered teaching methods and instead encourage students to use their initiative. English could be introduced using multi-media examples such as music, film, TV and literature. Once their interest is induced, students will be motivated to take part in classroom activities and so attain the goal of language learning. Teachers need to take on many roles: cooperator, organizer, informant, initiator, guide, participant and advisor. A learner-centered class is a successful class with learners playing the dominant role. Learner-centered dynamic classrooms can help learners to make progress and encourage them to practise the second language. Secondly, Dornyei (2001) states that teachers should create a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom because a tense atmosphere can cause anxiety amongst learners and this hinders their motivation and effectiveness in a foreign language. Additionally, teachers should choose teaching materials that are appropriate for the learners and that create a desire for learning. Authentic and interesting teaching materials enable learners to improve their verbal and oral communication skills in real-life situations. Thirdly, Dornyei (2001) adds that teachers should increase self-confidence among students of English through encouragement rather than scolding or criticising. Finally, Dornyei and Csizer (1998) assert that a teacher can increase students natural curiosity towards the English community and its culture by discussing things like geography, history, lifestyle, political matters, day-to-day living and using written, audio and visual information. Drawing upon the experience of students who have visited English-speaking countries is also a clever way to introduce interesting information. Teachers should help students to realize that they are not just learning English to pass exams. Students should look upon the exercise as a means of learning about other cultures, people and societies. Teachers of English should cultivate positive attitudes among their students towards English speaking people and cultures, thereby promoting integrative motivation for learning English. Check the spellings of the researchers names you quote there were several inconsistencies which Ive corrected (after checking in google) but you might like to check that they are indeed spelled correctly.

Bankruptcy: Frightening Reality Essay -- essays research papers

Since the 1960s, personal bankruptcy has often served as a refuge for the young and struggling. Bankruptcy lawyers say younger and less-educated people tended to rack up too much debt while starting families and jobs, without a savings cushion to carry them through lean times. That's changing, as personal bankruptcy filings hit all-time highs. Last year, there were more than 1.6 million such filings, nearly twice as many as a decade earlier. Some experts say much of the increase is being driven by older people, many with decades of work experience in white-collar jobs. In 2001, per capita filings by people ages 45 to 54 increased 58% from a decade earlier, according to one study. Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding that allows a person who is overwhelmed with debts to eventually become debt-free. In a typical personal-bankruptcy case, credit-card balances and other "unsecured" debts-which are not backed by any collateral-are wiped out entirely. Under court supervision, the de btor then negotiates a plan with creditors to pay off as much of the remaining debt as possible, over three to five years. During that time, debtors cannot take on any new debts, but they are protected by the courts from being sued by creditors or having their assets repossessed. Credit reports list bankruptcy filings for seven to 10 years, making it almost impossible for a filer to get new loans or credit. But once that period is over, the debtor can move on with a clean credit record, free of de...

The Big Three in Economics: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes Essay

Economics Introduction                   Adam Smith and Karl Marx are some of the few economists whose school of thoughts impacted the world’s economy through different generations. Smith argued that when individuals of a society work in self-interest, they collectively afford to acquire services and goods the society requires. This mechanism is famously known as â€Å"the invisible hand,† in Adam’s book The Wealth of Nations. Contrast with Adam’s theory, Karl Marx believes that a capitalist will take advantage of his labor forces for his own self-interest, and therefore it is better for individuals to be community oriented(Jingham & Girija, 2014).                   According to Smith, economic recession is the situation where there is a drop in the economy. Lack of employment is one of the indicators of a recession situation. Therefore, if each individual takes the initiative to generate income for self-interest, they will end up collectively averting an economic recession period.                   According to Karl Marx, greed and self-interest are not good for businesses and they are hazards in the society. Greed in business can occur when the rich business owners take advantage of their employees for their own self-interest and growth(Skousen, 2012). This amplifies the gap between the poor and the rich.                   However. Greed and self-interest can also be beneficial to any given business and society. Adam Smith’s school of thought contradicts with the moral values and ethics on greed andself-interest(Jingham & Girija, 2014). Greed will make individuals work extra hard in their distinct fields and, in the long run, these individual self-motivated interests add up to the aggregate well-being of the business. An example is an accountant, a procurement manager, the marketer, and the administrator, all working with self-interest will eventually jointly contribute greatly to the success of the business and the society.                   According to my current group, it is ethical for each member to work jointly with the rest of the members to achieve the group’s set objectives. Greed and self-interest are considered unethical for the group because it may lead to the dissolving of the group. This ethical perspective resemblesKarl Marx theory, since the aim of the group is to join us together for better achievement of our goals. References Jingham, M., & Girija, M. (2014). History of Economic Thought(Adam Smith and Karl Marx Contributions). New York: Vrinda Publications P Ltd. Skousen, M. (2012). The Big Three in Economics: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. Routledge Publishers : Chicago. Source document

Iodine Essays - Thyroid Disease, Thyroid, Iodine Deficiency, Iodine

Iodine Essays - Thyroid Disease, Thyroid, Iodine Deficiency, Iodine Iodine Iodine is an essential macromineral. Almost half the iodine is found in the thyroid gland which is located in the throat. Iodine is an important component of thyroid hormones, which control energy, metabolism in the body as well as the bodys temperature, reproduction, and growth. It is not found in the body so it is very important that you get about .15 mg. daily. Some foods such as vegetables, grains, table salt, dairy products, and especially seafood are the best sources of iodine. Breathing in sea air everyday will give you a sufficient amount of iodine to prevent a disease called goiter. There are two types of goiter: toxic and simple. Toxic goiter is caused by excess of thyroxin secretion. Symptoms may include rapid heart beat, tremor, increased sweating, increased appetite, weight loss, weakness, and fatigue. Other symptoms may include eye problems such as staring or protrusion. Goiter affects over 200 million people throughout the world. 96% is caused by iodine deficiency. Goiters are rare in the U.S. and other industrialized countries because iodine is now added to table salt. Iodine affects body functions too. Hair and nail growth are affected by iodine. The brain, skin, speech, teeth, energy production, metabolism, and physical & mental health development are dependent on a well-functioning thyroid gland. Deficiency symptoms include dry hair, goiter, intellectual disability, paused growth, irritability, nervousness, and obesity. If a pregnant woman takes iodine during pregnancy, the development of goiter will be decreased for both the mother and the child. Iodine is the most efficient treatment for children who have goiter. Iodine does have a down side to it, too. It is not toxic up to 2,000 mcg daily, but it may cause acne. Too much iodine is can link to thyroid cancer. Some people are sensitive to iodine and may break out in a rash if their iodine intake is excessive. The rash looks like a lot like acne. It disappears when the iodine intake is reduced. Most of the illnesses related to iodine occur on all continents and to people of all ages. People who mostly avoid dairy, seafood, processed food, and iodized salt can become deficient. Iodine deficiency can cause low thyroid function, goiter, cretinism. Some people who are overweight mistakenly blame their overweight condition on an under active thyroid gland. In the hopes of speeding up their metabolism, they may start taking a supplement or eating sea salt or seaweed. But in very large amounts, iodine can be poisonous. Iodine is used to treat cuts and scrapes on the skin. The human thyroid gland secretes an iodine-bearing hormone called thyroxin. The body needs iodine as an iodine deficiency causes thyroid trouble. Most table salt is now iodized to supplement the diet. As well, iodine is found in seafood. Iodine is only needed in trace amounts. A good source of this mineral is kelp. Iodine helps to metabolize excess fat and it is very important for both mental and physical health. Iodine deficiency in children can cause mental retardation. In adults iodine deficiency is related to fatigue, breast cancer, hypothyroidism or cretinism, and weight disorders. Chronic iodine toxicity results when the iodide intake is 20 times greater than the daily requirement. In some areas, particularly Japan, inhabitants consume as much as 50 to 80 mg a day, resulting in high plasma levels. Some of these people develop goiters. Increased uptake of iodine by the thyroid may lead to inhibition of thyroid hormone synthesis and eventually causes iodide goiter or myxedema. At very high doses of iodide, a brassy taste, increased salivation, gastric irritation, and skin acne may occur. Iodine is the important component of thyroxine, the thyroid gland's hormone. If there is not enough iodine in the diet, there is insufficient thyroxine, and the pituitary gland responds by releasing more thyroid-stimulating hormone. This causes enlargement of the thyroid gland. However, a goiter may also be caused by overactivity of the pituitary gland or by overactivity of the thyroid gland itself. Other causes include reduced activity of the thyroid gland, so that the gland swells in order to produce more thyroxine. Some types of drugs can produce a goiter. During adolescence or pregnancy, a goiter may appear as the thyroid gland copes with the body's need for more thyroxine. Sometimes a goiter is caused by a tumor on the thyroid gland. Bibliography www.juno.com

First Anglo-Afghan War, 1839-1842

First Anglo-Afghan War, 1839-1842 During the nineteenth century, two large European empires vied for dominance in Central Asia. In what was called the Great Game, the Russian Empire moved south while the British Empire moved north from its so-called crown jewel, colonial India. Their interests collided in Afghanistan, resulting in the First Anglo-Afghan War of 1839 to 1842. Background to the First Anglo-Afghan War In the years leading up to this conflict, both the British and Russians approached Afghanistans Emir Dost Mohammad Khan, hoping to form an alliance with him. Britains Governor-General of India, George Eden (Lord Auckland), grew extremely concerned with he heard that a Russian envoy had arrived in Kabul in 1838; his agitation increased when talks broke down between the Afghan ruler and the Russians, signaling the possibility of a Russian invasion. Lord Auckland decided to strike first in order to forestall a Russian attack. He justified this approach in a document known as the Simla Manifesto of October 1839. The manifesto states that in order to secure a trustworthy ally to the west of British India, British troops would enter Afghanistan to support Shah Shuja in his attempts to retake the throne from Dost Mohammad. The British werent invading Afghanistan, according to Auckland- just helping out a deposed friend and preventing foreign interference (from Russia). The British Invade Afghanistan In December of 1838, a British East India Company force of 21,000 mainly Indian troops began to march northwest from Punjab. They crossed the mountains in the dead of winter, arriving at Quetta, Afghanistan in March of 1839. The British easily captured Quetta and Qandahar and then routed Dost Mohammads army in July. The emir fled to Bukhara via Bamyan, and the British reinstalled Shah Shuja on the throne thirty years after he had lost it to Dost Mohammad. Well satisfied with this easy victory, the British withdrew, leaving 6,000 troops to prop up Shujas regime. Dost Mohammad, however, was not ready to give up so easily, and in 1840 he mounted a counter-attack from Bukhara, in what is now Uzbekistan. The British had to rush reinforcements back into Afghanistan; they managed to capture Dost Mohammad and brought him to India as a prisoner. Dost Mohammads son, Mohammad Akbar, began to rally Afghan fighters to his side in the summer and autumn of 1841 from his base in Bamyan. Afghan discontent with the continued presence of foreign troops mounted, leading to the assassination of Captain Alexander Burnes and his aides in Kabul on November 2, 1841; the British did not retaliate against the mob that killed Captain Burnes, encouraging further anti-British action. Meanwhile, in an effort to soothe his angry subjects, Shah Shuja made the fateful decision that he no longer needed British support. General William Elphinstone and the 16,500 British and Indian troops on Afghan soil agreed to begin their withdrawal from Kabul on January 1, 1842. As they made their way through the winter-bound mountains toward Jalalabad, on January 5th a contingent of Ghilzai (Pashtun) warriors attacked the ill-prepared British lines. The British East India troops were strung out along the mountain path, struggling through two feet of snow. In the melee that followed, the Afghans killed almost all of the British and Indian soldiers and camp followers. A small handful was taken, prisoner. The British doctor William Brydon famously managed to ride his injured horse through the mountains and report the disaster to British authorities in Jalalabad. He and eight captured prisoners were the only ethnic British survivors out of about 700 who set out from Kabul. Just a few months after the massacre of Elphinstones army by Mohammad Akbars forces, the new leaders agents assassinated the unpopular and now defenseless Shah Shuja. Furious about the massacre of their Kabul garrison, the British East India Company troops in Peshawar and Qandahar marched on Kabul, rescuing several British prisoners and burning down the Great Bazaar in retaliation. This further enraged the Afghans, who set aside ethnolinguistic differences and united to drive the British out of their capital city. Lord Auckland, whose brain-child the original invasion had been, next concocted a plan to storm Kabul with a much larger force and establish permanent British rule there. However, he had a stroke in 1842 and was replaced as Governor-General of India by Edward Law, Lord Ellenborough, who had a mandate to restore peace to Asia. Lord Ellenborough released Dost Mohammad from prison in Calcutta without fanfare, and the Afghan emir retook his throne in Kabul. Consequences of the First Anglo-Afghan War Following this great victory over the British, Afghanistan maintained its independence and continued to play the two European powers off of each other for three more decades. In the meantime, the Russians conquered much of Central Asia up to the Afghan border, seizing what is now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The people of what is now Turkmenistan were the last vanquished by the Russians, at the Battle of Geoktepe in 1881. Alarmed by the tsars expansionism, Britain kept a wary eye on Indias northern borders. In 1878, they would invade Afghanistan once again, sparking the Second Anglo-Afghan War. As for the people of Afghanistan, the first war with the British reconfirmed their distrust of foreign powers and their intense dislike of foreign troops on Afghan soil. British army chaplain Reverand G.R. Gleig wrote in 1843 that the First Anglo-Afghan War was begun for no wise purpose, carried on with a strange mixture of rashness and timidity, [and] brought to a close after suffering and disaster, without much glory attached either to the government which directed, or the great body of troops which waged it. It seems safe to assume that Dost Mohammad, Mohammad Akbar, and the majority of Afghan people were much better pleased by the outcome.