Testing in Language Teaching

Table of Contents Purpose and Objectives Factor Content Factor Teacher Factor Learner Factor Setting and Aids Factor Conclusion Reference List Language testing stands for the identification of the level of a learner’s preparation to use their language skills and knowledge in real life situations and environments. Testing is an essential part of teaching a language and should not be viewed as a separate activity.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Testing in Language Teaching specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Since the result is crucial in teaching, an educator is to be able to measure the performance of the learners, their improvements, strengths and weaknesses and this is where testing is necessary. Testing and teaching can be seen as two sides of one coin (Widyantoro, 2013). The relationship between teaching and testing can be described as mutual support because neither of the two processes can exist wit hout the other. Test results determine whether teaching actually happened and how well the learners have processed and mastered the new knowledge and skills. Testing is a very important aspect of any foreign language teaching program that has an impact on other program components. This paper aims to demonstrate this impact and how it should be considered by test makers in designing and developing their tests. Purpose and Objectives Factor Teaching is an activity that can be viewed as a process with only one direction – positive. This means that negative teaching does not exist simply because negative teaching is absence of teaching and knowledge acquisition by the learner. In other words, teaching as an activity implies the presence of positive results. Testing is a part of teaching that helps to determine whether or not the results are present and whether or not they match the teacher’s expectations. This way, testing can be viewed as a marker that serves as the basis for a variety of important decisions of a teacher (Widyantoro, 2013). Test results are not only designed to help the teacher evaluate the progress of their learners, but also to evaluate their own performance. For example, based on testing results a teacher makes decisions about the materials they employ, methods and techniques they implement, the way they interact with the learners. A large variety of tests is available to the modern teachers, tests of different types can be held during the learning process in order to address different needs of a teacher and their students. A teacher selects particular types of tests based on the aspects they need to evaluate for the further decision-making. For example, diagnostic tests are held when a teacher needs to determine progress made by their students over a certain period of time. Tests of this type are normally performed in the end of a unit to test how well the students mastered the material.Advertising Looking for essay on educ ation? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another example is the use of placement tests which represent a category of diagnostic tests. These tests are conducted when a teacher needs to make a decision concerning the placement of the students in terms of the materials studied within a particular curriculum. The purpose of these tests is to save effort and time to both learners and educators and avoid going through the same material twice. The choice of the types of tests conducted by an educator is determined by the learning objectives of their program and can be characterised by the outcomes an educator expects to achieve. Learning outcomes are divided into three categories or domains – cognitive (includes intellectual skills), affective (incorporates motivation, values, attitudes, desire to participate), and psychomotor (focuses on smoothly and accurately performed motor activities) (Vinson, n. d.). Tests covering cognitive d omain are to be oriented at the evaluation of intellectual skills such as memorising, self-check, synthesis and analysis, summarising and discussion. Such tests may be held in forms of essays, summaries, presentation of personal opinions, tabulating. Affective domain is rarely covered directly as it is rather abstract. It is tested based on the attitudes the learners show during the class, their level of involvement. Psychomotor domain in language learning can be referred to phonetics, pronunciation, writing skills testing. Content Factor In teaching, language is viewed as a unity composed of several skills and components. The educators differentiate between such language skills as reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The language components are its structure, vocabulary, and sound. Language skills are built of language components. For example, reading and writing skills consist of such components are structure and vocabulary, while speaking consists of sound plus the other tw o components, and listening contains just vocabulary and structure. Testing and test design rely on these skills and components. Teaching a language educators often need to check their learners’ progress on particular skills and test them separately from others.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Testing in Language Teaching specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the same time, there are tests designed to evaluate the learner’s language skills using integrative approach. When a teacher targets particular skills, they carefully select the assignments for the class in order to develop the skills. This way, the content of a lesson alters based on the objective of a teacher. For example, when reading assignments prevail during a lesson, this means that a teacher targets reading skills of the learners particularly. As a result, this will influence the content of the future testing because it will be likely to address reading separately from other language components. In other words, test tasks are selected based on the skills an educator needs to evaluate. Tests oriented at the evaluation of certain language skills separately normally contain only the tasks of one type. Such tests are referred to as discrete-item tests, their main objective is to provide an educator with information concerning the difficulties their learners may experience within a particular language skill. When a teacher intends to test several language skills in a complex, they apply integrative or global tests. These tests address language as a whole without separating it into elements and skills. Such tests check the learners’ ability to use a variety of different skills in a combination. For example, to test reading and writing language skills a teacher may conduct close tests where learners are to fill in missing parts of sentences based on the context. Another way to test reading and writing skills using integrative approach is written translation. An integrative test for listening and speaking skills may include an oral interview or audition followed by an oral summary or discussion. Generally, integrative tests provide an educator with a broader understanding of the progress of their learners, while discrete-item tests offer a more precise view on the difficulties the students face. Teacher Factor During the teaching process, an educator is the one to compile tests for their learners. An educator is responsible for the objectives of their lessons and for the ways they choose to test the progress of the students and their own professional performance. Preparing a test an educator faces an important task of balancing out several crucial qualities of a test, which are practicality, validity, reliability, authenticity and wash back. Only when a test matches this requirement it can be considered well-designed. A teacher’s competence and professionalism are the determinants of th eir success at test design. Preparing a test, a teacher is to identify its main objective because it will determine the balance between its qualities.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For example, when a language test is conducted with a purpose of professional selection, reliability and validity are the qualities the test designer is to prioritise; at the same time, for the classroom assessment practicality and wash back need to be emphasised (Milanovic, 2002). In a classroom assessment practicality comes in combination with transferability of a test. This means that a test is to carefully reflect the materials studied previously and also be transferable to real life communication skills and needs of the students. A teacher needs to be competent to organise a versatile teaching process and then address its objectives in a test. Besides, a teacher is to know their learners and identify their needs which will determine the need for a test. This also requires pedagogical qualification. Among all test qualities reliability and validity have been the most common focuses of scholarly discussions. Validity has been recognised as the most vital quality which defines to what extent the results of particular tests can be used as bases for conclusions; it can be divided into construct, content and predictive validity (Liao, 2004). The first type focuses on the performance of the examinee. The second type involves coverage and relevance of test content. The third type of validity involves a test’s ability to predict how an examinee would do in a non-testing environment. Test reliability stands for a test’s ability to provide consistent data that is replicable after retest. Reliability is evaluated based on such markers as consistency of the test results and simulation of tasks in a test (Liao, 2004). To design valid and reliable tests a teacher is to have a sufficient professional experience providing statistical base for reference concerning the correlation between testing and non-testing performance of the learners and the sustainability of test results and impacts. Wash back is another quality a teacher is to be properly qualified to use. Wash back refers to the influence a test has on learning and teaching processes and aligned curriculum. In other words, educators tend to adjust their teaching and curriculum to the contents and requirements of tests. Only reliable and valid tests can integrate into the curriculum and influence it. Authenticity is another vital feature of a test; it refers to a test’s ability to replicate the real life situation it targets. It is important because the main goal of language testing is to identify the level of a learner’s preparation to use a language in real life environment. Learner Factor Testing is only successful when it addresses the students’ academic needs. Among these needs there are a need for motivation, a need for practice and transferability, a need for personal development and a need for optimal feedback. Designing a test a teacher is to address all of these needs in order to facilitate active learning. Timing of a test is a crucial aspect for a ddressing all of the learners’ needs. The success of a test depends on the right timing. For example, motivation is to be regular and systematic in order to maintain the learners’ interest towards the language. Practice is very important for language learners. The time for practice needs to be selected is repetitive manner because frequent practice provides tighter connection between the learners and the additional language they study. Tests fulfill these needs keeping the learners challenged and motivating for improvement. Therefore, test of different types are to be placed within a program in a way that provides ongoing feedback, practice, monitoring and motivation. Feedback is a crucial aspect of teaching and testing. For the students, feedback is a part of motivation; this is why it needs to be provided in time to maintain the student’s desire to improve. Moreover, feedback is the learners’ basis for self-assessment. Through the teacher’s feedb ack direct or indirect, the students learn about their strengths and weaknesses, identify the areas which need to be improved or require particular focus. Feedback provided to the students is important for the teacher as well, because it follows the analysis of the learners’ strengths and weaknesses which helps the educator to determine the future needs of the students. This is why the timing of feedback has to be particularly accurate. Timely feedback facilitates timely improvement and helps both learners and teachers to keep track of their progress. One of the best ways to provide ongoing and accurate feedback is formative assessment. The main objectives of formative assessment are to provide the learners with valid information about their progress and weaknesses, identifying the areas that require better focus, and to help the educators find out which aspect of teaching make the learners experience struggle to address them right away (What is the difference between formati ve and summative assessment?, n. d.). Summative assessments are conducted frequently within a curriculum and their point value is rather low compared to that of summative assessments. Examples of summative assessments include performing summaries or schemes of the new materials in class, identification of main ideas of a text or a lecture. To compare, the examples of summative assessments are final papers, and course exams. Formative assessment can be viewed as an ongoing flow of testing and feedback for the constant monitoring of the learners’ progress and teachers’ performance. Setting and Aids Factor In the contemporary world technologies have penetrated every aspect of people’s life. Education is one of spheres where technologies have been used for many years already. Teaching and testing languages has benefited from the employment of technologies and their addition to the day-to-day life of the individuals. For example, English, as the main language of the internet has become much more available for the users of computers. Besides, the development of technologies and their application in education facilitated that appearance of different types of educational software which allows faster and more efficient learning and testing. The technologies have made a large contribution into the test design and implementation. Today, multiple tests can be conducted online or vie different computer programs, and the calculation of results is computerised and helps to save a lot of teachers’ time and effort. Besides, computerised adaptive testing (also known as CAT) is a recent innovation in the sphere of education software that helps to make testing more differentiated and flexible to be suitable for the learners with different academic performance. CAT operates by means of adjusting the number and difficulty of test items for each particular student and stops when a targeted criterion is met (Advantages of Computerised Adaptive Testing, n. d.). The main advantages of CAT are its precision, flexibility, positive experience for the examinees (due to the adjustment of task difficulty), and an ability of retesting without repeating the tasks. CAT is also highly accessible because it only requires software and basic computer knowledge for an examinee to be able to get tested. In general, computer assisted language testing (or CALT) has changed the nature of language testing making it more individual, and also making logistics and administration of the assessment easier and more effortless. Conclusion To conclude, testing has a very complex and multidimensional nature and a variety of objectives in every case. In order to design a valid and transferable test an educator is to have a range of professional competencies and have the knowledge of pedagogy. Besides, the planning and design of a test depend on its purpose and the content of knowledge that is being evaluated. Moreover, testing is equally important for students and teachers. The latter need testing to identify the challenges of the program for the learners and adjust it where necessary. The purpose of testing is to provide motivation though timely and accurate feedback and keep the learners challenged and interested in improvement. Testing is designed to motivate learning experiences, but not cause anxieties and low self-esteem for the learners. This is why, designing a test a teacher is approach this process professionally and carefully. Reference List Advantages of Computerised Adaptive Testing. Fastestweb. Web. Liao, Y. (2004). Issues of Validity and Reliability in Second Language Performance Assessment. Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 1-4. Web. Milanovic, M. (2002). Language examining and test development. Strasbourg, France: Language Policy Division. Web. Vinson, C.  Learning Domains and Delivery of Instruction. Web. What is the difference between formative and summative assessment? Carnegie Mell on. Web. Widyantoro, A. (2013). Transferability: A Missing Link Between Language Testing and Language Teaching. In 3rd International Conference in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning held 15-16 March 2013 at The Ambassador Hotel (pp. 795-801). Bangkok, Thailand: LITU. Web. This essay on Testing in Language Teaching was written and submitted by user GhostRider to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. 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Distance learning and telecommunications Essays

Distance learning and telecommunications Essays Distance learning and telecommunications Essay Distance learning and telecommunications Essay The process of writing a syllabus is quite an important one owing to the fact that it informs children about the policies that one must adhere to; it also gives details about the mode of operation and the assignments that are due. However, a distance learning syllabus unit requires much more detail than other usual classes in that there are no other ways in which usual learning objectives can be achieved directly. Core objectives The latter syllabus with certain information about when assignments will be handed in, classroom schedules, unanswered questions that is likely to crop up during the process of assigning these issues. The following are the major objectives of this syllabus unit; Clarifying class details Help students decide on staying within a certain lass Give details about the unit To serve as contract between the institution and the students In this latter syllabus unit, there will be details about the instructor. In this case there will be details about the department, fax, phone and fax number of the instructor. This syllabus will contain details about how to contact the instructor. (Pembrook, 2008) The syllabus unit Contact policy: The turnaround time for this course unit will be twenty four hours (i. e. the time that students can contact the instructor after giving notification. This rule applies within Mondays and Fridays. Over the weekends, twelve hour notices will be applicable. Course description: the description of this course in a full manner can be found on the registrar’s office and they are well written within the course catalog. Overly, the course unit will cover all the basic computer information. Required and course materials: the following textbooks will be required for this particular course O’Neil, K. (2008): the ABCs of computer instruction, New York, Routledge Mc Namara, T. (2008) Basic Computer skills, London, McMillan These textbooks will be the core texts and students can contact the instructor in order to know where thy can purchase. Their ISBN numbers will also be given upon contact and as they can be bought online. For this particular course, there will be a need to combine the core texts with other course information. In this case, students can log into my WPI site that will be indicated at the bottom portion of the book. Audio and video clips will be an important part of this course and they will be instrumental in ensuring the success of the program. (Pembrook, 2008) Class schedules: classes here will commence from Thursday and will progress until Sunday. Assignments will be due on Mondays at 1400 hrs GMT. Deadline extensions will be granted only after prior notice given to the instructor and they will lead to prior cancellation of work if done poorly. It should also be noted that all the files handed in must be in . doc format or in Microsoft Word 1997-2003 format. All files must be named in the following format; (number of assignment)-(name of the individual) Students can hand in their assignments in APA, MLA or Harvard referencing styles. They will be required to examine credible sources on how these can be achieved. Learning objectives: At the end of the course unit students need to be bale to do the following Open, create and store files Carry out the latter tasks in different programs Work with spreadsheets Create presentations on PowerPoint Know how to edit, format and add stylistic features in word documents Understand how to utilize other external features Utilize print options Start and run basic applications Assessment and grading: An excellent grad will be one in which all the assignments have been completed and one in which the final exam will be between 80-100 Good-79-60 Fair- 50-59 Poor -49- 0 The final exam will account for sixty percent to grade while the remaining percentage will be divided between the two assignments to be given i. e. twenty percent each. Late assignments will be penalized by ten percent of the overall grade. Technologies: the latter unit will entail use of a series of technologies to facilitate communication between the student and the instructor. Video conferencing will be important and this may involve about of countries. Correspondence will mostly be through mail between the students and the instructor. One way videos will be important too in that recorded material will be viewed across the internet. (Pembrook, 2008) Perhaps one of the most important modes of communication will be computer networking. Here, the internet and local area networks will be particularly useful. First of all, web pages will be important sources, additionally, emails and chat rooms will also be necessary to ask information about certain assignments. On top of these, databases about course contents, and course participants will be found in these respective areas. Reference Pembrook, C. (2008): Distance learning and telecommunications, NJ, Pearson Education

Julia Ward Howe Biography

Julia Ward Howe Biography Known for: Julia Ward Howe is today best known as the writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. She was married to Samuel Gridley Howe, educator of the blind, who was also active in abolitionism and other reforms. She published poetry, plays and travel books, as well as many articles. A Unitarian, she was part of the larger circle of Transcendentalists, though not a core member. Howe became active in the womens rights movement later in life, playing a prominent role in several suffrage organizations and in womens clubs. Dates:  May 27, 1819 - October 17, 1910 Childhood Julia Ward was born in 1819, in New York City, into a strict Episcopalian Calvinist family. Her mother died when she was young, and Julia was raised by an aunt. When her father, a banker of comfortable but not immense wealth, died, her guardianship became the responsibility of a more liberal-minded uncle. She herself grew more and more liberal- on religion and on social issues. Marriage At 21 years old, Julia married the reformer Samuel Gridley Howe. When they married, Howe was already making his mark on the world. He had fought in the Greek War of Independence and had written of his experiences there. He had become the director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts, where Helen Keller would be among the most famous students. He was a radical Unitarian who had moved far from the Calvinism of New England, and Howe was part of the circle known as the Transcendentalists. He carried religious conviction in the value of the development of every individual into work with the blind, with the mentally ill, and with those in prison. He was also, out of that religious conviction, an opponent of slavery. Julia became a Unitarian Christian. She retained until death her belief in a personal, loving God who cared about the affairs of humanity, and she believed in a Christ who had taught a way of acting, a pattern of behavior, that humans should follow. She was a religious radical who did not see her own belief as the only route to salvation; she, like many others of her generation, had come to believe that religion was a matter of deed, not creed. Samuel Gridley Howe and Julia Ward Howe attended the church where Theodore Parker was minister. Parker, a radical on womens rights and slavery, often wrote his sermons with a handgun on his desk, ready if necessary to defend the lives of the runaway slaves who were staying that night in his cellar on their way to Canada and freedom. Samuel had married Julia, admiring her ideas, her quick mind, her wit, her active commitment to causes he also shared. But Samuel believed that married women should not have a life outside the home, that they should support their husbands and that they should not speak publicly or be active themselves in the causes of the day. As director at Perkins Institute for the Blind, Samuel Howe lived with his family on campus in a small house. Julia and Samuel had their six children there. (Four survived to adulthood, all four becoming professionals well known in their fields.) Julia, respecting her husbands attitude, lived in isolation in that home, with little contact with the wider community of Perkins Institute or Boston. Julia attended church, she wrote poetry, and it became harder for her to maintain her isolation. The marriage was increasingly stifling to her. Her personality was not one which adjusted to being subsumed in the campus and professional life of her husband, nor was she the most patient person. Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote much later of her in this period: Bright things always came readily to her lips, and a second thought sometimes came too late to withhold a bit of a sting. Her diary indicates that the marriage was violent, Samuel controlled, resented and at times mismanaged the financial inheritance her father left her, and much later she discovered that he was unfaithful to her during this time. They considered divorce several times. She stayed, in part because she admired and loved him, and in part because he threatened to keep her from her children if she divorced him - both the legal standard and common practice at that time. Instead of divorce, she studied philosophy on her own, learned several languages - at that time a bit of a scandal for a woman - and devoted herself to her own self-education as well as the education and care of their children. She also worked with her husband on a brief venture at publishing an abolitionist paper, and supported his causes. She began, despite his opposition, to get more involved in writing and in public life. She took two of their children to Rome, leaving Samuel behind in Boston. Julia Ward Howe and the Civil War Julia Ward Howes emergence as a published writer corresponded with her husbands increasing involvement in the abolitionist cause. In 1856, as Samuel Gridley Howe led anti-slavery settlers to Kansas (Bloody Kansas, a battlefield between pro- and anti-slavery emigrants), Julia published poems and plays. The plays  and poems further angered Samuel. References in her writings to love turned to alienation and even violence were too clearly allusions to their own poor relationship. When the American Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act- and Millard Fillmore as President signed the Act- it made even those in Northern states complicit in the institution of slavery. All U.S. citizens, even in states that banned slavery, were legally responsible to return fugitive slaves to their owners in the South. The anger over the Fugitive Slave Act pushed many who had opposed slavery into more radical abolitionism. In a nation even more divided over slavery, John Brown led his abortive effort at Harpers Ferry to capture arms stored there and give them to Virginia slaves. Brown and his supporters hoped that the slaves would rise in armed rebellion, and slavery would end. Events did not, however, unfold as planned, and John Brown was defeated and killed. Many in the circle around the Howes were involved in the radical abolitionism that gave rise to John Browns raid. There is evidence that Theodore Parker, their minister, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, another leading Transcendentalist and associate of Samuel Howes, were part of the so-called Secret Six, six men who were convinced by John Brown to bankroll his efforts which ended at Harpers Ferry. Another of the Secret Six, apparently, was Samuel Gridley Howe. The story of the Secret Six is, for many reasons, not well known, and probably not completely knowable given the deliberate secrecy. Many of those involved seem to have regretted, later, their involvement in the plan. Its not clear how honestly Brown portrayed his plans to his supporters. Theodore Parker died in Europe, just before the Civil War began. T. W. Higginson, also the minister who married  Lucy Stone  and Henry Blackwell in their  ceremony asserting womens equality  and who was later a discoverer of  Emily Dickinson, took his commitment into the Civil War, leading a regiment of black troops. He was convinced that if black men fought alongside white men in the battles of war, they would be accepted as full citizens after the war. Samuel Gridley Howe and Julia Ward Howe became involved in the  U.S. Sanitary Commission, an important institution of social service. More men died in the Civil War from disease caused by poor sanitary conditions in prisoner of war camps and their own army camps than died in battle. The  Sanitary Commission  was the chief institution of reform for that condition, leading to far fewer deaths later in the war than earlier. Writing the Battle Hymn of the Republic As a result of their volunteer work with the  Sanitary Commission, in November of 1861 Samuel and Julia Howe were invited to Washington by President Lincoln. The Howes visited a Union Army camp in Virginia across the Potomac. There, they heard the men singing the song which had been sung by both North and South, one in admiration of John Brown, one in celebration of his death: John Browns body lies amouldering in his grave. A clergyman in the party, James Freeman Clarke, who knew of Julias published poems, urged her to write a new song for the war effort to replace John Browns Body. She described the events later: I replied that I had often wished to do so.... In spite of the excitement of the day I went to bed and slept as usual, but awoke the next morning in the gray of the early dawn, and to my astonishment found that the wished-for lines were arranging themselves in my brain. I lay quite still until the last verse had completed itself in my thoughts, then hastily arose, saying to myself, I shall lose this if I dont write it down immediately. I searched for an old sheet of paper and an old stub of a pen which I had had the night before, and began to scrawl the lines almost without looking, as I learned to do by often scratching down verses in the darkened room when my little children were sleeping. Having completed this, I lay down again and fell asleep, but not before feeling that something of importance had happened to me. The result was a poem, published first in February 1862 in the Atlantic Monthly, and called Battle Hymn of the Republic. The poem was quickly put to the tune that had been used for John Browns Body - the original tune was written by a Southerner for religious revivals- and became the best known Civil War song of the North. Julia Ward Howes religious conviction shows in the way that Old and New Testament Biblical images are used to urge that people implement, in this life and this world, the principles that they adhere to. As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free. Turning from the idea that the war was revenge for the death of a martyr, Howe hoped that the song would keep the war focused on the principle of the ending of slavery. Today, thats what Howe is most remembered for: as the author of the song, still loved by many Americans. Her early poems are forgotten- her other social commitments forgotten. She became a much-loved American institution after that song was published but even in her own lifetime, all her other pursuits paled besides her accomplishment of one piece of poetry for which she was paid $5 by the editor of Atlantic Monthly. Mothers Day and Peace Julia Ward Howes accomplishments did not end with the writing of her famous poem, The Battle Hymn of the Republic. As Julia became more famous, she was asked to speak publicly more often. Her husband became less adamant that she remain a private person, and while he never actively supported her further efforts, his resistance eased. She saw some of the worst effects of the war- not only the death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of both North and South. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause. Distressed by her experience of the realities of war, determined that peace was one of the two most important causes of the world (the other being equality in its many forms) and seeing war arise again in the world in the Franco-Prussian War, she called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a  Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action. She failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mothers Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who had attempted starting in 1858 to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors. Ann Jarvis daughter, named Anna Jarvis, would of course have known of her mothers work, and the work of Julia Ward Howe. Much later, when her mother died, this second Anna Jarvis started her own crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mothers Day was celebrated in West Virginia in 1907 in the church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. And from there the custom caught on- spreading eventually to 45 states. Finally the holiday was declared officially by states beginning in 1912, and in 1914 the President, Woodrow Wilson, declared the first national  Mothers Day. Woman Suffrage But working for peace was also not the accomplishment which eventually meant the most to Julia Ward Howe. In the aftermath of the Civil War, she, like many before her, began to see parallels between struggles for legal rights for blacks and the need for legal equality for women. She became active in the  woman suffrage movement  to gain the vote for women. T. W. Higginson wrote of her changed attitude as she finally discovered that she was not so alone in her ideas that women should be able to speak their minds and influence the direction of society: From the moment when she came forward in the Woman Suffrage Movement ...  there was a visible change; it gave a new brightness to her face, a new cordiality in her manner, made her calmer, firmer; she found herself among new friends and could disregard old critics. By 1868, Julia Ward Howe was helping to found the New England Suffrage Association. In 1869 she led, with her colleague  Lucy  Stone, the  American Woman Suffrage Association  (AWSA) as the suffragists split into two camps over black versus woman suffrage and over state versus federal focus in legislating change. She began to lecture and write frequently on the subject of woman suffrage. In 1870 she helped Stone and her husband, Henry Blackwell, found the  Womans Journal, remaining with the journal as an editor and writers for twenty years. She pulled together a series of essays by writers of the time, disputing theories that held that women were inferior to men and required separate education. This defense of womens rights and education appeared in 1874 as  Sex and Education. Later Years Julia Ward Howes later years were marked by many involvements. From the 1870s Julia Ward lectured widely. Many came to see her because of her fame as the author of the  Battle Hymn  of the Republic; she needed the lecture income because her inheritance had finally, through a cousins mismanagement, become depleted. Her themes were usually about service over fashion, and reform over frivolity. She preached often in Unitarian and Universalist churches. She continued to attend the Church of the Disciples, led by her old friend James Freeman Clarke, and often spoke in its pulpit. Beginning in 1873, she hosted an annual gathering of women ministers, and in the 1870s helped to found the Free Religious Association. She also became active in the womans club movement, serving as president of the New England Womens Club from 1871. She helped found the Association for the Advancement of Women (AAW) in 1873, serving as president from 1881. In January 1876, Samuel Gridley Howe died. Just before he died, he confessed to Julia several affairs hed had, and the two apparently reconciled their long antagonism. The new widow traveled for two years in Europe and the Middle East. When she returned to Boston, she renewed her work for womens rights. In 1883 she published a biography of Margaret Fuller, and in 1889 helped bring about the merger of the AWSA with the rival suffrage organization, led by  Elizabeth Cady Stanton  and  Susan B. Anthony, forming the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). In 1890 she helped to found the General Federation of Womens Clubs, an organization which eventually displaced the AAW. She served as director and was active in many of its activities, including helping to found many clubs during her lecture tours. Other causes in which she involved herself included support for Russian freedom and for the Armenians in the Turkish wars, taking once again a stand that was more militant than pacifist in its sentiments. In 1893, Julia Ward Howe participated in events at the Chicago Columbian Exposition (Worlds Fair), including chairing a session and presenting a report on Moral and Social Reform at the Congress of Representative Women. She spoke at the to the  1893 Parliament of the Worlds Religions, held in Chicago in conjunction with the  Columbian Exposition. Her topic, What is Religion? outlined Howes understanding of general religion and what religions have to teach each other, and her hopes for interfaith cooperation. She also gently called for religions to practice their own values and principles. In her last years, she was often compared to Queen Victoria, whom she somewhat resembled and who was her senior by exactly three days. When Julia Ward Howe died in 1910, four thousand people attended her memorial service. Samuel G. Eliot, head of the American Unitarian Association, gave the eulogy at her funeral at the Church of the Disciples. Relevance to Womens History Julia Ward Howes story is a reminder that history remembers a persons life incompletely. Womens history can be an act of remembering- in the literal sense of re-membering, putting the parts of the body, the members, back together. The whole story of Julia Ward Howe has not even now, I think, been told. Most versions ignore her troubled marriage, as she and her husband struggled with traditional understandings of the wifes role and her own personality and personal struggle to find herself and her voice in the shadow of her famous husband. Im left with questions to which I cannot find answers. Was Julia Ward Howes aversion to the song about John Browns body based on an anger that her husband had spent part of her inheritance secretly on that cause, without her consent or support? Or did she have a role in that decision? Or was Samuel, with or without Julia, part of the  Secret Six? We dont know, and may never know. Julia Ward Howe lived the last half of her life in the public eye primarily because of  one poem  written in the few hours of one gray morning. In those later years, she used her fame to promote her very different later ventures, even while she resented that she was already remembered primarily for that one small accomplishment. What is most important to the writers of history may not be necessarily the most important to those who are the subject of that history. Whether it was her peace proposals and her proposed  Mothers Day, or her work on winning the vote for women- none of which were accomplished during her lifetime- these fade in most histories beside her writing of the  Battle Hymn of  the Republic. This is why womens history often has a commitment to biography- to recover, to re-member the lives of the women whose accomplishments may mean something quite different to the culture of their times than they did to the woman herself. And, in so remembering, to respect their efforts to change their own lives and even the world. Source Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe: Gary Williams. Hardcover, 1999.Private Woman, Public Person: An Account of the Life of Julia Ward Howe from 1819-1868: Mary H. Grant. 1994.Julia Ward Howe, 1819 to 1910: Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott. Reprint.Julia Ward Howe and the Woman Suffrage Movement: Florence H. Hull. Hardcover, Reprint.Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Biography of Julia Ward Howe: Deborah Clifford. Hardcover, 1979.Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown: Edward J. Renehan, jr. Trade Paperback, 1997.

Assess The Value Of An Effective Human Resource Management Strategy To Essay

Assess The Value Of An Effective Human Resource Management Strategy To The Achievement Of Organisational Goals And Objectives - Essay Example Effective human resources strategies can make or break organisations. This essay shall assess the value of an effective human resource management strategy to the achievement of organisational goals and objectives. This essay is being carried out in order to help provide this student a better understanding of HR strategies in successful corporations and to provide possible cues for corporations in the improvement of their corporate performance using better HR strategies. Body Various companies and researchers believe that human resource management processes can help organisations secure and achieve various strategic options. However, only a few would agree on how the HR actually impacts on performance (HR Spectrum, 2005). HR’s impact includes basic aspects like identification or recruitment of top performers; training these top employees to work effectively; and monitoring employee progress and supporting employees in the accomplishment of company goals (HR Spectrum, 2005). Based on company’s economic processes and concepts, competitive goals and strategies, HR management usually controls various functions. To support the organisation’s competitive advantage, HR managers can support various tools and strategies in order to secure their goals. Some approaches often emphasize the importance of best practice. Another HR approach highlights best fit, and aligning such fit within the organisation and its general environment (HR Spectrum, 2 005). ... Until the employees understand how these HR strategies work and how they impact on their company’s success, these strategies would not likely have any impact or meaning. In order to understand the association between corporate strategy and employee output, it is important to establish and HR system which supports shared beliefs and attitudes among employees (HR Spectrum, 2005). HR practices can secure higher values for the organisation and for its human capital pool by focusing the employees’ actions towards the fulfilment of corporate goals. This can further be secured if employees are willing to stick with the organisation (Baird and Meshaulam, 1988). HR managers can secure flexibility and can align the corporate values by securing traditional functions and the application of HR strategies using cost-effective mechanisms. These managers can also consider beyond the traditions of their organisation and evaluate the current trends in contemporary business management, as well as the speed of change among organisations and the implications of these changes for employees and other stakeholders (Baird and Meshaulam, 1988). Managing companies strategically highlights the internal organisation and the management of issues. This would involve the acknowledgement of the corporate climate and culture as well as the alignment of employee values with corporate and social goals. For instance, in improving labour outputs and improving company flexibility, human resources can also provide a wide range of strategic choices, including higher shareholder return and competitive advantage (HR Spectrum, 2005). Due to the improved dynamics of the marketplace, HR goals must also be flexible. Flexibility includes processes which refer to improved accommodation for

Who gets the kids Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Who gets the kids - Essay Example larly forward-thinking State in its consideration of joint custody because as it is noted in â€Å"Joint Custody Blues† the traditional trend of mothers being granted full custody of children following a divorce is being sidelined by contemporary â€Å"egalitarian† views of the family home (Paul 3,7). In a legal joint custody situation, both parents will share in the decisions made about their children in terms of school, bedtime, dating guidelines, etc.; in a physical joint custody situation both parents will actually share the children themselves in that two homes will be provided for them (Paul 3). In either scenario, â€Å"raising kids with joint custody means you have to stay in constant communication with a person you either a) hate, or b) still love and are therefore crushed, or c) both hate and love† (Corcoran, cited in Paul 6). When divorced parents are constantly fighting with each other, be it over parenting strategies or any other matter, children are more likely to be depressed and averse to working with others in school or other groups (Paul 10). To deal with this, some therapists suggest what is called Parallel Parenting; this means that both parents will essentially set up their own households, complete with their own rules, and not interfere with each othe r. There is minimum contact between both parents and the children understand the difference between living at mom’s house and living at dad’s house (Ibid. 11). Court’s will always decide custody based â€Å"in accordance with the best interest of the child† (Law on Child Custody 1), and this will involve taking a close look at the financial situation, health issues, siblings, new romantic relationships formed by either parent and whether there is any history of violence (Ibid. 3). If abuse has occurred between a parent and a child or the other parent, this will take top priority in the eyes of the Court (Ibid. 4). Basically it is the role of parents to â€Å"make the divorce succeed†

Biography of Mark Twain Essay -- biography biographies bio

Biography of Mark Twain Mark Twain was a writer whose works revolved around his childhood experiences growing up on the Mississippi River. The main source of his writing was the time he spent in Hannibal, Missouri as a young boy. He also used his childhood friends in many of his work, such as modeling the character Sid in Huck Finn after his brother Henry. Twain also used the happy times in his life to express his feeling in his writings. Twain used the trials of his life to make his works humorous and all-time American classics. Twain's life began in the sleepy town of Florida, Missouri. After a few years of living in Florida, Twain's family packed up and moved to Hannibal, Missouri, about 30 miles away from Florida. Hannibal is where most of Twain's thoughts turned into his writings. Hannibal was a small town of 50 people and 3 stores when the Twain family moved in (Foner 16). By the end of the decade it boasted 1,034 persons, a newspaper, a cigar factory, a whisky distillery, and several slaughter houses (16). The key to Hannibal's growth was the main source of Twain's writings the Mississippi River- "the great Mississippi, the magnificent Mississippi, rolling its mile wide tide along" (16). While in Hannibal the young Twain led a life like any other young boy. He played with friends, went swimming, and of course went to school. But tragedy struck while Mark was only 12 years old: his father passed away. Six years later Twain left Hannibal on May 27, 1853 (21). In the autograph album of one of his girl fr iends, he bade his farewell to Hannibal: "Good-by, good-by, I bid you now, my friend: And though 'tis hard to say the word, to destiny I bend" (21). Twain was four years old when he was brought to Hannibal; he was eight... ...cluding Twain himself. In closing Twain was a writer that took in surroundings and somehow turned them into some of the greatest books in the world; such as his life in Hannibal, working as a river boat pilot, fighting in the civil war, moving to Nevada, and his lectures during 1868 -- 69. All of these events in his life somewhat effected the writing style he used. Twain also used these times in his life to make his writings humorous to his public. Twain didn't write stories that were complicated because he was a fairly "laid back" guy. This style that Twain used was one that anybody could understand or relate to. This is why Twain's name will live on and on for generations. Bibliography: Foner, Philip., Mark Twain Social Critic. New York: International Publishers, 1981 Twain, Mark., The Autobiography of Mark Twain. New York: Harper and Row, 1959

Diana Ecks Essay

Diana Eck’s writings in Darsan: Seeing the Devine Image in India address many of the key elements of the Hindu culture and traditions. Much of her writing deals with the visual aspect of the religion, and how it is more about the spirituality rather than the actual image itself. Within each chapter she hit on other major details within in the Hinduism. However this essay will discuss the specific concepts such as pilgrimage to certain sites, importance of the visual aspect, and how the construction is a religious discipline in itself. Diana Eck’s essay begins with the discussion of how Hinduism is a visual religion. Numerous times she explains how sight was a major aspect in worship and Darsan. In this section she goes on to explain that the very phrase of the Hindu religion is seeing is knowing. The whole point of the darsan aspect is to see and be seen by the god, goddess or diate that lives in the shine. Furthermore the eyes play a key role in the worship of gods. Through the eyes on can gain blessings of the divine. However to get to the dwelling places of these gods is not always a simple trip to a local shrine. She begins to discuss the pilgrimages or journeys of many people in order to achieve darsan at a specific place. During this portion of the essay she talks about the journeys and dedication that many of the Hindu followers partake in. not only do people traveling for gods but also living religious figures. For example Ghandi was perhaps the most exalted living Hindu figure. Thousands would travel just to get a glimpse of him passing in an attempt to achieve darsan. Towards the end of her passage she explains the importance of the construction of the images, and how each one was a religious discipline in itself. Later on in the passage she begins to explain how the construction of a temple becomes part of the cosmos; and in its construction the entire universe is rearranged. The very ground plan is a geometrical map of their cosmos with the sacred image at its center. Many of the temples are models of sacred mountains said to be the dwelling places of the gods, and diates. In a larger sense the temple are said to be images themselves. The construction of the temple gives evidence to this. Eck explains that from the beginning of the construction to the end is a ritual. My thoughts on the passage were that the author had extensive knowledge on the Hindu art forms along with its culture and myths. Her organization made it so each topic led to one another, and also goes into detail on almost every topic discussed. On the other hand I found one of her weaknesses was that the information got repetitive and made it difficult to focus throughout some of the paragraphs. A clear point however was the comparisons between Christianity’s god and the Hindu gods. Many times she compares the two saying a person that practices the Hindu religion could not comprehend the idea of one almighty invisible god, and that it would also be difficult for us to understand the importance of vision being a main part of the Hindu religion. This book has also shown me that each and every design has a specific importance to the religion itself. Before I assumed most of it had to be meaningless decoration, and that gods with more than eye actually serve a purpose for in achieving darsan. I had always assumed that it was just decoration or something completely different from its actual purpose. In this essay I have given a brief summary of some the major points in Diana Eck’s book Darsan: Seeing the Devine Image. These points include importance of the visual aspects of Hinduism, the ritual practice before during and after in constructing a hindu monument, and what the purpose of the pilgrimage is. I also have given a person opinion on the author strengths and weaknesses, prior stereo types and some comparisons that can be found within the book. Overall I found the book to be helpful in the fact that it gave specific reasons for many of the decorations and practices in the Hindu religion.