Is Virginia Woolf a Feminist Writer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is Virginia Woolf a Feminist Writer - Essay Example Does this style predispose Virginia Woolf as a feminist writer because she was female and wrote about issues that were important to women? Is she still a feminist if her emotional dependence upon men was greater than her intellectual dependence? Or through current retrospect, do we see her as a champion of feminism because she overcame the prevailing male attitudes within her family and society to write about what she thought was essential? Critics offer the opinion that â€Å"†¦her life has come to stand for a great deal; it has become a heavily loaded symbol in the current dialogues over gender, class, madness, and marriage. The famously gifted, original, neurotic, courageous, difficult, and very imperfect human being she once was has disappeared†¦Ã¢â‚¬ .Virginia Woolf gained prominence during the first-wave of political feminism in the early 20th century, but the major focus of this effort revolved around suffrage. She has been portrayed as a feminist, but her writing supports idealist views that humans, in general, should be free to pursue activities that make them whole, regardless of the sexual orientation, gender, or culture. Eyal Amirane asserts that biology is not destiny, and the use of specific language is not synonymous with having a feminist philosophy, â€Å"Thus feminist analysis can take a textual form that is not bound to the body, though it is already (always) about the body†¦it takes place not on the writer's body but in the body of the text†¦Ã¢â‚¬ .... synonymous with having a feminist philosophy, "Thus feminist analysis can take a textual form that is not bound to the body, though it is already (always) about the bodyit takes place not on the writer's body but in the body of the text" (Amirane, np). A writer can be of either sex, since art is created in the mind first, and passed through the body of the artist. When Woolf tells us that, "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is going to write", she intimates to us that there is no need to establish a political philosophy, just the need for privacy and economic support. (Lavender, np). Woolf did not embrace a specific political ideology and was ambiguous about suffrage, but still believed in being feminine, and her definition meant assurance by allowing " women the fundamental right to control their own lives and income" (Allen, np). In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa wants to perform purposeful roles-wife, mother, lover, and hostess, with aplomb. The role created for her character is one of a strong feminine tradition. She is artificial and shallow, but tries to be everything to everyone. Her party is a tribute to the prestige of her husband and family's reputation. Her selfish attitude and demeanor exemplify the divisions in social class, the acceptable exclusions, and how snobbish women can be towards each other. Clarissa is a strong protagonist and she is stereotypical in her assertions and behavior. We are privy to the inner emotional workings of the characters, but within the context of this novel these are not special or unique (Crawford, np). This novel might be considered an example feminine writing, but not feminism. This work does not espouse a feminism point of view. The context is about everyday life and events, plain and ordinary, and

AIIB Assignment Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

AIIB Assignment - Coursework Example If conditions are met for unemployment benefits employee receives benefits based on contributions and welfare entitlements. This is calculated based on severity of illness and contributions or in the event of retirement, contributions made over the years while employed. Critical Analysis Over the past ten or so years more than 300 million workers in Great Britain were unable to work due to illness or injury (Doherty, 1979). In the absence of a national insurance system in which unemployment benefits are calculated on the basis of contributions, the financial burden on the state would be far too onerous to bear. In addition, the provision of public health services would be entirely underfinanced and this would impact the quality of health services that the government can afford to provide for workers who are unable to work due to illness or injury. According to Woolhandler and Himmmelstein (2002), spending on health is among the highest for governments all over the world, particularly with respect to those employed in the public sector. A study conductd by Nishino, Kuwahara, Watanabe, et al., (1998) is demonstrative of the problem for the public. The study was conductd in Japan and examined the nature of national health insurance benefits accruing to a cohort of claimants between the ages of 40 and 79. There were approximately 54,996 claimants that were eligible for health benefits over a period of one month alone (Nishino, et al., 2002). The need for a contribution system in which citizens share some form of responsibility for their own welfare is required to safeguard against a depleted and overburdened, and at the same time, underfunded public health system. As Lewis (1992) argues, the ideal welfare system is one that incorporates a link between â€Å"unpaid† welfare and paid welfare (p. 591). Dependency status is also taken into account as this ensures that those who are independent can take some responsibility for themselves and this will not only he lp to fund public welfare services, but will also aid in the support of those who have dependence status and those who are unable to work at all (Lewis, 1992). Realistically, there is a disparity in terms of access to education and therefore access to paid employment. Some individuals will have the education, age, health and skills to obtain higher paying jobs than other individuals. In many cases, there will be individuals who will not have the health, education or skills to find employment at all. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the employee’s specific personal attributes and health history to determine whether or not this individual qualifies for national insurance unemployment benefits. In other words, a particularly healthy individual with skills, youth and education would not be able to apply for unemployment benefits under the rules established in the first part of this exercise. Conversely, an individual who suffers from mental or physical disabilities and o bviously does not have the skills to find employment will be able to claim unemployment national insurance benefits under these rules. An individual who has a history of contributing to national insurance and has suffered an injury or becomes ill and as a result is unable to work, his or her history of national insurance contribution will amplify the amount of benefits he or she is entitled to. According to Blundell, Duncan, McCrae and Meghir (March 2000) whenever a working individual obtains some sort of tax credit or benefit for being actively employed

Nuclear Energy Is Not Safe Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nuclear Energy Is Not Safe - Research Paper Example In the nuclear power stations, the energy is made through the use of uranium rod. In the process of fission, the neutrons of uranium enter into the nucleus of atom. Once the uranium smashed in, the nuclei will the split into two hence releasing energy that comes out in form of heat. Nuclear energy is famous today because of several reasons, one is the carbon emitted during nuclear energy production. In comparison to other energy producers such as coal and oil, almost zero greenhouse gases are produced during nuclear production, gases such as sulfur dioxide which is one of the main components of pollution. The second reason why nuclear energy has remained famous is because of energy dependence. Nuclear energy has enabled many countries such as US and France to cut down the amount of oil products they buy from different countries and it has provided a reliable base-load power (Smith 2006). The cost of building the plant is expensive but once it is build, the cost of producing energy is cheap is the material used in nuclear plants are renewable. Another significant reason why nuclear energy is famous is its energy production rate. A uranium-235 is capable of producing up to 3.6 million times more energy as compared to the same amount of coal. Lastly, nuclear produ ce low quantities of waste materials. The uranium producing the energy stays in the reactor for a period of up to 4 years which means the radioactive waste products remains in the reactors for up to five years. At the same time, radioactive materials coming from the reactors are used in medicine treatment and food irradiation. Having studied the nuclear energy advantages and disadvantages, I believe Nuclear energy is not a safe form of alternative energy. Since the introduction of nuclear energy, it has become both a curse and a blessing; it is a blessing in the energy production and a curse due to the misuse. Many countries have started misusing the nuclear energy by creating war materials out of it.

Molecules Shine Individually on Camera Essay Example for Free

Molecules Shine Individually on Camera Essay In a science news article by the Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, an innovative discovery on a certain combination of technique for studying individual molecules undergoing reactions was presented. The article entitled â€Å"Electron Give-and-take Lets Molecules Shine Individually on Camera† was actually adopted from an article in the journal Chemical Communications by Chenghong Lei and Dehong Hu. The original title of the journal article was â€Å"Single-molecule Fluorescence Spectroelectrochemistry of Cresyl Violet. † Basically, the article reports a new technique of studying the electron transfer reactions of molecules. Through the use of the new combination of techniques, scientists have found a way of viewing individual molecules as the reaction proceeds which was traditionally impossible. Due to this breakthrough, scientists can now conduct further research to modify and even create proteins that possesses maximum reaction rates which could generate more energy than their counterparts (DOE 2008). Electron transfer reactions are crucial in the life-giving processes that occur in plants and animals. They are responsible in generating energy as well as sustaining the life of an organism such as in photosynthesis. To understand how such electron transfer reactions occur, it is possible that chemists and engineers can find ways on how to recreate such maximal energy generation which is typical of nature’s electron transfer reactions (DOE 2008). In light of these efforts, there have been several techniques of observing the mechanisms behind the reactions of biomolecules. One of these techniques is fluorescence spectroelectrochemistry. However, although fluorescence has been of great help in the field of chemistry, like other traditional techniques it only allows for the observation and analysis of bulk molecules. Therefore, in search for a method of analyzing individual molecules, scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Library have devised an instrument wherein the power of creating electric fields to initiate reactions and that of focusing into a single molecule was developed (DOE 2008). This was successfully done by combining fluorescence spectroelectrochemistry with that of single-molecule fluorescence microscope. Using the new instrument, scientists then studied electron transfer reactions in individual cases. They have found that although majority of the molecules undergo electron transfer reactions, there are some individual molecules that contradict the way other molecules behave. Upon fluorescence using cresyl violet dye, some molecules that should have been lit were not while upon removing the electric current, some molecules continued to give of fluorescence where they should have blinked off (DOE 2008). Such discovery thus account for the sub maximum energy generation of some reactions that occur. Using the same instrument, scientists can now find out why these particular molecules behave in such a way. To control the reactions could then be a great advantage for many of our chemists (DOE). Further studies are now being conducted to achieve this goal. The fusion of two important instruments used in chemistry and microbiology was actually a novel contribution to both fields. Essentially, fluorescence spectroelectrochemistry is a technique used by chemists to manipulate reactions in their study of the mechanisms molecules follow whereas single-molecule fluorescence microscopy is employed in microbiology for the study of fluorescent microorganisms. By combining the two techniques, new research ventures can now be accomplished both in the fields of chemistry and microbiology. Furthermore, the innovative instrument has somehow created a bridge between the two fields of science, one of which is primarily concerned with the minute elements of the abiotic world while the other is concerned with the minute elements of the biotic world. The information about the new combination of instrument is quite useful. Having learned of this new apparatus, it is then possible that future endeavors that might be undertaken by the readers employ the use of the device. Furthermore, the data obtained from the electron transfer reactions up close is an excellent explanation of why molecules generate as much energy only as they are able to. The plan of scientists to expand the study is also very interesting since it will clarify why molecules behave the way they do. The reader could say that the information is convincing as well as organized. Although there are no detailed descriptions of the results of the study, the presentation of the valuable outcomes is meaningful and reliable. This is due to the fact that the article is an adaptation of a reliable journal article. However, it would have been more engaging if the scientists include some data tables, graphs or pictures on the behavior of the individual molecules that were studied instead of generalizing the data presentation. The article is highly recommended to people in the field of biofuels research. As has been mentioned in the article, if engineers will find out how to control the behavior of molecules during electron transfer reactions, they may increase the energy generated by biofuels by utilizing the maximum limit of each individual molecule (DOE 2008). By doing so, engineers will obtain a large amount of energy with the least raw product input increasing efficiency and production as well as lowering costs and expenses. References DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. (2008, September 24). Electron Give-and-take Lets Molecules Shine Individually on Camera. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 27, 2008, from http//www. sciencedaily. com/releases/2008/09/080925094. htm.

Incarceration Rates of Minorities in the US

Incarceration Rates of Minorities in the US With law enforcement poised to eliminate crime and the people who commit it, the building of new jails and prison seem to be the likeliest answer to the problem. Throughout American history, minorities have always been portrayed as dark and evil to name a couple of stereotypes. With the help of television and other means of media the focus has been set to create a mental consciousness to presume every black, Hispanic, and anyone closely related as armed and extremely dangerous. This has cause an unfair disadvantage for people of color, but has left the perception of the white race crystal clean. Just as there are bad people everywhere, there are bad cops, judges, and politicians in every police department, court house, and legislative branch that forge evidence to meet arrest quotas that the system needs to have in place; setup by the elitist to fund their need to have slave labor for their manufacturing companies. Some minorities have been falsely accused and persuaded by police bru tality in order to coerce false confessions, and the judges fall in their place to announce the sentencing. Throughout years of focusing on media events that always place blacks and other minorities in a position of being the bad guy. Today the jail and prison population is primarily made up of blacks. Although there are Hispanics, as well whites, the main overcrowding comes from blacks being locked up on frivolous charges. But there’s a deeper reason behind why this injustice is happening to blacks, and it all stems from the system’s need of the incarceration of minorities. To test the influence of local county politics on minority incarceration rates, data are collected at the county level in most states to create a pooled cross-sectional data set. OLS regression models predicting black, Hispanic, and white incarceration rates in state prison are used in the analysis. Counties ideological orientations and racial and ethnic contextual characteristics significantly impact minority incarceration rates. Greater ideological conservatism within counties is associated with higher rates as a proportion of their population of both black and Hispanic incarceration. Consistent with racial threat theory, results show counties with greater racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to incarcerate blacks and Hispanics. Tests for interaction effects indicate that greater county diversity decreases the punitive effects of ideological conservatism on minority incarceration. Political forces nested within states systematically shape how state government incarceration p ower is distributed across different racial and ethnic groups. (Bridges and Crutchfield, 1988; Greenberg and West, 2001; Western, 2006; Yates, 1997), The punitive paradigm that has characterized U.S. crime policy over the past three decades has led to important concerns about the distribution of one of government’s most intrusive powers; the ability to deprive citizen of their liberty through imprisonment across different racial and ethnic groups. It has been well documented that blacks are six to eight times more likely to be incarcerated relative to whites. (Western, 2006). Hispanics are over three and one-half times more likely to be incarcerated than whites. Blacks and Hispanics, together, account for nearly two-thirds of the state prison population. Disparities such as these within the criminal justice system have long engendered heated debate about principles of equality and civil rights. Imprisonment rates between the states are shown to be a function of a variety of state-level political and legal factors. From this research, there is clear evidence that political forces cause states to incarcerate at widely different rates, with minorities living in a particular state either more or less likely to be imprisoned, depending in part, on the politics within. Yet, while these studies have significantly advanced our understanding of the politics of incarceration, state-level studies often mask the fact that a state’s ‘‘use’’ of incarceration is largely a byproduct of political processes found at the local (county) level of government. When analyzing the politics of incarceration from the bottom up, top-dow n political forces like the partisan control of state-level institutions or state sentencing laws effectively become standardized, suggesting that local politics retains significant leverage over how a state’s imprisonment powers are allocated Given this, however, we know little about the extent to which incarceration rates are systematically tied to local environments and whether local politics systematically shape the imprisonment ratesof racial and ethnic minority groups. Two primary questions motivate this research: Do political forces shaped by the local ideological and racial and ethnic environment affect incarceration rates in ways that are disproportionately detrimental to racial and ethnic minorities? Second, to what extent does the racial and ethnic context interact with localized Ideological orientations to affect minority incarceration rates? Or, put another way, can diversity levels in a given jurisdiction work to strengthen or weaken the propensity of those who might, because of their ideological beliefs, be already more inclined to incarcerate minorities? Conservatives tend to view criminal activity as a matter of personal choice and focus on deterrence and incapacitation based policy responses. Beckett and Western (2001). Conservatives have been more likely to use incapacitation as a means to control a marginalized ‘‘underclass’’ of citizens that threatens the economic and political interests of elites. (Scheingold,1984), In contrast, ideological liberals tend to view crime as a function of structural impediments to success and place more emphasis on crime prevention policies rather than punishment after the fact. Beckett, and Sasson (2004). If ideological conservatives are more inclined to incarcerate, these orientations might also be expected to influence the target of those policies with racial minorities more likely to be targeted relative to whites. (Edsall and Edsall, 1992; Weaver, 2007), Republicans used crime and punishment as an effective tool to realign the political electorate by pursuing law and order policies that linked financially secure fiscal conservatives and middle to lower class conservatives who had little else in common, while blaming street crime and other social ills on a racial (black) underclass, conservative. Republicans made veiled appeals to anti minority hostilities among some lower income conservative whites by enacting punitive crime policies that were implemented in ways that put more blacks in prison, but invoked greater support at the ballot box. Insofar as these political pressures retain their influence on criminal justice policy making at the local level of government, as well as to minorities other  than blacks (i.e., Hispanics), it can be predicted that more conser vative counties will be more likely to incarcerate blacks and Hispanics (as a proportion of their respective population) in state prisons than are more liberal counties. Racial politics shaped by the local racial and ethnic contextual environment are also expected to influence minority incarceration rates. In racial politics literature, significant attention has been paid to social conflict or ‘‘racial threat’’ theory, which offers a ‘‘contextual’’ explanation for minority imprisonment. Dating back to the work of Key (1949), the main idea behind the theory is that when a minority population is small, it represents a relatively minor threat to the interests of the majority. However, as the number of minorities grows, they begin to threaten the economic and political interests of the majority population, increasing hostile attitudes toward minority populations among majority group members. Blalock (1967) argued that a majority groupà ¢â‚¬â„¢s repression of a minority group’s interests was based on two types of perceived threats those motivated by economic competition and those driven by competition over political power. A growing body of research has found evidence of a racial threat effect across a variety of institutional settings. (Hurwitz and Peffley, 1997). If racial hostilities increase in more diverse environments, there are more reasons to predict that these hostilities will spill over to influence criminal justice policy making. ‘‘Old-fashioned’’ white racism often concentrated on a perceived genetic inferiority of blacks to whites. Today, more common white stereotypes involve the perception of blacks as a violent, criminal underclass. These stereotypes, along with the assumption that objective demographic data which show blacks to be disproportionately linked to the U.S. penal system permeates the public’s consciousness to believe that most blacks are violent tha n whites. To a meaningful degree, likely increase the probability that whites associate crime and the criminal justice system with race. In conclusion; this research provides convincing evidence of ‘‘racialized’’ crime policy in the United States. The tendency among some whites to connect race with crime has important implications for state punitiveness and imprisonment of blacks more specifically. Whites who view blacks as violent have been shown to be more supportive of punitive policies like the death penalty and longer prison sentences. Following arguments associated with the racial threat idea, a more racially diverse environment is likely to trigger more negative stereotypes among whites living there, who, as a result, may be more apt to support punitive crime policies, particularly if there is the perception that the target population is black. However, existing tests of the racial threat hypothesis on black incarceration rates have brought mixed results. In so me state-level studies, once black arrest rates and other socioeconomic conditions are controlled, the racial threat hypothesis provides little predictive power (Bridges and Crutchfield, 1988; Yates, 1997). Others have found the proportion of blacks in a state does matter, but in the opposite direction predicted by the racial threat idea black imprisonment rates decreased in states with a greater black population (Yates and Fording, 2005). This mixed set of findings brings the possibility that a more appropriate test of a racial threat effect on imprisonment should be conducted at the local level. Measuring the influence of state racial composition on imprisonment has proven useful because it allows comparisons across jurisdictions; however, these efforts often gloss over the fact that state imprisonment rates are a function of decisions made by county law enforcement officials. If, indeed, incarceration rates are influenced by racial politics, it might be expected that county prose cutors, judges, or public defenders those with authority over prosecuting, sentencing, or defending offenders to/from state prison are most likely to be subject to racial ‘‘effects.’’ Assessing the influence of a racial threat on minority incarceration can also be advanced by considering whether political forces resulting from whites’ exposure to a variety of ethnic and racial minorities, rather than simply their exposure to larger black populations, affects minority imprisonment rates. References Percival, G. L. (2010).Ideology, Diversity, and Imprisonment: Considering the Influence of Local Politics on Racial and Ethnic Minority Incarceration Rates. Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 91(4), 1063-1082. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00749.x Bridges, George S., and Robert Crutchfield. 1988. ‘‘Law, Social Standing and Racial Disparities cin Imprisonment.’’ Social Forces 66(3):699–724. Western, Bruce. 2006. Punishment and Inequality in America. New York: Russell Sage  Foundation. Beckett, Katherine, and Theodore Sasson. 2004. The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment  in America. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. Edsall, Thomas B., and Mary D. Edsall. 1992. Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights,  and Taxes on American Politics. New York: W.W. Nortan Company. Scheingold, Stuart A. 1984. The Politics of Law and Order: Street Crime and Public Policy.  New York: Longman. Blalock, Hubert M. 1967. Toward a Theory of Minority Group Relations. New York: Wiley. Key, V. O. 1949. Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Hurwitz, Jon, and Mark Peffley. 1997. ‘‘Public Perceptions of Race and Crime: The Role of  Racial Stereotypes.’’ American Journal of Political Science 41(2):375–401. Yates, Jeff. 1997. ‘‘Racial Incarceration Disparity Among the States.’’ Social Science Quarterly  78(4):1001–11. Yates, Jeff, and Richard Fording. 2005. ‘‘Politics and State Punitiveness in Black and White.’’  Journal of Politics 67(4):1099–1121.

Focus Groups Essay -- essays research papers

Focus Groups   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Focus groups are a qualitative form of marketing research that can help a marketer assess consumer needs and feelings in a way that simple questionnaires can not. In a focus group, you bring together a small group to discuss issues and concerns about the features of a product. Participants are usually paid a fee for their time. A marketer can gain valuable information such as gaining a customer’s attitudes and determining advertising persuasiveness. The group is typically run by a moderator who maintains the group's focus. Some recent topics of interest regarding this subject are focus groups for advertising, Online focus groups, and political focus groups.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Traditional focus groups usually deal with a consumers reaction to a product, whether it be good or bad. In today’s ad-packed media, marketers need to worry about how consumers react to their advertising. Many marketers have set up focus groups to do just that: gauge how efficient an ad is, whether or not the group was interested, and if the ad and brand name can be recalled from the spot.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Companies such as Motorola have used focus groups to gauge the effectiveness of commercials. When the company chose to launch the â€Å"Wings† campaign, they were unsure of what song would be appropriate for the T.V spot. An overwhelming response from a focus group led to the use of the Rolling Stones song â€Å"You Can’t Always Get What You Want†. Marketers at Motorola raised concerns of whether or not the song was appropriate, based on the title. After a positive response from their focus group, the company ran the ad. â€Å"overwhelmingly positive focus-group response to the Rolling Stones as a transgenerational and transgeographic icon confirmed people were more interested in the emotion of the music than the lyrics.† (Adage.com, Snyder)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While traditional focus groups and their face to face method of collecting data has proven to be effective, the internet has proven to be both more effective and more convenient. A traditional focus group normally consists of about 10 people, while an online group can reach thousands of participants. The DiscoverWhy group is one such group that holds online polls and focus groups for various companies. In order to test the effectiv... ...se the information wisely can gain valuable insight to difficult problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://adage.com/search97cgi/s97_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2Fadage%2Fwww%2Fnews%5Fand%5Ffeatures%2Ffeatures%2F19980420%2Farticle2%2Ehtml&DocOffset=35&DocsFound=92&QueryZip=focus+group&SearchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fadage%2Ecom%2Fsearch97cgi%2Fs97%5Fcgi%3Faction%3DSearch%26QueryZip%3Dfocus%2Bgroup%26Filter%3Dadage%255Fbak%252Ehts%26ResultTemplate%3Dadage%255Fresults%252Ehts%26QueryText%3Dfocus%2Bgroup%26ResultStart%3D31%26ResultCount%3D10& http://adage.com/search97cgi/s97_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2Fadage%2Fwww%2Finteractive%2Farticles%2F20000327%2Farticle1%2Ehtml&DocOffset=17&DocsFound=92&QueryZip=focus+groups&SearchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fadage%2Ecom%2Fsearch97cgi%2Fs97%5Fcgi%3Faction%3DSearch%26QueryZip%3Dfocus%2Bgroups%26Filter%3Dadage%255Fbak%252Ehts%26ResultTemplate%3Dadage%255Fresults%252Ehts%26QueryText%3Dfocus%2Bgroups%26ResultStart%3D11%26ResultCount%3D10& http://www.adcritic.com/corporate/ http://www.mtv.com/sendme.tin?page=/mtv/news/chooseorlose/features/feature_0306.html

Teaching Vocabulary to Young English Learners

A crucial component of learning a foreign language is the acquisition of vocabulary. For young learners, the very first words that they acquire could lay the profound basis for a better later learning of the children. This study is intended to investigate the specific application of techniques in teaching English vocabulary to young learners. I strived to investigate the current techniques in teaching vocabulary to young learners and studied the difficulties that teachers encounter during this process. Oral interviews, questionnaire and observation schemes were used as useful instruments for data collection. The questionnaire-based survey aims to scrutinize teachers’ common techniques in teaching vocabulary to young learners, general difficulties that they meet in teaching. Oral interviews and observations serve to elaborate on the information gathered from questionnaires and discover teachers’ opinions on how to solve arisen problem in language classroom, especially during vocabulary section. The result of this survey indicates that using flashcards in presenting, sorting tasks in practicing and sentence completion in revising vocabulary are three most preferably common techniques in teaching young learners the English vocabulary. The exploitation of combining different techniques is considered rather limited; in conclusion,, this study provides some suggestions for teachers to realize the benefits of having available activities and games in young learners’ classroom. 1. Introduction I chose this topic for my research study because I consider that for young learners, vocabulary and grammar are two essential units that require them to master at early stage. It was once claimed that â€Å"experienced teachers of English as a Second Language know very well how important vocabulary is. They know their students must learn thousands of words that speakers and writers of English use. † (Allen, 1983). The well-known linguist Wilkins, one of the leaders in language learning and teaching, indicated that â€Å"without grammar, very little could be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed† Teaching vocabulary is considered to be an add- on to teaching grammar or simply a by-product of language teaching and communicative functions. The reasons are: firstly, too many words in one sentence are believed to break its grammar structure and spoil children in learning systematic grammar; secondly, it is thought that vocabulary can be learned through experience only and therefore, there is little need for the teachers to focus much on teaching their students vocabulary; and thirdly, they put the emphasis of teaching grammar on priority to vocabulary are already taken too much of any lesson in the classroom. The basic concept of how important teaching vocabulary in class is, was not recognized until late 1970s and 1980s when people realized the necessity of vocabulary in reading comprehension (Allen: p. 5) Learning a new language with native speakers can provoke learners’ motivation and boost their confidence in quickly obtaining language step by step, native teachers, in many circumstances have to face the obstacle of slow or misbehaved students, particularly in vocabulary section. This study therefore was conducted, aiming at reviewing common techniques in teaching vocabulary to young learners. . An overview of Vocabulary 2. 1. 1. Definition In order to find the best and most easy-to-understand definition of the vocabulary, is such an unfeasible task. Each linguist or scholar, in his specialized field, with his own set of criteria has found out for his own a way to define vocabulary. However, in the most popular way, Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary has applied a meaning for vocabulary as â€Å"all the words which exist in a particular language or subject. † In the context of learning English as a Foreign Language, the vital role of vocabulary is inevitable. This has been claimed by many linguists and experts in the field. Wilkins (cited in Thornbury, 2002) clearly stated that â€Å"without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed† (page 13). Coincidentally, H. Dellar and D. Hocking indicated that progress made from learning grammar most of the time would be much less than that from learning vocabulary. To be short and concise, when comparing the importance of grammar and vocabulary, both mentioned statement above show that most of learner’s improvement was created when the learner himself learned more words and expressions. It was also emphasized when it came to communicate that â€Å"you can say very little with grammar, but you can say almost anything with words† (Thornbury , p. 13). 2. 2. Young learners 2. 2. 1. Definition The term â€Å"young learners†, according to the author of the book An A-Z of ELT, Thornbury , â€Å"is used to describe children of pre-primary and primary school age, although it is sometimes used to include adolescents as well† (p. 250). In the same way, â€Å"young learners† as defined by Sarah Phillips (1993) are â€Å"children of formal schooling (five or six years old) to eleven or twelve years of age. † (p. 4). Teaching English to young learners, therefore, has a long history: in many multilingual countries, primary school children are taught English as preparation for secondary school, where it is the medium of instruction. In recent years, there has been a phenomenal increase in the teaching of English to young learners, in EFL context as well as in ESL, and in state school as well as in private ones (Thornbury, p. 251). 2. 2. 2. Characteristics of young learners Vocabulary knowledge is a major building block in children's early literacy development. It provides the foundation for learning to decode and comprehend text. Many children, especially English language learners, need support in acquiring the substantial vocabulary they need to become good readers. Reading books to children is one way to introduce them to a wide range of vocabulary that they may not hear in their everyday conversations with adults and peers. Young learners need to be able to transfer their understanding of words to new contexts, so that when they see or hear those words in other places they understand what they mean. Talking about words from book to book is one way of showing children how words are used in other contexts. Another way to help them see how words are used in other contexts is asking them to think about how the words apply to their own knowledge and experiences. In explaining the word freight, for example, a teacher might say, â€Å"Have you ever seen a train on the tracks? Did you notice the cars of the train? Inside of those train cars, there are lots of things that are being taken from one place to another. The stuff that is being brought from one place to another is called freight. What are some things that you think could be freight on a train? † 2. 3. Vocabulary teaching . 3. 1. Stages in teaching Vocabulary Basically as proposed by Gower (2005) and Thornbury (2002) there are three stages in teaching vocabulary namely presenting, practicing and revising. In this research, I am going to list each stage with its typical features to have a better review for further techniques followed that. 2. 3. 1. 1. Presenting The title of this very first stage has indicated clearly its funct ion in introducing new lexical items to learners. As suggested by Thornbury, learners need to learn both the meaning and the form of a new word. Therefore, as he claimed, it’s worth pointing out that both these aspects of a word should be presented in â€Å"close conjunction in order to ensure a tight meaning-and-form fit† (p. 75). If the co-writers of Teaching Practice (p. 146) immediately referred to the effectiveness of using visual aids in presenting new words, Thornbury specifically emphasized the importance of cutting down â€Å"the gap between the presentation of a word’s form and its meaning† so that learners could possibly be at ease to make a â€Å"mental connection between the two†. He also stressed some major factors, subject to which the number of words should be presented. . 3. 1. 2. Practicing Suggested by Gower, students often need a little time for the new lexical items to â€Å"sink in† (p. 148). He pointed out that learners may recognize new item but often delay putting it into active use. In this case, is of pure necessity the use of planned activities for recyclin g and reactivate the new vocabulary. This kind of practice, as implied by Thornbury (2002) underlines the popular belief that â€Å"practice makes perfect† (p. 93). He additionally emphasized the action of moving words from short-term memory into permanent memory. He emphasized that â€Å"new knowledge – i. e. new words – needs o be integrated into existing knowledge – i. e. learner’s existing network of word associations, or what is called the mental lexicon. † (p. 93). Words or lexical items need to be put to work, or into practice as it is often understood in many other contexts, in order to ensure the long-term retention and recall. Vocabulary needs to be placed in â€Å"working memory† and subjected to different operations which would be mentioned intricately in the later part of techniques in practicing vocabulary. 2. 3. 1. 3. Consolidating and Revising Checking students’ comprehension and revising those words are a final important stage in teaching this specific field. In this stage, students are advised to complete high-level tasks namely production tasks. The author of many famous books for English language teachers grouped decision-making tasks into the second stage when learners needed to decide and make their choice in facing up with already learnt items. 2. 4. Techniques in teaching vocabulary There are three main parts or namely stages in teaching vocabulary, as they are mentioned above. . 4. 1. 1. Techniques in presenting vocabulary Proposed by Doff (1988, cited in ELT Methodology II, 2009) and Thornbury (2002) and Nation (1994) a variety of techniques can be used or combined in introducing vocabulary. 2. 4. 1. 2. Techniques in practicing vocabulary Identifying tasks, involving tasks of finding words in texts. â€Å"Listen then tick the words you hear† can be one obvious example of this type. Identification is the first step in recognizing words and requires learners do easy task as counting, ticking or a bit difficult is to unscramble words as in anagram. Selecting tasks are â€Å"cognitively more complex than identification tasks†. For selecting tasks, learners will have to do recognizing words and making choices amongst them at the same time. Finding and odd one out is a common task that teachers may often use in class for checking comprehension. Learners are also requested to do matching tasks, apart from recognizing and making choice amongst words. In this kind of task, learners may need to pair a set of given words to a â€Å"visual representation, for example, or to a translation, a synonym/antonym, a definition or a collocate. (p. 97) Learners are being asked to do sorting tasks, by grouping words into different categories. It should be noted that the categories can be given in advance or learners have to guess what the categories are. 2. 4. 1. 3. Games Games are one indispensable advice for many teachers not only in English teaching but also in the field of language teaching. Instead of listing common word games, I wil l discuss the function and effectiveness of using games in teaching vocabulary as a major topic. Drawn upon the characteristics of young learner, one typical characteristic of them is moving around almost all of the times and cannot be sitting quietly for more than five minutes. Yet they can be often keen on word games with a variety of options and movements. Especially in the context of teaching English to Romanian learners who are often labeled as inactive and afraid of risk-taking learning, games are said to be an extrinsic motivation for them to participate actively in the lesson. Games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more easily. Secondly, games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested. These create the motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate actively in learning activities. Thirdly, vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom, and enhance learners’ use of English in a flexible, communicative way. Advantages of using games in learning vocabulary were indicated by showing that games not only helped and encouraged learners to sustain their interest but also gave teachers a helping hand in creating contexts. This is particularly true when learners need useful and meaningful contexts to better their understanding of new words or in general, lexical items. 2. 5. Difficulties in teaching vocabulary This study, concerning the issue of constraints encountered by teachers, deliberately focuses on finding external factors, that is to say factors related to teachers themselves are spared for a larger scale research. In this case, difficulties in teaching vocabulary are said to often arise from the nature of vocabulary itself. The very first difficulty recognized in teaching words is the matter of whether to teach form first hen meaning or meaning first then form later. Another matter deterred by many researchers is about the mistakes that learners often make when learning vocabulary. External factors can be seen from the different levels of learners in one class; class size can grow to unexpectedly big; learners keep using their first language and more importantly students appear to be uncooperative. Those factors once happen in class can negatively hinder the efficiency of both presenting and practicing new words; additionally badly affect teacher’s plan and demotivate many activities performed by him/her (Harmer: p. 27). 2. 5. 1 Proposed activities and games in order to make a lesson vivid 2. 5. 1. 1 Proposed activities: Bingo: is useful for checking students’ comprehension and pronunciation of the old vocabulary. Teacher gets the class to brainstorm a list of ten or fifteen new words and puts them on the board. Students choose any five and copy them into a piece of paper. Teacher reads out the words. Each time having one word that teacher reads, students put a tick or cross that word. The one to have five ticks or crosses shouts â€Å"Bingo† and the game can continue. Word associations: Teacher writes a topic in the middle of the board and gets students to think about words that associate with it. In case students cannot think of as many words as expected, teacher can ask question to provoke answers that may enlighten students’ ideas. Half a crossword: this activity is to get students to use sentence for asking the meaning of a word. Students work in pair, each receives half a crossword. One student, in order to get the answers for the missing half has to ask the other either to act or give a definition of the word. Pictionary: Teacher can utilize it as a fun activity in class. Class can be divided into two big groups. Each time, one person in the group, after receiving one word/phrase from the teacher has to turn to his/her group to draw so as to get the group guess correctly the word. Members take turns to draw and the activity can be played twice but should be not too long. 2. 5. 1. 2 Proposed games: Board sentence making: the rule is quite easy to follow and it is specially created to increase team work as well as the acquisition of words. The class is divided into two teams; each team is given six to seven small white boards. Teacher writes a word on the big board, each team has to make a sentence using the given word. Each word of the sentence must lie in each small board that the team is provided. Categories: Young learners work in pairs or small groups. On a piece of paper, they draw up a number of columns, according to a model on the board, each column labeled with the name of a lexical set: e. g. fruit, animals, transport, clothes. The teacher calls out a letter, B for example, students write down as many words as they can beginning with that letter in the separate columns (banana, bus, blouses, bat, †¦). The group with the most correct words wins. Drawing/ miming or explaining: this is a game played with the dice. Each time, representative from one of the two teams in the class has to throw the dice to know whether they have to draw (if throw 1-2), mime (3- 4) or explain (5-6) the word that teacher gives them. It can create a fun learning environment when students really don’t want to explain but they throw 5 instead. Hammer: the aim of the game is to get students quickly operate words that they have learnt in class. Students stand in a circle, teacher stands in the middle of the circle, holding the paper hammer. Teacher can give a topic himself or ask students to choose one topic in which every one in the class has to take turn call out a word belonging to given topic. Anyone who cannot give one word will be hit on the head with the hammer. The last person to stay is the winner. Pronunciation race: In this game, class is divided into small groups. Each group sends a representative to the board. The teacher gives the rest of the group a small grid of words which they use to pronounce to the member at the board. Once hearing the word, that member has to write down the word he/she gets. The team with most of the correct words wins. Spelling race: Class is divided into two teams. For each time teacher writes a scrambled word on board and two representatives from each team have to race to the board and write the correct spelling of the word. Each correct word wins the team a point. The team with the most points wins. Stop the bus: In the same way as Categories, students write labeled column. When teacher calls out a letter, C for example, students have to find one word which starts with letter C and belongs to provided category. The first group to find all words shouts â€Å"Stop the bus†. The other teams have to stop. Teacher checks accuracy and spelling. Word Bang: This game can be used best to check students’ understanding of old vocabulary in class. The class stands in a circle and teacher stands in the middle holding a set of flashcards (make sure that students know all the cards in advance). Each time, two students compete each other to shout out loud the name of the card that teacher shows in front of them. The quicker is the winner. The game continues until there is only one student left, who is also the winner of the game. Word snap: It has the aim to get as many pairs of words as possible. Divide class to work in pairs or small groups. Each pair/group receives a set of words and pictures which correspond to the words. Each time one student face up two cards, if they match he will take them, if they don’t, he has to put them face back down. Turn goes to the next person. The one who gets the most pairs win. 3. Conclusion As the title of the paper suggests, this study has its focal point in investigating the current implementation of techniques used in teaching vocabulary to young learners, accompanied by difficulties and solutions. As a conclusion, common techniques in teaching vocabulary to young learners can be divided into three groups. For presenting new words, using flashcards and miming are preferred by most of teachers. In getting students to practice the words they have learnt, grouping words into certain categories preferably outnumbers the other techniques. For the final stage in teaching vocabulary – revising, most of the teachers say that they have been familiarized with sentence and text completion rather than that of creation. Finally, this research proposes some compiled games and activities that might be helpful for teachers’ repertoire. 4. Summary: Scopul acestui studiu este acela de a sublinia importanta invatarii vocabularului, de catre tineri, inca din faza incipienta. Am incercat sa prezint cateva idei, despre ceea ce inseamna predarea vocabularului si implementarea tehnicilor folosite in predare, alaturi de dificultatile intampinate cat si solutii pentru reusita. Definirea vocabularului poate fi inteleasa prin, totalitatea cuvintelor ce alcatuiesc o limba. Prin elev tanar ne referim la acea categorie de copii cuprinsa intre 5-12 ani. Ca si concluzie, cele mai folosite tehnici in predarea vocabularului tinerilor elevi pot fi impartite in trei grupe(prezentare, exersare si recapitulare). In prezentarea noilor termeni( cuvinte), folosirea cartonaselor ilustrate si mima este cel mai des intalnit procedeu. In a-i face pe elevi sa exerseze cuvinte invatate, gruparea cuvintelor pe anumite categorii este cea mai de succes metoda folosita.. In ceea ce priveste etapa finala in predarea vocabularului –recapitularea, majoritatea profesorilor spun ca au fost obisnuiti cu finalizarea propozitiilor si a textelor, decat cea a crearii. Spre finalul lucrarii am incercat sa descriu cateva jocuri si activitati care ar putea fi de folos in alcatuirea portofoliului unui profesor.