Reading Comprehension Strategies and Reading Skills

Reading Comprehension Strategies and Reading Skills GEPT: General English Profiency Test HP: Higher proficiency LP: Lower proficiency HETC: Harvard Education Training Center Rationale Hammadon (1991) says: â€Å"Reading comprehension is not just understanding words, sentences, or even texts, but involves a complex interartion of the readers prior knowledge, language profiency and their learning strategies† (p.30). So reading strategies are very important to achieve the comprehension. Many types of reading strategies are introduced to guide students of all different levels. However, there were few researchers who investigate the relationship of reading comprehension strategies and reading comprehension of students. At HETC, reading has a key place in any English courses when students study English not only as the interest but also the demand for improving their study and promoting in their careers to achieve the long-term goals, especially some of them were assigned to live and work abroad. In their learning process, almost the students meet great challenges when dealing with the reading texts. They usually do not understand texts and cannot complete the tas ks so they feel tired in reading lessons. Therefore, what are the main causes of this current situation? In order to find out the answer, the researcher started a survey on the reading comprehension strategy use. For teachers at HETC, it is hoped that this study may offer them the ways on how to identify strategies used by the students and then they can decide what they should do to promote their students reading comprehension and in their learning as well. Literature review 2.1. Reading comprehension strategies and reading skills Oxford (1990) gives a detailed definition of language learning strategies: â€Å" Learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations† (p.8) and described concretely how learning strategies are applied to the four language skills: listening, speaking, writing and reading. According to her, four strategies: listening strategies, †¦, or reading strategies are those learning strategies themselves that applied to each of the four skills. Of course, skills and strategies are two big words and common terms of the reading activities, as well. Nutall (1982) pointed out that reading was certainly a process of the readers, who used strategies to work with the meaning of the texts actively and then made sense from them. By the interesting interactions from the readers and texts, more and more researchers keep working to research the relationship between the use of reading strategies and reading comprehension. However, strategy and skill, are they different? Yes, it was actually apparent that they were different. Strategy meant people used the planned methods and implements to achieve their goals, but skill was known as a routine. Moreover, strategy was the result of conciously work towards goals. It helped readers to understand the meaning of contents in order to find out the answer or obtain a certain performance level in reading that they want for themselves (Gagnà ©, 1985). However, it is not always easy to make such a clear differnces between these two terms. Grabe and Stoller (2002) said that â€Å"many abilities that are commonly identified as strategies are relatively automatic in their use by fluent readers (e.g. skipping an unknown word while reading, rereading to reestabilsh text meaning† (p.15) Paris et al (1991) supposed â€Å" an emerging skill can become more efficient and developmentally advanced when they become generated and applied automatically as skills† (p.61). Sometimes this difference is not clear at all because that is part of the nature of reading. In this study, reading strategies are used to show specific actions, steps and plans that students conciously apply in their reading process to improve their comprehension. 2.2. The relationship between reading strategies and reading comprehension Reading comprehension must occur rapid in almost any purposeful context, and the more rapidly a text is read, the better reading processes are to effect. Those specific processes must be implemented effectively in combination to ensure the reading comprhension. Reading comprehension requires the reader be strategic. The reader needs to identify processing difficulties, address balances between text information and background knowledge, decide for monitoring comprhension, and shifing goals for reading. When a good reader use strategies, they can read fluently, flexible in line with changing purpose and then continue monitoring the comprehension. Similarly, reading is an process that evaluating the reader, who must decide if the reading information is coherent and finds out the purpose for reading.Alderson (2003) said reading as the interaction of four things. He claimed that the reader and the text together must be fluent reading or â€Å" the ability to reach at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension†, or â€Å" the ability of the reader to use a wide variety of reading strategies to accomplish a purpose for reading† (p.149). So discovering the best methods and strategies are the way that a good learner apply during a reading process. 2.3. Previous research on reading comprhension strategies Grellet, F. (1981) wrote a book â€Å"Developing Reading Skills†. This book showed the important role of reading and provided some techniques which help learners improve their reading skill. Nutal, C. (1989) proved reading is â€Å" to enable students to read without help unfamiliar authentic texts at appropriate speed, silently with adequate understanding†. Ozek, O. (2006) researched â€Å" A study on the Use of Cognitive Reading Strategies by ELT Students†. This study carried out to find out which reading strategies are commonly employed by ELT students while reading a text, and which reading strategies are needed to be developed to understand the text better, and to continue academic studies successfully. San San Kung (2007) did an investigation into the relationship between reading comprehension and the use of reading strategies among EFL students in colleges in Taiwan. Through the study, the researcher knew what the reading strategies the EFL students use more or less and what the differences between different grade students. Methodology This chapter will describe research methods used to collect data to answer the research questions and then explain how and why the methods are used. 3.1. Research questions This study aims to find out reading strategy use of HETCs students. This also has objectives to discover if there are any differences in strategy use between lower and higher proficiency readers, as well. Then to suggest some recommendations to raise students awareness of using reading comprehension strategies in the classroom. It aims at answering the following questions: 1. What reading strategies are used by students at HETC? 2. What are the differences in the use of reading strategies between lower and higher proficiency readers? 3.2. Descriptions of variables 3.2.1. Independent variables In this study, the independence variables were the students at HETC. 51 students were chosen as representatives of this particular group sudents to collect needed data. These 51 students were divided into four groups in which students are the members of higher and lower proficiency groups. These 2 groups were chosen to get information to answer the second research question ( More details about these groups and about higher and lower proficiency readers will be found in 3.3.1 and 3.4.2) 3.2.2. Dependent variable: The dependent variable in this research were the strategies applied in reading comprehension, i.e. reading comprehension strategies. 3.3. The data collection instruments: This study employs a combibation of 3 data collection instruments: * General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) * Questionaire * Think-aloud interviews As one of the objectives of this study is to find out if there are any dfferences in the strategy use between higher proficiency (HP) and lower proficiency (LP) readers. The test was used to divide the subjects into difference groups in which groups of higher and lower proficiency were chosen to collect the data. Think-aloud interviews aimed at getting qualitative data and quesionaire was used to get quantiative data. The author can collect a large information of all mentioned strategies and the information from students who share their thought of strategy use in the think-aloud interviews. Of course, the think a loud interviews in this study can be one of the best ways to reaffirm the result got from the questionaire. For example, in the questionaire, the subjects report that they use life experiences to understand the meaning of texts or read the first and last paragraphs and then go back to read the paragraphs; the author will know they use these strategies or not in the interview. 3.3.1. Test A General English proficiency test is a procedure taken to collect data on students ability or the knowledge of disciplines as â€Å" Information about peoples language ability is often very useful and necessary† (Nunan, 1992). The GEPT was taken form the book â€Å"IELTS for Academic Purpose: A short insentive course† (see the appendix 3). Based on the result of the test, the subjects were classified into 4 groups. Group 1 consists students who just got from mark 1 to 2.5; group 2 has those who got mark from 3 to 5. The students in these 2 groups are LP learners. Meanwhile, the students who are in group 3 got mark from 5.5 to 6.5 – they are at medium levels. And the last group – group 4 consists of HP ones who got mark from 7 and over. After having the result of the test, the author decided to chose group 2 and 4 to collect the data to answer the second research question. So there are 51 subjects in these 2 groups. The author did not choose group 1 becaus e their proficiency were too low and they were only 1% of the subjects. Details of the test can be found in Appendix 1. 3.3.2. Questionaire: Questionaire is the second data collection instrument in this study. This is also a pretty popular means of data collection. Many researchers suppose that using questionaire in language research has many advantages. First, questionaire can be given to a great amount of students at the same time and it is self-administered. Second, to protect the privacy and keep the fairness, the subjects names might not be appeared on the questionaire. So subjects tend to share the information more naturally, even some sensitive information. Third, the data collected are more accurate because questionaire is usually given to all the subjects at the same time. This study used one survey questionaire to gather the information about reading strategies as well as the differences in strategy use between these two kinds of readers. According to the result of the questionaire (and interviews), the athor can make some recommendation to help students improve their reading abilities. The quesionaire was designed based on the questionaire of Shan Shan Kung (2007). This part consists 3 parts. Of couse, in this study, the author modified the first part personal information part. The next part – concept of reading had 3 questions to explore the perceptions of English reading. The last part had thirty – eight questions of strategy use. In the beginning of third section, thirty – four questions utilized a Liker – Scale point systems. The subjects were asked to respond to each statement by choosing among four answers: 1) usually; 2) sometimes; 3) rarely; 4) never. Each section has four to six questions (except section 1 has 10 questions because of discovering the reading process). Through the survey, the author found out which strategies actually actracted HP readers more than LP readers. 3.3.3. Think aloud interviews In addition to the quetionaire, interviews are used to obtain information by actually talking to the subject. The interviewer asks questions and the subject responds. Interviews are the good way for collecting data as Seliger, H.W. (1989) claimed â€Å" Interviews are personalized and therefore permit a level of in-depth information – gathering, free response and flexibility that cannot be obtained by other procedures† (p.166). However, it can be costly and time consuming. In this study, think – aloud interviews were used to collect the data about the students reading strategy. The Interviewer Guide for Reading Strategies developed by Honsenfeld et al. (1981). In oder to make the Guide appropriate for objectives of thi study, the researcher has made some changes in the strategies they posed ( see Appendix 3). 3.4. Participants in the study: At the time the study was carried out, the subjects had just finished an English course. Their textbook was †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Therefore, their commonly assumed proficiency was intermidiate. They were members of three classes. One class included 25 students , 24 in the other class and 21 in the last one and they stuied the same textbook. Their ages ranged from 19 to 24. Almost all of students had at least 3 years of learning English before this class. They were delivered a reading proficiency test to be divided into higher and lower proficiency readers. In this study, gender has minimal effect on the results because the number of male students is quite small in the total of the subjects. 3.5. Procedure The data were collected by the researcher during a week in autum 2009. After contacting the English teachers of the subjects in person to get approval for asking their students to participate in the study, the researcher pre-arranged the time. The researcher went to English classes to administer the tests. The students were asked to complete the test in 60 minutes. The English teachers and the researcher supervised and marked the test papers later. The 2 days after, subjects were distributed the questionanires. The researcher gave some directions to the subjects and of then encouraged students to ask for any clarifications they might need and any other extra time when they filled out the questionaire. And of couse, the researcher wanted to protect the privacy and the students fairness, so the students names would not fill in the questionaires. In order to advoid misunderstanding the questions, the questionaire were translated into Vietnamese which were enclosed with the English version. The questionaire administration took about 30 minutes in each class. For days later, six chosen students were interviewed individually at the researcher s office in HETC. The reseacher pre-arranged the time and contacted to the students by the phone. Before the interview, the reseacher gave the instructions and explained the purpose of the study to students so they could understand what they had to do clearly. Each interview took from 10 to 15 minutes. Data analysis and findings 4.1. The result of the questionaire 4.1.1. Demographic Data Table 4.1 Demographic Information of Students (N=51) Subject Frequency Percentage Total N % Gender Male 9 17.6 51 100 Female 42 82.4 Level Lower proficiency 32 63.7 Higher proficiency 19 36.3 Years of English learning experience 2 3 5.9 51 100 4 9 17.6 5 15 29.4 6 11 21.6 7 6 11.8 8 2 3.9 9 4 7.8 10 1 2.0 Look at the table 4.1, of the 51 students participating in the study, 9 (17.6%) were males and 43 (82.4%) were females. Of the 19 HP students (36.3%) and 32 (63.7%) were LP students. When asking about years of English learning experience, just 1 students (2.0%) has been studying English for ten years. 9 students (17.6%) have been studying English for four years, 15 students (29.4%) have been studying English for five years, 11 students (21.6%) have been studying English for six years, 6 students (11.8%) have been studying English for seven years, 2 students (3.9%) have been studying English for eight years, 4 students (7.8%) have been studying English for nine years. Because foreign language in general and English in particular were given into school from sixth grade in secondary school, and from tenth grade in high school ( in some remote areas), the most students years of English learning experience were between four and seven years. To answer the second section of the questionnaire about concepts of reading, the results were presented in Table 4.2. Table 4.2 The Relationship between the Important of Reading for Language Learning and Reading Hours per Week by higher and lower proficiency students Reading hours per week 2 3 4 Over 4 N % N % N % N % Higher proficiency students (N =19) Very important 2 10.5 5 26.3 6 31.6 3 15.8 important 1 5.3 2 10.5 Not important Lower proficiency students (N =32) Very important 6 18.8 7 21.9 5 15.6 important 4 12.5 5 15.6 4 12.5 Not important 1 3.1 According to the illustration of Table 4.2, HP students who thought reading was very important for language learning were 2 (10.5%) spent two hours per week on reading, 5(26.3%) for three hours per week, 6 (31.6%), for four hours per week and 3 (15.8%) for over four hours per week. HP students who thought reading was important for language learning were 1 (5.3%) spent two hours per week on reading, 2 (10.5%) for four hours per week. There were not any students who thought reading was not important for language learning. In the LP group, 6 (18.8%) students thought reading was very important for language learning and spent two hours per week for it, 7 (21.9%) spent three hours for reading, 5 (15.6%) spent four hours for reading. These LP students supposed reading was important for language learning were 4 (12.5%) spent two hours per week on reading, 5 (15.6%) for three hours per week. There was 1 (3.1%) students said reading was not important for language learning but still spent two hours per week on it. 4.1.2. Findings for Research Question One The research question one was â€Å"What reading comprehension strategies are used by students at HETC ?† After collecting data, it showed what the same or different strategies were used more or less by HP or LP students for helping them understand the contents of the reading materials in different reading situations and were ranked from low to high to represent which strategy would be used more or less by the students during their reading process in different situations. The results were listed in the following by all of students reading ability levels when they used reading strategies in different reading situations. The total results came from the 51 students in Table 4.3, 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6. Table 4.3 Means, Ranks, and Standard Deviations of the Uses of Reading Strategies in First Section by students at HETC When I read English materials, Mean Mean SD Rank 1. I read a table of contents, and then read the contents 1.82 1 .90 2. I focus on the first sentence of each paragraph for helping me understand the main points of the whole paragraph 2.51 7 .12 3. I underline the main points when I am reading 2.03 4 .97 4. I write Vietnamese on the margin for vocabulary words I dont understand during reading 1.86 2 .90 5 I skim over the full text, and then read details 1.88 3 .92 6 I use life experiences helping me understand the meaning of texts 1.86 2 .90 7 I use the background knowledge of the English culture to understand the contents 2.57 8 1.03 8 I use key words or sentences to guess the main idea of the articles 1.88 3 1.08 9 After reading each paragraph, I ask myself if I understand what I read before, and paraphrase the main idea, then keep reading the next paragraph 2.25 5 1.09 10 I discuss what I read with classmates 2.45 6 1.05 In Table 4.3, the result indicated which strategies the 51 students used more or less when they read English materials. The table showed the data with mean, mean rank, and standard deviation. As illustration of Table 4.3, the mean was from 1.82 to 2.51 and the rank was S1 (1.82) Table 4.4 Means, Ranks, and Standard Deviations of the Uses of Reading Strategies in First Section by students at HETC When I do not understand a vocabulary, Mean Mean SD Rank 11 I check the dictionary immediately 2.37 3 1.1 12 I mark and pass it, keep reading and then go back 2.33 2 1.08 13 I use other words in the sentence to infer the meaning of vocabulary 2.09 1 .87 14 I analyze its suffix and prefix to get its meaning 3.00 4 1.21 Through Table 4.4, strategy 13 â€Å"I use other words in the sentence to infer the meaning of vocabulary† was most used by the students when they did not understand a vocabulary during the reading process. On contrary, strategy 14 â€Å"I analyze its suffix and prefix to get its meaning† was the strategy which most students used least in this reading situation. Table 4.5 Means, Ranks, and Standard Deviations of the Uses of Reading Strategies in First Section by students at HETC When I do not understand a sentence, Mean Mean SD Rank 15 I use the context (topic, subject) to derive the meaning of each sentence 1.86 1 .91 16 I translate word for word into Vietnamese to better understand the meaning of the sentences 2.35 4 1.12 17 I take grammar analysis (ex: finding subject and verb etc.) to understand the meaning of the sentences 2.33 3 1.02 18 I analyze the structure of sentences (ex: sample sentence, adjective clause, or adverb clause, etc.)to derive the meaning of sentence 2.37 5 .97 19 I will analyze the verb tense (ex: past tense or future tense) or verb mood (ex: subjunctive mood or imperative mood) for better understanding 2.27 2 .95 In Table 4.5, those strategies had close mean scores between each other, but it also pointed out the differences from 2.27 to 2.37, except the strategy 15 had the mean score less 1.86. It described that strategy 15 â€Å"I use the context (topic, subject) to derive the meaning of each sentence† were the most used by the students when they did not understand a sentence during reading process. Vice versa, the means of the strategy 16 and strategy 18 to derive the meaning of sentence† meant that they were used least than other strategies in this section. Table 4.6 Means, Ranks, and Standard Deviations of the Uses of Reading Strategies in First Section by students When I dont understand (including vocabulary and sentences,) except above reading strategies, Mean Mean SD Rank 20 I check books (ex: grammar books or encyclopedia) for references 2.16 2 1.14 21 I go on the Internet to find related information 1.98 1 .92 22 I ask teachers or classmates for clarification 2.27 3 1.03 23 I read the difficult parts several times 2.63 5 1.12 24 I read the contents orally several times 2.47 4 .94 25 I will memorize the vocabulary pertaining to the contents before reading 2.16 2 .99 According to the data, it presented that strategy 21 â€Å" I go on Internet to find related information† was used by almost students. The information technology nowaday becomes quite popular to students so they would like to search information on the Internet. The S20 = S25 (2.16) both stood the second position. The strategy that students used least was strategy 23 â€Å" I read difficult parts several times†. 4.1.3. Findings for Research Question Two Research question two was â€Å"What are the differences in the use of reading strategies of the higher and lower proficiency students at HETC?† Through mean, standard deviation, t-tests and p value, the data analysis depicted detailed information about the differences of reading strategy performance between these two groups of students. The comparative groups focused on higher and lower proficiency student. Table 4.7 Means, Standard Deviations, t-Tests and p Value between higher and lower proficiency students at HETC when I read English materials, Lower proficiency students Higher proficiency students T p (N=19) (N=32) Mean SD Mean SD 1. I read a table of contents, and then read the contents 2.00 1.054 1.72 .813 .999 .322 2. I focus on the first sentence of each paragraph for helping me understand the main points of the whole paragraph 2.16 1.118 1.78 .792 1.288 .20 3. I underline the main points when I am reading 2.00 1.105 2.06 .914 -.208 .84 4. I write Vietnamese on the margin for vocabulary words I dont understand during reading 2.79 1.084 2.78 1.069 .026 .98 5. I skim over the full text, and then read details 2.05 1.026 1.78 .870 .965 .34 6. I use life experiences helping me understand the meaning of texts 1.89 .937 1.84 .917 .189 .85 7. I use the background knowledge of the English culture to understand the contents 2.05 1.129 2.86 .871 -2.729 .00** 8. I use key words or sentences to guess the main idea of the articles 2.37 1.261 1.59 .911 2.412 .02* 9. After reading each paragraph, I ask myself if I understand what I read before, and paraphase the main idea, then keep reading the next paragraph 2.00 1.202 2.53 .983 -1.630 .11 10. I discuss what I read with classmates 2.53 1.264 2.41 .946 .359 .72 p As indicated in Table 4.7, strategy 7 and strategy 8 attended to the significant difference level (p Table 4.8 Means, Standard Deviations, t-Tests and p Value between higher and lower proficiency students at HETC When I do not understand a vocabulary, Higher proficiency students Lower proficiency students t p (N=19) (N=32) Mean SD Mean SD 11. I check the dictionary immediately 3.32 .749 1.81 .896 6.432 .00** 12. I mark and pass it, keep reading and then go back 2.89 1.1 2.06 .878 2.809 .00** 13. I use other words in the sentence to infer the meaning of vocabulary 2.05 .911 2.13 .871 -.279 .78 14. I analyze its suffix and prefix to get its meaning 2.84 1.344 3.13 1.07 -.782 .44 p In table 4.8, strategy 11 and strategy 12 attended to the significant different level (p Table 4.9 Means, Standard Deviations, t-Tests and p Value between higher and lower proficiency students When I do not understand a sentence, Higher proficiency students Lower proficiency students t p (N=19) (N=32) Mean SD Mean SD 15. I use the context (topic, subject) to derive the meaning of each sentence 1.89 1.1 1.84 .808 .176 .86 16. I translate word for word into Vietnamese to better understand the meaning of the sentences 3.21 0.976 1.84 0.884 5.005 .00** 17. I take grammar analysis (ex: finding subject and verb etc.) to understand the meaning of the sentences 2.16 1.167 2.44 .948 -.885 .38 18. I analyze the structure of sentences (ex: sample sentence, adjective clause, or adverb clause, etc.)to derive the meaning of sentence 1.84 .898 2.69 .896 -3.253 .00* 19. I will analyze the verb tense (ex: past tense or future tense) or verb mood (ex: subjunctive mood or imperative mood) for better understanding 1.84 .898

A contrast between opposing values in Hard Times Essay

The first incident that involves the circus and circus people that I would like to talk about, and that clearly demonstrates the contrast between opposing values is on page 34 onwards. Mr Gradgrind, the absolute pinnacle of fact in the book, goes to visit the Circus people to tell them that the fanciful Sissy Jupe can no longer attend the school. I have chosen this incident as it involves more of the circus characters than really at any other time, secondly the description of the circus shows just how far from the world and values of fact it is. The circus is the best symbol for representing the alternative to all that is fact in the book; the circus is seen as a world of mystery and wonder almost of magic and idea that completely goes against the idea of facts. Gradgrind and Bounderby go to see Sissy’s father only to find out he has abandoned his daughter, it is then that Mr Gradgrind decides on the possibility of taking Sissy to his own home, and educating her in the ways of fact from there. Mr Bounderby and Mr Gradgrind get together during this time and have a conference of opinions based upon the fact and laws they have always followed, Gradgrind being softer at heart but still the fact machine at this point wants to take Sissy home, but Gradgrind can be heard to be saying â€Å"No. I say no. I advise you not. I say by no means.† He does this as he is the metaphor for fact throughout the book and to take someone else’s child on as your own and teach them the ways of fact, when she has been living the life of fancy for many years seems absurd to Bounderby. However, at the same time that Gradgrind is having a debate about the matter with Bounderby, â€Å"†¦the various members of Sleary’s company gradually gathered together from the upper regions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The circus people are described in this chapter as being â€Å"†¦remarkable gentleness and childishness about these people, a special inaptitude for any kind of sharp practice, and an untiring readiness to help and pity one another, deserving often as much respect, and always as much generous construction, as the every-day virtues of any class of people in the world.† Unlike the likes of Bounderby and Gradgrind, who cannot be described as emotional or passionate or anything of the sort just â€Å"plain hard facts† Sleary in this chapter is the real philosopher on the ideas of fancy he even says it â€Å"†¦I lay down the philothophy of the thubject when thay to you, Thquire, make the betht of uth: not the wurtht!† This chapter clearly show the contrast between opposing views and values in Hard Times, the circus shows a whole new world but is representative of a whole new set of values the ideas of fancy are represented in the themes and scenes with the circus. The thing is with the circus is that it has almost dreamlike status things happen there that cannot happen anywhere else and it appears to be an almost illusion, for example â€Å"The father of one of the families was in the habit of balancing the father of another of the families on top of a great pole.† These are the things that you would only expect to see in dreams and so therefore it is fanciful, a complete contrast to the ideas of fact displayed throughout the rest of Hard Times. A good example of how far opposed to the ideas of fact the circus is takes place on page 12 and 13 when, Mr Gradgrind the keeper of facts and bringer of knowledge to Thomas and Louisa Gradgrind’s lives, catches them sat watching the circus people, he takes the view that the circus was bad news, as it opposes everything he stands for â€Å"Now to think of these vagabonds attracting the young rabble from a model school.† He sees the idea of the circus so fanciful and alien to him, he feels that to watch a circus act would be to debase himself or a well-educated child. It even says â€Å"his own mathematical Thomas abasing himself on the ground to catch but a hoof of the graceful equestrian Tyrolean flower act!† This sentence shows what the opposing values are fully in Hard Times, it is obvious from the statement that anything mathematical or just plain practical is in direct opposition to the fanciful nature of flower shows and the like. Thomas when caught does not even protest but knows that to obey his father’s principles he must â€Å"[give] himself up to be taken home like a machine.† That is clearly the way of fact to be machine like, and that is why the circus is such a good opposition and symbol of everything fact isn’t, Gradgrind condemns circus like ideals when he says â€Å"In the name of wonder, idleness and folly!† apparently to dream or to be imaginative is lazy in Gradgrind’s books. Which is why the factual way in which Gradgrind has based his life upon is so offended by the ideas of fancy as he doesn’t like the thought of being considered as being not lazy but that there can be other ways to work hard in life. Gradgrind is so full of the idea that facts are right, that he even questions and believes that with all these thoughts at the disposal they could make the wrong decision, when surely it isn’t a case of right and wrong? Just opposing views and they do oppose each other! Gradgrind does say though â€Å"Thomas though I have the facts before me I find it difficult to believe that you with your education and resources should have brought your sister to a scene like this.† This makes it seem as though education is supposed to kill the imagination, which clearly conflicts with the views of the circus, which believe that you should work hard and perform in life, but never let the dreams die.

Externalities Of Water Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay

Hu Siyi, frailty curate of H2O resources, said that serious rivers pollution and the deteriorating aquatic ecology are â€Å" rather outstanding † and may endanger the state ‘s sustainable growing. This essay is speaking about the outwardnesss of H2O pollution in China. The outwardnesss mean the outside effects of activities, negative outwardnesss mean the bad consequence. The outwardnesss are created when societal costs and benefits differ from private costs and benefits. For illustration, a chemical works may dump waste into a river in order to minimise its costs. Further down the river, a H2O company has to handle the H2O to take unsafe chemicals before providing imbibing H2O to its clients. Its clients have to pay higher monetary values because of the pollution There are 4 chief solutions of authorities intercession of outwardnesss: First intercession is Regulation which means authorities regulations on how much pollution allowed. Second intercession is Widening Property Rights which means authorities gives those who are injured the right to action. Third intercession is Taxation which means authorities Shifts the cost to the consumers. The 4th intercession is permissions which means authorities determines how much of an outwardness should be allowed in society, divides those effects into units, so issues licenses which than be traded and sold between companies. First, the H2O pollution in China is extraordinary serious It is showed by China Daily, which was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in the state ( over 500,000 transcripts per issue, of which a tierce are abroad ) that 40 per centum of Chinese rivers were earnestly polluted and unfit for imbibing after 75 billion tones of sewerage and waste H2O were discharged in 2010. As the consequence the serious H2O pollution have increased the hazard of disease and malignant neoplastic disease. For Industrialization. In a figure of pollutants released by TVIEs ( township-village industrial endeavors ) have been linked to inauspicious wellness effects. In China overall, liver and tummy malignant neoplastic disease deceases have doubled since the 1970s, and are now the taking causes of malignant neoplastic disease mortality in rural China. China now has the highest liver malignant neoplastic disease decease rate in the universe. When TVIEs in more contaminated countries are examined, they show a general addition in malignant neoplastic disease mortality. Harmonizing to the figure of Cancer mortality from H2O pollution. It besides shows that malignant neoplastic disease mortality in contaminated countries has been steadily increasing over clip. Although diet and alcohol ingestion may play a function in the increased malignant neoplastic disease rates, environmental factors are besides relevant. ( Wu, 2006 ) . For agribusiness, in malice of the increased usage of fertiliser, merely 30 % of fertilisers applied to agricultural harvests are used efficaciously Despite the increased usage of fertiliser, merely 30 % of fertilisers applied to agricultural harvests are used efficaciously. As a consequence, nonpoint beginning pollution has been declining dramatically. Surplus usage of fertilisers, and the discharge of human and livestock body waste into the lakes of intensively farmed states are taking to lakes eutrophication ( overloading of H2O organic structures with organic stuffs and foods, which helped algal blooms and consume the O available for aquatic beings ) . The proliferation of algae has affected H2O supply beginnings and forced the impermanent closing of H2O workss, which are turning in fresh water. For illustration, Taihu, which is the 3rd largest fresh water lake in China, has become a major sink of agricultural and rural wastewaters generated in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. As a consequence Algal blooms are the factor of a far more serious menace to human wellness, More than 80 % of 480 algae samples taken from surface Waterss collected throughout China produced unwellnesss. and the inordinate usage of fertilisers besides a important issue of a far more serious menace to human wellness. Second, H2O pollution have caused serious H2O deficit and H2O deficit have given many negative outwardnesss to Chinese life and China ‘s economic system About Chinese life: Because of the big population the demand of H2O in China is extraordinary monolithic. With a population of 1.3 billion people, China consumes more than 600 billion three-dimensional metres of H2O every twelvemonth, and about three-fourthss of its functional H2O resources. It is reported by the Ministry of Water Resources that the mean per capita of H2O resources is merely 2,100 three-dimensional metres each twelvemonth, or about 28 per centum of the universe ‘s mean degree. About two-thirds of Chinese metropoliss are water-needy, while about 300 million rural occupants lack entree to safe imbibing H2O, taking to a national H2O deficit of over 50 billion three-dimensional metres on norm every twelvemonth ( Hu, 2012 ) On the other manus. When the demand of H2O is more greater than the supply of H2O in China the monetary value of H2O in China will growing somewhat. In north of China H2O deficit is more serious than other topographic point in China, so the monetary value in North of China is higher than others, as a consequence people who live in North of China should pay more money on H2O, the high monetary value of H2O will add force per unit area to the people and people will hold less money to purchase or devour goods and services, this phenomenon give negative effects to China ‘s economic system. Meanwhile, Uncountable industries in China besides consume much H2O. For illustration, Beijin, which is a 1 of the biggest metropoliss in China, which has several H2O job consumed 3.06 A- 108 m3 H2O in 2008. Consequences from fake scenario illustrated that, due to the utmost H2O scarceness state of affairs, industry in Beijing would still confront a serious H2O shortage job even with a really optimistic scenario for the hereafter It is said by Hu who is the president of China that the H2O deficit will acquire worse in the hereafter, Unless we take decisive and mandatory steps to halt the over-exploitation activities, . So Chinese authorities chief usage Regulation, which means authorities regulations on how much pollution allowed to work out H2O deficit. It is announced by local authoritiess that Adding to the state ‘s H2O safety force per unit area are ambitious development programs In 2012, which experts say will necessarily greatly increase H2O demand for industrial and residential usage. Furthermore the State Council, or China ‘s cabinet, unveiled a guideline on Thursday to modulate the usage of H2O under â€Å" the strictest standards, † cresting the maximal volume of H2O usage at 700 billion three-dimensional metres by the terminal of 2030 and China will work to maintain its entire volume of H2O usage below 670 billion three-dimensional metres in 2020.. Besides, the authorities will dispatch its supervising over development of belowground H2O, farther protect beginnings of imbibing H2O, and reconstruct the aquatic ecological system by presenting water-use licences and other steps. ( Hu, 2012 ) The cardinal authorities has planned 4 trillion kwais ( $ 634.9 billion ) of investing in H2O resources preservation undertakings over the following 10 old ages, of which 1.8 trillion kwais will be invested during the 2011-2015 period. Now China faces a tougher state of affairs in H2O resources in the hereafter as demand increases amid the state ‘s rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, an functionary said Thursday at a imperativeness conference, China besides get in problem because of H2O deficit. The Chinese authorities has already made a committedness to salvaging the state ‘s quickly depleting H2O resources. but how to set up a legislative and regulative mechanism, every bit good as a policy model to steer the dearly-won attempts of H2O pollution control is besides a large challenge for Chinese authorities

With particular reference to the novel opening, how does...

With particular reference to the novel opening, how does Jane Austen present the role of women in pride and prejudice? Pride and Predujice With particular reference to the novel opening, how does Jane Austen present the role of women in pride and prejudice? Pride and prejudice was first published in 1893, this was a time when it just became acceptable for women to write and publish books. Pride and prejudice was set in the early 19th century in rural England. Pride and Prejudice is the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet, their five daughters, and the various romantic adventures at their Hertfordshire residence of Longbourn. I feel that Jane Austen successfully portrays the Age of Reason through her characters in Pride and†¦show more content†¦Because of the law of entailment created marriage became a mockery of love rather than a declaration of commitment. One of the best things Jane Austen does in the novel is constructs a contrast of characters with Elizabeth and Mrs Bennet. Although Elizabeth is Mrs Bennets daughter they are very dissimilar. Mrs Bennet is shallow, silly, and artificial whereas Elizabeth is intelligent, open-minded and aware. Elizabeth is very different to other women she goes against everything women stand for at the time of Jane Austen. Her personality is one of a strong independent woman who uses her intelligence. Elizabeth has a very well-built relationship with her father, they are similar in they way the present themselves. She refuses to go against her fathers wishes and takes advice from him. Elizabeth can always hold her own in conversations she shows this when she refuses to marry Mr Collins and when Darcy confronts her with his feelings. This makes the novel more interesting as Elizabeth turns down numerous proposals to men in possession of a large fortune. When Mr Collins proposes to Elizabeth, Jane Austen basically ridicules the character of Mr Collins but at the same time makes a point. 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