How to Start Paying Students for Good Grades Effectively

How to Start Paying Students for Good Grades Effectively SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Paying students for good grades is a controversial practice, and many would argue that it cheapens the learning experience (pun intended). However, it appears that sometimes monetary incentives can be a positive motivation for struggling students if they are applied wisely. I'll go through some scientific findings onthe success of incentive programs in schools and then give you ideas for how you can responsibly implement a reward policy for your student. Cash Incentives for Students: Who Pays? Parents or Schools? Some schools have experimented with payment programs (as I’ll discuss in the next couple of sections), and the results from these studies can helpparents decide if and how to use monetary incentives for good grades.Since it is unlikely that your high school is or will be a part of these types of studies, in the last section of this article I will discuss how parents can implement payment systems to reward students for good grades. Small incentives are likely within the reach of most parents. Fun low-cost experiences can also be substituted for money!In considering the successes and failures of experimental school-based payment plans, we can make inferences about how parents can successfully use monetary rewards to help students get better grades. The studies I describe in the next section will provideinformation that can be applied to the more specific circumstances surrounding you and your family. What Do Studies Say About Paying Studentsfor Good Grades? There have been a few studies over the years that have experimented with paying students for attending and doing well in school. At Chelsea High School in Chelsea, MA, students were given $25 if they had a perfect attendancerecord during a school term. This study ran from 2004-2008 but didn't seem to yield any improvements in academic performance or attendance at the school. Schools have also experimented with giving students prizes for attendance. In Georgia, at Stone Creek Elementary School, students were given incentives for attendance including video game consoles, ice cream, and other prizes. The rate of students missing 15 or more days of school during the year dropped by 10 percent. This study may have had more success than the one in Chelsea because the embodiment of incentives in the form of something like an Xbox is more exciting to kids than the prospect of earning $25 at the end of a semester. Seems like kind of a counterproductive reward, but whatever. The most wide-ranging studyon monetary incentives for good grades was organized by Harvard economist and founder of Harvard’s Education Innovation Laboratory, Roland Fryer, in the cities of Dallas, New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Over 38,000 students were given paychecks for performing well in school. Each city had a different incentive system to test the merits of various methods of paying students for good grades. The experimental group in Dallas was comprised of 3,718 second-grade students at21 different public schools in the Dallas Independent School District. These students were paid $2 every time they read a book, with a limit of 20 books per semester. To earn the reward, students had to take an AR (Accelerated Reader) quiz on the book and score at least an 80 percent. The average student received $13.81 in incentive payments, with a total of $42,800 distributed. In New York City, 63 schools were included in the experimental group with a total of 15,883 fourth and seventh-grade students. Incentives were given out based on students' performance on six computerized exams (three in reading and three in math) and four pencil and paper predictive assessments. Fourth graders earned $5 for completing a test and $25 for a perfect score. Incentives for seventh graders were set at double this amount, so they earned $10 for completing a test and $50 for a perfect score. In this case, the average fourth-grader earned $139.43, and the average seventh-grader earned $231.55. The portion of the study in Chicago was conducted in 20 low-performing public schools with 7,655 ninth-graders. In this case, students were simply given incentives for their grades in five core courses: English, math, science, social science, and gym. Students would earn $50 for each A, $35 for each B, $20 for each C, and no money for lower grades. The average student earned $695.61. In Washington, D.C., 17 schools were included in the experimental group. Sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students were given incentives based on attendance, behavior, and three other inputs chosen by each school individually. These mostly included things like wearing a school uniform and completing homework and classwork. Students were given one point for each of the five metrics they satisfied on a given school day. This meant that students could earn a maximum of 50 points during each two-week pay period. Each point was rewarded with a $2 monetary incentive. The average student earned about $40 every two weeks. Give kids the gift that keeps on giving: cold hard cash. From the data collected after these studies, there is very limited evidence to suggest that monetary incentives improve student performance. In Chicago, GPA and credits earned on average increased by a very small amount, but there were no changes in standardized test scores. In New York, no significant positive changes were noted in terms of either test scores or GPA. The portion of the study conducted in Dallas showed some potential. Reading achievement increased significantly on standardized English tests taken by the second graders after the study. The middle school students in Washington, D.C. schools also demonstrated improvement in reading and, to a lesser degree, math scores. In the next section, I'll go over what these results might mean in regards to the effectivenessof paying students for good grades. What Can We Learn From This Information? The success of these policies depended heavily on how and for what reasonthe money wasdistributed.Students were more likely to improve if they were given monetary rewards for concrete tasks like reading books (Dallas) or completing classwork (D.C.) rather than something more abstractlike earning a certain grade.If students don’t have an understanding of the tools and strategies they need to implement in order to improve, they won’t be able to change their grades or test scores. More specific directives help kids who may have never learned how to study properly get on the right track. Improvements in grades and scores may come later as a result. In general, the studies show that giving money to students for good grades only works if you also give them the strategies they need to get there and provide incentives for smaller milestones that are less intimidating.Inputs, rather than outputs, should be rewarded first. It's impossible to reach your destination if you don't have directions. Also, whoever took this picture should probably stop lying in the middle of roads for the sake of mediocre artsy photography. The Pros and Cons of Paying Kids for Good Grades If you’re thinking about rewarding your child with cash for good grades, you should take the arguments for and against itinto account.Some would say that, even if a child improves his or her grades as a result of a monetary incentive, it’s sending the wrong message.When you set up money as a motivator, it may cause a student to lose any appreciation for the intrinsic value of learning.If their only motivation is money, they may lose interest in the actual subjects and could suffer later on when rewards are less forthcoming.This won't happen with every kid, but it’s a risk that comes with the territory. However, if you have a student who’s very unmotivated and just feels like there’s no point to trying in school, money could be a good motivator.Even for students who don’t plan on going to college, it’s important to get a high school degree.Paying students who plan on going to trade schools or professions rather than a four-year college may be a productive strategy.Students who feel like they’re â€Å"not cut out for school† may respond well to concrete incentives for good academic performance. The privilegeof being able to wear a hideous hat is only one of the many perks of graduating from high school. What's the Most Effective Method ofPaying Your Child for Good Grades? If you’re hoping to see actual improvement, you should challenge your child to meet specific short-term goals first. Avoid saying something like â€Å"I’ll give you $100 if you get an A in this class.† If your child isdoing poorly in a class, shemight not know where to begin in terms of improving herperformance to an A level. Instead, you can try something like â€Å"If you finish every problem set you’re assigned in Algebra 2/read all the chapters you were assigned for English/work on your history project for three hours this week, I’ll give you $10.† These are concrete goals that any student can achieve with some persistence.You can still plan on giving your child a bonus if and when she reaches a certain letter grade, but in the meantime, taking baby steps towards that grade with short-term goals is important. To make it a little more fun, you could set up a system where, if a studentcompletes a certain number of small milestones, he or she earns a monetary reward.This might work if your child is struggling in more than one class and needs to do a significant amount of work in different areas to catch up. Another idea that could be even better than a cash reward is to reward your child with a fun experience for diligent study habits.This could be as simple as going out to a favorite restaurant or taking a day trip. It all depends on the temperament of your child and the types of incentives you think he or she will appreciate the most. There are also many other ways to encourage your child to do better in school without monetary incentives. Some kids need more structure than others, so setting up a homework schedule might help keep them on track. You may also be able to work with the school to organize low-cost tutoring from more advanced peers and extra help from teachers. These methods can yield more significant positive results than payment plans if they're implemented effectively, but it will take time and effort on the part of both you and your student. Gold stars might not work as actual incentives for high school students, but their symbolic value still stands. What's Next? If you're looking for tips on how to get good grades in high school, read this article to learn about academic strategies that can lead to major improvements. Unsure of where you stand with your current grades? Check out this article on what constitutes a good or bad GPA for college applications. If you're still in the process of planning out a high school schedule, take a look at our expert guide to which classes you should take in high school. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Visiting the Museum of Modern Art Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Visiting the Museum of Modern Art - Term Paper Example The paper "Visiting the Museum of Modern Art" gives a detailed information about visiting MoMA. One particularly famous museum in the Unites States is the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. This location is fascinating for the depth of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and recent digital work. It is truly a living and breathing museum. What follows is a brief synopsis of this student’s recent visit to the museum. While many pieces in the museum captivated my attention, I would like to draw the reader’s attention to two in particular. The first is an oil painting by the French artist Odilon Redon. The painting itself, at first glance, is simple enough. The title says it all ‘Rock on the Beach’. Upon further examination, however, I was drawn to this painting because of the detail of the formation. It is so unique to other renditions of the ocean, because Redon puts his focus on the rocks, as opposed to the water. You have to wonder why this is. This is certainly an impressionistic piece of art. The effect of light on the rocks and the overall landscape is evident and a strong draw. As I pondered the lighting, I noticed a lack of intensity. It is daytime, yet the picture appears dark and gloomy. This communicates a feeling of isolation and desolation. As we have studied in class, impressionists focused a great deal on nature. They examined, through their art, their own impressions of the natural world. Paintings are usually spontaneous and they attempt to capture a moment in life. that can only be truly felt through the painting. ‘Rocks on a Beach’ is effective to this end. Getting close to the picture, I could see the rough brush strokes that captured the humanity, if you will, of this large rock formation in the middle of a beach. It seems as if this location had a special meaning to Redon and he wanted to portray the feelings he had as he witness this spectacle. We can envision that he was struck by the lack of clarity in this scene and, perhaps, it reflected his mood at that period in his life. I ended up reading the brief biography of this painter while I was at the museum and discovered that around the time of this particular painting he lost a child. The dark and gloomy nature of this impressionist piece of art could very well be reflective of that traumatic event. The final painting I want to discuss is a work by Pablo Picasso. I know he is one of the most famous painters in modern history, but I was struck by the privilege of seeing one of his pieces up close and personal. We are used to seeing the works of Picasso in detail in almost any art book. Perhaps we feel we understand his work already and simply move on. My experience at MoMA, however, helped me to realize that nothing replaces a real-life piece of art. The piece by Picasso that I looked at was his painting ‘Guitar’. This was oil painting on canvas paper. The first thing I noticed about this particular painting was the detail of the brush stroke. It is so refined that it looks as if a photograph was taken. I could barely decipher the difference. That is the brilliance of Picasso. The interesting thing about this picture is that the painting is not really reflective of a guitar at all, leading one to wonder about the title that Picasso gave this particular work of his. That is, I suppose, a topic for another time, but it is certainly worth noting. This particular piece of art appears to be a

A Code of Ethics for Corporate Code of Ethics Essay

A Code of Ethics for Corporate Code of Ethics - Essay Example In fact, responsibility and respect toward those in need of help may simply disappear if people disregard universal codes of conduct and are driven by personal prejudices. Nevertheless, caring for and participating with people of different tastes and identities would jump-start an upward trend of a company’s reputation. There are several reasons why it works. First, genuinely human intentions coming from a company make people more devoted to it. Second, consumerism is driven by people’s choices. Third, being ethical complements universal tendency for goodness, though it makes companies grow rich. In accordance to my workplace dilemma, it was essential for me to take the right part in the situation. Racial profiling is impossible when talking about code of ethics in medicine. Otherwise, the universal codes of ethics among paramedics would fail to be true. Egocentricity and biases are those drives which influenced the law enforcement and my partner. As I see, sociocentric thought fulfilled their narrow-minded vision of the situation (Paul & Elder, 2006). It appeared for them to be of rationality not to take care of the man bleeding from his neck. However, I disregarded this viewpoint, even though it was predominant at that time, and refused such a self-serving perspective going apart from ethnical minorities. As a result, it was a good a chance to improve, since the man had positive consequences after we provided him with a medical care.

Costco warehouse corp in 2012 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Costco warehouse corp in 2012 - Case Study Example This paper is going to analyze the success story behind this company and how it has managed to be very successful in 2012. 1. One of the strategy that this company has been able to utilize in order to attain success is to establishment of good employee relations. As a CEO Jim Sinegal managed to visit most of their stores. In a day he would visit 8-10 stores daily. As a CEO he was in charge to be a producer, director, and knowledgeable critic. The second strategy that this company has managed to use is the pricing. Following their mission, their pricing was aimed at encouraging customers to come to their shops. This means that their prices are always low. It is argued that the strong business relationship that Sinegal has with Wal-Marts CEO is a contributing factor to using this strategy. This is because Wal-Mart the largest merchandise producer in the US also utilizes similar pricing strategy. For quite a long time the pricing strategy for this company is to cap its markup brand name merchandise at 14% compared to other supermarkets which markup their merchandises at 20-50%. The company managed to desig n most of the basic products especially food to be equal or better quality than national brands. This was aimed at ensuring that the company provided quality goods at the least prices (Barrera). This strategy has been criticized by Wall Street Journalists as lowering the shareholders profits. However, the CEO of the company argues that their strategy caters for both the shareholders and stakeholders by providing them with quality products at the least costs while the company still makes higher profits. The other strategy that this company uses is the price selection. Most of the supermarkets like Wal-Mart would stock 40,000 or even 150,000. However, Costco’s strategy was to deploy only 3,600 active items in their shelves.

Accidental Death of an Anarchist Essay Example for Free

Accidental Death of an Anarchist Essay Q) Critically analyze the Figure of Madman in Dario Fo’s play The Accidental Death of an anarchist. A) Dario Fo’s play The Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970) lies in the category of revolutionary theatre that challenges the fascist regime of Italy. The play is a farce based on events involving a real person, Giuseppe Pinelli, who fell or was thrown from the fourth floor window of a Milan police station in 1969. He was accused of bombing a bank. The accusation is widely seen as part of the Italian Far Rights strategy of tension. Just like Fo’s other play, this play is also funny and subversive and shows a strong preference for the culture and traditions of the ordinary people and a commitment to the left wing politics. The play moves quickly through a series of farcical situations and exposes the hypocrisy and anti- people character of the bourgeois society and the so called sacred institutions- the police, the judiciary, the religion and the media. The play was originally written and performed in Italian in 1970 and first English translation was done in 1979. Central to the play is the character of The Madman, who is the prime protagonist of the play. Through the story of the madman in a police station Dario Fo has a created a classic example of exquisitely political theatre with a comedy that begins from being realistic, (the stage setting is of a realistic, ordinary police station) moves towards the frankly implausible (the madman, the inspector, the superintendent and the constable singing the song of anarchists in the police station), reaches to the level of grotesque (the constant punching and kicking of Bertozzo by the police officials, and the falling eye) until it ends with a hilarious and ludicrous climax. He (the madman) invents dialogue based on a paradoxical or on real situation and goes on from there by virtue of some kind of natural, geometric logic, inventing conflicts that find their solutions in one gag after another in correspondence with a parallel political theme, a political theme which is clear and didactic. You are moved and you laugh but above all you are made to think, realize and develop your understanding of everyday events that had escaped your attention. Franca Rame on The Character of Madman in Accidental Death of an anarchist The madman is not just a character in the play, but he acts as a literary device in the play. He provides most of the humor content of the play. The madman is whimsical and he constantly contradicts other characters as well as himself. His series of logical/illogical arguments becomes impossible to tackle and it frustrates the Police Department. Even though being termed as psychologically unfit, the madman appears to be the most intelligent character in the play. He ridicules the police officials for missing out on the basic concepts of English grammar and the use of the most important â€Å"COMMA† that changes the meaning of a sentence. He dictates the terms of law and judiciary to police officials. He is extremely sarcastic. He ridicules the superintendent for assuming the railway man planted the bomb in railway station without any substantiate evidence and sarcastically rebukes the â€Å"kindergarten logic†. The people in power appear to be inhuman and brute in their actions, and the â€Å"sacred† governmental place, the police station appears to be a madhouse or a slaughterhouse. The madman, even though he is mad appears to be the sanest character in the play. In fact, he appears to be directing the play according to his wishes. Suffering from a disease of enacting people, he sees the world as a stage and other people as his fellow characters. He warns Bertozzo that soon he is about to be punched by Pisani and warns him to duck. Bertozzo ignores the directorial warning of the madman. Later he tells the superintendent to stop playing around and â€Å"keep to the script†. The actions of the play move around as the madman says and everyone does what he asks them to. Bertozzo, who defies the madman’s instructions, keeps on getting punched and thrown out. Hence, Fo, in his play, takes the power out from the hands of the police, the judiciary, and the media and gives it to the representative of the lower section of society, the madman. By pretending to be, in turn to be various figures of authority – psychiatrist, professor, magistrate, bishop, forensic expert – the Maniac forces officials to re-create the events with the purpose of showing the inconsistencies in the official reports of Pinelli’s â€Å"leap† and to confess their responsibility in the anarchist’s death. The madman manages to create mayhem within the policeman, representatives of law and order and figures of authority are made to appear ridiculous and a target of laughter. He exposes how people in power are all in collusion to save their own. Now I am about to show some of the theatre/TV productions of the play and give brief comments on how the character of madman operates in them. Firstly, take a look at the 1983 British TV movie that was telecasted on Channel 4. In this production, the original Italian setting is mixed with contemporary references to Thatchers Britain. 1) In the beginning itself, various impersonations of the madman are shown pointing towards the crime committed by him. 2) The madman constantly points towards the audience that is standing upwards, and the crew, and chats with them. And he talks to the director about the censorship laws on television in Britain, when the inspector says The â€Å"F† word. (5 minutes 30 seconds). 3) In the play, not only the madman enacts different roles, but the same constable is used on the 2nd floor and the fifth floor and also as a liftman. The madman here is concerned with anti materialist sentiment as well. The madman remarks about the fact low budget of the show saying, â€Å"Couldn’t they get a different actor to play you? Who’s directing this thing, Ian MacGregor?† (17 minutes) and the Maniac, â€Å"This is commercial television in crisis!† Similarly, in The IIT production of the play, which is performed in India, in Hindi, the references are converted according to Indian settings and sentiments. 1) The University of Padua is converted into University of Patiala. The madman teaches the Hindi vowels to the constable and the policeman. (4:30) (A aa e ee) 2) The police inspector in the 6th minute of the play says to the madman that he’s madder than the madman. As I said above the madman appears to be the sanest of characters in the play. My fair Heathen Productions in their September 2007 production actually used a woman for the role of the madman. Hence the madman is enacting as a madman from the beginning and in fact is a mad woman. This does not bring a significant change to the play, except probably the so called marginalized figure of a madman, becomes a more marginalized figure as in this production it’s a woman, who comes to a male dominated domain and creates havoc in the lives of the men from powerful sections of the society. Hence, different theatre companies have used different types of madman to heighten the message of the play.

Full Play To The Positive Backwash Effect

Full Play To The Positive Backwash Effect Abstract: Backwash has usually been described in terms of the effect of testing on language teaching and learning. Backwash can be harmful or beneficial, as Arthur Hughes states. (Hughes: 1989) This paper set out to see how far this term can be applied to the ways in which both the students and teachers can benefit from language testing. Key words: positive backwash beneficial testing motivation validity and reliability I. The Backwash Effect and the Learners In language learning, two terms are often mentioned, instrumental motivation and integrative motivation. Instrumental motivation refers to the utility value of the language itselfthe usefulness of English as a tool in learning, commerce or international communication. Testing process instrumental motivationcandidates usually take test to further their educational or career prospects. If the testing brings the positive backwash effect into full play, it will motivate the candidates to learn better after they know what they have achieved and what they need to catch up with. But if the result of the testing is simply given as pass, fail, or a mark, the candidates will surely be demotivatedthey do not know what they have to remedy. Another serious situation is that the tests are set by outside bodies which establish their own syllabuses, standards and criteriathe language learners are trained some skills which are necessary for their future learning but the tests do not provide the corre sponding item to measure the learners ability. That is the extent to which the learning required for the testing is apparently relevant to classroom learning or the need of the learner has been limited. As Hughes pointed out, If a test is regarded as important then preparation for it can come to dominate all teaching and learning activitieslearners are misled to strain every nerve to get by it. Which thus hinder the normal sequence in both learning and teaching? II. The Backwash Effect and the Teachers All teachers are motivated by the testing and angle their teaching to what is being tested. Because they believe: Motivation of the students is one of the most important factors influencing their success or failure in learning the language. (McDonough, 1986) They also consider that the influence that the testing has on teaching is either positive or negative. The negative backwash effect is likely to be greatest where teachers are inexperienced or lack of confidence. If the teachers do not know how they can teach under the binding force of the testing and do not know well to develop the materials arranged according to the subject, the teachers will be de-motivated and puzzle over the direction which they should head for. But if the teachers know how to make the testing an impetus to promote their future teaching, by identification with the other teachers outside the college they know what success they have made .It will even drive them to put double effort into the future job. Theref ore, it is important that testing should reflect the skills and approaches of the progressive language teachers and make better use of the testing to encourage teachers in their training. The greater positive backwash effect, the more teachers are likely to be motivated by the testing. III. The Development in the Testing In the past few years, with the development of the training projects, the research in this field is on its way to the progress. Instrumental motivation in language testing has been retained (learning is still connected to promoting, enrolling and earning) but testing is acquired an integrative dimension. So many changes taking place in the testing have been contributed to this dimension: 1. A change in the underlying theory of language learning. 2. A change in the approaches to language teaching. 3. A change in the purposes or testing. 4. A change in the criterion for evaluating a language testing. 5. A change in the testing concerning all the aspects of language teaching. When we set language tests, do we really test the candidates language ability? Are we really trying to test what can enable candidates to use a language effectively? Language teachers we have been told, when act as a tester, must concern with a whole host of different validity and reliability factors. Certainly, in language testing just as much as elsewhere, validity and reliability are important. But a valid and reliable test is of little use if it does not prove to be a practical one as Weir stated, This involves questions of economy, ease of administration, scoring and interpretation of results. The longer it takes to construct, administer and score, and the more skilled personnel and equipment that are involved, the higher the costs are likely to be.(1990) So how to achieve satisfactory reliability tests, how to enhance validity of the testing and how to make the tests more practical have become language teachers major concern. IV. Practical Concerns in Evaluating Tests Tests are means of gathering information. They are constructed according to certain criteria which are intended to safeguard the quality of this information. as Nunan once said, and it is easy to reach the agreement that the teachers should test what they require the learners to do. Nunan. D also said, It is important that, in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a given curriculum, all elements be inter-grated, so that decisions made at one level are not in conflict with those made at another. For instance, in courses based on principles of communicative language teaching, it is important that these principles are reflected, not only in curriculum documents and syllabus plans, but also in classroom activities, patterns of classroom interaction and in tests of communicative performance. (Nunan, 1987) In China a criterion-referenced test which is named TEM 8 (Test for English Majors Grade Eight) is discussed here for us to assess and discuss in detail whether this test can achieve beneficial backwash and how we can improve the backwash effect of the test. According to Hughes, there are eight steps to make our ideal into realities: 1. Test the abilities whose development you want to encourage. 2. Sample widely and unpredictably. 3. Use direct testing. 4. Make testing criterion referenced. 5. Base achievement tests on objectives. 6. Ensure test is known and understood by students and teachers. 7. Where necessary, provide assistance to teachers. 8. Count the cost. Lets look at the diagram below which collates the difference between the syllabus designed for Language teaching and that designed for tests (TEM8) Syllabus designed for language teaching Syllabus designed for test TEM 8 Listening: Listening: To understand VOA and BBC program from on -the -spot reporting concerning about the politics, economy, culture and education technology, etc. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 1. To understand all kinds of English conversation and speech, or interview, or special topic debate on the communicative occasion. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ According to the editors Messina and Feng Qinghua, the practice test chosen here is entirely based on the teaching syllabus of English major and TEM8 syllabus in higher education. From the diagram, we can draw a conclusion that the TEM8 test is basically based on the principle that language should be test in the same way as it is taught. The listening task is divided into two parts. The former part contains: (1) talk; (2) conversation; (3) news broadcast. There are fifteen multiple-choice questions as a whole. The latter part contained: (1) note-taking; (2) gap-filling. In writers opinion the structure of the test accords with Weirs theory. The advantages of employing multiple-choice format largely are that scoring can be perfectly reliable and scoring can be rapid and economical. The advantage of not employing multiple-choice format largely is that it prevents the learners from getting the harmful backwash. Hughes also has a comment on it: It should hardly be necessary to point out that where a test which is important to students is multiple choices in nature, there is a danger that practice for the test will have a harmful effect on learning and teaching. Practice at multiple choice items (especially when, as happens, as much attention is paid to improving ones educated guessing as to the content of the items) will not usually be the best way for students to improve their command of a language. (Hughes, 1989) For the note-taking, as we have no listening recording of the test in hand, however, having carefully examined the tape-script and the key answers to it, we notice that although the test focuses on whether the students have received the massage that was intended to, the material is not spoken test. In real life situation, the listeners mostly have contextual clues to facilitate understanding, it is extremely difficult for students to backtrack and focus on very specific feature of discourse while listening to and attempting to understand a non-interactive, uninterrupted monologue. (Weir, 1990) Therefore, preserving the spoken text should be in the testers consideration. In TAKE NOTE written by Michael Berman, he points out that the note-taking materials should be suitable for the study of styles and registers in contemporary English; during the process of listening, it is very important to be possibly assisted by questions from the speaker and the candidates should be encouraged to write in their own words, to centralize on elements of major importance and use key words abbreviations or symbols; they should be reminded that there is rarely time or need for direct quotation. (Berman, 1980) Look at the criterion of the scoring and the key to the note taking of this test; it does not have this attempt. Should it be improved later on? It is still a question as far as the beneficial backwash concerns. Having consulted the sources of the reading materials of the test, they are seen that native speakers wrote them all. It is in accordance with Hughes theory that the direct testing implies the testing of performance skills, with texts and tasks as authentic as possible. (Hughes, 1989) So one thing also deserves our attention, that is, both syllabuses in above diagrams are widely arranged for the requirement of the learners. The likely outcome is that much preparation for the test will be limited to it. The positive backwash effect will be hence in full play. V. Conclusion As Hughes says that the best way to test peoples writing ability is to get them to write. Hughes makes further his theory by saying that (1) We have to set writing tasks that are properly representative of the population of tasks that we should expect the students to be able to perform. (2) The tasks should elicit samples of writing which truly represent the students ability. (3) It is essential that the samples of writing can and will be scored reliably. TEM8 test is basically based on this theory. Only when we fully realized that the students and those responsible for teaching know and understand what the test demands of them, and the sample items made available to everyone concerned with preparation for it, the test can increase its reliability. (Hughes, 1989) Different attitudes and approaches to syllabus design and testing can be put on a continuum. (Hu, 1988) Tests exist to enable learners to make retrospective statements about the effectiveness of learning. If we are really trying to test what it is that enables a person to sue a language effectively, as a language teacher we have to take into account a multiplicity of factors that involved in the testing. Thus the teaching was tied very closely, right from the start, to learners real needs. A test designed to meet these needs. A test designed to test effectively both language knowledge and language skills. The most important of all is that it has been possible for the authorities to practice TEM for about three years, then the test can be further developed into a more satisfying one based on the linguistic fundamental criteria and the test can create more positives for the learners. It is up to us language teachers future effort.

Dustin (Narration) Essay -- essays research papers

Composition One: Narration   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I can remember receiving the news like it was yesterday even though it feels like a lifetime since I last heard Dustin’s high pitched laugh. It’s still hard for me to talk about his suicide.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even though Dustin had angelic features, such as light green eyes, dark blonde hair, and a smile that would get him out of anything, he was no angel. I remember the time he shot the windows of the bus with his B.B. gun or the time he put a flower in the ditch then gave it to the bus driver. He wasn’t too fond of the bus driver.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He was always the first to try something new. when we went to San Antonio for vacation, there was a cliff that over looked the water and we were all scared to jump. Well, everyone except Dustin that is. I guess that’s the ironic part of his death, he was the first person almost everyone at school knew who had committed suicide.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was no later than 10:30 when, I was sitting in my Health class. I just opened the Health book, was flipping through the pages and I wasn’t paying much attention to Coach Andree’ when the intercom came on. â€Å"Coach Andree’,† the secretary announced. â€Å"Yes,† he answered. â€Å"Would you please send Dara Wilson to check out?† â€Å"Sure will.† he responded.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I got up, packed my bag, and started walking out. I smiled at my friend Beau who said â€Å"you’re so lucky.† I had no clue why I was checking out, but I knew something wasn’t right. I started thinking of all the bad things that could have possibly gone wrong. I knew my brother went out the night before and he hadn’t come home when we left for school that morning, so I was worried about that. Maybe something had happened to him was all that was racing through my mind. I didn’t even notice that Dustin was absent that day. I walked up the hall to the office, a walk that was prolonged by the impatience of my curiosity. I wanted to know why I was leaving, especially so early in the school day. When I got to the office, I saw my Nanny Lisa there, all I could think was something was wrong with my mom or dad. I could read the sadness on the secretaries faces. Nanny Lisa was facing towards them and all I could see was her wavy fire red h air. Once she realized I was behind her, she turned to me and said the words that cha... ... a prayer for him and his family. It was a great amount of people in that hall, but not even one-fourth of the amount of people they had at the wake.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The wake was held two days later. There were hundreds of people, I never even realized how many people he had affected. Dustin’s family insisted on an open casket, to show all the children the effects of suicide, the reality of suicide. It was the saddest experience of my life. I didn’t feel as though I lost a friend, I felt like I had lost a family member.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I once thought of suicide when I was depressed, but I have now seen the tolls that suicide takes on loved ones. I now realize that life is precious and I realize that all actions have consequences. Dustin was always the first to try something new, different, or scary. His death helped me grow up, and stop being as superficial. It helped me change my opinions on suicide. I once thought of it as an only escape from life or hard times. I now see that suicide only causes more problems. I now realize that suicide is the most selfish act a person could do. Dustin taught me that and I wish I could thank him personally for that.