Jason Caminitis Its Like 1984 All Over Again :: Its Like 1984 All Over Again Essays

Jason Caminiti's It's Like 1984 All Over Again "Most people have written this book off as a good science fiction work." Says Jason Caminiti, writer of the 1984 critical essay, "It's Like 1984 All Over Again." What he refers to is the public's reaction to 1984, a novel discussing the government's involvement in personal affairs. Caminiti believes that the book holds truer to modern times than people believe. Although there may be no Ingsoc, telescreens, Newspeak, or even helicopters darting in and out of windows, the government still has their own wicked methods of controlling and monitoring American society. Modern technology has just helped accomplish this feat. Caminiti explains how everything acts as a monitoring tool, from the Internet to the Social Security System, and even ID cards for schools and college campuses. "Our government is taking steps towards this type of Orwellian society all the time." He realizes. Jason Caminiti is right. 1984 is not just some nondescript science fiction novel, but a reflect ion on life today. Before the criticism on Jason Caminiti's critical essay, "It's Like 1984 All Over Again" can be distributed, a few unclear terms must be defined. A telescreen is a technological advancement, allowing "Big Brother" to peer into the homes of those who have them (And in 1984, they are mandatory.) The telescreen watches, day and night, and can never be shut off, and can also communicate back. Big Brother is the elusive government in 1984, never seen, only heard of. The Ministry of Truth is the office where Winston, an Outer-Party member works. Ministry of Truth is an ironic title, for all that the Ministry of Truth does is lie to people, changing facts and hiding facts. That's not truth at all, but deceit instead. A prole is another term from 1984, and is short for "prolitariat" or "prolitarian". Proles are pleasure-seeking human beings, representing the lower class of society. The government rarely concerns themselves with prolish matters. Lastly, the V-Chip is not a term from 1984, but a modern day invention. Advocated by former United States president, Bill Clinton, the v-chip is supposed to be used by parents to help block out any questionable material on television.

The Effects of Anxiety on Language Learning of Esl and Efl University Students

The Effects of Anxiety On Language Learning of ESL and EFL University Students Review of Literature Introduction: There has always been the existence of the feeling of anxiety-anticipation of danger and the fear of some untoward occurrence in the back f our minds. However, in the modern age of stress, cutthroat competition and uncertainty, the problem of anxiety has become chronic and has developed into a menace. This, as every one knows, has posed a strong challenge towards the maintenance of our good health and well-being and onto learning process of learners and even stronger, in ESL and EFL university students for being taught a foreign/second language besides their own ones. For defining anxiety, it can be said that anxiety is an uncomfortable emotional state which has some characteristics like: feeling of apprehension, worry, nervousness, dread, and feeling of stress that may stem from the anticipation of some non-specific source of danger. Rapid heartbeat,dizziness,fainting tendency,trembling,irregularbreathing,sweating,palpitations,hypertension,chest pain and shortness of breath, are common symptoms, all/some of which are observed in persons suffering from anxiety. It may be noted that anxiety may actually prove beneficial in some respects, too. The feeling of anxiety helps cope with the intense situations arising in life. In a way, it helps motivate persons to prepare in the best manner and perform to the utmost in public speaking, at an exam, in working towards meeting some deadline,etc. However,it turns into a malady if it goes beyond a certain limit and even may threaten health. In today’s world, there is a large amount of reported cases who are suffering from anxiety and it may even reach such enormous proportions in some people, as to interfere with their ability to function normally. Researchers have studied the effects of anxiety on foreign language learning since the 1970’s; and on second language learning, there are many researches as well. London, R says that: The monumental need of the ESL student is to interact normally both socially and academically in the mainstream classroom . Social and academic anxieties, are the core impediments to adoption and learning. Thus,the teachers need to understand the specific nature of these anxieties by using an affective measurement scale to identify the specific anxiety –provoking scenarios the ESL student experiences. Further more, teachers need to work collaboratively with the student, parents, and each other to set clear performance and behavioral expectations. ESL students need to learn the practical functional nature and practice the functional language needed to participate fully. Finally, structuring self- assessment, as well as classroom activities aimed to maximize an interactive academic experience is essential. Daniels and Hewitt attempted to investigate the effects of different levels of test anxiety on actual rather than simulated classroom test performance. The intent was to learn whether the effect of anxiety would be dependent upon or independent of several variables, such as test scores, sex differences, intelligence, and type of test items. In response to the last, Boor claims that: the Sara son Test Anxiety Scale was administered to students immediately after a course examination and to other students after a regular class period. A significant relationship between test anxiety and examination scores was obtained for the former group and no significant relationship was found when intelligence was partialed out. As Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1991) note, educators should help anxious students cope with existing anxiety-provoking situations and endeavor to make the learning context less stressful. When learners view the classroom as anxiety inducing, they often feel as if they are swimming among sharks and become less socially oriented, less assertive, and more withdrawn or self-conscious than in other situations. Anxiety is often a manifestation of feelings of incompetence. And he says that: where the trigger is concern over being scrutinized, judged and compared to others, the teacher can alleviate anxiety and foster a less confrontational atmosphere by encouraging pair work, group activities and scaffolding for mutual support and reassurance. Young (1991) identifies the following as the main categories and sources of language learning anxiety for general learners. A. anxiety stemming from personal and interpersonal anxieties 1. Low self-esteem 2. Competitiveness 3. Self-perceived low ability levels 4. Communication apprehension 5. Social anxiety 6. Existential anxiety 7. Lack of SL group membership 8. Learner beliefs about language learning B. anxiety stemming from role-related beliefs about language teaching 1. That some intimidation of students is necessary 2. That the instructor’s role is to correct students constantly 3. That the instructor cannot have students working in pairs because the class may get out of control 4. That the instructor should be doing most of the talking and teaching 5. That the instructor is like a drill sergeant C. anxiety stemming from instructor-learner interactions 1. from the instructor’s harsh manner of correcting student errors 2. from students’ fear of being incorrect in front of their peers 3. from students’ concerns over how mistakes are perceived in the language class D. anxiety stemming from classroom procedures 1. Having student speak in the target language in front of the class 2. Giving frequent oral quizzes, listening comprehension in particular 3. Calling on student to respond orally and exclusively in the SL E. anxiety stemming from aspects of language testing 1. Test formats that evoke more anxiety than others, e. g. , listening comprehension, translation from SL to English 2. Over-studying for hours only to find that the tests assess different material 3. Unfamiliar test tasks Conclusion: Some aspects mentioned in above researches which are proved to be correlated with the level of anxiety are, for example, belief in giftedness and self-efficacy and so on . It is discussed in almost all researches that anxiety may have both facilitative and debilitative effects on language learning of SL/FL learners . However, anxiety seems to be facilitative in some situations of learning especially in second/foreign language learning in a way that it reduces the feeling of being watched or/and being appeared unnatural in reacting inFL/SL learning classes and further in lesson replying in real situations. Because anxiety may have a debilitating effect on the acquisition of the second language, it is important to help learners to cope with and reduce second language anxiety. And for recognition of these effects and cope with them, it seems to be needed a new conclusive study for some forgotten aspects or in other way: for recognizing higher and lower important ones first. After that, researchers should identify the specific items that make the students anxious. The researcher needs to discuss the results with the students and come to conclusions by asking the ESL/EFL student some questions to find the sources of anxiety in the ESL/EFL students. References: Barney, G (2006). Anxiety-Unnatural or Natural, anxiety, 2, Article0611from http://www. articlecube. com Boor, M (1978). Test Anxiety and Classroom Examination Performance: A Reply to Daniels and Hewitt . Clinical Psychology Journal, 36 (1) Jan 1980, 177-179. Burden, P (2004). The Teacher as

Occluded Fronts in Weather Definition

An occluded front is a composite of two frontal systems that merge as a result of occlusion. Cold fronts generally move faster than warm fronts. In fact, the speed of a cold front is about double that of a typical warm front. As a result, a cold front will sometimes overtake an existing warm front. Essentially, an occluded front forms as three air masses meet. There are two types of occluded fronts: Warm occlusionsCold occlusions Cold air occluded fronts are more common than warm occluded fronts. A front takes its name from two places: it is the literal front, or leading edge, of air thats moving into a region; it is also analogous to a war battlefront, where the two air masses represent the two clashing sides. Because fronts are zones where temperature opposites meet, weather changes are usually found along their edge. Fronts are classified depending on what kind of air (warm, cold, neither) is advancing onto the air in its path. The main types of fronts include: Warm Fronts If warm air moves in such a way that it advances onto and replaces the cooler air in its path, the leading edge of the warm air mass found at the earths surface (the ground) is known as a warm front. When a warm front passes through, the weather becomes noticeably warmer and more humid than it was before. Cold Fronts If a cold air mass spills onto and overtakes a neighboring warm air mass, the leading edge of this cold air will be a cold front. When a cold front passes through, the weather becomes significantly colder and drier. (It isnt uncommon for air temperatures to drop 10 degrees Fahrenheit or more within an hour of a cold frontal passage.) Occluded Fronts Sometimes a cold front will catch up to a warm front and overtake both it and the cooler air out ahead of it. If this happens, an occluded front is born. Occluded fronts get their name from the fact that when the cold air pushes underneath the warm air, it lifts the warm air up from the ground, which makes it hidden, or occluded.   Occluded fronts usually form with mature  low pressure areas. They act like both warm and cold fronts. The symbol for an occluded front is  a purple line with alternating triangles and semi-circles (also purple)  pointing in the direction the front is moving. Sometimes a cold front will catch up to a warm front and overtake both it and the cooler air out ahead of it. If this happens, an occluded front is born. Occluded fronts get their name from the fact that when the cold air pushes underneath the warm air, it lifts the warm air up from the ground, which makes it hidden, or occluded.   Updated by Tiffany Means.