Virtual Worlds, Nonverbal Communication, and Identity Essay

Virtual Worlds, Nonverbal Communication, and Identity - Essay Example This becomes apparent in virtual role-playing games. The virtual role-playing world can be seen as a good medium for interpersonal communication with other people. The virtual world helps create interpersonal communication that is beyond the nature of race and ethnicity of people. The real life cultural barriers between people vaguely exist in the virtual world because a different kind of culture is created therein. While real world stereotypes are set aside, virtual-based stereotypes exist and are commonly associated with characters based on virtual world attributes. I have an avatar and account in the game World of Warcraft. I play the game when I have some spare and idle time. Usually, there are certain codes of etiquette in interacting with other players in the game. Nonverbal communication is important because a lot of interaction is judged either by action or mere status of a person’s avatar. Impression and deeds have a heavy bearing in the World of Warcraft, and it is also likely the case with other virtual role-playing

INFORMATION SYSTEMS SITE VISIT PAPER Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

INFORMATION SYSTEMS SITE VISIT - Research Paper Example However, every coin has two sides, and EHRs have their positive and negative sides as well. When implementing EHRs, there are various issues that healthcare professionals should consider, some of which include medication reconciliation and safety. This paper addresses these three issues, medication reconciliation, safety and EHRs by reporting an interview with a pharmacy director who has practical knowledge on EHRs as a result of them being implemented and utilized in his hospital. From the interview, EHR involves the storage of patient data (health records) in an electronic form. This data is retrieved electronically using computers and hand held devices, such as tablets, iPads and iPhones. The pharmacy director informed that their organization implemented EHR system five years ago. Since EHR system is a new concept in the healthcare field, this organization can be considered a pioneer in EHR. The main aim of this interview activity was to identify the benefits that EHR is offering organizations that have successfully implemented it, and this part covers the rest of the interview questions. The interviewee summarized the benefits that their organization has realized from the implementation of EHRs as follows: improved efficiency in healthcare service delivery, reduced operational costs and hence reduced cost of healthcare services, improvement in clinical decision-making, improved health in the society and improvement in patient care including improved patient safety and equity (Menachemi and Collum, 2011). The interviewee noted that EHRs have enabled professionals in his organization to have complete, accurate and up-to-date information about patients, which helps in making crucial decisions. Additionally, in accordance with HealthIT (2014), the pharmacy director noted that EHRs have helped the organization to share

Focus on the Learner Essay Example for Free

Focus on the Learner Essay Student Background Veronica is a 31 year old elementary level student. She is originally from Ecuador and is currently residing in Birmingham and has been for the past 3 months. She is University level educated, as a graduate in Dentistry, and a native speaker of Spanish and is also fluent in Italian. Veronica has worked as a dentist in her families practice; she has learned English at a basic level and is able to converse in English at an elementary level. Her motivation for studying English is to increase her level of English language so that she may work as a dentist in England. She has been encouraged by her sister to move to the United Kingdom as the rate of pay in her home country she could not earn enough money. She is very motivated to learn English as she will be able to provide a better life for herself financially and will also be able to better communicate and therefore socialise with her friends from different cultures. Linguistic and Skills: Strengths and Weaknesses 1. Listening It is difficult to grade listening skills without actually setting a listening task. For the purpose of this report I will analyse the understanding of questions set in the interview as well as class observation of the learner. Veronica seems to understand what is said and did not stall in answering the questions. She is able to understand most task set in class with the teacher’s explanation, without requiring further help. However when she doesn’t understand an exercise, she will not respond to the task set and will check with classmates in order to complete the task. 2. Speaking Strengths Veronica is able to present her message in a relatively clear manner. She is a fast speaker, often the case with Spanish native speakers. She uses simple short sentences mainly in the present tense. (Lines 10/14). Weaknesses Veronica has difficulty with pronunciation, often not using stresses. She pronounces the word noisy as nosy as seen in line 13-14. However when I repeated the word in the correct manner, she quickly adopted the correct pronunciation. She uses the past simple to explain future plans as seen in line 20 and line 25.This is a grammar error also noted in her writing and reading task. Veronica uses ‘is’ instead of it ‘it is’ and makes the error of using in instead of at (as seen in line 20) to state future plan of studying at University, she also made the error of putting the before the lexical verb university Grammar Tense Veronica struggles with the future tenses. She uses ‘is’ to explain future plans as seen in line 20. Vocabulary Veronica displays a relatively good level of vocabulary, illustrated by words such a professional, principle and University (lines8/20/21). However at times she struggles to find the words she wants to explain which results in her mumbling ’inaudible’. Pronunciation Veronica struggles with pronunciation. This may be seen in words such as noisy, seen in line 13-14, and principle, line 8/20 Reading Strengths Veronica was able to complete the reading task without any prompt, in other words independently. She was able to read for the specific information, and seemed to be familiar with have and haven’t. She showed particular strength in writing full sentences with correct capital letters as well as an ability to recognise the correct punctuation and contractions making only a few errors. Weaknesses Veronica has made a few errors in the reading exercise. This may be seen through her answering, ‘it is’ instead of ‘it has’, when asked whether an individual has internet on their mobile phone. This perhaps illustrate that she may struggle with grammar. Veronica has also made a few mistakes in writing the correct punctuation, often rewriting the wrong sentence instead of correcting it as well as failing to put a full stop at the end of the sentence, as well as not using enough commas. This illustrates that Veronica who is although familiar with capital letters, punctuation, and contractions needs more support in this area. Writing Strengths Veronica is able to present her message relatively well; she is able to spell most word correctly. She illustrates a variety of words, therefore can be seen to have a good vocabulary for a learner at elementary level. She presents her ideas in logical manner, she states for example that her life in England is interesting and is able explain in more detail why she has written this. Her handwriting is very legible. She is able to use correct punctuation such as full stops and comma’s as well as contractions. Weaknesses Veronica has made a few spelling mistakes, often when words are difficult to spell such as profession which even native speaker struggle with. However even more importantly Veronica has struggled to use the capital letters in the correct manner, for example she writes Favourite instead of favourite and uses full stops to frequently instead of commas. She also struggles with the difference between is, has are and often makes errors in word order. Some of these mistakes such as wrong use of capital letter could also seen in reading task. Rationale for choice of Language area I have chosen to focus on grammar, most specifically on future tenses and future plans. In order to help improve Veronica’s improve her language skills in the area of tenses, as this is an area which is problematic for Veronica. Rationale for chosen skills area I have chosen to focus on speaking as this is an area which Veronica displays difficulty in as illustrated through the recording and may be seen in the transcript.

Code Switching Linguistic Activity English Language Essay

Code Switching Linguistic Activity English Language Essay Code-switching is the linguistic activity when bilingual speakers use more than one language within one, and the same conversational context (Appel Muysken, 1987:117; Grosjean ,1982; Romaine, 1989). Researchers have come up with various reasons for what motivates bilingual speakers to code-switch. Two areas which have attracted widespread research are code-switching as a result of linguistic motivations, and the socially or psychologically motivated code-switching. Sometimes Bilingual speakers deliberately use words or lexis from another of the known languages when they lack a particular word in the language being spoken, to compensate for a linguistic need. In other words the easier accessibility of a word lexicon in the other language motivates them to use it. This is what is referred to as the most available word phenomenon (Grosjean 1982:151), as speakers consciously or unconsciously fall back to the easily accessible lexicon . Studies of second language speakers (L2) use of communication strategies have shown that bilinguals often resort to their first language (L1) intentionally to solve lexical communication problems in the L2 (Bialystok, 1983; Poulisse 1990). Olsen (1999) cites several instances where Norwegian children learning English unconsciously code-switch to Norwegian as a compensatory strategy due to lack of appropriate words. In line with this argument are models of some speech production that categorise bilingual languages in terms of their structural constraints within the speakers lexicon. Myers-Scotton (1992) makes a distinction between languages within what she referred to us matrix language frame model. In this model the language providing more morphemes for the relevant interaction type than the other languages used in the same conversation is the matrix language'(ML)( Myers-Scotton 1992:105). The matrix language plays the more dominant role in the conversation between bilinguals. The other language(s), which by comparison to ML have relatively fewer morphemes for that particular interaction are known as embedded language (EL). Myers-Scotton (1982) argues that the speaker always accesses ML lemmas and builds the morpho-syntactic frames on the basis of the relevant information contained in those lemmas. However, it is really difficult to pinpoint whether the matrix language framework consciously or unconsciously comes into play when a speaker switches codes. Socially Motivated Code-switching The socially motivated code switching, which is the most widely researched area has exposed numerous references. Socially or psychologically motivated code-switching may be practised when a speaker aims, in some instances, to emphasise their identity or group membership, or it may be that they want to mark a change of subject, to specify a particular addressee, to draw attention to a particular part of the message, to express certain emotions or to mark asides from the ongoing discourse (Grosjean 1982: 149-57; Appel and Muysken 1987: 118-20; Giesbers 1989:28). Some scholars have argued that most code-switching is intentional behaviour albeit without the speakers awareness ( Nortier 1989:4). There are cases, however, where unintended code-switching occur as a result of language interference . These may be referred to as incidental language switches, slips of the tongue or accidental speech errors ( Poulisse Bongaerts 1994: 37). As mentioned already, L2 speakers often resort to L1 intentionally to solve lexical communication problems in the L2 (Bialystock 1983). They may switch unintentionally, however, when L1 words are easily accessible in the place of the appropriate L2 ones . It would appear that there is an intersection between the linguistic and social motivations for code-switching. Myers-Scottons (1982) matrix language (ML) model imply that some languages are more dominant than others within a conversational context and, she also claims that language codes are indexical of social relationships (1989). In the latter case, through language code, a speaker is established as a certain kind of person in relation to others. She claims that language code specifically indexes a particular set of rights and obligations that will hold between participants in an interaction. In this regard, a speaker will select a code that indexes the rights and obligations that he/she wishes to be in force between himself and others. Myers-Scotton has identified different patterns of code-switching based on the notion of markedness. An unmarkedchoice means an expected choice, one that is associated with the type of interaction in which it occurs. This is an attempt to redefine relationship (Myers-Scotton 1989:334). She describes recorded instances of marked and unmarked choices of code-switching . The two examples, recorded in Kenya involves two friends and four young office workers. In the first instance, a Principal visits a friend who works in a car sales company. The Principal speaks Swahili to a guard at the gate, but switches to English when talking to the receptionist at the same organisation. At the friends office the two friends, who speak one L1 switch codes unmarkedly from Luhya (L1) to Swahili and sometimes to English. She argues that language in this instance is a mark of social identity. In the first instance, the Principal speaks Swahili to the guard at the gate because he places the guard among th e social category of those who speak Swahili but are not educated enough to be able to speak English. The receptionist, on the other hand belongs to another social category, that of those who can speak English. Marked choices, on the other hand may serve different functions. Among in-group members marked choices may, for instance, encode solidarity among a small number within the group ( Myers-Scotton 1989 :336) as the case of the young office workers illustrates. Four young office workers in the same government ministry in Nairobi are chatting. Two are Kikuyu, one is a Kisii and one is a Kalenjin. Swahili-English switching has been the unmarked choice when suddenly the two Kikuyu persons switch to their language. The conversation which was about setting up a group emergency fund suddenly stops when the Kikuyu switch to their language to make a disparaging remark about what has been said. This is a marked choice communicating solidarity between the two Kikuyu but distancing them from others. This action motivates the Kisii to complain in Swahili and English, and the Kalenjin makes a switch from Swahili to English , a marked choice, to return the discussion to a more business-like plane (Mye rs-Scotton 1989: 336). In other examples, marked codes may result from switching which are associated with emotion, social status or authority . In those instances, switches often encode more social distance between participants, sometimes out of anger or a desire to lower the addressee or increase ones own status. Codes-witching in this category is related to and indicative of group membership in particular speech communities (Auer 1998). The extent and the regularity with which they use two or more languages within a conversation may vary to a considerable degree between speech communities. This marked choice is usually associated with authority, more commonly in former colonial regimes where the colonisers language such as English was a mark of power (Myers-Scotton 1989 ). In all these activities the interlocutors are undertaking communication strategy to compensate for a social or linguistic inadequacy. Code-switching as Contextualisation Code-switching studies have also looked at strategic activities of speakers in varying their communicative behaviour within a socially agreed matrix of conventions, which are used to alert participants in the course of the on-going interaction to the social and situational context of the convention. Conversation participants appear to exploit variable spoken language elements at all linguistic levels ( Local 1986; Local et al 1986) and at non-verbal level ( Duncan 1969, 1972; Kendon 1977) to contextualise their suppositions. According to Gumperz (1982:132-135) contextualisation conventions or contextualisation cues function to signal participants orientation to each other. As an example, Chinese/ English bilingual speakers switch languages to contextualise preference organisation and repairs ( Weir Milroy 1995: 296). By building a contrast in language choice for two stretches of conversation , the speakers are able to draw attention to details of the projected course of conversation and to check each others understandings. This is relevant, particularly in contextualisation preference organisation. Preference organisation refers to ranking of alternative second parts of the so-called adjacency pairs, such as acceptance or refusal of an offer or agreement or disagreement with an assessment (Levinson 1983; Pomeranz 1984). Wei Milroy (1995: 281-299) demonstrate this in their study of code-switching among three generations of a Chinese community in the North Eastern part of England. In one context B offers her assessment of As new dress- ho leng very pretty . As response to this consists first of a reflective question in Chinese leng me ? pretty ?. This type of question is formed by partial repetition plus question marker me and has discourse similar to English tags such as isnt it? really?, suggesting that the interaction functions as a hedge heralding a further dispreferred assessment of dress, and indicates only a qualified agreement with Bs original assessment ( Pomeranz 1984). When B asks for confirmation in the following turn gua a guai a? expensive or not? , As preferred response is in Chinese the same language as Bs question. Sometimes code-switching is used primarily to contextualise imminent completion of a turn or talk or topic shifts, but at other times they have the capacity to signal meanings such as irony or seriousness, and social identities and attitudes of the participants. Auer (1984, 1991) has argued that bilingual code-switching should be analysed as a contextualisation cue, because it works in many ways like other contextualisation cues. However, code-switching has some characteristics of its own in addition to those it shares with such elements as gestures, prosodies and phonological variables. In particular, the sequential organisation of alternative choices of language provides a frame of reference for the interpretation of functions or meanings of conversational code-switching. Code-switching for Political and Economic Reasons Language choice and shift may also be due to political and economic reasons. People recognise that the official language becomes the vehicle of political participation and socio-economic mobility (Myers-Cotton 1993a:28). The competition among groups for primacy of one language over others, or at least parity with others is based on the supposed superiority of a language. If ethnic groups language become official, its members have a head start , while others have to try and identify with it. On the other hand, many nations, particularly those which were formerly colonised have always opted for their former colonial language choice or shifts due to its diversity and the fear of domination by others (Myers-Scotton 1983a). Thus, as already been illustrated, code-switching to a language such as English, French or Portuguese, for example, installs the speaker to a position of authority, power or social superiority over others in those multilingual communities formerly colonised . The distribution and use of language choices in multilingual communities, therefore, can reveal not only the extent of stability of intergroup relationships, but also the ways in which the regulation of access to symbolic resources is tied to the regulation of access to material ones ( Heller 1992:123). Code switching in this instance, therefore, may or may not be conventional depending on the setting or context of the conversation. For instance, we have mentioned where code-switching is an unmarked expected behaviour , for example, among peer in-groups and where it is marked and intended to put down someone considered to be inferior. In socio-political terms code-switching may represent part of a range of linguistic resources upon which people can draw to define the value of resources they control and to regulate access to them. In line with this argument, resources are distributed by specific groups in specific situations through the provision and evaluation, among other things, of symbolic, including verbal, performances (Heller 1992:123). A good example of this use of language is the French-English code-switching in a variety of settings in Quebec and Ontario Canada ( Heller 1992), where code-switching is used as a means of drawing on symbolic resources and deploying them in order to gain or deny access to these symbolic or material resources. The understanding being developed above builds on Bourdieus concepts of symbolic capital and symbolic market places, and Gumperzs concepts of speech economies and verbal repertoires (Bourdieu 1977, 1982; Gumperz 1982). In these instances code-switching is a means of calling into play specific forms of linguistic and cultural knowledge, forms which conventionally possess certain kinds of value (Heller 1992: 124). The value is linked to the extent to which these forms facilitate access to situations where other kinds of symbolic and material resources are distributed, resources which themselves have value based on prevailing modes of organisation of social life in the community and who controls them. The resources in question are not just those with concrete functional value but those related in more indirect ways to the methods people have of not only acquiring the basic things they need to survive, but also of acquiring various forms of power and solidarity ( Heller 1992: 123). Finally, in relation to the linguistic motivation to codeswitching is the grammatical theory and how this structures and explains it. Muysken (1995:178) argues that formulation of this is crucial for research in linguistics as a scientific discipline. He thus poses a number of important questions that may help to explain how lexicon and grammar of a language structure code-switching. Some of the questions relate to the extent to which we can rely on properties of individual words, when we produce and comprehend utterances, and to what extent we can rely on general rules of the language we speak. Other important questions relate to whether we can reduce the differences between languages to lexical differences. Muysken (1995) proposes a universal explanation , for instance, when sentences are built up with items drawn from lexicons from two languages. He proposes a model that believes there is a general set of constraints on code-switching, constituted, for example, by structural equiv alence (Poplack 1980) or government (Discuiullo, Muysken and Singh 1986), or matrix language embedded asymmetry (Myers-Scotton 1993a). In conclusion, it is clear that code-switching is a vast and complex linguistic area of knowledge. For instance, this discussion has illustrated the general and less complex cases of the practice whereby learners in L2 code-switch to their L1 unconsciously to compensate their poor grasp of L2 ( Olsen 1999; Grosjean 1982). The discussion then delved in greater detail into the socially motivated code-switching, where the concept of a matrix language and the idea markedness is demonstrated in a conversation among bilingual speakers (Myers-Scotton 1982; 1989). Using Myers-Scotton (1982) explanation of how a matrix language (ML) dominates over embedded language within a conversation context , and the concept of markedness the essay demonstrates how code-switching becomes a deliberate tool for bilinguals to perform certain linguistic acts, for example, that of showing their social positions of power, education or even to discriminate others. More complex sociolinguistic aspects of code-switching such as contextualisation and its use for political and economic reasons have been discussed. We have discussed how contextualisation in code-switching help to complete a conversation turn or talk or topic shifts, but how at other times they have they signal meanings such as irony or seriousness, and attitudes of the participants ( Wei and Milroy 1995). An important sociolinguistic discussion of this essay has been how code-switching is practised for political reasons. We have seen how there is competition among groups for primacy of one language over others based on the supposed superiority of a particular language. This essay considered how when an ethnic groups language becomes official, its members are assumed to have a head start , thereby motivating others to try and identify with this language. Furthermore, many nations, particularly those which were formerly colonised have always opted for their former colonial language choice or shifts because it is believed that it is diverse, and they also fear being dominated by others (Myers-Scotton 1983a). Finally were discussions on research proposals on the relation between grammar and code-switching. In relation to the linguistic motivation to codeswitching is the grammatical theory and how this structures and explains it. Muysken (1995:178) proposes a formulation of a model structured within earlier research.

Analysis of Volume 1 Chapter 5 of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Essays

Analysis of Volume 1 Chapter 5 of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley This passage is set at a point in the story where Dr. Victor Frankenstein is creating and making his first descriptions of the monster. Frankenstein at this time has been driven to work more and more to complete his aim, making him seem madly obsessed with his work. During this passage, the Dr. and the monster are constantly described in the same ways, â€Å"how delineate the wretch†: the monster â€Å"I passed the night wretchedly†: Frankenstein This could show how the monster is being conveyed as the Dr’s doppelganger, of the reflection of his subconscious. Frankenstein, later in the book thinks, when the monster says â€Å"I shall be with you on your wedding night†, that this is a threat to him, which it isn’t. This quote can be linked to the legend of the doppelganger, which is that if you have a doppelganger, then you must kill it before it kills you. The dream Frankenstein experiences in this chapter could also be seen as a representation of the Doctor’s subconscious. One could interpret this as the gu...

Crusades :: essays research papers

Crusades   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Crusades began in 1088 when Urban II preached the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. The reason for such a mass following of people to leave their homes and travel to the Holy Land to fight is unknown. There are numerous plausible causes, which will be discussed in this paper.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The reason the Pope preached the Crusades originally was the supposed threat of Muslim rule. In truth the Muslims and Christians in the Holy Land had lived peacefully for years, but the Pope was also a politician. Many believe that his motive was to gain political power by gaining control of all of the Muslim territories. This feat was accomplished by the and of 1099 and four new states were set up after the first crusade had ended.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is fairly easy to see why the Pope would want to incite the crusades, but why would normal people leave all they had to carry out this Holy War? Many people believed (because this is what the Pope told them) that all of their sins would be forgiven if they carried out this momentous task. They were practically guaranteed a place in heaven. Other crusaders went in search of gold and riches that they would take after plundering the Jewish and Muslim villages. Many younger sons of aristocrats went in search of land because their older brother had inherited the family’s land. An additional reason for men and women to go fight may have been pride. “Keeping up with the Jones’s'; is not a new concept. Many people may have felt pressured to join the crusades along with their neighbors and after committing to go one could not turn back with the penalty of excommunication. The crusades also created business for maritime cities.

Identifying a Problem

Identifying a Problem T. L. Wilson Grand Canyon University Professional Research Project NRS-441V March 19, 2013 Identifying a Problem The clinical environment that I previously worked in was a correctional institution. During the time that I worked in corrections I encountered several inmates that had HIV. It was this environment and the experience that I received this idea and it is what gives me the inspiration to build a proposal for change.Within this system is where I discovered that staff was not receiving much prevention and education and the inmates were not receiving any prevention education at all. During the time that I worked in corrections and encountered individuals with HIV. One evening while running the medication line a 17 year old stepped to the medication window to receive his medication. His medication was a barrage of HIV antivirals. I was shocked and found the situation to be very disturbing. I assumed this bothered me because I also had a child this age.The wh ole scenario of this young man having HIV made me feel as though somehow I had dropped the ball on him and his situation and let this young men down. I often wondered if this young man had been instructed on prevention and education prior to his HIV diagnoses. As health professional and a parent that situation personally left me feeling responsible as well as driven to do all that I can to get people educated regarding HIV prevention and education. After that initial shock wore off I encountered several others that crossed my path ranging in age from 17-21 that were HIV positive also.I also discovered that the staff and well as the inmates were in disparate need of a primary prevention and education plan. As a fully staffed health care unit there was very little to no patient teaching being conducted. I feel that it is very important that a preventive and health management program be implemented for inmates as well as staff. The purpose of such a program for staff would ensure that inmate/patients gained knowledge of their status. Implementing a preventive nd education program would give inmates insight in to their diagnosis and encourage medication compliance in addition to giving the inmate/patient the opportunity to take part in the management of their own health. This would be accomplished by being compliant with their medication and avoiding at risk behavior such as sexual activity or acquiring tattoos or any other at risk behavior. As for the health care staff and security staff an in depth expanding their knowledge base with a thorough system to educate and one that promotes prevention will decrease the exposure risk for staff and inmates.