Adipic Acid Essays - Commodity Chemicals, Adipic Acid, Nylon

Adipic Acid SWOSU ICER98 submitted 2/23/98 Bart Barnett, Bill McKinley, Darren Toczko, Kevin Worley Adipic acid is one of the most used chemicals in the world today, conversly, it contributes significantly to the production of nitrous oxides (NOx), a greenhouse gas. Many methods are available to produce adipic acid, with various results and potential for pollution. The following paper discusses the impacts that adipic acid has on our society and the worlds environment. At the end of the paper, is a list of some of the sources used for this topic. Any disagreements between the various sections of this article probably resulted from this being a group effort. Uses Adipic acid is a very important chemical that is used all over the world to produce various products that people use every day. Nylon 6.6, foams, paints and tires are just a few of the products that are formed by the use of adipic acid (AAD). Adipic acid is also used as a food ingredient in gelatins, desserts and other foods that require acidulation. Nylon 6.6 is the largest outlet for adipic acid, accounting for more than 89% of the total consumption in North America. One of the leading producers, BASF, produces 70 million pounds of nylon per year. Nylon is used for everyday applications such as electrical connectors, cable tires, fishing line, fabrics, carpeting, and many other useful products. Production The consumption and production for adipic acid is dominated by the United States. Of the 2.3 million metric tons of adipic acid produced worldwide, 42% is produced in the United State while the United State consumes 62% of total production. Western Europe produces the majority of the remaining adipic acid with 40%, and 13% in Asia-Pacific, while the other regions account for the remaining 5%. The process of producing adipic acid can be done by using different reactions. The main reaction is by the oxidation of cyclohexane into cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone. Another industry reaction is by the hydrogenation of benzene into cyclohexane and then oxidation. Adipic acid can be produced from butadiene by carboalkoxylation, but this process is not commercialized. The production of adipic acid through the oxidation of cyclohexane is done by reacting cyclohexane with oxygen for air in the presents of a catalyze of cobalt or manganese at a temperature of 150C to 160C. This reaction forms a mixture of the cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone. The products are distilled to remove the unreacted cyclohexane which is recycled. The cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone are then reacted with nitric acid and air with a copper and vanadium catalyst. In this reaction, air is the oxidation reactant that produces the adipic acid. This reaction produces almost all of the world's adipic acid. There are variations of this reactions first step producing cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol from cyclohexane. This includes the using of Boron oxide hydroxide and oxygen, or by oxygen and a catalysis to form the intermediate cyclohexyl hydroperoxide with further reaction with catalytic amounts of transition metals. The second step also can be done by reacting cyclohexanol and cyclohex anone with only air and catalytic amounts Cobalt, copper, and manganese. This non-nitric acid process has the advantages of no risk of corrosion and no NOx are produced. The disadvantage is that succinic acid and glutartic acid is formed with the adipic acid, thus making purification a problem. Phenol can be substituted for cyclohexane. This involves the hydrogenation on the phenol into cyclohexanol with elemental hydrogen and a catalysis. From the cyclohexanol, nitric acid is used to form the adipic acid. The process of production of adipic acid from benzene is commercially used, but does not account for a major amount of the total production. This reaction, starting with benzene, produces cyclohexane as an intermediate step. Then the reaction continues, as in the cyclohexane path of reaction. The change of the benzene to cyclohexane is done by simply hydrogenation of the benzene. The benzene can also be change into phenol, and the reaction process that pathway. The production of adipic acid with carboalkoxylation of butadiene is new and only in the experimental stage, but may hold promise for a less expense production. Many alternate processes have been researched; but so far, the oxidation of cyclohexane with nitric acid is the most efficient. So in turn, it

Julia Morgan, About the Architect of Hearst Castle

Julia Morgan, About the Architect of Hearst Castle Best known for the lavish Hearst Castle, Julia Morgan also designed public venues for the YWCA as well as hundreds of homes in California. Morgan helped rebuild San Francisco after the earthquake and fires of 1906- except for the bell tower at Mills College, which she had already designed to survive the damage. And it still stands. Background: Born: January 20, 1872 in San Francisco, California Died: February 2, 1957, at age 85. Buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California Education: 1890: Graduated from Oakland High School, California1894: Earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of California, BerkeleyWhile at Berkeley, mentored by architect Bernard MaybeckTwice rejected by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in ParisEntered and won several important architecture competitions in Europe1896: Accepted by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and became the first woman to graduate from that school with a degree in architecture Career Highlights and Challenges: 1902-1903: Worked for John Galen Howard, University Architect in Berkeley1904: Established her own practice in San Francisco1906: Office destroyed in a fire caused by the 1906 earthquake; Morgan established a new office1919: Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst hired Morgan to design his San Simeon estate, Hearst Castle1920s: Problems with her inner ear required surgery that distorted Morgans face and affected her balance1923: Fires in Berkeley destroyed many homes designed by Morgan1951: Morgan closed her office and died six years later2014: Posthumously awarded the highest honor of the American Institute of Architects and elevated to the College of Fellows (FAIA). Morgan was the first woman to be given the AIA Gold Medal. Selected Buildings by Julia Morgan: 1904: Campanile (bell tower), Mills College, Oakland, California1913: Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CA1917: Livermore House, San Francisco, CA1922: The Hacienda, William Randolph Hearsts home at Valley of the Oaks, CA1922-1939: San Simeon (Hearst Castle), San Simeon, CA1924-1943: Wyntoon, Mount Shasta, CA1927: Laniakea YWCA, Honolulu, HI1929: The Berkeley City Club, Berkeley, CA About Julia Morgan: Julia Morgan was one of Americas most important and prolific architects. Morgan was the first woman to study architecture at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the first woman to work as a professional architect in California. During her 45-year career, she designed more than 700 homes, churches, office buildings, hospitals, stores, and educational buildings. Like her mentor, Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan was an eclectic architect who worked in a variety of styles. She was known for her painstaking craftsmanship and for designing interiors that incorporated the owners collections of art and antiques. Many of Julia Morgans buildings featured Arts and Crafts elements such as: exposed support beamshorizontal lines that blend into the landscapeextensive use of wooden shinglesearth coloringsCalifornia redwood and other natural materials After the California earthquake and fires of 1906, Julia Morgan obtained commissions to rebuild Fairmont Hotel, St. Johns Presbyterian Church, and many other important buildings in and around San Francisco. Of the hundreds of homes that Julia Morgan designed, she is perhaps most famous for Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. For nearly 28 years, craftsmen labored to create William Randolph Hearsts magnificent estate. The estate has 165 rooms, 127 acres of gardens, beautiful terraces, indoor and outdoor pools, and an exclusive private zoo. Hearst Castle is one of the largest and most elaborate homes in the United States. Learn More: Julia Morgan Papers, MS 010 at the Robert F. Kennedy Library, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. CAJulia Morgan: Architect of Beauty by Mark Wilson, 2007Julia Morgan Built a Castle Hardcover by Celeste Mannis, 2006Women of Steel and Stone: 22 Inspirational Architects, Engineers, and Landscape Designers by Anna M. Lewis, 2014

How you would apply a semiological and ideological analysis to a Essay

How you would apply a semiological and ideological analysis to a television advert for a consumer product - Essay Example According to Gillian Dyer advertising is the "official art" in which beliefs and values through the brand are reminded to the people (Reschke, 1998). To understand the real meaning of advertisement its analysis are done to learn the techniques that are employed in designing the content of an advertisement. Media analysts have used different parameters of analysis to gain understanding of concepts interrelated with advertisements. This paper aims to analyze an advertisement through the most commonly used analysis methods called semiotic and ideological analysis. The advertisement selected for this paper is projecting a perfume named 1 million which is the new male fragrance by the Spanish leading colognes and perfume company named Paco Rabbane. Perfumes are considered as both essential and luxurious part of everybody’s life. When worn in daily life they are a necessity, when worn for formal occasions they depict a luxurious life style, elegant personality for women and sheer masculinity for the men. Perfume advertisements are always based on a sophisticated and sensational theme which is directly relating to physiological aspects of humans. The advertisement of perfume 1 million Paco Rabbane had been analyzed during the broadcast of 24th July 2010 by American TV channel namely AsiaVision. I have analyzed it semiotically to understand the hidden meanings prevailing within the text. Semiotic are basically the symbols and signs used within the text to create meaning. The signifier in this particular advert is no doubt the perfume 1 million where it signifies a young sexy looking man that uses the perfume to achieve all his dreams. Several iconic signs the moving objects have been used in the ad to convey the message to the user. To give the add a realistic touch they have made the use of many conventional codes set by our society such as firstly the color of the

China vs. USA. The Quest for Global Supremacy Research Paper

China vs. USA. The Quest for Global Supremacy - Research Paper Example The Euro zone has become the lowest ranked commercial performers after severely affected regions in Africa. Although the United States has maintained its financial superiority, the stability of this particular region is not constant. With a fluctuating financial graph, the United States does not have control of the global commercial market. This leaves the top spot to upcoming commercial hubs. Asia and Middle East have countries with the fastest growing economies. With political instability making the Middle East a poor investment area, Asia remains the only region with the capability of claiming the throne in matters of commercial and financial success. One country that has significantly improved its commercial capabilities is the Republic of China. This paper will focus on the supremacy battles between the United States and China. The paper will also provide a perspective on which country has the highest probability of clinching the top spot in the long run. A perspective on the investment of both nations shows the difference between their strategies. In China investment opportunities are obtained from all nations across the globe. Regardless of their financial position China has invested in many countries in all continents. According to Swedroe, China has invested in 30 percent of all the countries in Africa (par, 4). This means that China looks to capitalize on the resources that Africa can bring to the global market. This maximization of the resources in Africa has raised the economy of China by around 10 percent (Lash, par 7). The situation is different when it comes to the United States. The United States bases its investment on the ability of the country to pay back in certain conditions. In most cases the United States strikes deal with state government instead of venturing into private investment. The private investment China undertakes enables the country to contract with other private companies who are in need of

Criticism of the movie '' City of God'' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Criticism of the movie '' City of God'' - Essay Example Additionally, this society never valued the right of others. For instance, despite being bathed in golden lights and amber moods, children were being kicked around like football. Furthermore, the City of God is often expected to flourish in light throughout or all the time. However, it was full of darkness at some points. The darkness in this film is characterized not only y the frequent blackouts it experiences, but also by the action of its people. Nonetheless, the film is produced in a captivating style that is appealing to the audience. The storyline is perfect and well formulated. The film portrays the social issues that happened in a society. The society in question is Brazilian society that needed quick interventions. Furthermore, despite the film’s setting being based in a Brazilian society, its message of rotten vices in was far reaching with some of the crimes being global concerns. The problems and damages caused by gang groups have continued to affect many parts of the global society including cities in the United States. It is also worth noting that the film depicted immense creativity particularly in reflecting real life violence in a society. Additionally, the creativity is in the use of slang language that makes the film truly local and appealing to its targeted audience. In addition, the music that changes depending on the scenes significantly adds value to the success of this film. The director and produ cer of the film also ensured that the cinematography and writing were also perfectly related. The written script of the film portrayed the vices in the society and the same I well brought in play by the cinema presented by the film. Notably, the first expression in the film is the lack of peace and order in the society. This theme strikes everywhere and it is what leads to criminal activities such as murder, theft and rape. One of

Inter-lingual Interference in the Usage of Prepositions

Inter-lingual Interference in the Usage of Prepositions Inter-lingual Interference in the Usage of Prepositions in the English of Syrian Students Abstract In recent years, studies of foreign language acquisition have tended to focus on learners errors since they allow for prediction of the difficulties involved in acquiring a foreign language. In this way, teachers can be made aware of the difficult areas to be encountered by their students and devote special care and emphasis to them. Prepositions, on which this dissertation focuses, are one of these difficult areas. Thus, the main objective is to investigate whether the English preposition errors of the Syrian university students come more from inter-lingual interference or from other sources and whether classical or colloquial Arabic has the dominant influence on this interference. It also investigates which category of error in inter-lingual interference is the most frequent in the students using the prepositions in, on, at, of and to. The data is samples consisting of the answers of a diagnostic test by 38 Syrian first-year students of law. The diagnostic test was designed as a mu ltiple choice test and took by the students online. This investigation showed that preposition errors come mainly from inter-lingual interference, which is attributed more to standard Arabic here. It also showed that the students seem to have a serious problem in first language interference errors, especially substitution errors. This has implications for curriculum change and teachers method of teaching. 1. Introduction 1.1. Background of the study Language difficulty is often determined by how far or close the target and mother languages are. â€Å"Contrastive analysis is one of the areas of linguistics which elude a clear, unequivocal, and simple definition† (Vizmuller-Zocco, 1990:466). Errors in a certain area of grammar in the second language are often compared with an area of grammar in the first language. One of the most challenging things in learning English as a second language is using prepositions, â€Å"Among those who teach or learn the English language, prepositions have earned a reputation for difficulty if not downright unpredictability.† (Pittman, 1966) â€Å"As any English teacher well knows, our prepositions are a particularly troublesome lot to the non-native speaker of English† (McCarthy, 1972). When we, non-native speakers of English, speak English, we usually hesitate over choosing the correct preposition or whether a certain verb needs a preposition or not. This matter has always interested me, as many Arabic-speaking learners of English complain about it. Thahir (1987) indicates that prepositions can cause a problem for Arabic learners of English. For instance, an Arabic speaker would say this sentence *Fast trains can travel at a speed of 300m in hour. This is because per hour is expressed as in hour in Arabic. This transfer from Arabic into English is what makes Arabic learners English seem broken. Moreover, some linguists say that the mastery of prepositions in English is a late stage in native-language learning as well (Scott and Tucker, 1974). Therefore, this dissertation intends to look into the differences of preposition aspects between Arabic and English: are their distributions the same? Do all the Arabic words that need prepositions also need prepositions in English? If the words that need prepositions in Arabic also need prepositions in English, are these prepositions the same or different? From these general questions more specific questions will be formulated in the ‘Methodology chapter. 1.2. Grammar of English and Arabic prepositions â€Å"Arabic has a wealth of prepositions†¦with both verbs and adjectives. Many of these do not coincide with their direct English translations† (Swan and Smith, 1987:152). Nevertheless, Arabic prepositions are more limited in number than those of English. Abbas says that there are only twenty prepositions in Arabic (1961:320), while in English, there are fifty seven (Hayden, 1965:171-176). This, as a matter of fact, makes it harder for Arabic learners of English to have a command of English preposition usage. Grubic says: Non-native speakers of English tend to have three types of problems with prepositions: 1. Using the wrong preposition, e.g.: *My grandfather picked the name on me. (for) 2. Omitting a required preposition, e.g.: *I served the Army until 1964. (in) 3. Using a superfluous prepositions, e.g.: *I studied in Biology for three years. (2004:22) Despite all the efforts made by grammar book writers and teachers, learners of English still make mistakes in the usage of prepositions. So, what makes EFL learners make these errors? There is no doubt that Arabic learners of English translate grammar from Arabic into English, ignoring the rigorous grammatical structures of the English language. However, are all preposition-usage errors related to L1? Prepositions are words or groups of words that typically come before a noun phrase and indicate syntactic relations (Matthews, 1997). v My fathers plane arrives after midnight. v We have got a tree in front of the house. v There are no snakes in Ireland. One important feature of prepositions is that they cannot stand alone, regardless of how many words they are combined with (Downing and Locke, 1992). Since prepositions are not independent, they form meaning when combined with nouns or noun phrases, for example: after midnight, in front of the house, in Ireland. â€Å"Prepositions can be divided into three categories, i.e. basic prepositions, systematic prepositions and idiomatic prepositions: v standing on the table. v come on Friday. v comment on speech.† (Karlsson, 2002) In expressing time, on is used with days, such as on Friday, on Saturday and on January 30th. At, on the other hand, indicates a specific part or time of the day, such as at 12 oclock, at noon and at midnight. While in is used with years, months and seasons or main parts of the day, for example in 2001, in summer, in April. For explains a period of time, and by and within indicate limitation of a period of time, such as for six years, by next year and within two hours (Hewings, 2005). The Arabic preposition fee ( »Ã¢â‚¬Å" »Ã‚ ²), which is equivalent to the English in, is used in almost all of the above cases, but for within Arabic uses khilal ( ºÃ‚ »Ã‚ ¼Ã‚ »Ã‚ ). By and for have no equivalents in Arabic and they are expressed in phrases. As for prepositions of movement and place, in is used when indicating a certain position and on when talking about the surface, as in: v The keys are in the drawer. v The keys are on the table. At is used when pointing at a certain place which is close to the object, for example: v Im waiting for you at the bus stop. Inside is used to indicate the inner place of a certain object, while outside is the opposite. v There is a scorpion inside my room. v Outside the Palace, there were crowds of people waiting for the Queen to show up. Also, from and to are opposite prepositions. From indicates the origin of the movement, but to indicates the target of the movement (ibid), as in: v My plane ticket is from London Heathrow to Damascus International Airport. All of the prepositions of movement and place have their equivalents in Arabic:  § in → fee ( »Ã¢â‚¬Å" »Ã‚ ²)  § on → ala ( »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ »Ã‚  Ã‚ »Ã‚ °)  § at → inda ( »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ »Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ª)  § inside → dakhel ( ºÃ‚ ªÃ‚ ºÃ‚ Ã‚ ºÃ‚ »Ã… ¾)  § outside → kharej ( ºÃ‚ ºÃ‚ Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ®Ã‚ ºÃ‚ )  § from → min ( »Ã‚ £Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥)  § to → ila ( ºÃ¢â‚¬ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  Ã‚ »Ã‚ °) 1.3. Study aims The prepositions in, on, at and to are the most commonly used prepositions in English. Therefore, my research study is going to focus closely on these four prepositions in the English of Syrian university students. I will see whether the first language interference kind of error is more effective than the other kinds. I will identify the errors that have to do with L1 interference and see if the interference comes from classical or colloquial Arabic. I will also look at the categories of L1 interference errors and see which one is the most frequent: substitution, addition or omission. This will, hopefully, help Syrian university students improve their written and spoken English. 2. Literature review 2.1. Error analysis One way for identifying errors in preposition usage is error analysis. First of all, it is important to define the word ‘error. An error is â€Å"an instance of language that is unintentionally deviant and is not self-corrigible by its author† (James, 1998:78). Brown considers the errors as either ‘overt or ‘covert (1994:208). According to Ellis (1987) Error analysis was considered as an alternative to contrastive analysis, and it is considered of value in the classroom research (Brown, 1994: 214). It also predicts the difficulties of acquiring a second language (Richards, 1974: 172). Error analysis shows â€Å"the significance of errors in learners inter-language system† (Brown, 1994:204). Ellis and Richards et al say that error analysis can be conducted for pedagogical purposes (1994:51; 1993:127). At the level of pragmatic classroom experience, error analysis will continue to provide one means by which the teacher can assess learning and teaching and determine priorities for future effort (Richards, 1974:15). When we analyse errors, we should give a detailed explanation for each type of error that corresponds to the different processes that Selinker (1992) reported as central to second language learning: language transfer, transfer of training, strategies of second language learning, strategies of second language communication, and overgeneralization of TL [Target Language] linguistic material. Error analysis helps teachers overcome the difficulties learners of English face in learning the language through figuring out the sources of errors and, consequently, taking some precautions towards them. It can be said that error analysis can be used to determine the learners need in learning. 2.2. Language transfer The â€Å"study of transfer depends greatly on the systematic comparisons of languages provided by contrastive analyses† (Odlin, 1989: 28). Odlin goes on to say that although many contrastive analyses provide useful and sometimes highly perceptive information about languages they compare, none comes close to meeting in full the criteria of descriptive and theoretical adequacy. There is no doubt that interference constitutes a major problem and obstacle in language usage amongst learners of a second language. They cannot help letting their mother tongue interfere in the target language. Therefore, some errors are tolerable to native speakers of English. Even native speakers of English have problems with certain preposition structures. Over-generalisation or intra-lingual transfer is said to have a considerably negative effect on learner English. Learners of a second language sometimes transfer some features of grammar to apply it on other inappropriate features. This certainly results in errors in the target language. Almost all the research that has been done so far indicates that preposition misuse is mainly caused by linguistic interference, inappropriate learning and wrong application of rules. Some views contradict this saying that errors of prepositions are due to the complexity of the English language itself. Others go so far as to say that the misuse or errors of a language could be related to bad teaching and resources, ignorance, lack of practice and carelessness. In fact, attitudes vary considerably. The first attitude represents the feeling that errors are undesirable and, therefore, should be avoided, but the second says that errors are inevitable in an imperfect world (Corder, 1981). In behaviourism, errors are depicted as sins that should be avoided and bad habits that should not be tolerated, while in cognitivism, errors are perceived as part of the learning process. The main focus of behaviourism followers methods is on preventing errors, whereas the focus of the methods of cognitivists is on intellectual analyses of the causes of errors and ways of dealing with them. This supports Frenchs argument (1989) that â€Å"errors are oddities that are not evidence of carelessness or of unwillingness but of growing pains and a desire to learn, not punishable offences because they are accidents† (French, 1989). Actually they are part of the language learning process. Humans cannot learn without making errors to err is human. Krashen and Terrell (1983) argue that the errors made by learners are a natural process in learning, and learners will get over this stage of inter-language interference and develop naturally. L1 interference is one of several types of errors learners of a second language make (ibid, 1988: 64-69). When learners of a second language use this language, they have no way but to submit to the grammar of their first language. In the case of English prepositions, when Arabic learners of English are not sure which preposition to use, they literally translate from Arabic into English. As Arabic and English prepositions seldom have one-to-one correspondence, this results in inter-language interference errors. An Arabic preposition may be translated by several English prepositions, while an English usage may have several Arabic translations (Scott and Tucker, 1974: 85). 2.3. Studies on language transfer The processes of language transfer and over-generalisation receive considerable attention. Jain (in Richards, 1974) and Taylor (1975) reported that over-generalisation errors are an application of the generalisation strategies of the learners second language to produce this same second language. Brown states that inter-lingual transfer is the negative influence of the mother tongue, and that intra-lingual transfer is the negative transfer within the target language (1980:173-181). Swan and Smith give a detailed account of errors made by speakers of nineteen different first language backgrounds (1995:ix). Also, Diab (1996) conducted a research on error analysis showing the interference of the mother language, Arabic, in the English writings of EFL students at the American University of Beirut (1996). The transfer of Arabic structures in the Lebanese students writings resulted in a number of errors. However, they made more errors where they felt English and Arabic were similar (articles, prepositions and choice of diction). James indicates that â€Å"the clearest proof of L1 interference is where L1 nonstandard dialect gets transferred to L2† (1998:179). Dulay et al (1982) defines language interference as the automatic transfer from the surface structure of the first language to the surface structure to the second language, while Lott (1983) defines it as errors in learners foreign language that can be attributed to the mother tongue. Ellis also comments on interference saying that it is â€Å"the influence that the learners L1 exerts over the acquisition of an L2† (1997:51). ‘An Analysis of Interference Errors in the Written English of Sudanese Students is a study made by Tadros (1966) in order to analyse the errors of language interference in the writings of Sudanese students. He looked into 472 scripts written by 236 students in their seventh year of English learning. The students were first given different exercises about relative clauses and had to follow explicit instructions. Then they were asked to write a paragraph about their school, using relative clauses. This research made the writer come up with the conclusion that this is an effective way to apply what they have already learnt. I think the conditions were helpful for the students, so their writings were not an indication of their true proficiency level in English. The students were asked to write paragraphs immediately after they had been taught. Scott et al (1974) also made a study in Beirut called â€Å"Error Analysis and English Language Strategies of Arab Students†. This study examined samples of Arab students speech and writing both at the beginning and the end of the semester in an intensive English course; compared the types of error in speech and writing, the frequency of these errors and the relative frequency of the errors made at the beginning and the end of the semester; identified the sources of errors; considered both inter-language interference and intra-language interference in the English learning strategies of Arab students and identified some rules that represent early and late acquisition of a second language. This researcher made this study on 22 Arab students in the first semester of a lower intermediate intensive English course at the University of Beirut. Those students had already completed their school education, where the medium of instruction was Arabic. They had also studied some English as a foreign language. This study revealed that verbs, prepositions and articles are the areas where the students often made errors. It also showed that the error frequency in the usage of prepositions was similar in writing and speech and that the preposition errors at the beginning and the end of the semester ranked after the number of verb errors. Verb errors Preposition errors Beginning of the semester 80 61 End of the semester 60 51 Half of the errors in writing and speech at the beginning of the semester were due to inter-language interference and the other half due to intra-language interference. About two thirds of the errors at the end of the semester were due to inter-language interference and one third due to intra-language interference. Since the larger number of errors was made due to inter-language interference at the end rather than at the beginning of the semester, this means that the students were making more progress in overcoming intra-language interference confusion than in solving the problem of the first language transfer. The interference of Arabic was most obvious in the frequent omission of auxiliaries and copulas, in preposition and article errors and in the repetition of subjects and objects. However, at the end of the semester, the students made a great progress in almost all areas except in prepositions and articles; the interference of the mother language continued to be a dominant feature in the usage of prepositions and articles. The preposition errors fell into three groups: 1. Interference from Arabic. 2. Interference from English. 3. Errors without identifiable source. The preposition errors were reduced by one third during the semester. Although the larger proportion of these errors was attributed to the interference of the first language, it was thought that the students would make progress in the usage of prepositions since it is a late acquisition in native language learning (Scott et al, 1974:95). The researcher suggested that other studies should investigate the errors made by Arab students at both lower and higher levels of English proficiency and if inter-language interference comes from formal or colloquial Arabic. She suggests that â€Å"interference in writing comes from classical Arabic but interference in speech from colloquial Arabic.† (ibid: 96). Mukattash made a pilot project in common grammatical errors in Jordanian English (1981: 250-291). The broad objective of his research â€Å"Common Grammatical Errors in Jordanian English† is to get a general idea of the areas in English syntax which are problematic to Jordanian students at university. The specific objective of his research was to calculate and analyse the different types of errors in the written English of Jordanian university students. The subject students were 200 first-year students at the University of Jordan. They were graduates of public secondary schools, where they had received eight years of English language teaching. They were also from different parts of Jordan and some of them were from the West Bank in Palestine. The students were given a comprehensive test in comprehension, structure and vocabulary. All the 200 essays contained errors, but the detailed analysis was made on only fifty essays, which were chosen randomly. The errors in the usage of prepositions ranked fourth in the order of the total occurrence of errors. This study disagrees with Scotts study, which ranks preposition usage errors second after verb errors. Here the ranking order is as follows: verbals, articles, nominals and prepositions. The percentage of the preposition errors was 15% of the overall number of errors in the fifty essays. Although we cannot compare the results of the two studies due to the fact that Scott did not state precisely what percentage the preposition usage errors constituted in the writings of her subject students, we can say that preposition errors are still a serious problem for Arabic learners of English. In Scotts study, the percentage of interference from Arabic was 67%, while in this Study, it is 78%. However, the interference of Arabic in the usage of prepositions is still significant in the results of both studies. Also, Kerr (1970) made a study on the common errors in the English writings of a group of Greek learners of English as a foreign language. The research study purpose was to show the teachers of English in Greece the serious problems their students have in writing. Teachers find certain types of errors which they have previously ignored, and so find indications of the kinds of preventive and remedial teaching that would prevent the growth of bad language habits by using clearer explanations and more effective practice at the more elementary stages of learning. The errors also indicate the areas of language on which tests and examinations would be based. (Kerr, 1970: ix). Kerr based his study on over a thousand compositions written by adult students at an advanced level of English proficiency. The causes of the errors found were ignorance of words and constructions to express an idea, carelessness of the students, the interference of the mother language and making false analogies within the target language. Between 20% and 30% of the grammatical errors made by the Greek students involved errors in the usage of prepositions of all types (ibid, 1970: 22). Handrickson (1979) made another research study on error analysis and error correction at Ohio State University called ‘Error Analysis and Error Correction on ESL Learners at Ohio State University. The subject learners were adults of intermediate level studying English as a second language. His study aimed at identifying the most frequent communicative and linguistic errors in the compositions of intermediate ESL learners. It also aimed at determining the effect of the teachers direct correction on the English writing proficiency of students. He found that most of the communicative errors were as a result of inadequate lexical knowledge, incorrect use of prepositions and pronouns or misspelling of lexical items. On the other hand, the linguistic errors were caused by inappropriate lexical choice, lack of subject-verb agreement, the omission and misuse of prepositions, incorrect word order or misspelling of words. The effect of the teachers direct error correction on the students English proficiency in writing came out to be statistically insignificant. Another study was made in the United States on EFL learners, but this time on Iranian students. The research was conducted by Henning (1978) at the University of California and is called ‘A Developmental Analysis of English Errors Made by Iranian Students. He analysed the developmental error patterns of the Iranian learners of English as a second language. The subjects of this study were 22 Iranian women in the second semester of their first year at Damayand College in Tehran, Iran. The students had already had an average of six years of English learning and were, at the time of the research, enrolled in an intensive course where 20 hours of English language teaching was being given to them. The medium of instruction was also English. â€Å"The conclusion reached was that†¦mastery in the usage of English prepositions according to their meanings is one of the most sensitive indicators of the degree of English proficiency† (Henning, 1978:396-397). Zarei (2002) also found that, for Iranian EFL learners, the collocations of prepositions are among the most problematic collocations in English. Khampang (1974) also made a research study at the University of California. This Research study is called ‘The Difficulties in Using English Prepositions, and it focused on the difficulties facing Thai learners of English in using English prepositions. The research was conducted to investigate what the prepositions that Thai learners of English found difficult to learn were and whether there was a big difference between the prepositions that Thai learners of English chose and those chosen by learners of English from other L1 backgrounds. It also investigated whether the problem of using English prepositions was universal, shared with non-Thai learners of English, or Thai learners had specific problems. He wanted to know if this problem was due to first language interference and, consequently, predictable from contrastive analysis. The study was only on 8 simple prepositions of time and place: in, on, at, for, to, from, by and the empty form ∅. ‘The subject students in this research were 169 students from different L1 backgrounds: 40 from Thailand, 48 from Japan, 38 from Spain and 43 from countries of different language backgrounds (Persian, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Arabic). The levels of the students were both intermediate and advanced, and they were in adult schools in the area of Los Angeles. The students were tested on the 8 prepositions of time and place by a diagnostic test. This test was in three parts: multiple choice, error correction and close test. Each part consisted of 15 items. The 45 questions included the repetition of each preposition 4 times in random order. The results came up with the fact that: there was no evidence of significant difference between the language groups based on total test scores. Neither was there any evidence found for interaction effects between the language groups and the factors selected. There was only one factor, previous educational level, which showed significant difference between high school and college subjects. (Khampang, 1974: 218). Different language groups did not affect the subject students performance in the usage of English prepositions. Again, age, sex or the number of years or hours per week allotted for learning English were not important factors in mastering the usage of English prepositions. As for the question about whether certain prepositions were more difficult or easier for certain language groups, the writer had to use the criterion of difficulty in order to answer it. If a group had less than 50% of the responses correct, then the test item was considered difficult. 16 out of the 45 items were considered difficult, and the data showed that not all the four groups had the same responses for the test items. Khampang gave some statements that, as he said, are applicable to ESL teaching. He said that of the three test parts, the close test seemed to be more effective than the other parts in testing the usage of English prepositions. He also argues that to teach them English, there is no need to separate students of English by age, sex, or number of years or hours allotted for learning English. Diagnostic and placement tests came out to be more effective than considering the students L1 backgrounds. Moreover, for a heterogeneous language group, the way of teaching English prepositions of time and place should be the same for all students, along with emphasising the areas of difficulty in English language learning for a particular language group. This last statement is the real objective behind error analysis. Im researching Syrian university students preposition errors in order to see if the errors are as a result of the interference of their first language, Arabic. This will help us devel op strategies to teach those students. An investigation on the grammatical errors made by Swedish 16-year-old learners of English was made by Kohlmyr (2003). She analysed errors in around 400 compositions from two national assessment programmes, and she found that preposition errors accounted for 12% of all the grammatical errors. The preposition errors that were mainly found with to, in, at, of and for included substitution, omission and addition. The most frequent type of error was actually substitution. According to this research, the preposition errors were caused by first language transfer, over-generalisation and simplification. About 50% of the errors were caused by over-generalisation, 40% by first language transfer and 10% by simplification. Gabrys-Biskup argues that interference is the prime cause of the learners second language (in Arnauld Benjoint, 1992). All of the above research articles focused on learner English. Some of them also focused on the usage of English prepositions by EFL learners; for instance, the research done by Scott and Khampang. Scott, in her research, found that the usage of English prepositions was a serious problem for Arabic learners of English (1973). While Khampang said that different language groups did not have effect on the students performance in using English prepositions (1974). That suggests that the usage of English prepositions are a serious problem for learners of English as a foreign language. In Scotts research, preposition errors ranked second after verb errors, and in Mukattashs, they ranked fourth. In both cases, preposition errors are problematic for Arabic learners of English. Also, in Kerrs research study, the preposition errors constituted between 20% and 30% of the overall grammatical errors. Some of the above researchers gave some recommendations and suggestions for dealing with errors. Kerr (1970) said that preventive and remedial teaching had a good and positive effect. This can be done by using clearer explanations and more effective practice at the elementary stage. However, Tadros (1979) suggested intensive drilling. On the other hand, Scott suggested that further investigations should be made on the errors that are committed by Arabic learners of English at their lower levels of English proficiency (1973). She also suggested that researches should look into the influence of classical and colloquial Arabic on Arabic students written English. These suggestions, in addition to my interest, have urged me to conduct a research study into this problematic area for Syrian learners of English, especially since there have not been many studies on this topic, as far as I know. Even at more advanced levels of English proficiency, Syrian learners of English still make errors in the usage of prepositions. The kind of error they make is due to the mother tongue, and since Arabic has two varieties (formal and colloquial), it is worth investigating which one the learners take their English grammar structures from. Scott (1974) says that the English production of Arabic learners is affected by both formal and colloquial Arabic. Nevertheless, we do not know which variety is dominant and to what extent. 3. Methodology and research procedures 3.1. Research questions In this research study, I will look into the preposition usage errors made by Syrian university students and try to answer the following questions: 1. Which kind of error is more effective in using the English prepositions in, on, at, of and to: inter-language interference or other kinds of error? 2. Which variety of Arabic has the influence on the usage of English prepositions of Syrian university students and w Inter-lingual Interference in the Usage of Prepositions Inter-lingual Interference in the Usage of Prepositions Inter-lingual Interference in the Usage of Prepositions in the English of Syrian Students Abstract In recent years, studies of foreign language acquisition have tended to focus on learners errors since they allow for prediction of the difficulties involved in acquiring a foreign language. In this way, teachers can be made aware of the difficult areas to be encountered by their students and devote special care and emphasis to them. Prepositions, on which this dissertation focuses, are one of these difficult areas. Thus, the main objective is to investigate whether the English preposition errors of the Syrian university students come more from inter-lingual interference or from other sources and whether classical or colloquial Arabic has the dominant influence on this interference. It also investigates which category of error in inter-lingual interference is the most frequent in the students using the prepositions in, on, at, of and to. The data is samples consisting of the answers of a diagnostic test by 38 Syrian first-year students of law. The diagnostic test was designed as a mu ltiple choice test and took by the students online. This investigation showed that preposition errors come mainly from inter-lingual interference, which is attributed more to standard Arabic here. It also showed that the students seem to have a serious problem in first language interference errors, especially substitution errors. This has implications for curriculum change and teachers method of teaching. 1. Introduction 1.1. Background of the study Language difficulty is often determined by how far or close the target and mother languages are. â€Å"Contrastive analysis is one of the areas of linguistics which elude a clear, unequivocal, and simple definition† (Vizmuller-Zocco, 1990:466). Errors in a certain area of grammar in the second language are often compared with an area of grammar in the first language. One of the most challenging things in learning English as a second language is using prepositions, â€Å"Among those who teach or learn the English language, prepositions have earned a reputation for difficulty if not downright unpredictability.† (Pittman, 1966) â€Å"As any English teacher well knows, our prepositions are a particularly troublesome lot to the non-native speaker of English† (McCarthy, 1972). When we, non-native speakers of English, speak English, we usually hesitate over choosing the correct preposition or whether a certain verb needs a preposition or not. This matter has always interested me, as many Arabic-speaking learners of English complain about it. Thahir (1987) indicates that prepositions can cause a problem for Arabic learners of English. For instance, an Arabic speaker would say this sentence *Fast trains can travel at a speed of 300m in hour. This is because per hour is expressed as in hour in Arabic. This transfer from Arabic into English is what makes Arabic learners English seem broken. Moreover, some linguists say that the mastery of prepositions in English is a late stage in native-language learning as well (Scott and Tucker, 1974). Therefore, this dissertation intends to look into the differences of preposition aspects between Arabic and English: are their distributions the same? Do all the Arabic words that need prepositions also need prepositions in English? If the words that need prepositions in Arabic also need prepositions in English, are these prepositions the same or different? From these general questions more specific questions will be formulated in the ‘Methodology chapter. 1.2. Grammar of English and Arabic prepositions â€Å"Arabic has a wealth of prepositions†¦with both verbs and adjectives. Many of these do not coincide with their direct English translations† (Swan and Smith, 1987:152). Nevertheless, Arabic prepositions are more limited in number than those of English. Abbas says that there are only twenty prepositions in Arabic (1961:320), while in English, there are fifty seven (Hayden, 1965:171-176). This, as a matter of fact, makes it harder for Arabic learners of English to have a command of English preposition usage. Grubic says: Non-native speakers of English tend to have three types of problems with prepositions: 1. Using the wrong preposition, e.g.: *My grandfather picked the name on me. (for) 2. Omitting a required preposition, e.g.: *I served the Army until 1964. (in) 3. Using a superfluous prepositions, e.g.: *I studied in Biology for three years. (2004:22) Despite all the efforts made by grammar book writers and teachers, learners of English still make mistakes in the usage of prepositions. So, what makes EFL learners make these errors? There is no doubt that Arabic learners of English translate grammar from Arabic into English, ignoring the rigorous grammatical structures of the English language. However, are all preposition-usage errors related to L1? Prepositions are words or groups of words that typically come before a noun phrase and indicate syntactic relations (Matthews, 1997). v My fathers plane arrives after midnight. v We have got a tree in front of the house. v There are no snakes in Ireland. One important feature of prepositions is that they cannot stand alone, regardless of how many words they are combined with (Downing and Locke, 1992). Since prepositions are not independent, they form meaning when combined with nouns or noun phrases, for example: after midnight, in front of the house, in Ireland. â€Å"Prepositions can be divided into three categories, i.e. basic prepositions, systematic prepositions and idiomatic prepositions: v standing on the table. v come on Friday. v comment on speech.† (Karlsson, 2002) In expressing time, on is used with days, such as on Friday, on Saturday and on January 30th. At, on the other hand, indicates a specific part or time of the day, such as at 12 oclock, at noon and at midnight. While in is used with years, months and seasons or main parts of the day, for example in 2001, in summer, in April. For explains a period of time, and by and within indicate limitation of a period of time, such as for six years, by next year and within two hours (Hewings, 2005). The Arabic preposition fee ( »Ã¢â‚¬Å" »Ã‚ ²), which is equivalent to the English in, is used in almost all of the above cases, but for within Arabic uses khilal ( ºÃ‚ »Ã‚ ¼Ã‚ »Ã‚ ). By and for have no equivalents in Arabic and they are expressed in phrases. As for prepositions of movement and place, in is used when indicating a certain position and on when talking about the surface, as in: v The keys are in the drawer. v The keys are on the table. At is used when pointing at a certain place which is close to the object, for example: v Im waiting for you at the bus stop. Inside is used to indicate the inner place of a certain object, while outside is the opposite. v There is a scorpion inside my room. v Outside the Palace, there were crowds of people waiting for the Queen to show up. Also, from and to are opposite prepositions. From indicates the origin of the movement, but to indicates the target of the movement (ibid), as in: v My plane ticket is from London Heathrow to Damascus International Airport. All of the prepositions of movement and place have their equivalents in Arabic:  § in → fee ( »Ã¢â‚¬Å" »Ã‚ ²)  § on → ala ( »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ »Ã‚  Ã‚ »Ã‚ °)  § at → inda ( »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ »Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ª)  § inside → dakhel ( ºÃ‚ ªÃ‚ ºÃ‚ Ã‚ ºÃ‚ »Ã… ¾)  § outside → kharej ( ºÃ‚ ºÃ‚ Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ®Ã‚ ºÃ‚ )  § from → min ( »Ã‚ £Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥)  § to → ila ( ºÃ¢â‚¬ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  Ã‚ »Ã‚ °) 1.3. Study aims The prepositions in, on, at and to are the most commonly used prepositions in English. Therefore, my research study is going to focus closely on these four prepositions in the English of Syrian university students. I will see whether the first language interference kind of error is more effective than the other kinds. I will identify the errors that have to do with L1 interference and see if the interference comes from classical or colloquial Arabic. I will also look at the categories of L1 interference errors and see which one is the most frequent: substitution, addition or omission. This will, hopefully, help Syrian university students improve their written and spoken English. 2. Literature review 2.1. Error analysis One way for identifying errors in preposition usage is error analysis. First of all, it is important to define the word ‘error. An error is â€Å"an instance of language that is unintentionally deviant and is not self-corrigible by its author† (James, 1998:78). Brown considers the errors as either ‘overt or ‘covert (1994:208). According to Ellis (1987) Error analysis was considered as an alternative to contrastive analysis, and it is considered of value in the classroom research (Brown, 1994: 214). It also predicts the difficulties of acquiring a second language (Richards, 1974: 172). Error analysis shows â€Å"the significance of errors in learners inter-language system† (Brown, 1994:204). Ellis and Richards et al say that error analysis can be conducted for pedagogical purposes (1994:51; 1993:127). At the level of pragmatic classroom experience, error analysis will continue to provide one means by which the teacher can assess learning and teaching and determine priorities for future effort (Richards, 1974:15). When we analyse errors, we should give a detailed explanation for each type of error that corresponds to the different processes that Selinker (1992) reported as central to second language learning: language transfer, transfer of training, strategies of second language learning, strategies of second language communication, and overgeneralization of TL [Target Language] linguistic material. Error analysis helps teachers overcome the difficulties learners of English face in learning the language through figuring out the sources of errors and, consequently, taking some precautions towards them. It can be said that error analysis can be used to determine the learners need in learning. 2.2. Language transfer The â€Å"study of transfer depends greatly on the systematic comparisons of languages provided by contrastive analyses† (Odlin, 1989: 28). Odlin goes on to say that although many contrastive analyses provide useful and sometimes highly perceptive information about languages they compare, none comes close to meeting in full the criteria of descriptive and theoretical adequacy. There is no doubt that interference constitutes a major problem and obstacle in language usage amongst learners of a second language. They cannot help letting their mother tongue interfere in the target language. Therefore, some errors are tolerable to native speakers of English. Even native speakers of English have problems with certain preposition structures. Over-generalisation or intra-lingual transfer is said to have a considerably negative effect on learner English. Learners of a second language sometimes transfer some features of grammar to apply it on other inappropriate features. This certainly results in errors in the target language. Almost all the research that has been done so far indicates that preposition misuse is mainly caused by linguistic interference, inappropriate learning and wrong application of rules. Some views contradict this saying that errors of prepositions are due to the complexity of the English language itself. Others go so far as to say that the misuse or errors of a language could be related to bad teaching and resources, ignorance, lack of practice and carelessness. In fact, attitudes vary considerably. The first attitude represents the feeling that errors are undesirable and, therefore, should be avoided, but the second says that errors are inevitable in an imperfect world (Corder, 1981). In behaviourism, errors are depicted as sins that should be avoided and bad habits that should not be tolerated, while in cognitivism, errors are perceived as part of the learning process. The main focus of behaviourism followers methods is on preventing errors, whereas the focus of the methods of cognitivists is on intellectual analyses of the causes of errors and ways of dealing with them. This supports Frenchs argument (1989) that â€Å"errors are oddities that are not evidence of carelessness or of unwillingness but of growing pains and a desire to learn, not punishable offences because they are accidents† (French, 1989). Actually they are part of the language learning process. Humans cannot learn without making errors to err is human. Krashen and Terrell (1983) argue that the errors made by learners are a natural process in learning, and learners will get over this stage of inter-language interference and develop naturally. L1 interference is one of several types of errors learners of a second language make (ibid, 1988: 64-69). When learners of a second language use this language, they have no way but to submit to the grammar of their first language. In the case of English prepositions, when Arabic learners of English are not sure which preposition to use, they literally translate from Arabic into English. As Arabic and English prepositions seldom have one-to-one correspondence, this results in inter-language interference errors. An Arabic preposition may be translated by several English prepositions, while an English usage may have several Arabic translations (Scott and Tucker, 1974: 85). 2.3. Studies on language transfer The processes of language transfer and over-generalisation receive considerable attention. Jain (in Richards, 1974) and Taylor (1975) reported that over-generalisation errors are an application of the generalisation strategies of the learners second language to produce this same second language. Brown states that inter-lingual transfer is the negative influence of the mother tongue, and that intra-lingual transfer is the negative transfer within the target language (1980:173-181). Swan and Smith give a detailed account of errors made by speakers of nineteen different first language backgrounds (1995:ix). Also, Diab (1996) conducted a research on error analysis showing the interference of the mother language, Arabic, in the English writings of EFL students at the American University of Beirut (1996). The transfer of Arabic structures in the Lebanese students writings resulted in a number of errors. However, they made more errors where they felt English and Arabic were similar (articles, prepositions and choice of diction). James indicates that â€Å"the clearest proof of L1 interference is where L1 nonstandard dialect gets transferred to L2† (1998:179). Dulay et al (1982) defines language interference as the automatic transfer from the surface structure of the first language to the surface structure to the second language, while Lott (1983) defines it as errors in learners foreign language that can be attributed to the mother tongue. Ellis also comments on interference saying that it is â€Å"the influence that the learners L1 exerts over the acquisition of an L2† (1997:51). ‘An Analysis of Interference Errors in the Written English of Sudanese Students is a study made by Tadros (1966) in order to analyse the errors of language interference in the writings of Sudanese students. He looked into 472 scripts written by 236 students in their seventh year of English learning. The students were first given different exercises about relative clauses and had to follow explicit instructions. Then they were asked to write a paragraph about their school, using relative clauses. This research made the writer come up with the conclusion that this is an effective way to apply what they have already learnt. I think the conditions were helpful for the students, so their writings were not an indication of their true proficiency level in English. The students were asked to write paragraphs immediately after they had been taught. Scott et al (1974) also made a study in Beirut called â€Å"Error Analysis and English Language Strategies of Arab Students†. This study examined samples of Arab students speech and writing both at the beginning and the end of the semester in an intensive English course; compared the types of error in speech and writing, the frequency of these errors and the relative frequency of the errors made at the beginning and the end of the semester; identified the sources of errors; considered both inter-language interference and intra-language interference in the English learning strategies of Arab students and identified some rules that represent early and late acquisition of a second language. This researcher made this study on 22 Arab students in the first semester of a lower intermediate intensive English course at the University of Beirut. Those students had already completed their school education, where the medium of instruction was Arabic. They had also studied some English as a foreign language. This study revealed that verbs, prepositions and articles are the areas where the students often made errors. It also showed that the error frequency in the usage of prepositions was similar in writing and speech and that the preposition errors at the beginning and the end of the semester ranked after the number of verb errors. Verb errors Preposition errors Beginning of the semester 80 61 End of the semester 60 51 Half of the errors in writing and speech at the beginning of the semester were due to inter-language interference and the other half due to intra-language interference. About two thirds of the errors at the end of the semester were due to inter-language interference and one third due to intra-language interference. Since the larger number of errors was made due to inter-language interference at the end rather than at the beginning of the semester, this means that the students were making more progress in overcoming intra-language interference confusion than in solving the problem of the first language transfer. The interference of Arabic was most obvious in the frequent omission of auxiliaries and copulas, in preposition and article errors and in the repetition of subjects and objects. However, at the end of the semester, the students made a great progress in almost all areas except in prepositions and articles; the interference of the mother language continued to be a dominant feature in the usage of prepositions and articles. The preposition errors fell into three groups: 1. Interference from Arabic. 2. Interference from English. 3. Errors without identifiable source. The preposition errors were reduced by one third during the semester. Although the larger proportion of these errors was attributed to the interference of the first language, it was thought that the students would make progress in the usage of prepositions since it is a late acquisition in native language learning (Scott et al, 1974:95). The researcher suggested that other studies should investigate the errors made by Arab students at both lower and higher levels of English proficiency and if inter-language interference comes from formal or colloquial Arabic. She suggests that â€Å"interference in writing comes from classical Arabic but interference in speech from colloquial Arabic.† (ibid: 96). Mukattash made a pilot project in common grammatical errors in Jordanian English (1981: 250-291). The broad objective of his research â€Å"Common Grammatical Errors in Jordanian English† is to get a general idea of the areas in English syntax which are problematic to Jordanian students at university. The specific objective of his research was to calculate and analyse the different types of errors in the written English of Jordanian university students. The subject students were 200 first-year students at the University of Jordan. They were graduates of public secondary schools, where they had received eight years of English language teaching. They were also from different parts of Jordan and some of them were from the West Bank in Palestine. The students were given a comprehensive test in comprehension, structure and vocabulary. All the 200 essays contained errors, but the detailed analysis was made on only fifty essays, which were chosen randomly. The errors in the usage of prepositions ranked fourth in the order of the total occurrence of errors. This study disagrees with Scotts study, which ranks preposition usage errors second after verb errors. Here the ranking order is as follows: verbals, articles, nominals and prepositions. The percentage of the preposition errors was 15% of the overall number of errors in the fifty essays. Although we cannot compare the results of the two studies due to the fact that Scott did not state precisely what percentage the preposition usage errors constituted in the writings of her subject students, we can say that preposition errors are still a serious problem for Arabic learners of English. In Scotts study, the percentage of interference from Arabic was 67%, while in this Study, it is 78%. However, the interference of Arabic in the usage of prepositions is still significant in the results of both studies. Also, Kerr (1970) made a study on the common errors in the English writings of a group of Greek learners of English as a foreign language. The research study purpose was to show the teachers of English in Greece the serious problems their students have in writing. Teachers find certain types of errors which they have previously ignored, and so find indications of the kinds of preventive and remedial teaching that would prevent the growth of bad language habits by using clearer explanations and more effective practice at the more elementary stages of learning. The errors also indicate the areas of language on which tests and examinations would be based. (Kerr, 1970: ix). Kerr based his study on over a thousand compositions written by adult students at an advanced level of English proficiency. The causes of the errors found were ignorance of words and constructions to express an idea, carelessness of the students, the interference of the mother language and making false analogies within the target language. Between 20% and 30% of the grammatical errors made by the Greek students involved errors in the usage of prepositions of all types (ibid, 1970: 22). Handrickson (1979) made another research study on error analysis and error correction at Ohio State University called ‘Error Analysis and Error Correction on ESL Learners at Ohio State University. The subject learners were adults of intermediate level studying English as a second language. His study aimed at identifying the most frequent communicative and linguistic errors in the compositions of intermediate ESL learners. It also aimed at determining the effect of the teachers direct correction on the English writing proficiency of students. He found that most of the communicative errors were as a result of inadequate lexical knowledge, incorrect use of prepositions and pronouns or misspelling of lexical items. On the other hand, the linguistic errors were caused by inappropriate lexical choice, lack of subject-verb agreement, the omission and misuse of prepositions, incorrect word order or misspelling of words. The effect of the teachers direct error correction on the students English proficiency in writing came out to be statistically insignificant. Another study was made in the United States on EFL learners, but this time on Iranian students. The research was conducted by Henning (1978) at the University of California and is called ‘A Developmental Analysis of English Errors Made by Iranian Students. He analysed the developmental error patterns of the Iranian learners of English as a second language. The subjects of this study were 22 Iranian women in the second semester of their first year at Damayand College in Tehran, Iran. The students had already had an average of six years of English learning and were, at the time of the research, enrolled in an intensive course where 20 hours of English language teaching was being given to them. The medium of instruction was also English. â€Å"The conclusion reached was that†¦mastery in the usage of English prepositions according to their meanings is one of the most sensitive indicators of the degree of English proficiency† (Henning, 1978:396-397). Zarei (2002) also found that, for Iranian EFL learners, the collocations of prepositions are among the most problematic collocations in English. Khampang (1974) also made a research study at the University of California. This Research study is called ‘The Difficulties in Using English Prepositions, and it focused on the difficulties facing Thai learners of English in using English prepositions. The research was conducted to investigate what the prepositions that Thai learners of English found difficult to learn were and whether there was a big difference between the prepositions that Thai learners of English chose and those chosen by learners of English from other L1 backgrounds. It also investigated whether the problem of using English prepositions was universal, shared with non-Thai learners of English, or Thai learners had specific problems. He wanted to know if this problem was due to first language interference and, consequently, predictable from contrastive analysis. The study was only on 8 simple prepositions of time and place: in, on, at, for, to, from, by and the empty form ∅. ‘The subject students in this research were 169 students from different L1 backgrounds: 40 from Thailand, 48 from Japan, 38 from Spain and 43 from countries of different language backgrounds (Persian, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Arabic). The levels of the students were both intermediate and advanced, and they were in adult schools in the area of Los Angeles. The students were tested on the 8 prepositions of time and place by a diagnostic test. This test was in three parts: multiple choice, error correction and close test. Each part consisted of 15 items. The 45 questions included the repetition of each preposition 4 times in random order. The results came up with the fact that: there was no evidence of significant difference between the language groups based on total test scores. Neither was there any evidence found for interaction effects between the language groups and the factors selected. There was only one factor, previous educational level, which showed significant difference between high school and college subjects. (Khampang, 1974: 218). Different language groups did not affect the subject students performance in the usage of English prepositions. Again, age, sex or the number of years or hours per week allotted for learning English were not important factors in mastering the usage of English prepositions. As for the question about whether certain prepositions were more difficult or easier for certain language groups, the writer had to use the criterion of difficulty in order to answer it. If a group had less than 50% of the responses correct, then the test item was considered difficult. 16 out of the 45 items were considered difficult, and the data showed that not all the four groups had the same responses for the test items. Khampang gave some statements that, as he said, are applicable to ESL teaching. He said that of the three test parts, the close test seemed to be more effective than the other parts in testing the usage of English prepositions. He also argues that to teach them English, there is no need to separate students of English by age, sex, or number of years or hours allotted for learning English. Diagnostic and placement tests came out to be more effective than considering the students L1 backgrounds. Moreover, for a heterogeneous language group, the way of teaching English prepositions of time and place should be the same for all students, along with emphasising the areas of difficulty in English language learning for a particular language group. This last statement is the real objective behind error analysis. Im researching Syrian university students preposition errors in order to see if the errors are as a result of the interference of their first language, Arabic. This will help us devel op strategies to teach those students. An investigation on the grammatical errors made by Swedish 16-year-old learners of English was made by Kohlmyr (2003). She analysed errors in around 400 compositions from two national assessment programmes, and she found that preposition errors accounted for 12% of all the grammatical errors. The preposition errors that were mainly found with to, in, at, of and for included substitution, omission and addition. The most frequent type of error was actually substitution. According to this research, the preposition errors were caused by first language transfer, over-generalisation and simplification. About 50% of the errors were caused by over-generalisation, 40% by first language transfer and 10% by simplification. Gabrys-Biskup argues that interference is the prime cause of the learners second language (in Arnauld Benjoint, 1992). All of the above research articles focused on learner English. Some of them also focused on the usage of English prepositions by EFL learners; for instance, the research done by Scott and Khampang. Scott, in her research, found that the usage of English prepositions was a serious problem for Arabic learners of English (1973). While Khampang said that different language groups did not have effect on the students performance in using English prepositions (1974). That suggests that the usage of English prepositions are a serious problem for learners of English as a foreign language. In Scotts research, preposition errors ranked second after verb errors, and in Mukattashs, they ranked fourth. In both cases, preposition errors are problematic for Arabic learners of English. Also, in Kerrs research study, the preposition errors constituted between 20% and 30% of the overall grammatical errors. Some of the above researchers gave some recommendations and suggestions for dealing with errors. Kerr (1970) said that preventive and remedial teaching had a good and positive effect. This can be done by using clearer explanations and more effective practice at the elementary stage. However, Tadros (1979) suggested intensive drilling. On the other hand, Scott suggested that further investigations should be made on the errors that are committed by Arabic learners of English at their lower levels of English proficiency (1973). She also suggested that researches should look into the influence of classical and colloquial Arabic on Arabic students written English. These suggestions, in addition to my interest, have urged me to conduct a research study into this problematic area for Syrian learners of English, especially since there have not been many studies on this topic, as far as I know. Even at more advanced levels of English proficiency, Syrian learners of English still make errors in the usage of prepositions. The kind of error they make is due to the mother tongue, and since Arabic has two varieties (formal and colloquial), it is worth investigating which one the learners take their English grammar structures from. Scott (1974) says that the English production of Arabic learners is affected by both formal and colloquial Arabic. Nevertheless, we do not know which variety is dominant and to what extent. 3. Methodology and research procedures 3.1. Research questions In this research study, I will look into the preposition usage errors made by Syrian university students and try to answer the following questions: 1. Which kind of error is more effective in using the English prepositions in, on, at, of and to: inter-language interference or other kinds of error? 2. Which variety of Arabic has the influence on the usage of English prepositions of Syrian university students and w

The Oppression of Females in Advertising :: essays papers

Our society is a complex collection of institutions, status, roles, values, and norms, and the best way to understand and learn about them is through the use of cultural artifacts. These can be anything from music to art to literature, or as in the example of this discussion, the modern day creation of advertisement as seen in women's magazines. As Homo Sapiens moved from the hunter - gatherer way of life to industrial society , it was necessary to construct a framework for living so that such a concentrated number of people could exist together. This framework as come to consist of a myriad of expectations based on values and norms in the form of roles status and institutions. Desirable behavior is sought by people throughout the country based on how one is brought up and the expectations one is bombarded with on a daily basis. These expectations are reflected in every part of our culture and are used by people so as to know how to act in any given situation. The main examples are: the family, education, health and medicine, religion, and the law. I have found that certain mediums reflect the expected roles in these institutions better than others. I originally focused on gender roles as a depiction of stereotypical behavior as reflected by advertising especially the portrayal of women, but I discovered that there were other stereotypes being perpetuated as well that were just as institutionalized if not just simply less noticed or studied. Therefore, although this argument will focus on the depiction of females and the female role in advertising. It will also mention the general use of American values , norms, and institutions to influence consumers. An institution is defined as "a stable cluster of values, norms, status, roles, and groups that develop around a basic social need" with a status being a person's position in society and a role being the behavior expected from that, and a value being a socially shared idea of what is good, right, and desirable and a norm being the behavior expected from those ideas. When people begin to form certain expectations in life there begin to be formed stereotypes. People recognize them universally and use them to form opinions and act or not act in a certain way when they are confronted with a situation or person.

Home Depot Case Essay

1. On the basis of Home Depot’s response to environmentalist issues, describe the attributes (power, legitimacy, urgency) of this stakeholder. Using the Reactive Defensive-Accommodative-Proactive Scale in Chapter 2, assess the company’s strategy and performance with environmental and employee stakeholders. In 1990 Home Depot began to work off a basis of environmental principles. People in the community pushed for the company to become more eco-friendly. These principles help to guide a number of different programs to help minimize the company’s and shopper’s impact on the environment. 2. As a publicly traded corporation, how can Home Depot justify budgeting so much money for philanthropy? What areas other than the environment, disaster relief, affordable housing, and at-risk youth might be appropriate for strategic philanthropy by Home Depot? Home Depot volunteers many hours to help the needy. They contribute money and help with disaster relief efforts. They also contribute money to charities to help the less fortunate. Home Depot can justify budgeting so much money because they do not see it as a loss. They believe they are placing money back into the local community and back into the economy. These actions build trust with customers and stakeholders. 3. Is Home Depot’s recessionary strategy of eliminating debt and halting growth a wise one? What would you recommend to the CEO? In 2007, Home Depot foresaw an economic recession coming. This recession made them pull back money from opening new stores. The basis for pulling their money back was to ensure they would be able to pay their bills without having to borrow money from the government. I wouldn’t recommend the CEO to do anything because I believe they are doing what they can to be economically responsibly for their stakeholders.

Interlanguage Definition and Examples

Interlanguage Definition and Examples Interlanguage is the type of language or linguistic system used by second- and foreign-language learners who are in the process of learning a target language. Interlanguage pragmatics is the study of the ways non-native speakers acquire, comprehend, and use linguistic patterns or speech acts in a second language. Interlanguage theory is generally credited to Larry Selinker, an American professor of applied linguistics whose article Interlanguage appeared in the January 1972 issue of the journal International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. Examples and Observations [Interlanguage] reflects the learners evolving system of rules, and results from a variety of processes, including the influence of the first language (transfer), contrastive interference from the target language, and the overgeneralization of newly encountered rules. (David Crystal, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics) Fossilization The process of learning a second language (L2) is characteristically non-linear and fragmentary, marked by a mixed landscape of rapid progression in certain areas but slow movement, incubation, or even permanent stagnation in others. Such a process results in a linguistic system known as interlanguage (Selinker, 1972), which, to varying degrees, approximates that of the target language (TL). In the earliest conception (Corder, 1967; Nemser, 1971; Selinker, 1972), interlanguage is metaphorically a halfway house between the first language (L1) and the TL, hence inter. The L1 is purportedly the source language that provides the initial building materials to be gradually blended with materials taken from the TL, resulting in new forms that are neither in the L1 nor in the TL. This conception, though lacking in sophistication in the view of many contemporary L2 researchers, identifies a defining characteristic of L2 learning, initially known as fossilization (Selinker, 1972) and later on broadly referred to as incompleteness (Schachter, 1988, 1996), relative to the ideal version of a monolingual native speaker. It has been claimed that the notion of fossilization is what spurs the field of second language acquisition (SLA) into existence (Han and Selinker, 2005; Long, 2003). Thus, a fundamental concern in L2 research has been that learners typically stop short of target-like attainment, i.e., the monolingual native speakers competence, in some or all linguistic domains, even in environments where input seems abundant, motivation appears strong, and opportunity for communicative practice is plentiful. (ZhaoHong Han, Interlanguage and Fossilization: Towards an Analytic Model in Contemporary Applied Linguistics: Language Teaching and Learning) Universal Grammar A number of researchers pointed out quite early on the need to consider interlanguage grammars in their own right with respect to principles and parameters of U[niversal] G[rammar], arguing that one should not compare L2 learners to native speakers of the L2 but instead consider whether interlanguage grammars are natural language systems (e.g., duPlessis et al., 1987; Finer and Broselow, 1986; Liceras, 1983; Martohardjono and Gair, 1993; Schwartz and Sprouse, 1994; White, 1992b). These authors have shown that L2 learners may arrive at representations which indeed account for the L2 input, though not in the same way as the grammar of a native speaker. The issue, then, is whether the interlanguage representation is a possible grammar, not whether it is identical to the L2 grammar. (Lydia White, On the Nature of Interlanguage Representation in The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition) Psycholinguistics [T]he significance of interlanguage theory lies in the fact that it is the first attempt to take into account the possibility of learner conscious attempts to control their learning. It was this view that initiated an expansion of research into psychological processes in interlanguage development whose aim was to determine what learners do in order to help facilitate their own learning, i.e., which learning strategies they employ (Griffiths Parr, 2001). It seems, however, that the research of Selinkers learning strategies, with the exception of transfer, has not been taken up by other researchers. (ViÃ… ¡nja PaviÄ ić TakaÄ , Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Foreign Language Acquisition)

Prey relationships. In depth view of predator prey relationships. Covers mutualism, defense mechanisms, and coevolution.

Predator/Prey relationships. In depth view of predator prey relationships. Covers mutualism, defense mechanisms, and coevolution. In depth view of predator prey relationships. Covers mutualism, defense mechanisms, and coevolution. Good paper, needs grammatical workThe relationship between predators and their prey is an intricate and complicated relationship; covering a great area of scientific knowledge. This paper will examine the different relationships between predator and prey; focusing on the symbiotic relations between organisms, the wide range of defense mechanisms that are utilized by various examples of prey, and the influence between predators and prey concerning evolution and population structure.Symbiosis is the interaction between organisms forming a long term relationship with each other. Many organisms become dependent on others and they need one another or one needs the other to survive. Symbiotic interactions include forms of parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism.The first topic of discussion in symbiosis is parasitism. Parasitism is when the relationship between two animal populations become s intimate and the individuals of one population use the other population as a source of food and can be located in or on the host animal or animal of the other population(Boughey 1973).Aliens vs. Predator (novel series)No known organism escapes being a victim of parasitism(Brum 1989).Parasitism is similar to preditation in the sense that the parasite derives nourishment from the host on which it feeds and the predator derives nourishment from the prey on which it feeds(Nitecki 1983). Parasitism is different from most normal predator prey situations because many different parasites can feed off of just one host but very few predators can feed on the same prey(1973). In parasite-host relationships most commonly the parasite is smaller than the host. This would explain why many parasites can feed off of one single host. Another difference in parasite-host relationships is that normally the parasite or group of parasites do not kill the host from feeding, whereas a predator will kill.. .

Annotated Bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Annotated Bibliography - Essay Example The book is necessary for novices in rock music or those searching to understand the richness of rock music from drumming, playing guitars, music composition and performance, based on the 12 highlighted bands. By examining the various rock artists, the writer takes the reader through different rock compositions and examines how they vary from one artist to the other, which portrays the varying styles in progressive rock. Riley, Glenn (2004) Progressive Rock Guitar. Van Nuys, CA: Alfred Publishing. The author is an experienced guitarist, having started playing at the age of twelve, and since 1991, Riley was a teacher and a performer of rock. The author is also renowned for authoring other books published by the National Guitar Workshop; as a teacher and a performer, Riley offers a concise examination of guitar techniques in rock. The author opens up music and various guitar techniques in covering a comprehensive approach in progressive rock guitar. However, the author assumes the read er is aware of music notations, the major scale and its modes, theories such as diatonic harmony and overall construction of codes. Riley offers a concise insight into guitar playing and its variations across the rock music genre. The book is an important guide to understanding guitar techniques in progressive rock from an experienced rock performer and academician. Macan, Edward (1996) Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture. NY: Oxford University Press. Macan delves deep in examining the reasons behind the vibrancy of rock shows today, the fantasied literature associated with rock, the growing fascination in rock considered to have relations with science fiction. This is because most rock artists use science fiction –inspired images and sonic landscapes in most of their rock albums. In this approach, Macan goes into details in covering a wide range of aspects including the visual art elements por trayed in rock album covers and rock’s conceptual themes and lyrics. Importantly, the author goes back to the bohemian English culture in tracing the history of progressive rock and how rock gained popularity in Europe and North America. The broad approach makes the book a worthy text in understanding the history of progressive rock. Holm-Hudson, Kevin (2002) Progressive Rock Reconsidered, London: Routledge. The author offers a concise collection of various essays in inquiring into the history of progressive rock. The edited essays offer an understanding of the manner in which fans and critics view it. Though the author accounts for the manner in which critics have faulted progressive rock, he confirms that most rock stars have successfully integrated elements of classical style in most of their performances. The book is too technical in using rock terminologies, making it a true reference for researchers in rock music. Hagarty, Paul and Halliwell, Martin (2011) Beyond and Be fore: Progressive Rock Since the 1960s, London: Continuum International Publishing. The book details the roots of progressive rock in linking its development to fusion of styles such as the earlier rhythm and blues and the 1970 genres. The authors offer a comprehensive account of all aspects of progressive rock, which include politics, theatre, music and words. The authors in this approach shed more light on a misunderstood phase in the history of

PROJECT DEFINITION (Final project) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

PROJECT DEFINITION (Final project) - Essay Example The original purpose of the phone conversation was to discuss a possible licensing agreement. However, their conversation led to a discussion of competitive strategy and the idea of a merger between the two companies was broached. (Hoopes, 2004). By next month, all the basics of the deal were formulated and by September first week, the merger was approved by both boards. The merger was expected to yield savings projected to reach $2.5 billion annually by 2004. (Hoopes, 2004). To identify the strategic management issues that arose out at Compaq and Hewlett-Packard respectively in the lead up to the merger in 2001, and the changes in strategic management that resulted after the merger within the newly merged operation. Although Compaq was growing at a good rate as an independent corporation in the server market and retail PCs, as part of strategic management policy it wanted to expand its reach, particularly in the consulting arena. As an important step towards its transition as a consulting power providing corporate solutions, Compaq and its CEO Michael Cappellas utilized the offer put forward by Carly Fiorina. â€Å"Compaq, which has a global services division of almost 40,000 employees, is moving strategically towards IT business solutions in the key markets, where together with HP, they can compete effectively against IBM, Dell, and Sun.† (Cormia, 2002). As Compaq had a strong strategic management policy of expansion into the consulting arena, the merger was the best feasible option for them. HP wanted to include PC assembling and retailing in its ‘resume’ and thereby become a full-service technology company. A full service technology company who can do all the IT related works and thereby take on the leaders Dell and IBM. â€Å"Fiorina argued, the merger would create a full-service technology firm capable of doing everything from selling PCs and printers to setting up