Microteaching As A Tool For Training Teachers English Language Essay

Microteaching As A Tool For Training Teachers English Language Essay Microteaching (MT) originated in 1960s at the Stanford University as a tool for training of student teachers. Allen and Ryan (1969) who originally gave this idea had conceptualized MT as a real teaching, where the complexities of normal classroom in terms of class size, scope of content and time are all reduced. Further, it focuses on specific teaching tasks, allowing increased control of practice and greatly expanding the feedback dimensions of teaching. In essence, it meant viewing MT as a scaled down version of a real teaching scenario with less time, less content, less skills being put to use and less audience. The name of the technique seems to have originated from this concept of less. MT provides an opportunity to the teachers to give a small sample of their teaching, get feedback from peers and re-practice the skills as required. The focus is on improvement of individual or a cluster of skills, which could be covered within a short span of 5-7 minutes. Allen and Ryan (1969) listed 14 teaching skills, each of which could be individually or with other skills covered within the time available. Conceptually, it was a sound model, using the power of feedback to shape behavior. Implied in this was to view teacher training with a behavioristic approach i.e. trying to develop similar set of responses in all teachers under similar conditions. The originators of MT viewed it as an opportunity for safe practice of a cluster of teaching skills to make lessons more interesting, reinforce learning and be able to open and close lectures effectively. Immediate focused feedback and encouragement with opportunity to practice the suggested changes were considered essential components of MT protocol. A perusal at this philosophy brings out certain important points. The sessions are brief; are conducted in a safe and non-threatening environment; teaching is broken into smaller skills and tackled one at a time; encouragement is provided to reinforce the good points and immediate and focused feedback is provided. The most important of these- especially considering that we are dealing with grown up adults with a varied number of years of teaching experience- seems to be the provision of a safe and non-threatening environment. While the concept spread out to a number of pre-service teacher training institutions, there were certain changes in the methodology along the way. MT became a session where teaching was to be critiqued and the trainee teacher needed to repeat the sessions till perfection! Simultaneously, large and larger checklists were developed to capture almost every aspect of teaching behavior, taking away the very basic tenet of micro. A Google search of microteaching checklists generates a number of documents, some of them with over 60-70 points to be observed within a span of 5-7 minutes. Even the smaller checklists so often used in basic medical education workshops list the entire rage of teaching behaviors from lesson planning to closure. Such checklists may be alright for a feedback on teaching but are not suitable for MT as all the listed behaviors cannot be observed within the time available. For some reasons, MT was also seen as putting the teacher under a microscope so that all faults in his/her teaching can be brought out (Ananthakrishnan, 1993). Contrasted to the safe environment and encouragement originally conceptualized by Allen et al (1969), MT came to be seen as an exercise in fault finding. Using checklists during MT sessions has its own problems. In addition to the inappropriate length and content discussed above, it is presumed that there is the way to teach, which can be quantified and that all teachers can and should acquire this way. This situation is similar to the conflict that we have about use of atomized checklists of an OSCE and global ratings of a long case. While checklists may be appropriate during initial stages of training, they generally fail to capture the total, which is more than aggregation of individual skills (Norman et al, 1991). Given the difficulty of meaningfully observing a large number of trainees on a large checklist within a short span of time, use of technology was made. The technique was modified to include use of video recording of lectures so that the trainees and instructors could later go through the tapes in a more meaningful way. The use of video recordings became so much a part of the process that in some later definitions, this used to be included. Barnett(1991) for example, defined MT as method of teacher training in which simulated teaching sessions (often videotaped) are used to develop and analyze trainees specific teaching skills and behaviors. (Emphasis added) Developed countries may have been able to make use of technology as an additional input but for most others, it only seems to have alienated the teachers further. While many pre-service training programs continued to use it, its use for in-service training does not seem to be very encouraging. Most of the times, it is a session at basic education workshop but its use as a useful teacher improvement tool remains highly underutilized. While we do not have any data to this effect, it is unlikely that a large number of participants from these workshops ever use it back home. An interesting turn to this story came, when Allen and Wang (1996) themselves felt the dissatisfaction with the methodology, writing ..its complexity overwhelmed its effectiveness as a training device and its use declined over time. This resulted in a revamp of the system of microteaching to emphasize the basic tenets viz. providing a safe environment in which recognition and feedback help the teachers to improve their teaching skills. One of the driving forces behind this change was to make MT less dependent on technology, especially for use in resource poor settings. This method was extensively used in Namibia and China. It is pertinent to mention that the new model was specifically directed towards in-service training something with which we are struggling. The major change in the new model, which incidentally has been called 21st century microteaching (we will call it MT2), was the further scaling down of the teaching environment. Large number of teachers to be trained and less availability of technology seemed to prompt these modifications. However, as we shall see later, there was also an implicit shift from behavioristic to cognitivistic philosophy by taking away the pre-decided response from teachers and allowing them to reflect on their teaching behaviors. This is line with accepted models of teachers professional development (Clarke and Hollingsworth, 2002). This methodology has been extensively tested and has become a part of Chinas nationwide strategy for in-service teacher training. A number of other countries are also using this approach. Broadly, the MT2 consists of a small group of 4-5 teachers, rotating through the roles of a teacher and students. Elaborate scoring protocols have been done away with and replaced by a simple 2+2 evaluation protocol. In effect, it means that each student will provide 2 compliments and 2 suggestions to the presenter. At the end of the session, each presenter will thus have 8 compliments and 8 suggestions, presuming that there are 5 members in the group. Contrasted to the earlier version of MT, where a supervisor was considered essential, MT2 relies on the power of peer feedback, making the environment even less threatening. Presenters also find it convenient to organize the re-teach sessions depending on their time and convenience. The benefits of such an approach go beyond simple improvements in teaching skills. In the first place, it allows the teachers to reflect on the feedback (Anson et al, 2010). Reflective teaching has been found to be an important input in making teaching better. In addition, participation in such sessions seems to improve the self-efficacy beliefs of teachers (Mergler, 2010), which are considered a crucial input in determining the application of newly acquired skills. The process of reflection is stimulated by feedback- in this context, the quality of feedback becomes an important factor. A good method to use is the Pendletons framework (Pendleton et al, 1984). In essence, this consists of asking the presenter first about what he/she did well. The observers then discuss what went well, adding their comments. The presenter is then asked what went less well and what different he/she would do next time. Finally, the observers discuss what went less well and offer suggestions for improvement. As can be seen, this approach is strength oriented, focusing on what is done well, re-enforcing it and offering suggestions for improvement. The possibility of using the suggestions is high compared to the critique oriented deficit based model. Some people however, feel that presenters pay less attention to positive points as wait more for the negative points to come. Moreover, this approach categorizes comments as positive and negative. To overcome some of the issues with providing feedback as given above, some modifications have been tried (Millard, 2000). The presenter is first invited to say how he/she found the experience and whether s/he thinks that learning outcomes were achieved. The observers then take turns to say what they learnt and how they felt. They are encouraged to use I statements and tell only their observations rather than inferences (I think you did..) or advice (I think you should..). Finally the presenter has the chance to add any more comments but without justifying or being defensive. S/he can also invite advice if required. This allows learning from what actually happened rather than from hypothetical situations or from remembered experience. Beyond these simple easy to use steps, a number of add-ons are available depending on the availability of technology, resources, personnel and institutional support. Video recording and then viewing the tapes together seems to improve the outcome of the sessions (Brent et al, 1996). Using standardized students (on the lines of standardized patients) has been another modification, especially for improving teaching of clinical skills (Gelula and Yudkowsky, 2003). Standardized students can also be used for formal evaluation of teaching skills using objective structured teaching evaluation (OSTE, on the lines of OSCE) (Morrison et al, 2002). However, even without such interventions, MT2 seems to provide good opportunity to teachers and improves its acceptability. It can be seen that MT2 has the potential of better acceptability, ease of use and provides a much safer environment for teachers to improve their teaching skills. It does not use terms like criticism or putting the teacher under microscope. Rather, it uses the power of positive re-enforcement to promote reflections, develop self- efficacy beliefs of teachers and allow them to make changes in their teaching conceptions, each of which is considered crucial to professional development of teachers. Not that the earlier model was bad or wrong- but considering that in most of basic medical education workshops, we impress upon the participants to use adult learning principles in their teaching- it is desirable that we also treat the participants as adult learners. Rather than demanding a pre-decided pattern of responses from teachers, it would be worthwhile to provide them with feedback and allow them to reflect on this. Any change brought about this way is likely to be more long lasting and convincing. Strictly speaking, MT may not be called a technology but its adoption can very well be explained by technology adoption model (Davis, 1989). The likelihood of adoption of an innovation depends on two crucial factors viz. perceived usefulness (which has been built during the workshop sessions) and perceived ease of use (which relates to the ease of having a session back home). If participants do not find the innovation easy to use ( e.g. they have to get the Dean/ MEU coordinator, get photocopies of long documents, make a video recording etc.), then it is unlikely that it will be put into practice. MT can be compared to a situation where before going for a party in a new outfit, you ask your friend how am I looking and s/he tells you that the suit is perfect but the tie is looking a bit odd so why not change it with a different color. With this kind of interaction, you are likely to use this technique in future as well. However, if your friend takes out a checklist and starts criticizing your poor dress sense, then it is unlikely that you will ever ask it again.

In Favor of Regulating Media Violence Essay -- Media Censorship

Media Controversy With the nation's violence rate increasing over the past few years, one must ask, "why?" Harold Lasswell formulated the core of questions of content analysis: "Who says what, to whom, why, and to what extent and with what effect?" The issue of media content has become an increasingly popular, as well as controversial, topic. There have been many concerns from parents regarding exposure of their children to inappropriate themes in the media. An overall increase of violence and crime in America suggests that the children are being exposed to violence too early, allowing them to become comfortable in seeing and ultimately portraying violence. Prolonged exposure to such media portrayals results in increased acceptance of violence as an appropriate means of solving problems and achieving one's goals. Since children younger than eight years cannot discriminate between fantasy and reality, they are uniquely vulnerable to learning and adopting as reality the circumstances, attitudes, and beh aviors portrayed by entertainment media. Therefore, media content should be regulated, especially for younger children, as well as increasing the difficulty of access to such content. This topic of violence in the media is hardly new. It has come to attention several times in the past decades and it seems like the only solution has been the ratings system. The rating system essentially rates the level of maturity of certain movies and games and puts a grade on them. These ratings range from ?E? for everyone to ?M? for mature on games and ?G? for general audience and ?NC-17? for not appropriate for those under 17 years of age on movies. In addition to these ratings, certain boxes contain warnings that caution... ...he majority of these incidents. The minors could not have received any professional training in the use of a firearm, and yet they were able to use one efficiently. Investigators said that the primary source of knowledge in the use of these weapons most likely came from the first-person-shooter games that were found in most of the gunners? possession. Clearly, certain measures must be taken to contain this problem. Violence in the general media is a very serious and real problem in our society today. The harshness of reality and popularity by demand ensures that the eradication of all violence from the media will never happen. But, one thing is certain: the growing culture of violence must be stopped as soon as possible. The human toll is too great to look the other way. As Victor Cline, the author of a book on media violence says: ?Where do you draw the line?? In Favor of Regulating Media Violence Essay -- Media Censorship Media Controversy With the nation's violence rate increasing over the past few years, one must ask, "why?" Harold Lasswell formulated the core of questions of content analysis: "Who says what, to whom, why, and to what extent and with what effect?" The issue of media content has become an increasingly popular, as well as controversial, topic. There have been many concerns from parents regarding exposure of their children to inappropriate themes in the media. An overall increase of violence and crime in America suggests that the children are being exposed to violence too early, allowing them to become comfortable in seeing and ultimately portraying violence. Prolonged exposure to such media portrayals results in increased acceptance of violence as an appropriate means of solving problems and achieving one's goals. Since children younger than eight years cannot discriminate between fantasy and reality, they are uniquely vulnerable to learning and adopting as reality the circumstances, attitudes, and beh aviors portrayed by entertainment media. Therefore, media content should be regulated, especially for younger children, as well as increasing the difficulty of access to such content. This topic of violence in the media is hardly new. It has come to attention several times in the past decades and it seems like the only solution has been the ratings system. The rating system essentially rates the level of maturity of certain movies and games and puts a grade on them. These ratings range from ?E? for everyone to ?M? for mature on games and ?G? for general audience and ?NC-17? for not appropriate for those under 17 years of age on movies. In addition to these ratings, certain boxes contain warnings that caution... ...he majority of these incidents. The minors could not have received any professional training in the use of a firearm, and yet they were able to use one efficiently. Investigators said that the primary source of knowledge in the use of these weapons most likely came from the first-person-shooter games that were found in most of the gunners? possession. Clearly, certain measures must be taken to contain this problem. Violence in the general media is a very serious and real problem in our society today. The harshness of reality and popularity by demand ensures that the eradication of all violence from the media will never happen. But, one thing is certain: the growing culture of violence must be stopped as soon as possible. The human toll is too great to look the other way. As Victor Cline, the author of a book on media violence says: ?Where do you draw the line??

Originality Of Philosophy :: essays research papers fc

Originality of Philosophy Feb.25.1997   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is philosophy? What does a philosopher really do? Questions like these can be answered in a review of Philosophy Now. What can possibly be answered.....questions which have them. And what is it that philosophers study? Generally, most philosophers study questions in which there is no rational or justifiable answer. And the type of articles in the magazine are very interesting because they elighten the reader to question the answers. Some of the articles in this issue are â€Å"Bakunin: Anarchist or Antichrist?†, â€Å" Practical Solipsism†, â€Å"Introduction to Ontology†, â€Å"Orwell and Philosophy†, some other brief articles, an Internet page, and even some classifieds. The overall view of this magazine was very intellectual and professional because it did not contain any advertising throughout the magazine. The articles are more in the manner meant for either philosophers or someone in school studying Philosophy, or even anyone interested in a very different approach to society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An idea in the article â€Å"Practical Solipsism† reads: â€Å"Solipsism - the idea that only I exist and that you, and all other material things in the world are mere figments of my imagination - is one of those peculiar notions that make everybody realize just how barmy philosophers truly are.† Philosophy is often translated as the love of wisdom or the love of truth. One way to get a vague idea as to what philosophy is about is to dissect the subject and investigate its skeleton. there are many branches in philosophy. Metaphysics is†(after- physics, after Aristotle's book of physics.)†, and has questions about the nature of time, categories of existence, including god. Epistemology asks what is knowledge? what is the difference between knowledge, belief and opinion? Can we really know anything? How could we know that we did? Logic questions the truth and even now employs a sort of algebra which is used to crunch logical problems. There is Philosophy of mind, which asks questions about the human mind, how it thinks, and how is it related to the body. Ethics is like how are we living, what is good and bad, what is unethical, and what is happiness. Aesthetics asks mostly about beauty and how to define it. In particular though, there is political philosophy, and it asks questions like What would Utopia be like? Is Utopia possible? How should social life be organized? In my opinion this philosophy is not one related to our government but is very interesting to me. As I was reading, many questions arose about our society and what I thought should be changed. Another Article that I went over was called â€Å"Ontology for

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston :: essays research papers

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by, Zora Neale Hurston, was full of imagination, imagery and phrasing. Janie’s character and dialogue seemed to slip wisdom into the reader’s head without them knowing their ingesting something deep and true. The ups and downs of Janie’s life have made her a stronger person. This is shown endless times throughout the novel. I feel that this story recognizes that there are endless problems to the human condition, such as the need to possess, fear of the unknowing and stagnation. However, the story does not give a feeling of hopelessness. Through Janie’s character, Ms. Hurston extends a recognition and understanding of humanity’s need to escape emptiness. â€Å"Dem meat skins is got tuh rattle tuh make out they’s alive.† (Hurston 183) Her solution is simple: â€Å"â€Å"Yuh got tuh go there tuh know there.† (Hurston 185) Janie sets out on a quest to make sense of inner questions. She does not sit back and let the tragedies in her life cripple her. Instead it strengthens her. Through questioning and discovery she better understands the world she lives in and how small a thing like happiness is comprised of, â€Å"If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t care if you die at dusk. It’s so many people never seen de light at all.† (Hurston 151) This quote caught my eye while I was reading because it makes you truly think of what really makes you happy in life. Janie married Logan Killicks for protection rather than love. He seemed to feel that he deserved to slap her around. Janie soon realizes that she is living in Nanny’s dreams rather than her own and decides to escape with Jody. A feeling of sudden newness and change came over her. â€Å"Even if Joe was not there waiting for her, the change was bound to do her good.† (Hurston 32) This shows a great strength in her character because even if Joe was not there for her she would still be determined to change without him. Joe seems closer to her ideal, closer to the dream of marriage that she has. But, he represents a black man who wishes to gain wealth and power. From the beginning of their relationship there were signs that he was not the love Janie was looking for. â€Å"On the train the next day, Joe didn’t made many speeches with rhymes to her,

Analysis of Another Day by Paul McCartney Essay -- essays research pap

Paul McCartney’s â€Å"Another Day† is the song i chose to analyze. Within the song there are three main themes I took notice to. The themes I have chosen are discovering self worth, the yearning for varitey and the third theme relates to the previous two in that if a person is lacking meaning then they often become tired and fed up with living. McCartney was able to successfully weave them into each other to effectively tell a story of a life of one women by explaining her daily habits. For the most part these themes are easy to recognize because they are easily relateable in any person’s life. â€Å"Another Day† is about the feeling of boredom with life and the constant struggle to find happiness. The themes of boredom, uselessness and sadness are so common and universal making the song itself timeless. The first theme I took notice to was monotony. This seemed like the most prudent point of the song. â€Å"Every day she takes a morning bath she wets her hair,† is the opening line beginning the song with an immediate sense that it is a routine that this character, which thus far we know only as a female, goes through. The whole first verse is about what she is doing before work. The wording of her actions are very plain making her seem less than enthused to be going through the same thing again. Paul McCartney has this character, â€Å"slipping into stockings...dipping in the pocket of her raincoat.† This imagery brings with it a feeling of her being lackadaisical. The chorus reiterates this theme and the sense of a plodding life with â€Å"Its just another day...Its just another day...Its just another day.† The repetition of these lines is pulling the observer back to the feeling of drabness because of it being so flat in varitey of ... ... but as a person she should find happiness with herself and her own life before trying to merge another life into hers. Understanding her want for another person is not difficult to grasp but it should not be the meaning in life. While she is dwelling on her despondency alone in her apartment, oportunities of contentment are probably passing right by her and this women will be none the wiser until she can find enjoyment on her own. Paul McCartney is depicting a picture of a women who barely drags herself through the work day routine and lives a lonely life of sadness simply waiting for the right man to love her. She has built up in her head that as soon as she finds â€Å"Mister Right† she will be pleased with her life. McCartney does a brilliant job of outlining the struggle of people who attempt to find self worth in the approval and appreciation of other people.

Spiral of Silence

Name: Edmund Marcio Lugao Diploma in Mass Communication Subject: Communication Theory Introduction: I do not like V-neck but I am a Gay and what say you? I do not use handbags similar to those used by women and what say you? â€Å"Gay men have muscular bodies and like to show off by wearing V-neck and sleeveless clothes. They prefer tight and light coloured clothing. They like to carry big handbags similar to those used by women and so on. In a seminar in Penang on Sunday, Sep 16, 2012, Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi said not many people understood or knew the early â€Å"symptoms† of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender inclinations to prevent its spread. The Malaysian Government Education Minister has endorsed a list of the identifiable gay and lesbian guideline for the schools and parents to prevent the spread of what it perceives as a phenomenon among teenagers, especially students. In that seminar, the majority of the audience are teachers. In that si tuation, are them practicing the Spiral of Silence? Content:We will always choose to remain silence if someone evaluate their views fall in the minority. According to Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1916 – 2010) (Appendix I) â€Å"Spiral of Silence† been introduced as an attempt to explain in part how public opinion is formed. She wondered why the Germans supported wrong political positions that led to national defeat, humiliation and ruin in the 1930s-1940s. The description of Spiral of Silence is audience will be unwilling to publicly express their opinion if they believe they are in the minority. They will also be more vocal if they believe they are a part of the majority.Thus, the more marginalized you become, the less you speak and so spiral into a fully marginal position. This works because we fear social rejection. and that when a person appears to be rejected, others will back away from them, fearing being rejected because they associate with the rejected person. It also makes marginalization a powerful way of eliminating political and social competition. Public opinion is the â€Å"attitudes or behaviors one must express in public if one is not to isolate oneself, in areas of controversy or change; public opinions are those attitudes one can express without running the danger of isolating oneself. According to Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, one view dominated the public scene and others disappeared from the public awareness as it adherents became silent. In other words, the people fear of separation or isolation those around them, they tend to keep their attitudes to themselves when they think they are in the minority. (Appendix II) Example, in a company, the managing director decides to increase their working hour from 8am to 10pm and send e-mail to all employees. Majority of them accept this time changes and few employees are not satisfied with his decision but they cannot or ready to express their through publicly.That might have few possibilit y which are â€Å"Fear of isolation† like transfer. They may feel unsupported by the other employees, â€Å"Fear of Rejection† By rejecting their personal opinion from the public will help to avoid fight or they may try to save their job by suppressing or avoid personal statement in public. Spiral of silence theory describe as a dynamic process. The prediction about public opinion in mass media which gives more coverage for the majorities in the society and gives very less coverage for minorities.In this reality world, this social environment, people have fear of rejection to express their opinion or views and they known well what behaviors will make a better likelihood. We called this as â€Å"fear of Isolation†. Example, When Barack Obama’s (Obama) pastor of twenty years, Rev. Jeremiah Wright conducted radical sermons that caused much public outrage, Obama had no choice but to concur with the public. It can be said that Obama was caught in the spiral of silence where if he had supported his pastor’s comments in any way, he would have had a very hard time winning the elections.Obama can be said to be in the minority and at the bottom of the spiral while the public, with their opinions against the pastor, as being at the top of the spiral. Hence, Obama had to give a speech, where he had to declare in public that he was not in agreement with his pastor’s comments, failing which he may not have a chance of winning the elections. Being the part of minority, people will concern they loss their confidence and silent or mute to express their views because of the fear of isolation or they feel alone or unsupported.Sometimes the minorities withdraw their expressed opinion from public debates to secure themselves from the majority. The maximum numbers get more vocal space in the society and lesser number become less vocal space or become silent. In another example, this is a well known fact that gun control is a prevailing issu e in United State. However, those politicians rarely touch on this topic during the elections. Especially senator John McCain. Senator McCain has a strong support from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and speaking for gun control will only result in him losing a very critical support for the elections.On the other hand, while it seems as though the general public are divided by being for and against gun control, the other politicians too avoid bringing up the issue of gun control for fear of rejection by the public, just in case the future trend becomes such that most people’s opinions are opposite the politicians’. Hence, once again, the politicians are caught up in the spiral of silence where they have to succumb to present or future trend of public opinion to win the elections.Neumann mentioned that the suppression of the minority’s opinions in the spiral of science is caused by media. Because of the influential nature of media (Agenda-setting theory), th e media tends to set the agenda as to what the public’s opinion on an issue is, although it may not be correct. Hence, Neumann describes a condition called â€Å"pluralistic ignorance,† where people have a wrong idea of what the public’s opinion really is. She believes that the television in particular, is one media whose power of influence on public opinion, should not to be underestimated.In an attempt to describe the extent of the power of television, Neumann claims that she has never found a spiral of silence that went against the tenor of that media. In concurring with Stuart Hall’s pessimistic evaluation of the media’s intrusive role in democratic decision making, she suggests, that media in general and the television in particular, is the authority in giving people a sense of what the public opinion on an issue is. Hence, people can tell when they are not in the same opinion with the general public through information received from the media and so those people will tend not to voice out their opinions.Neumann claims that just because those people keep silent, it does not mean that they will change their opinions to suit the public. The German Public Opinion Research Center developed a â€Å"train/plane test† that determines whether people are willing to voice out their opinions. It found, very importantly, that those favoring the majority tend to willingly express their views, whereas those in the opposite court do not. Also, it found that the willingness to speak out depends on whether the future trend will be in harmony with their current views.As such, people feel safe to talk to those who share their same views than those who do not. The test also revealed that low selfesteem will cause one not to talk about his opinions and also, males, young adults and people from middle and upper classes find it easier to speak out. Lastly, the test identified that existing law encourages people to express their opinions when they feel they are in the minority. Conclusion: Ending Spiral of Silence theory has both micro level and macro level explanatory process. It works well during the public campaign, Senate and Parliament.Spiral of silence theory will also helps to raise question about considering the role and responsibility of media in the society. This theory will not considering the other explanation of silencing. In some cases the person may feel the majority’s ideas or opinion is much better than his own view and it overly negative view of media influence the average people too. edmund’s word October ©2012 References: 1) The Spiral of Silence Theory. Communication Theory (http://communicationtheory. org/the-spiral-of-silence-theory/) 2) The Graduand Google Blog. Spot ( ©2008) http://thegraduand. blogspot. com/2008/04/spiral-of-silence-theory-elisabeth. html) 3) Spiral of Silence Theory. Changing Minds. org ( ©2012) (http://changingminds. org/explanations/theories/spirals_ silence. htm) 4) Noelle-Neumann, E. ( ©1984). The Spiral of Silence. University of Chicago, Chicago (http://changingminds. org/explanations/theories/spirals_silence. htm) 5) Noelle-Neumann, E. ( ©1984). A First Look at Communication Theory – Spiral of Silence 7th Edition. University of Chicago, Chicago. page 372 – 381 (http://www. afirstlook. com/docs/spiral. pdf)

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Essay

Through the years, America has made an overall improvement in eliminating discrimination, inequality and slavery and focusing more on inclusion, equal rights, and equal opportunity. Despite a considerable improvement, there are corporations and individuals that often revert to archaic means of treating employees, creating hostile environments. Consequently, different advocacy groups and laws still remain in effect and continue to evolve to protect the citizens and non-citizens of the USA. Overview of the EEOC’s Function  One particular group that exists to protect the employee is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC â€Å"is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. (Overview, para. 1)† The EEOC is committed to holding employers accountable for benefiting from the modern day enslavement of workers from other countries. Their job is to ensure that all workers foreign and those of the U. S. , are protected under the law and have the right to complain of such employment abuses which damage the foundation of our society. Compliance Issue and Lawsuit Background The article I chose involves a US company that trafficked over 200 Thai males to work for Global Horizons, Inc. , a Beverly Hills based farm labor contractor working alongside eight farms between 2003 and 2007. The individuals were falsely informed that they would have access to high paying jobs with temporary visas allowing them to live and work in the US. Once here, the individuals realized this was a lie and quickly experienced harassment, abuse, intimidation, and unequal pay. The employers threatened to deport them if they complained of the mistreatment. In addition, the employees were forced to live in housing infested with rats and insects (Carter, 2011). They were forced to sleep in tight quarters and some didn’t even have a bed. The Thai workers had all of their identification removed from their possession; the employees were left defenseless. Eventually, the Thai Community Development Center of Los Angeles brought victims to the EEOC to file charges of discrimination. The EEOC argued that Global Horizons engaged in a pattern or practice of national origin and race discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, which violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (EEOC, 2011). The EEOC sought back pay, compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of the victims, as well as injunctive relief intended to prevent further abuses at the companies and farms. This would uncover the cruel actions by Global Horizons and the farms for which they were employing these individuals. These farms, such as Del Monte Fresh Produce and Green Acre Farms, suffered reputation scrutiny and possible loss of profit after such discoveries. The EEOC’s Role The EEOC’s role in this lawsuit was to hold the employer accountable for benefiting from modern day enslavement so that companies could be aware of the ramifications of conducting such business. The EEOC first attempted to reach a pre-litigation settlement, and then filed the lawsuit in the U. S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. After no success, the EEOC quickly filed lawsuits in the U. S. District Court for the District of Hawaii and the U. S. District Court of the Eastern District of Washington. Social Impact This type of lawsuit promotes social change by making companies aware of the repercussions expected if such behavior is conducted in the United States towards citizens or non-citizens. Human trafficking is a modern day form of slavery and while it still continues to exist in modern business America, it is imperative that companies are made aware of the consequences they may subjected to should they choose to engage in such tactics. These types of lawsuits also promote healthy laws and advocate groups pushing for tougher laws so that employers cannot get away with such atrocities. It also makes employees aware of similar environments where they can quickly recognize if they find themselves in similar situations and who to go to for help. Businesses will do whatever it takes to make higher profits and quite often, they turn to illegal conduct thinking they may get away without consequence. Article Comparison In reviewing my article, I also compared it to an article from the internet published by CNN. Both articles seemed to have similarities by providing the same details and information as discussed in the EEOC article. After searching through several other articles, most included the same information as that provided by the EEOC. Management Perspective If I were a senior manager of Global Horizons, Inc. I would place tighter requirements upon hiring individual to conduct the contracting work. I would consider placing those individuals in the contracting positions in training classes to make them aware of what to do in the event they are faced with this type of situation. Because of the nature of the business involving labor work, I would enforce tighter regulations, initiate reviews, monitoring and would become more involved to avoid mistreatment of individuals. Managers and supervisors would be required to attend courses that stress inclusion, diversity, and harassment. All other employees would be required to attend the same courses, but these courses would also include information on how to report violations. Conclusion I believe that members of management from Global Horizons chose to keep quiet to reap the benefits of cheap labor. There is no excuse to have such behavior in today’s society after all the issues we have all faced as a country. Some improvement has been achieved but it is evident that there is more to be accomplished. Thanks to groups such as the EEOC, citizens and non-citizens can rest assured that there is protection available in the event of mistreatment.