You Are Who You Pretend To Be - 815 Words

I recently was introduced to a Kurt Vonnegut quote by a friend. It was mentioned only in passing and was likely meant only to carry the conversation on, but I have come back to it many times in my thoughts. The quotation was a warning: â€Å"Be careful who you pretend to be because you are who you pretend to be†. The truth behind this sentiment is far more pertinent to our lives than we might like to think. We all have visions of who we are based on what we know, how we compare ourselves to others, and how we attempt to act, but the actuality of who we are exists independently of that personal ideal. The truth of the matter is that, regardless of our apparent individuality, the way we act around others, how we dress and talk, and our general†¦show more content†¦When we actively pursue our desires, we take on traits favorable to the completion of our goals. The assimilation of those traits into our personality may be little more than a result of repetition, but they b ecome a basis upon which our identity might change or, more consequentially, be judged. This idea of the formulation of identity is not unfounded, and, although not overtly present in literature, can be witnessed in certain characters just as in the real world. In order to keep this essay at least somewhat on topic with the class, I would like to relate this idea to at least some works which we have read. To observe such formulations of identity in literature, it is usually unwise to look at the main character. Although that is the main place to find character development, it wouldn’t be a good novel if the character were to constantly change his ideas and behaviors. The first character who I believe shows just how this idea of identity holds true is the ever despised Arthur Chillingworth. The very nature of his character is action. Though he is not a character who we see as active physically in obtaining his goals, without his drive for revenge on Hester and Dimmesdale he would not be noteworthy at all. Unless he was a peculiar individual in his life before the story of the scarlet letter, it could be assumed that he was not previously driven by revenge. It is understandable, then, to look at him as an individualShow MoreRelatedLiving with Strangers by Siri Hustvedt934 Words   |  4 Pagesdescribing to the reader, how one was expected to behave, where she grew up. Whenever you encountered someone on the road, whether you knew them or not, you should always greet them. If you didn’t, you would be considered both rude and a snob, which was pretty much the worst thing, you could be in that part of rural Minnesota. Therefore, Siri Hustvedt quickly felt the difference between these two places, when greeting everyone you meet in downtown New York simply isn’t practical. But Hustvedt does not onlyRead MoreLiving with Strangers Analysis1219 Words   |  5 Pagescloseness belonged exclusively to boyfriends and family.† (Ll. 16-17) To survive these transcendent experiences the New Yorkers follow the unspoken law â€Å"PRETEND IT ISN’T HAPPENING†. Siri Hustvedt tells three stories where either she or someone she knows has experienced the pretend-it-isn’t-happening law. The first story is from her friend who had just arrived to New York when a lady wearing only a flimsy bathrobe entered the bus he was on. In a smaller city the almost naked woman would have drawnRead MoreSocial Psychology Final Paper1734 Words   |  7 Pages But I have decided for myself that a soul exists within the science that I am made up of, and somewhere in there my ancestors have left me with the idea of a controlling society. A society, a culture, which labels you human and sex. A society that hands you everything you need to survive. But not everyone is that fortunate. In non western culture people must fight to survive. They don’t have the luxury of a grocery store to collect food at, a variety of clothing to protect their skinRead MoreDramatic Play As A Great Developmental Learning Tool1380 Words   |  6 Pagesplay area. In dramatic play children pretend to be someone or something different than themselves. Dramatic play can be a great developmental learning tool because it allows children to develop skills in areas such as abstract thinking, literacy, math, natural and social studies, specially helps them to socialize with other children. The dramatic play area was located in the right corner of the class. The dramatic play area consisted of a small kitchen and pretend food, a cash register with cash andRead MoreHardest Things in Life1097 Words   |  5 PagesOne of the hardest things in life to do is trying to accept yourself for who you are. Unfortunately most people don’t get to the accepting themselves stage until they are older. Even at childhood itself, you wouldn t feel much comfortable in your academics when comparing with a brilliant pal in your class. There comes a certain time in your life when you just say ‘I can’t please everybody, so I am going to be myself’ and you accept yourself. It’s a very powerful thing to be able to do this, it’sRead MoreAnalysis Of Inventing The University By David Bartholomae713 Words   |  3 Pagesone should speak and write a certain way, and if they cannot, they should pretend to- meaning that, in an academic setting, if one wishes to become a scholar and converse with other scholars, they must imitate the discourse of the privileged until it becomes natural to them. The discourse- a way of speaking, writing, and thinking, or an identity kit- is only available to those who â€Å"must learn to speak [their] language. Or [who]...dare to speak it, or to carry off the bluff, since speaking and writingRead MoreGender Stereotypes In Disney1523 Words   |  7 Pagespreschool girls interpret the gendered stereotypes shown through Disney Princess media, through both the young girlsâ €™ pretend play behaviors and the discussion of the princesses. Golden and Jacoby performed this research project in order to examine the perception of young girls in relation to princesses and awareness of gender-role stereotypes, a different research study found that girls who lived and accepted gendered stereotypes, in believing that women should avoid leadership roles and constantly beRead MoreHoward W. Campbell, Jr.871 Words   |  4 Pages We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. This saying fits perfectly with a certain character that goes by the name of Howard W. Campbell, Jr. The narrator and protagonist Howard Campbell is an American playwright living in Germany with a German wife as World War II breaks out. Campbell is persuaded to remain in Germany, cultivate the Nazis, and become an American Agent. Throughout the novel â€Å"Mother Night† you get to see different sides of Howard. As the novelRead MoreSocial Roles By Imaginary Play907 Words   |  4 Pagesbeneficial for the emotional development of children. Pretend play is a lot more complex than what is seen, it requires advanced thinking strategies, communication, and social skills. By engaging in pretend play, children learn to do things such as negotiate, consider others’ perspectives, transfer knowledge from one situation to another, delay gratification, balance their own ideas with others and use planning strategies. The same skills used in pretend play are also used in an adult work project. Read MoreYou Can Do This Annie. Be Brave. Essay example1426 Words   |  6 Pagesthe small of my back and leads me to a group of teenagers. She surprises me by hugging me. â€Å"Please tell me you won’t get reaped.† Something in my mind begins to click. I’m standing in the crowd of kids with two about to get reaped. This is the Hunger Games. I’m Annie Cresta. This woman who is hugging me is my mother, or is a fake mother. I’m in District 4. Now, where’s Finnick? â€Å"I promise you, Mom, I won’t.† I say. Mom gives me a reassuring smile, then tucks back into the crowd with my ‘father.’

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The Effect of Using Kwl (Know, Want, Learned) Strategy on Efl Students’ Reading Comprehension Achievement free essay sample

Non-equivalent groups pretest-posttest design was used in this study. The population was the eightth grade students of SMPN 4 Palembang in academic year of 2009/2010 with a total number of 326 students. Out of this population, 40 students were taken as sample. There were two groups, each of which consisted of 20 students. The data were collected by using multiple choice reading comprehension test. The data obtained were analyzed by using t-test formula. The finding showed that KWL strategy was effective in improving the students’ reading comprehension achievement. The effectiveness was indicated by the result of the Stepwise Regression formula that the contribution of KWL strategy on students’ reading comprehension achievement was 60. 5%. Keywords: reading, KWL strategy, reading comprehension achievement A. Introduction Reading as a field of teaching is considered as one of the important areas of teaching. It is one of the most important academic skills. It is also a major pillar upon which teaching and learning process is built. The reading ability plays a central role in teaching and learning success at all education stages (Addison, 1996: 23). It is because most of the materials of teaching and learning are in written form. It means that the students need to improve their reading skills in order to understand the teaching and learning materials. The students will be on the road to academic failure, if they could not read. Reading comprehension is considered as the real core for reading process. Durkin (1993) assumes that comprehension is the peak of the reading skills and the bases for all reading processes. Teaching students to read with a good comprehension must be teachers’ highest priority. Most of EFL teachers have wondered what they might do to improve their students’ reading comprehension achievement. The students can read words with lack of understanding of what they read. Without comprehension, reading for pleasure or knowledge is impossible. The teachers of English often assume that students will learn to comprehend merely by reading. Students with good comprehension use strategies in reading to learn new concepts, get deeply involved in what they are reading, critically evaluate what they read, and apply their knowledge to solve practical as well as intellectual. But many students fail in doing these things. According to Cuesta (2003:2), many students take reading for granted. They feel too busy to read, or they may not enjoy reading. Generally, EFL students can only read without being able to correlate the reading they have just read with the knowledge they have. According to The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, reading score of Indonesian students in East Asia is still low. Indonesian students are just capable of mastering 30 % reading material, and find difficulty in reading items that are in the form of commentary requiring cognitive process (IAE for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 2003). In addition, PISA 2009 database shows that Indonesia students’ score is below the OECD average and on the 57th of 65 countries (OECD, PISA 2009 Database). Reading is an active process, because it involves interaction between the reader and the text. In reading a text, the reader needs to proceed the information that he/she gets from the text into his/her brain. Students are constantly confronted with new information, particularly once they progress to the upper elementary grades and transition from â€Å"learning to read† to â€Å"reading to learn† (Chall, 1983). To read to learn effectively students need to integrate new material into their existing knowledge base, construct new understanding, and adapt existing conceptions and beliefs as needed. According to a study by Pearson, Rochler, Dole, and Duffy (1992) on â€Å"Developing expertise in reading comprehension†, a good reader usually using prior knowledge to make sense of new information; ask question about the text before, during, and after reading; draw inferences from text; monitor comprehension; use fix up strategies when meaning breaks down; determine what is important; and synthesize information to create sensory image. To encourage students to develop effective reading skills, there are various teaching and learning strategies that can be used by the teachers in classroom. Most of the teaching and learning strategies usually focus on a particular strategy or skill. KWL (Know, Want, Learned) strategy is one of teaching and learning strategies used mainly for information text (Ogle, 1986). Its aims are more diverse. It helps readers elicit prior knowledge of the topic of the text; set a purpose for reading; monitor their comprehension; asses their comprehension of the text; and expand ideas beyond the text. Ogle (1986) developed the strategy for helping students to access important background information before reading nonfiction. The KWL strategy (accessing what I know, determining what I want to find out, recalling what did I learned) combines several elements of approaches. The first two steps of KWL, students and the teacher engage in oral discussion. They reflect on their knowledge about a topic, brainstorm a group list of ideas about the topic, and identify categories of information. Next the teacher helps highlight gaps and inconsistencies in students’ knowledge and students create individual lists of things that they want to learn about the topic or questions that they want to answer about the topic. In the last step of the strategy, students read new materials and share what they have learned. Based on the observation and interview to the English teachers of SMP Negeri 4 Palembang, it is showed that the students’ ability in comprehending reading texts are at the average level. The writer also found that the teachers are seldom varied their strategy in teaching learning process of English in the classroom. Therefore, the researcher assumes that English teaching and learning at SMP Negeri 4 Palembang should be modified and varied their teaching strategy to more current ways. Shayee (2000) has investigated that KWL strategy has significant improvement on secondary students’ reading comprehension compared to the traditional method. Based on the background above, through this study, the writer is interested in investigating the effect of using KWL strategy on EFL students’ reading comprehension achievement at SMP Negeri 4 Palembang. The writer also wants to find out whether there is a significant difference in reading comprehension achievement between the students who are taught using KWL strategy and that of those who are not. The Problems of the Study The problems of this study are formulated in these questions: 1. Was there a significant difference in reading comprehension achievement between the students who were taught using KWL strategy and that of those who were not? 2. Was there an effect of using KWL strategy on EFL students’ reading comprehension achievement? The Objective of the Study Based on the problems above, the objectives of the study were: 1. o find out whether or not there was a significant difference in reading comprehension achievement between the students who were taught using KWL strategy and that of those who were not. 2. to find out whether or not there was an effect of using KWL strategy on EFL students’ reading comprehension achievement. Significance of the Study This stu dy shows the advantages of using KWL strategy in improving students’ reading comprehension achievement, improves the English teachers’ knowledge about teaching reading strategy effectively, and offers findings on which strategy is applied more fruitfully. The result of this study also gives benefit contribution and information for further related study, especially on teaching reading strategy. B. Review of Literature Reading is an active process. It involves interaction between the reader and the text. According to a research by Pearson, Rochler, Dole, and Duffy (1992) on â€Å"Developing expertise in reading comprehension†, a good reader usually uses these following skills and strategies: (1) use prior knowledge to make sense of new information (making prediction), (2) ask uestion about the text before, during, and after reading (reading between lines), (3) draw inferences from text; monitor comprehension (checking and confirming), (4) use fix up strategies when meaning breaks down (guessing meanings from semantic cues, structural cues and visual cues, self correcting), (5) determine what is important (identify main ideas), and (6) determine what is important; and synthesize information to create sensory image. According to To wnsend (2007), there are three different reading levels for each person. They are; (1) Independent level, student can read books easily with very few words which are too difficult for him/her to read. She/he can read books on his/her own, (2) Instructional level, student can read most of the words, but will be challenged by some words on each page, and (3) Frustration level, student has to stop often and try to decode words. If she/he tries to read a book at this level, she/he will become frustated. Barret’s Taxonomy (1972) cited in Dupuis, et. al. (1989:313) identify that there are four levels of reading comprehension. First, literal recognition or recall. The literal level is the lowest cognitive level where the reader understands just what the words mean. The information that is stated explicitly in the text is retrieved by the reader in the form given. Such literal information may be the main idea, a set of specific details, or a sequence of events. Second, inference level. This level requires the readers understand the literal information from level one and go beyond it to hypothesize about relationship, unstated ideas, and connection between ideas or events. Third, evaluation level. It requires the reader to make judgements about the reading or to demonstrate the value. Fourth, appreciation level. It relates to the emotional responses of readers to a text. It also refers to the reader’s awareness of the literacy and stylistic techniques used by an author to encourage a reader’s emotional response. According to McWhorten (1993), there are three levels of comprehension in reading a text. First, literal, what is actually stated. It includes facts and details, rote learning and memorization, and surface understanding only. Common questions used to illicit this type of thinking are who, what, when, and where questions. Second, interpretive, what is implied or meant, rather than what is actually stated. It includes drawing inferences, tapping into prior knowledge/experience, attaching new learning to old information, making logical leaps and educated guesses, and reading between the lines to determine what is meant by what is stated. The types of the tests in this category are subjective, and the types of questions asked are open-ended, thought-provoking questions like why, what if, and how. Third, applied, taking what was said (literal) and then what was meant by what was said (interpretive), and then extend (apply) the concepts or ideas beyond the situation. It is include analyzing, synthesizing and applying. There is a good amount of research investigating the effectiveness of instructional strategies for activating prior knowledge as a means to support students’ reading comprehension. As a whole, the research base provides good evidence to support the use of prior knowledge activation strategies. Prior knowledge activation is regarded as a research-validated approach for improving children’s memory and comprehension of text (Pressley Johnson, 1989). There are varieties of strategies for helping students to activate prior knowledge: (1) prior knowledge activation through reflection and recording, (2) prior knowledge activation through interactive discussion, (3) prior knowledge activation through answering questions, (4) computer-assisted activation of prior knowledge, and (5) prior knowledge activation through interpretation of topic-related pictures. According to Ogle (1986), there are some steps that should be considered in using KWL strategy: (1) choose a text (narrative or expository texts), (2) create a KWL chart. The teacher should create a chart on the blackboard or on an overhead transparency. In addition, the students should have their own chart on which to record information, (3) ask students to brainstorm words, terms, or phrases they associate with a topic. The teacher and students record these associations in the K column of their charts. This is done until students run out of ideas. Engage students in a discussion about what they wrote in the K column, (4) ask students what they want to learn about the topic. The teacher and students record these questions in the W column of their charts. This is done until students run out of ideas for questions. If students respond with statements, turn them into questions before recording them in the W column, (5) have students read the text and fill out the L column of their charts. Students should look for the answers to the questions in their W column while they are reading. Students can fill out their L columns either during or after reading, (6) discuss the information that students recorded in the L column, and (7) encourage students to research any questions in the W column that were not answered by the text. As the evaluation for the effectiveness, teachers can compare the students scores on comprehension questions or skill sheets or reading tests before and after implementation of this intervention. According to Lenski (2004), KWL strategy helps children become good readers by getting them to do many of the things that good readers do. This strategy gets children to read silently with comprehension. In addition, children relate new information to what they already know when they confirm or disconfirm the information in the K column. Further, the children learn to set their own purposes for reading when they generate questions for the W column. Their reading to answer these questions helps them concentrate while they are reading as they more actively monitor their own comprehension. The L column affords students the opportunity to summarize what they read. When they put the information in their own words, they better understand what they know and what they do not know. This helps them move into a possible next step which involves having them generate more questions and use a variety of resources to learn more information. Finally, taking this strategy into a publication step helps them organize the information and write it for presentation to others. This strengthens their learning of the information, involves them in doing what good readers do, and teaches them about their own reading processes. Several studies had been conducted around the area of improving students’ reading comprehension achievement by using KWL strategy. Ammre Natoor’s (2006) research aimed at investigating the impact of activating previous knowledge by using KWL and the closure strategies on the reading comprehension of a sample of grade four underachieving pupils. They enquired whether there were differences that could be attributed to the pupil gender. The total sample was 60 students, where half were boys and the other were girl pupils. All were grade 4, who suffered from difficulty of learning and were subscribed in the Learning Sources Centers in fourteen state and private schools. Participants were selected randomly. They were divided into two groups; an experimental group that taught reading texts using KWL and closure strategies to activate their previous knowledge; and a control group that taught in the traditional method. Results of this study have proved effectiveness of KWL strategy and closure strategies in activating previous knowledge, and thus, improving reading comprehension of underachieving pupils. However, there were no reading comprehension differences that can be attributed to difference in gender. Stahl (2003) conducted research to find out the impact of three instructional strategies (the oriented thinking, KWL and moving photos) on the reading comprehension and scientific content acquisition of beginning readers. The sample constituted 31 students of basic grade two pupils. The study has shown that moving photos strategy and the oriented thinking activities had statistically significant impact on the participants’ reading comprehension and acquisition of the scientific content, while there was no statistically significant impact on the reading comprehension and acquisition of the scientific content that can be attributed to using KWL strategy. Al Shaye’s (2000) study investigated effectiveness of what is called metacognitive strategies on the second secondary students’ reading comprehension in Kuwait schools. The sample included 100 students who were distributed into four groups: the first group was taught using SQ3R strategy; a second group was taught using KWL strategy; a third group was taught using both SQ3R and KWL strategies; while with the fourth group (the control group) the old traditional method was used. The study findings showed that there was significant improvement in the comprehension level of all groups except the group taught by the traditional method. However, there were no statistically significant difference in the reading comprehension among the three groups (SQ3R, KWL, and SQ3R KWL strategies). Through the review of some previous studies, it can be concluded that most of research on KWL strategy indicated its significance in improving the reading comprehension of students. C. Methods and Procedures This part discusses the following subheadings: (1) design of research, (2) operational definitions, (3) subjects of the study, (4) technique for collecting the data, (5) validity and reliability of the test, (6) technique for analyzing the data. Design of Research This study applied a quasi experimental. This design is often used in classrooms when experimental and control groups are such naturally assembled group as intact classes, which may be similar (Best and Kahn, 1993: 151). The research design is called nonequivalent-groups pretest-posttest design (McMillan, 1990: 178) because two groups of experimental and control were involved in this study. Operational Definitions KWL strategy was a reading strategy that was applied to the experimental group as the sample of this study. KWL strategy is a reading strategy that uses questioning to activate prior knowledge, to understand metacognition, and to write to learn. In the first step students, alone or with others, brainstorm what they know about the reading topic. Next, students write what they want to learn about the topic. In the last, students read the material and share what they have learned. Students’ reading comprehension achievement means the result of the Reading Comprehension test that was gained by the students in experimental group, after they received the treatment. The effect was measured by comparing the scores of pretest-posttest between the students who were on the control group and on the experimental group. Subjects of the Study The subjects of this study was the eightth grade students of SMP Negeri 4 Palembang. The total number of population was 405 students which comprising nine classes. The sample of this study was taken purposively, which was known as purposive sampling. There were 40 students at the same level (40 out of population) that was taken as sample. The researcher took two classes as the sample, where 20 students were taken from each class. They were given pretest and posttest. They were divided into two groups, 20 students for the experimental group and 20 students for the control group. The experimental group was taught by using KWL strategy, while the control group was not taught using KWL strategy. Technique for Collecting the Data In collecting the data, the writer used reading comprehension test. There were two tests, pretest and posttest that was given to the sample of this study. The test means examination or trial of something to find its quality, value, and composition. It is also something for measuring knowledge, intelligent, ability of an individual group (Hatch Farhady, 1982:44). In constructing the test, the writer did some steps: (1) preparing the test. The test was in form of multiple choice reading comprehension test, (2) asking the expert judgement on the appropiateness. It was the judgement from the writer’s advisors, (3) trying out the test. The writer did the try out at SMP Negeri 17 Palembang which had similar characteristic with the sample. (4) analyzing the result, whether or not it is valid and reliable, (5) producing the final test, (6) conducting the test. The writer gave pretest to the control group and the experimental group as the sample of this study, before conducting the teaching experiment to the experimental group. It was to measure the students’ reading comprehension mastery before the experiment. Finally, the post-test was given to the sample, after the experiment conducted. It was to measure the students’ reading comprehension achievement after the treatment. Validity and Reliability of the Test In designing the reading texts as the instrument of this study, the writer had measured the readibility of the reading texts by using Flesch Kincaid formula. It was used to find out whether the reading texts were determine to the reading comprehension level of the sample. Before administering the instrument, the writer validated the items of the test, which is known as content validity. The researcher also found their reliability by trying it out at another school which had similar charasteristics with the sample. The data from the Try Out were analyzed by using Alpha Cronbach. It was assumed that all of the questions were equally difficult. The validity and reliability of the instrument are very important to determine appropriateness and usefulness of a measurement instrument. Validity is the degree to which correct inferences can be made on the basis of results obtained from an instrument. It depends not only on the instrument itself, but also on the instrumentation and the characteristics of the group studied (Ihsan, 1997). From 60 items which were tried out, it is found that not all the items were valid. There were 8 items (13%) were very easy, 13 items (22%) were easy, 23 items (38%) were desirable, 10 items (17%) were difficult, and 6 items (10%) were very difficult. Based on the calculating above, the writer took 40 items which are valid as the instrument of the study. In finding the reliability of the instrument, the writer used Alpha Cronbach formula. The reliability of the instrument was 0. 840. It could be judged that the reading comprehension test was reliable, because the reliability coefficient of reading comprehension test obtained was more than 0. 700. Technique for Analyzing the Data Quantitative data analysis is used in this study. The writer found out the means score. The writer also found out the significant differences within the groups and between the groups in terms of reading comprehension achievement. The writer also measured how much the contribution of KWL strategy in improving students’ reading comprehension achievement. In finding the mean of the tests, the writer found out the normality of the pre-test and post-test, and the homogeneity of the test. Then, the writer found out the means score and standard deviation of the pre-test and post-test to see the difference. Finally, in comparing the means of the test, the writer used t-test in order to find out the difference between the means and decide whether those differences were likely to happen by chance or by treatment effect. D. Findings and Interpretation The Results of Reading Comprehension Test Graphically, the total score of students pre-test and post-test in the experimental group can be seen on Figure 1, where it showed that the posttest score was higher than the pretest score. It meant teaching reading comprehension by using KWL (Know. Want, Learned) strategy could increase the students’ reading comprehension score. [pic] Figure 1. Graph for Pre-test and Post-test Scores in Experimental Group Graphically, the total score of students pretest and posttest in the control group can be seen on Figure 2, where it showed that that the posttest score and the pretest scores were relatively the same. It meant the score of students’ reading comprehension increased gradually. [pic] Figure 2. Graph for Pre-test and Post-test Scores in Control Group Independent Sample t-test Analysis of Students’ Reading Comprehension Achievement In order to find out whether or not there was significant difference in reading comprehension achievement between the students who were taught by using KWL strategy and those who were not, the result of posttest scores of reading comprehension achievement in the experimental group and the control group were compared by using independent sample t-test. Table 1. Independent Samples Test | |Levenes Test for|t-test for Equality of Means | | |Equality of | | | |Variances | | | |F |Sig. |T |df |Sig. 2-tailed) | |Experiment |,778(a) |,605 |60,5% |27,618 |,000 | Based on the obtained data from the table above , it was identified that the contribution of KWL strategy contributed 60. 5 % and the unexplained factor contributed 39. 5 % on students’ reading comprehension achievement. Interpretations of the Study Based on the result of the study, the following interpretations are presented to strenghten the value of the study. First, the result of the study showed a statistically significant difference in reading comprehension achievement between the students who were taught using KWL strategy and those who were not. The mean score posttest of experimental group (2. 100) was higher than the mean score posttest of control group (0. 857). It was also assumed that KWL strategy gave significant contribution in improving students’ reading comprehension achievement. Second, KWL strategy contributed in improving the students comprehension level and in achieving meaningful learning through activating previous knowledge related to the reading text. It gave the students an opportunity to find real conceptual relations and not random ones with those concepts previously made while building up a cognitive structure. Students were continuously active arranging and organizing what they had learned, in order to make hypothesis and predictions in relation to the text and its objectives. For this purpose, they used different intellectual processes such as: comprehension, interpretation, analysis, evidencing and eliciting in order to take appropriate decisions and accomplish their learning goals. The students actively build up knowledge. This knowledge helps them create a portrait for the world around themselves to support their new experience with a meaning and significance. Hence, KWL strategy also could improve the skill of teaching the students how to process the information; and how to think independently and effectively. Using KWL strategy in teaching matches with the course, material, and method, in terms of simplicity and complexity; as it copes with the students’ abilities, acquisition of religious concepts and correction of substitutive concepts they might have got. Because reading comprehension is a meaning composition process, built up through a complementary addition of the information the text provides and the knowledge stored in the students cognitive background. The way of students interpreting the text depends on the previous knowledge they have got. This vidences the significance of KWL strategy in enhancing the reading comprehension level within the students. This is what the results of this study proved. The group which studied the texts with KWL strategy surpassed the group that followed the traditional method. KWL strategy is considered effective in improving students reading comprehension achievement and upgrading them; since it leads to activate previous knowledge within the students and leads to enhance the students’ ability to interpret the reading material and adapt it as to cope with their cognitive background. Third, most of the students were more interested and comprehended the texts where the topic discussed about the local culture. Eventhough, based on Flesch-Kincaid Grade level readibility, the texts were quite difficult for the students’ grade level, their reading score on local culture topic were higher compared to the texts that were comfortable for their grade level of readibililty. Its indicated reading texts which are difficult for the students’grade level did not guarantee that their can not comprehend the texts which known as â€Å"low level with high interest†. It was concluded that as long as the students had high interest to the topic of the reading texts, eventhough quite difficult for their reading level, it will be easier for them to comprehend. E. Conclusion and Suggestions There was significant difference in reading comprehension achievement between the students who were taught by using KWL strategy and those who were not. Since they had been given the treatments, they could improve their reading comprehension achievement. Based on the analysis of data gathered during the experiment and after the experiment, it could be concluded that the students could improve their reading comprehension achievement. Most of the students in the experimental group had better achievement in reading comprehension and were enthusiastic, active, and enjoy in comprehending reading texts by using KWL strategy. Their better achievement toward reading comprehension can be seen based on the scores of posttest were higher than the scores of pretest. There was also an effect of using KWL strategy on students’ reading comprehension achievement. It can be seen from the analysis of the means score within the groups and between the groups by using Stepwise Regression formula, where it is indicated that KWL strategy was effective in improving students’ reading comprehension achievement. Having applied KWL (Know, Want, Learned) strategy for about 16 meetings, the writer considered that it was a good strategy to be applied. In addition, this strategy helped students in understanding the reading material easily. References Academic Cuesta. (2003). Textbook reading strategies. Retrieved February 6, 2004, from http://www. academic. cuesta. edu/acasupp/as/208. HTM-12k Addison, J. (1996). Definition of reading. Retrieved December 12, 2006, from http://www. siu. edu/arc/chapter3. html Alexander, F. (2000). Reading comprehension strategy. Retrieved September 1, 2004, from http://www. K12. nf. ca/fatima/readcomp. html Amree, M. and Al Natoor, M. (2006). The impact of previous knowledge activation on the reading comprehension of a sample of under achieving students in Amman. Educational Science Studies, 3(1), 484-487 Alvermann, D. E. , Smith, L. C. Readence, J. E. (1985). Prior knowledge activation and the comprehension of compatible and incompatible text. Reading Research Quarterly, 20(4), 420-436. Al Arabiyyat, A. (2007) The impact of cognitive and metacognitive teaching on the reading comprehension of the basic stage students. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Amman: Amman Arabic University. Blachowicz, C Ogle, D. (2001). Reading comprehension: Strategies for independent learners. New York, NY: Scholastic. Bos, C. S. Vaughn, S. (2002). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior problems. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Broomley, K D’ Angelo. (1998). Language arts: Exploring connections. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Carvantes, Emerita P. 1989). Designing a Reading and Listening Test for a Specific Purpose. English Teaching Forum, 27(1) 10-13. Chall, J. S. (1983). Stages of reading development. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Dohcly, F. , Segers, M. , Buehl, M. M. (1999). The relation between assessment practices and outcomes of studies: the case of research on prior knowledge. Review of Educational Research, 69(2), 145 -186. Dole, J. A. Valencia, S. W. (1991). Effects of two types of prereading instruction on the comprehension of narrative and expository text. Reading Research Quarterly, 26(2), 142-159. Downie, F. Heath, S. 1974). Research in education. 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall International, Inc. Dupuis, M. (1989). Teaching reading and writing in the content area. London: Foresman and Company. Fisher, D. , Frey, N. Williams, D. (2002). Seven literacy strategies that work. Educational Leadership, 60(3), 70-73. Guthrie, J. T. (2008). Engaging adolescents in reading. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press Graves, M. F. (1983). Effects of previewing difficult short stories on low ability junior high school students’ comprehension, recall and attitudes. Reading Research Quarterly, 18(3), 262-276. Hatch, E Farhady, H. (1982). Research design and statistics for applied linguistics. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers. International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. (2010). Retrieved http://www. wordiq. com/definition/International_Association_for_the_Evaluation_of_Educational_Achievement Jones, T. C. (2003). Strategies for reading comprehension. Retrieved February 19, 2005, from http://curry. edschool. virginia. edu/go/readquest/strat/ Kinstch, W. (2004). The construction integration model of text comprehension and its implications for instruction. In Rudell Unrau (Eds. ), Theoritical models and processes of reading (5th ed. , pp. 1270-1328). Newark, DE : International Reading Association. Klingner, J. K Vaughn, S. (2001). From click to click: Collaborative strategic reading. Longmont, CO: Sopris West. Kozminsky. (2001). How do general knowledge and reading strategies ability relate to reading comprehension of high school students at different educational levels?. Journal of Research in Reading, 24(2), 187-204 Kurtz, C. (2002). Scientifically based research. Retrieved December 12, 2006, from http://www. Learningdisabilities. om/scientific. html Leary, Mark R. (1991). Introduction to behavioral research methods. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company Lengkanawati. (2004). How learners from different culture background learn a foreign language. Asian EFL Journal. Retrieved May 15, 2004, from http://www. asian-efl-journal. com/04nsl. htm Marshall, N. , Robyn, C. , Steve M. (2006). Reading Literacy in PISA 2006 Meyer, B Poon , L. (2001). Effects of structure strategy training and signaling on recall of text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 141-159 Sanders, T Noordman, L. (2000). The role of coherence relations and their linguistic markers in text processing. Discourse Processes, 29, 37-60 Susan, L Mary A. W. (2004). Reading and learning strategies: Middle grades through high school. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Lipson, M. Y. (1982). Learning new information from text: the role of prior knowledge and reading ability. Journal of Reading Behavior, 14, 243-261. Lynch, R. (1999). University level ESL reading, learner motivation, and learning. The Source, 1(1). Retrieved May 15, 2004, from http://www. usc. edu/dept/education/The Source/olddesign/motiv. pdf. McNamara, D Kintsch. (1996). Learning from texts: Effect of prior knowledge and text coherence. Discourse Processes 22, 247-288 Mueller, D. (1992). An interactive guide to educational research: A moduler approach. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Ogle, D. M. (1986). KWL: A teaching model that develops active reading of expository text. Reading Teacher, 39, 564-570. Pressley, M. Johnson, C. J. (1989). Strategies that improve children’s memory and comprehension of text. The elementary School Journal, 90(1), 3-32 Pearson, Rochler, Dole, Duffy. (1992). Developing expertise in reading comprehension. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Rogers, R. (2011). Understanding literacy development â€Å"Lifelong and life wide†. Reading Research Quarterly, 46(1), 86–96. Rubin, D. (1993). A practical approach to teaching reading. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. SIL International. (2004). Glossary of literacy terms. Retrieved July 7, 2004, from http://www. SIL. org/Lingualink/ReferenceMaterials/GlossaryOf/LiteracyTerms/WhatAreComprehensionSkills,html-7k Shaye, S. (2000). The effectiveness of metacognitive strategies on reading comprehension and comprehension strategies of eleventh grade students in Kuwait High School. Retrieved April 21, 2007, from http://www. lib. umi. com/dissertations/html Spires, H. A. Donley, J. (1998). Prior knowledge activation: inducing engagement with information texts. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(2), 249-260. Stahl, K. (2003). The effect of three instructional methods on the reading comprehension and content acquisition of novice readers. Retrieved April 21, 2007, from http://www. lib. umi. com/dissertations/fullcit/fl31009 Stevens, K. C. (1982). Can we improve reading by teaching background information ?.

The Book of the Dead free essay sample

Why are Annie and her father in Florida? 2. Where does Annie’s father go when he leaves the motel, and what does he do? 3. What surprising information does Annie’s father give her about his past? 4. Why does Annie hold back from promising to make another statue for Gabrielle Fonteneau? Thinking Critically 5. How does a particular historical period shape the events of this story? Could you imagine similar events happening in the lives of people who lived in another period of history, even in the present? Explain your response. 6. What basic irony is at the heart of this story—how is Annie’s father the opposite of the heroic figure she admired? 7. At the beginning of the story, what does the sculpture symbolize for Annie? What does the same sculpture symbolize for Gabrielle Fonteneau? 8. Explain the dramatic irony that builds during the luncheon at the Fonteneau’s house. In other words, what do we know that the Fonteneaus do not know? 9. We will write a custom essay sample on The Book of the Dead or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page What conclusion can you draw about Annie’s father from his throwing the statue away? What is the significance of his rubbing the scars on his face after the luncheon? 10. In the story, Annie first loses her father and then her sculpture. What deeper loss does Annie experience? Discussion Questions: The Book of the Dead 1. Why are Annie and her father in Florida? 2. Where does Annie’s father go when he leaves the motel, and what does he do? 3. What surprising information does Annie’s father give her about his past? 4. Why does Annie hold back from promising to make another statue for Gabrielle Fonteneau? Thinking Critically . How does a particular historical period shape the events of this story? Could you imagine similar events happening in the lives of people who lived in another period of history, even in the present? Explain your response. 6. What basic irony is at the heart of this story—how is Annie’s father the opposite of the heroic figure she admired? 7. At the beginning of the story, what does the sculpture symbolize for Annie? What does the same sculpture symbolize for Gabrielle Fonteneau? 8. Explain the dramatic irony that builds uring the luncheon at the Fonteneau’s house. In other words, what do we know that the Fonteneaus do not know? 9. What conclusion can you draw about Annie’s father from his throwing the statue away? What is the significance of his rubbing the scars on his face after the luncheon? 10. In the story, Annie first loses her father and then her sculpture. What deeper loss does Annie experience? Discussion Questions: The Book of the Dead 1. Why are Annie and her father in Florida? 2. Where does Annie’s father go when he leaves the motel, and what does he do? . What surprising information does Annie’s father give her about his past? 4. Why does Annie hold back from promising to make another statue for Gabrielle Fonteneau? Thinking Critically 5. How does a particular historical period shape the events of this story? Could you imagine similar events happening in the lives of people who lived in another period of history, even in the present? Explain your response. 6. What basic irony is at the heart of this story—how is Annie’s father the opposite of the heroic figure she admired? 7. At the beginning of the story, what does the sculpture symbolize for Annie? What does the same sculpture symbolize for Gabrielle Fonteneau? 8. Explain the dramatic irony that builds during the luncheon at the Fonteneau’s house. In other words, what do we know that the Fonteneaus do not know? 9. What conclusion can you draw about Annie’s father from his throwing the statue away? What is the significance of his rubbing the scars on his face after the luncheon? 10. In the story, Annie first loses her father and then her sculpture. What deeper loss does Annie experience?

Short Essay Example

Short Essay Example Short Essay – Article Example Task: Short essay Philosophy is a dynamic discipline that studies almost everything that surrounds us. The discipline relies extensively on logic in making conclusions. This discipline applies logic, critical evaluation and rational in evaluating problems. Therefore, the programme designed by the faculty should aim at enhancing the ability of the students to apply logic, evaluate critically and apply rational in resolving problems. However, the programme that the lecturer is utilizing seems to concentrate on reading philosophical material. The above program will ensure that students have adequate knowledge in philosophy. Nonetheless, appropriate skills should accompany the knowledge thus; helping the students utilize the readings made. The lesson plan reveals that the tutor has apportioned excessive time for class readings. The professor can enhance the students’ skills by facilitating discussions during class. Such discussions will provide the professor with a chance to evalu ate students’ understanding of the readings. Additionally, discussions will make the students active partakers in the class readings. Reading has rendered most students as passive partakers in the class thus; limiting their understanding of the readings. Therefore, allocating discussion substantial time will enable students to apply logic, rationale and make critical evaluation of problems in philosophy. The above changes will work since it deviates from the current plan by allowing the students to exhibit their skill hence; enabling the professor to understand students’ weaknesses and make appropriate adjustments. Reducing time allocated to reading will eliminate boredom in the class. Eliminating boredom by holding discussions will boost the students’ understanding of the discipline by allowing them to participate actively in the lesson (Arthur, 38).Work citedArthur, John. Studying Philosophy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson prentice hall publishers, 2003. Prin t.

construction grammar - definition and discussion

construction grammar - definition and discussion In linguistics, construction grammar  refers to any of the various approaches to language study that emphasize the role of grammatical constructionsthat is, conventional pairings of form and meaning. Some of the different versions of construction grammar are considered below. Construction grammar is a theory of linguistic knowledge. Instead of assuming a clear-cut division of lexicon and syntax, note Hoffmann and Trousdale, Construction Grammarians consider all constructions to be part of a lexicon-syntax continuum (a construction). Examples and Observations James R. HurfordThere are several different versions of Construction Grammar, and my account . . . will describe, quite informally, what they have in common. The common idea is that a speakers knowledge of his language consists of a very large inventory of constructions, where a construction is understood to be of any size and abstractness, from a single word to some grammatical aspect of a sentence, such as its Subject-Predicate structure. Construction Grammar emphasizes that there is a lexicon-syntax continuum, contrary to traditional views in which the lexicon and the syntactic rules are held to be separate components of a grammar. The central motive of Construction Grammar theorists is to account for the extraordinary productivity of human languages, while at the same time recognizing the huge amount of idiosyncratic grammatical data that humans acquire and store. The constructionist approach to grammar offers a way out of the lumper/splitter dilemma (Goldberg 2006, p. 45). The k ey point is that storage of idiosyncratic facts is compatible with deploying these facts productively to generate novel expressions. R.L. TraskCrucially, construction grammars are not derivational. So for example, the active and passive forms of a sentence are regarded as having different conceptual structures rather than one being a transformation of the other. Since construction grammars depend on the conceptual meaning in context, they can be seen as approaches to linguistics that collapse the classical distinctions between semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. The construction is the unit of language, which cuts across these other aspects. So, for example, in They laughed him out of the room, the normally intransitive verb receives a transitive reading and the situation can be interpreted on the basis of the X cause Y to move construction rather than the sytanctic deviance alone. As a result, construction grammars are proving most useful in understanding language acquisition and are being used for second-language teaching, since it is the meaningfulness of the situation which is of primary importance, and syntax and semantics are treated holistically. William Croft and D. Alan CruseAny grammatical theory can be described as offering models of representation of the structure of an utterance, and models of organization of the relationship between utterance structures (presumably, in a speakers mind). The latter are sometimes described in terms of levels of representation, linked by derivational rules. But construction grammar is a nonderivational model (like, for instance, Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar), and so a more general description of this aspect of grammatical theory is organization.Different versions of construction grammar will be briefly outlined . . .. We survey four variants of construction grammar found in cognitive linguisticsConstruction Grammar (in capital letters; Kay and Fillmore 1999; Kay et al. in prep.), the construction grammar of Lakoff (1987) and Goldberg (1995), Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1987, 1991) and Radical Construction Grammar (Croft 2001)and focus on the distinctive characteristics of each th eory. . . .It should be noted that the different theories tend to focus on different issues, representing their distinctive positions vis––vis the other theories. For example, Construction Grammar explores syntactic relations and inheritance in detail; the Lakoff/Goldberg model focuses more on categorization relations between constructions; Cognitive Grammar focuses on semantic categories and relations; and Radical Construction Grammar focuses on syntactic categories and typological universals. Finally, the last three theories all endorse the usage-based model... Thomas Hoffmann and Graeme TrousdaleOne of the central concepts of linguistics is the Saussurean notion of the linguistic sign as an arbitrary and conventional pairing of form (or sound pattern/signifiant) and meaning (or mental concept/signife; cf., e.g., de Saussure [1916] 2006: 65-70). Under this view, the German sign Apfel and its Hungarian equivalent alma have the same underlying meaning apple, but different associated conventional forms . . .. Over 70 years after Saussures death, several linguists then explicitly started to explore the idea that arbitrary form-meaning pairings might not only be a useful concept for describing words or morphemes but that perhaps all levels of grammatical description involve such conventionalized form-meaning pairings. This extended notion of the Saussurean sign has become known as construction (which includes morphemes, words, idioms, and abstract phrasal patterns) and the various linguistic approaches exploring this idea were labeled Constructi on Grammar. Jan-Ola Ãâ€"stman and Mirjam Fried[One] precursor to Construction Grammar is a model that was also developed at the University of California at Berkeley in the late 1970s, within the tradition of Generative Semantics. This was the work of George Lakoff and informally known as Gestalt Grammar (Lakoff 1977). Lakoffs experiential approach to syntax was based on the view that the grammatical function of a sentence constituent holds only in relation to a particular sentence type as a whole. Specific constellations of relations such as Subject and Object thus constituted complex patterns, or gestalts. . . . Lakoffs (1977: 246-247) list of 15 characteristics of linguistic gestalts contains many of the features that have become definitional criteria of constructions in Construction Grammar, including, for example, the formulation that Gestalts are at once holistic and analyzable. They have parts, but the wholes are not reducible to the parts.

Political cultures of texas Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Political cultures of texas - Research Paper Example This culture establishes the outer boundary of all the possibilities within the political dominion. According to ‘Texas Politics, today’ (Maxwell et al., pp. 20-39), the political culture of Texas consists of three sub-cultures: traditional, individualistic, and moralistic. The individualistic culture stresses minimum government intervention that should be limited to safeguarding individual rights while other social and political relationships should be upon private sector. One the other hand, moralistic political culture urges government intervention in social and economic matters for the well-being of the people and general welfare. Traditional subculture, however, has a different viewpoint. It states that since the political power lies in the hands of the dominating or elite group therefore role of the government should be limited to maintaining the social order and tradition. The traditional subculture dominates in East Texas while other subcultures dominate in the r est of Texas. The political culture and philosophy is elaborated under three philosophical streams: classical liberalism, social conservation, and populism. Firstly, Classical liberalism’ focus is to place political value on political measures which helps an individual to exercise full liberty until and unless others are not limited by it. It often forms opposition to the use of the government to attain social goals. They press for the market forces or private motives to provide the best outcome. Moreover, historically Texas also supported religious acceptance for civil liberties for both individualism and entrepreneurship. One of the classic examples of reputation in Texas is H. Ross Perot (political candidate and rich businessperson). Other examples also include Willie Nelson and several Texans who disobeyed social values, rejected the acceptance of race and gender like Barbara Jordan (Maxwell et al., pp. 23-25). Social conservatism came out of classical conservatism viewed liberalism with distrust and appreciated traditional hierarchical social relations. This has rooted in feudal English and European thinking. Moreover, in contemporary forms, the idea of government intervention to reinforce social relations is very well substantiated by the social conservatives. They value traditional practices such as religious beliefs and respect traditional authorities, which can include business or religious leaders. While on the other hand, socially conservatism continues to influence within Democratic Party since decades although their ideology is under the ideas of Republican Party. Populism, the third category, is concerned with well being of ordinary people and has both political and social dimensions. Popular will is the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong in political position. The idea of Populism supports government politically in managing society and the economy. Populism depends on the style and rhetorical appeal to its audience rather than on the content of the policies of the political candidates. Populism can also take socially conservative forms in its support to the political leader. Thus, populism has different positions to support, which depend on the context. Moreover, it ignores the traditional views

Report on Religious Field Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Report on Religious Field Research - Essay Example Conversely, conferring to Islam, ‘jihads’ are of different types and they are also non-violent. ‘Jihad’ is also ‘Jihad bilnafs’, one’s tussle with one’s self is among the most essential kinds. Jihad bilnafs includes regularly striving to manage and deal with our animal desires. Safeguarding Muslim women from the ‘oppression’ of Islamic conduct is considered one of the pet assembling exclamations of the folks who reflect Islam to be a force of evil. Similar to several other offenses incorrectly accredited to the name of Islam instead to the specific people who initiate them, biased handling of women is also measured to be the ‘Islamic way’ of treating female folk. Keeping to the side the spiteful publicity, the cause behindhand this error is perhaps the detail that Islamic educations about the part, everyday jobs, rank, position and conduct of females are referred to in accordance to the practices and beliefs of the western world. If nothing else, Islam freed the women in Arabia by openhandedly granting them human rights which were disregarded for most of the era that time in most nations. Numerous Christians come to believe that Jesus and also other prophets are not thought of as Prophets or God’s messengers by the people of Islamic faith. A hasty analysis of Qur’an or other Islamic works of prose display that Muslims reminisce all of the Messengers talked about in the Judaic and Christian Books with utmost esteem and respect. Theindicationof Jesus has been in Qur’an in numerous spaces. Religious narrow-mindedness is tall on the list of charges counter to Muslims and Islam. Numerous non-Muslims trust that Islam is not tolerating towards different religions and beliefs and that it instructions to its followers is to slay wholly the non-Muslims. Associating the activities of a minority of corrupt people with the wisdoms of Islam in regard

Global Change Essay Example for Free

Global Change Essay The concept of civil society was reinvented in the late 1980s in response to the rapid market development and the end of the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union marked the rapid development of global market due to higher international security. Market development gradually leads to the development of civil society for two reasons: Firstly, the middle class helps to fight more freedom from the government as they want to gain more and more control of themselves. This situation, allows spaces for civil society to develop. Some donors search for NGOs to implement their civic or economic related interests and visions. 1 Secondly, the retreat of the â€Å"welfare† states in western countries further triggers the emergence of civil society as people want to address the problem themselves instead of solely depending on the invisible hand of the free market. Hong Kong, which is recognized as a newly industrialized economy (NIE) has adopted the minimal-interventionist principle in economic development for a long Low tax rate and free market policies are the priorities of the Hong Kong government. Civil society is said to be very important in the implementation of democracy as civil society is a representation of diverse interests of the people. In the planning system of Hong Kong, though the government was willing to involve more public participation in the process with the increasing force of democratization between 1990 and 1997, the role of civil society in planning policy formulation and implementation was not yet clear. According to the experiences of some UK cities, partnership between civil society and the local governments can facilitate sustainable development. It is yet to know whether such kind of partnership is possible in Hong Kong or not. So the aim of this paper is to find out the challenges and opportunities of mobilizing partnership between the government and civil society. Aims of the study This paper aims to explore the challenges and opportunities in fostering partnership between civil society and the government in the planning system of Hong Kong. This paper is based on the central argument that civil society organizations (â€Å"CSOs†) should play significant role in the planning system to explore the challenges and opportunities. It is argued that CSOs are important for promoting more effective idea in the policy planning in terms of reflecting the needs of the locals as well as the moral values neglected by both market and the government. It is believed that the challenges and opportunities are not that straightforward to be understood as they should involve a lot of other factors. These factors are to be examined in order to provide a clearer picture for the analysis. Structure of the paper This study is composed of six sections:- Session I begins with an introduction. It states the purpose of this paper and the content structure. Section II is the theoretical framework established for understanding the theoretical meaning of civil society and the importance of partnership between the government and the CSOs. Section III is the background about development of citizenship in Hong Kong. It is found that the civil society in Hong Kong is becoming mature. Section IV discusses on the six major factors contributing to the challenges in the relationship between the government and the civil society. Section V seeks to study real-life cases to further strengthen the argument that CSOs should play significant role in the planning system. Section VI, the final section of this paper. It summarizes all the key issues discussed in this paper and highlights the importance of the role of CSOs in planning system.   Defining â€Å"Civil Society† The definitions and meaning of civil society in different mainstream theories are explored and outlined in Appendix 1. The interpretation of civil society by Aristotle is now widely recognized as autonomy, not under direct state control. It emphasized on the formation of government based on voluntary willingness of people and universal election in order to guarantee sovereignty of citizens (for Locke) and the freedom of civil society (for Rousseau). The existing political system in Hong Kong is different as the HKSAR government is not directly elected by the citizens. Hong Kong people can only elect some of the legislative councilors, who act as delegates to deal with legislative issues; and district councilors, who are serving as advisors of the government. The sovereignty is just partly in the hand of Hong Kong people. In fact, the situation of Hong Kong is closer to the idea of Hegel that civil society and family together form the state. Civil society is actually functioning as a partly autonomy body under the government of Hong Kong. However, civil society should perform a more active role in the system in order to balance the power of the state and the market for the benefit of the public. So Friedmanns definition of civil society will be applied to support the empowerment of civil society. Civil society, as an association of individual interests, should grow up to balance the power of the state. His definition also separates the concept of market from civil society, which is applicable in the situation of Hong Kong. Friedmann(1998) states that civil society must be seen as standing in â€Å"opposition† to the corporate economy. The relationship of civil society and the market should not be neglected when we understand the relationship of the government and the civil society. 2 To sum up, the combination of Friedmanns and Hegel’s definition of civil society is applied in this paper. Civil society is defined as a sphere without direct state control, but is not totally separated from the state. The participation in civil society is based on voluntary willingness and it is actually an association of various individual interests. It is different from the concepts of corporate economy and family, but they are related to some extent. Civil society may not necessarily oppose to the corporate economy, but they may interplay to produce good results. Civil society should be empowered to balance the power of the government and market.

The Machines of Death Are Dying Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Essa

The Machines of Death Are Dying Capital punishment is, by definition, punishing a crime with death. The death penalty has been used periodically throughout American history since 1608, when the first recorded death sentence was imposed. According to "Executions in the U.S.: The Espy File," by M. Walt Espy and John Ortiz Smylka, there was a gradual incline in the number of executions from that time and throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, peaking at 200 executions per year in the mid-1930s. There was a subsequent decline in imposition, followed by a moratorium, which ended in 1976 (1). The moratorium was initiated in the 1972 case Furman v. Georgia, when the Supreme Court declared that the death penalty had been applied arbitrarily and used unfairly against the poor and African American. Capital punishment was called, "excessive, unnecessary, offensive to contemporary values" by Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (3). The death penalty was reinstated in 1976 when guided discretion statutes in Georgia, Texas, and Florida were deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court. The Court also deemed the death penalty constitutional under the Eighth Amendment, which states, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." The question, then, is whether or not capital punishment can really be cleared of the identification as being cruel and unusual. The basis of the American judicial system has long been said to be the need to find fair forms of retribution for crimes. The worst of those crimes is generally considered to be the intentional mur... ...dollars since the moratorium ended in 1976 (1). The death penalty is one instance in which the costs definitely outweigh the benefits. As it stands, the death penalty should no longer be used in America because it is riddled with imperfections in so many ways. Capital punishment does not serve as an effective incapacitator or deterrent to criminal behavior. It is an inhumane and costly procedure that dehumanizes American culture. As a nation that practices this flawed form of discipline we are isolated from our Western culture counterparts, and the fact that we continue this practice reduces America's credibility as a global leader. In order to place the American judicial system - and culture as a whole - where it belongs on all levels, the system of capital punishment must be abolished.

Analysis and Design of Software Architecture Essay

Outline 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Development Process Requirements Quality Attributes Runtime QA Non-runtime QA Requirements Analysis: Example Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural Views Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 2 / 78 Development Process Methodology Diï ¬â‚¬erent software development processes have software architecture as a part of the process Rational uniï ¬ ed process Spiral development method Agile development method Evolutionary rapid development Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 3 / 78 Development Process Place of SA in SDP Figure: Source: Software Architecture Primer by Reekie, McAdam Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 4 / 78 Development Process Methodology After the initial requirements analysis but before software design The ï ¬ rst architecture is also a communication basis with the customer Inputs for the development of the architecture: 1 2 Requirements Context (technical, organizational, business, †¦) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 5 / 78 Requirements Analysis At the beginning there is always a customer who wants a speciï ¬ c software system Customer â€Å"wishes† are always informal Interviews, some documents, some Excel tables, †¦ We need to analyze such informal records and structure it Requirements engineering is a huge ï ¬ eld but we just illustrate here one possibility Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 6 / 78 Requirements Analysis The results of the requirements analysis: 1 2 Functional requirements Non-functional requirements (a) Runtime qualities (b) Non-runtime qualities 3 Contextual requirements Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 7 / 78 Requirements Functional requirements A technical expression of what a system will do Arise from stakeholder needs Structured language: software requirements speciï ¬ cation Use cases: structured description of user interactions with the system Formal models: e.g. state-charts Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 8 / 78 Requirements Non-functional requirements Other needs than directly functional or business-related Generally expressed in the form of quality-attributes Runtime quality attributes Non-runtime quality attributes Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 9 / 78 Requirements Contextual requirements What technology is available? Expertise of the development team Previous experience of users/customers Technical, business, market, legal, ethical, †¦ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 10 / 78 Quality Attributes Need to address QAs Without any need for performance, scalability, †¦ any implementation of functionality is acceptable However, we always need to take into account the broader context E.g. hardware, technological, organizational, business, †¦ The functionality must be there but without proper addressing of QA it is worth nothing Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 11 / 78 Quality Attributes Inï ¬â€šuence on QAs Typically, a single component can not address a QA completely Any QA is inï ¬â€šuenced by multiple components and their interactions E.g. a UI component has a high degree of usability: however, usability of the system is compromised if a data management component has poor performance in accessing the data → users need to wait long → poor usability Components and their interactions → software architecture QAs are directly inï ¬â€šuenced by software architecture Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 12 / 78 Runtime QA PURS PURS (performance, usability, reliability, security) Performance: time performance, memory, disk, or network utilization Usability: human factors, easy to learn, easy to use, †¦ Reliability: availability, safety, †¦ Security: authentication, data protection, †¦ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 13 / 78 Runtime QA Performance Time performance is most obvious Measured in the number of operations per second Also, latency: the time from receiving an input and producing an output Other measures: memory, disk, network utilization or throughput Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 14 / 78 Runtime QA Performance Diï ¬â‚¬erent measures are typically traded oï ¬â‚¬ against each other E.g. increasing throughput may increase latency Time performance might be increased with more memory True performance of the system is not only deï ¬ ned by performance of single components But also by their interactions and the overall processes in the system Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 15 / 78 Runtime QA Performance factors Choice of algorithms Database design Communication Resource management Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 16 / 78 Runtime QA Choice of algorithms Performance of algorithms is measured by their complexity (big O) E.g. linear complexity: O(n) Running time increases in direct proportion to the size of the data E.g. polynomial complexity: O(n2 ) It does not scale: double size of the data – running time increased by factor of 4 Goal: O(nlog (n)) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 17 / 78 Runtime QA Database design Performance of database queries can dominate the overall performance The design of the tables has enormous impact on the overall performance Techniques to improve it: lazy evaluation, replication, caching Some additional cost to manage replication and/or caching In-memory databases (real-time systems) Developing a new database (search engines) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 18 / 78 Runtime QA Communication Network overhead Package data according to a protocol, sending data over network Each layer means additional overhead Think how to use network: packaging binary data as XML!? Use more compact formats, e.g. JSON vs XML Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 19 / 78 Runtime QA Resources management Overloaded components need to be avoided A chain is only as strong as its weakest link! E.g. a single-threaded shared resource is in use: all other threads are blocked Very diï ¬Æ'cult to track down Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 20 / 78 Runtime QA Usability Usability is a very rich ï ¬ eld If usability is important you will need a usability expert Combination of many factors: responsiveness, graphical design, user expectations, conï ¬ dence Measuring with time taken to complete task, error rate, time to response, †¦ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 21 / 78 Runtime QA Responsiveness and data availability An example of relations between QAs Usability requires that the system responds to user actions within a certain period of time If it is a complex system this need translates into performance along the path of the user action Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 22 / 78 Runtime QA Responsiveness and data availability Figure: Usability vs. Performance Source: Software Architecture Primer by Reekie, McAdam Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 23 / 78 Runtime QA Discussion on relations between QAs This diagram shows that we need to pay attention to tuning communication between B and Y Performance of the communication channel is a consequence of a usability requirement Do we need to support security of the communication channel? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 24 / 78 Runtime QA Discussion on relations between QAs This diagram shows that we need to pay attention to tuning communication between B and Y Performance of the communication channel is a consequence of a usability requirement Do we need to support security of the communication channel? We support QAs always only as a response to user needs Never because it is needed anyway! Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 24 / 78 Runtime QA Discussion on relations between QAs If we support security even if it is not needed Very often QAs exercise opposing forces on the system Security requires a lot of checking: performance will suï ¬â‚¬er → usability will suï ¬â‚¬er A minimalistic approach: develop only what is required! Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 25 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability In traditional engineering disciplines reliability measures the failure rate of the system Failure rate speciï ¬ ed by mean time to failure MTTF A related measure: mean time between failures MTBF MTTR is mean time to repair A is availability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 26 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability MTBF = MTTF + MTTR A= A= MTTF MTBF MTTF MTTF +MTTR E.g. expected availability of Web systems: Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 27 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability MTBF = MTTF + MTTR A= A= MTTF MTBF MTTF MTTF +MTTR E.g. expected availability of Web systems: 1 (always up-and-running) =⇒ MTTF → ∞ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 27 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability Increasing reliability involves testing However, impossible to prove that a system is correct, i.e. without bugs Acceptability of errors depends on the  nature of a system Personal desktop use: bugs are typically tolerated Enterprise level: medium reliability level High-reliable systems: bugs can be fatal Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 28 / 78 Runtime QA Security Increasingly important aspect of systems is security Because systems are exposed to threats Especially networked systems As with other QAs security is a set of related responses to user needs Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 29 / 78 Runtime QA Authentication Requirement for identiï ¬ cation of users with a system Users present credentials so that the system can identify them Typically username and password Other forms: certiï ¬ cates, smart cards, biometric features Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 30 / 78 Runtime QA Authorization After authentication authorization which functions and what data is available for users This information is captured in an authorization model Access control lists (ACL) deï ¬ ne who can access and how a resource might be accessed E.g. read access, write access, delete access, †¦ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 31 / 78 Runtime QA Authorization Drawbacks of ACLs It is resource based, e.g. a page in a CMS Often, authorization needs to address functions or tasks Also, managing of ACLs is diï ¬Æ'cult, e.g. subresources of resources Also, performance problems with checking Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 32 / 78 Runtime QA Authorization Another model: role-based access control (RBAC) Roles are used to manage many-to-many relations between users and permissions Roles are used to represent the job functions, e.g. author, teacher, student in an E-learning system Permissions are modeled as parts of roles, e.g. create page, create tests, †¦ Users are than assigned to a role and acquire automatically permissions of that role Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 33 / 78 Non-runtime QA MeTRiCS MeTRiCS (maintainability, evolvability, testability, reusability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability, scalability) Maintainability: how easy can you ï ¬ x bugs and add new features Evolvability: how easy your system copes with changes Testability: how easy can you test the system for correctness Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 34 / 78 Non-runtime QA MeTRiCS Reusability: how easy is to use software elements in other contexts, e.g. a software library Integrability: how easy you can make the separately developed components of the system work correctly together Conï ¬ gurability: how easy can a system be conï ¬ gured for diï ¬â‚¬erent installations and target groups Scalability: how easy the system copes with a higher performance demand Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 35 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability This QA considers the whole lifecycle of a system What happens during system operation? Property that allows a system to be modiï ¬ ed after deployment wirh ease E.g. extensible, modiï ¬ ed behavior, ï ¬ xing errors Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 36 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability At the design and implementation level Code comments Object-oriented principles and design rules Consistent programming styles Documentation Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 37 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability Maintainability is very important because any software system will change over time Experience shows that such changes tend to degrade the system over time Software systems are subject to entropy The cumulative eï ¬â‚¬ect of changes degrades the quality of the system Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 38 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability The systems tend to become messy systems Regardless of how a nice plan you had at beginning Design for change – recollect OO design rules Abstract messy parts of the system so that they can be exchanged Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 39 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability Don’t be afraid to refactor and rewrite and redesign Each software vendor does this with major versions Create throw-away prototypes Think out-of-box and innovate Don’t always follow a hype – very often nothing new in hypes E.g. Web services Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 40 / 78 Non-runtime QA Testability Means to improve testability Test cases: if something fails there is a bug Separation of the testing framework and the system, i.e. testing with scripts from outside Logging Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 41 / 78 Non-runtime QA Conï ¬ gurability Ability of a system to vary its operational parameters without re-compiling or re-installing E.g. selecting appropriate database drivers, conï ¬ guring network parameters, †¦ Typically, realized by a set of conï ¬ guration ï ¬ les E.g. Apache Web server conï ¬ guration ï ¬ le sets host name, virtual hosts, †¦ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 42 / 78 Non-runtime QA Conï ¬ gurability Conï ¬ gurability interacts with other QAs such as testability, maintainability, reliability High degree of conï ¬ gurability tends to have a negative impact on those QAs Testing of diï ¬â‚¬erent system conï ¬ guration becomes more diï ¬Æ'cult → reliability compromised Conï ¬ gurable components will be strongly parametrized → decreased maintainability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 43 / 78 Non-runtime QA Scalability Ability of a system to increase its capacity without re-compiling or re-installing E.g. serving additional Web pages means only copying these Web pages into a Web server ï ¬ le system Sometimes increasing capacity means increasing hardware, e.g. Web server clusters Managing user session on the client side, means only providing additional code-on-demand from the server Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 44 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description Web-based Network Analysis Tool: W-NAT A simple and usable system for network analysis is needed. Networks are entities that contain not only individuals but also their connections with other individuals (see e.g. 3 for an example). The system accepts a network representations as a list of pairs of connected nodes stored in a dataset ï ¬ le. Nodes are represented as integers. An edge between two nodes is stored as a line containing two nodes delimited by a tabulator. Users might upload datasets to the systems and store them for further analysis. Each user might upload multiple datasets and can execute various analysis on those datasets. The system keeps the track of the analysis history for each user. Users may calculate degree distributions, network diameter, clustering coeï ¬Æ'cient, connectivity measures, singular values, and diï ¬â‚¬erent centrality measures. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 45 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description Web-based Network Analysis Tool: W-NAT Users can execute various calculations on multiple datasets in parallel. The system must not be blocked if a calculation is currently under way. Rather it should be possible to start a new calculation, or view previous calculations, etc. In case of longer calculations the system needs to notify the user by e-mail when the calculation is over. The results of the calculations should be available in textual and in graphical form. All results can be also downloaded to a local computer. The system will be used by a group of students that learn the basics of network analysis. It is expect that at any times the system will be used by multiple users executing multiple calculations. Since the system is primarily an educational tool it needs to be didactically sound, i.e. simplicity and usability are very important. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 46 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description 6 How to search in a small world Pajek Figure 2: HP Labs’ email communication (light grey lines) mapped onto the organizational hierarchy of HP Labs constructed out the e-mail communication. Figure: Social network(black lines). Note that communication tends to â€Å"cling† to of formal organizational chart. From: How to search a social network, Adamic, 2005. with one another. The h-distance, used to navigate the network, is computed as follows: individuals have h-distance one to their manager and to everyone they share a manager with. Distances are then recursively assigned, so that each individual has h-distance 2 to their ï ¬ rst neighbor’s neighbors, and h-distance 3 to their second Denis Helic (KMI, TU neighbor’s neighbors, etc. SA Analysis and Design Graz) Oct 19, 2011 47 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description Web-based Network Analysis Tool: W-NAT The system is a Web-based system and the users should be able to operate the system by using a standard Web browser. The users need not install any additional plugins to operate the system. User perceived performance of the system should be acceptable. In addition, standard Web usability concepts need to be followed. In particular, browser back button must be working at all times and it should be possible to bookmark pages at all times. Finally, standard Web design principles should be satisï ¬ ed, meaning that pages are valid (X)HTML pages in at least HTML Transitional. The system needs to support cross browser compatibility. Further, each page and each important application state needs to have a unique and human-readable URL. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 48 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR1: The system is a network analysis tool. The system can calculate the following measures. UR1.1: UR1.2: UR1.3: UR1.4: UR1.5: Out-degree distribution In-degree distribution Cumulative out-degree distribution Cumulative in-degree distribution Hop plot Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 49 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR1: The system is a network analysis tool. The system can calculate the following measures. UR1.6: Clustering coeï ¬Æ'cient UR1.7: Distribution of weakly connected components UR1.8: Distribution of strongly connected components UR1.9: Left singular vector UR1.10: Right singular vector Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 50 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR1: The system is a network analysis tool. The system can calculate the following measures. UR1.12: UR1.12: UR1.13: UR1.14: UR1.15: Network singular values Degree centrality Closeness centrality Betweenness centrality Eigenvector centrality Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 51 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR2: Networks are stored in dataset ï ¬ les. UR3: The dataset ï ¬ le has the following format. NodeID1 NodeID2 UR4: Users can upload multiple datasets to the system. UR5: To perform an analysis users select a dataset and then choose a measure to calculate. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 52 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR6: For each user and for each dataset the system manages a history of calculations. UR7: Users may initiate multiple calculations simultaneously. UR8: When a calculation is started the system is not blocked. UR9: The system notiï ¬ es users about a ï ¬ nished calculation by e-mail. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 53 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR6: For each user and for each dataset the system manages a history of calculations. UR7: Users may initiate multiple calculations simultaneously. UR8: When a calculation is started the system is not blocked. UR9: The system notiï ¬ es users about a ï ¬ nished calculation by e-mail. When is this notiï ¬ cation needed? If the user is logged out? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 53 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? UR12: Users can register with the system. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? UR12: Users can register with the system. How register? E-mail? Captcha? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? UR12: Users can register with the system. How register? E-mail? Captcha? UR13: Users can login and log out. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability How many seconds at max users can wait? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability How many seconds at max users can wait? UR5: Web-based system should be available at all times. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability How many seconds at max users can wait? UR5: Web-based system should be available at all times. Reliability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Testability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Testability UR9: Multiple users. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Testability UR9: Multiple users. Scalability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Contextual requirements UR1: Web browser. UR2: Valid (X)HTML, at least (X)HTML Transitional. UR3: No browser plugins are allowed. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 57 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Analysis We analyze the requirements and try to identify so-called key concepts Understanding of the domain Static part of the domain We also try to identify key process and activities Dynamic part of the domain Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 58 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Design Design is the process of creating models (recollect the deï ¬ nition of SA) Two basic types of architectural models Structure and behavior Architectural structure is a static model of a system (i.e. how the system is divided into components) Architectural behavior is a dynamic model of a system (i.e. how the components interact with each other to perform some useful work) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 59 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural structure The division of a system into components and connectors To represent the model: box-and-lines diagrams (to see at a glance important concepts) It is important to remember that diagrams are only representations of the model Diagrams must always be accompanied by additional material such as text, data models, mathematical models, etc. The combination of diagrams and additional material is an architectural model Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 60 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural structure What is a component? What is a connector? Components might be subsystems, separate processes, source code packages, †¦ Connectors might be network protocols, method invocations, associations, †¦ The combination of diagrams and additional material is an architectural model Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 61 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural structure Figure: Example of an architectural structure Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 62 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural structure In the diagram we have one user-interface and one database component But what is the criteria for deciding what is a component? Separate program modules? Separate threads or processes? Conceptual or functional division? And what about connectors? Network protocols? Callbacks? Request/response cycles? Method invocations? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 63 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural structure What is the level of granularity of a diagram? E.g. for a Web-based system, components are servers and browsers and connector is HTTP But, components of a server are HTTP parser, ï ¬ le I/O, cache, plug-ins, †¦ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 64 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural structure Comparison with OO: a component is an object and a connector is a message sent between two objects Because models in OO are very well deï ¬ ned Therefore, we need additional information that accompanies diagrams To describe criteria for decomposition and provide explanations on granularity Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 65 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural behavior Complementing structure is architectural behavior Interaction of system elements to perform some useful work Functionality vs. behavior Functionality is what the system can do and behavior is the activity sequence Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 66 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural behavior Example: Accessing a tweets document Request is sent to the Web presentation layer That layer forwards the request to the application logic, e.g. TweetDeck TweetDeck contacts TweetViews to obtain a particular template, then retrieves the data from TweetDB wraps it into an HTML response and sends the response to TweetUI Functionality allows me to display a tweets document, behavior is the sequence of activities that makes it happen Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 67 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural behavior Each component has a set of responsibilities Behavior is the way how these responsibilities are exercised to respond to some event An event may be an action of the user or an event from an external system A particular behavior is an event plus a response in the form of a sequence of component responsibilities Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 68 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural behavior To represent behavioral models we use use-case map notation by Buhr A use-case map consists of a trace drawn through a structural diagram of the system The path of the trace through a structural diagram shows the sequence of activities Each crossing of a component by the trace indicates exercising of a responsibility Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 69 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural behavior Figure: Types of traces in use-case maps Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 70 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural behavior (a) Single trace – all responsibilities exercised sequentially (b) Two traces are consecutive: Equivalent to single trace but shows that continuation is triggered by another event (c) And-Fork: The traces after the line are potentially concurrent (run in parallel) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 71 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural behavior Figure: Types of traces in use-case maps Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 72 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural behavior (a) N-Way And-Fork: the trace after the fork may be replicated an arbitrary number of times (b) Or-Fork: The trace is split and activity proceeds along one or another path (c) Seq-Fork: The traces after the line are followed in the order indicated by the arrow Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 73 / 78 Architectural Analysis & Design Architectural behavior Figure: Example of architectural behavior Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 74 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views We can examine a system from diï ¬â‚¬erent points of view Diï ¬â‚¬erent kinds of views Conceptual: components are set of responsibilities and connectors are ï ¬â€šow of information Execution: components are execution units (processes) and connectors are messages between processes Implementation: components are libraries, source code, ï ¬ les, etc and connectors are protocols, api calls, etc. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 75 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views There are other models as well We will mention them but we will investigate only previous three models Data model describes the data Physical model describes servers, ï ¬ rewalls, workstations, †¦ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 76 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views Each view provides diï ¬â‚¬erent information about the structure of the system Each view addresses a speciï ¬ c set of concerns All views taken together is the primary means of documenting software architecture Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 77 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views The conceptual architecture considers the structure of the system in terms of its domain-level functionality The execution architecture considers the system in terms of its runtime structure The implementation architecture considers the system in terms of its build-time structure Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 78 / 78