Monday, January 27, 2020

Strategic Management Issues in Low Cost Airlines

Strategic Management Issues in Low Cost Airlines Low cost airlines have been a trend nowadays anywhere in the world. There are many airlines that have adopted this strategy and have become more successful because of this. The low cost airlines have the advantage over the premium airlines due to the fact that they will never get their costs to a point where they can make a profit at low fares in bigger markets. Among these low cost airlines that are in existence nowadays is Ryan air. The Irish airline company Ryan air is the first low-cost, no-frills European airline to have any impact. Ryan air started operations in July 1985, flying between Waterford in the southeast of Ireland and Londons Gatwick airport. Three brothers, Catlan, Declan and Shane Ryan were the founding shareholders of Ryan air, which was set up to offer low-cost no-frills services between Ireland and London. Now, Ryan air, with its rapid growth occupied a most sought position in its own field, being Britains favourite airline. Ryan air currently has a team of more than 7,000 people and expects to carry approximately 73 million passengers in fiscal year 2010/11. 1.3 Current Strategic Positions: To evaluate any organisations strategic position certain factors have to be assessed. These include those below and also the environmental analysis which follows later in the report. 1.3.1 Market Segmentation: Ryan air lay claim to their market segment by stating they were Europes first no frills airline, www.ryanair.com. Ryanair have made strategic decisions based on increasing their competitive edge, the main one becoming involved in attracting customers at both ends of their routes. Haberberg and Rieple (2001), support this by showing that Ryanairs key source of revenue from as far back as a decade ago has been in enticing passengers from France, Italy and Scandinavia. This has had the advantage of increasing their market share as well as the added bonus of creating a well recognised brand name across Europe. 1.3.2 Prescriptive, Emergent or Something Unique? A prescriptive corporate strategy is one where the objective has been defined in advance and the main elements have been developed before the strategy commencesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.an emergent corporate strategy is one whose final objective is unclear and whose elements are developed during the course of its life, as the strategy proceeds. Lynch (2000) As is shown above by Lynch (2000) the two recognised strategy models are extremely different, however these are the two dominant strategy approaches as stated by Dennis Foster in his lecture on Managing Strategic Change (2006). It is safe to recognise straight away that Ryanair does not sit uniformly with either strategy. However certain aspects or functions could certainly adhere to one or the other as these are sections that make up the carrier as a whole and for an organisation of Ryanairs size different parts would have different aims and objectives underneath a main umbrella strategy for the organisation. For example any planning undertaken by Ryanair for new routes or planes would follow the prescriptive model as the objective would have been defined beforehand and elements such as finance will have had to have been agreed before any purchasing goes ahead. On the other hand emergent strategies may be in place for things like training and development where elements can be discovered along the way for example if an issue arose where staff needed more health and safety training then the training programme could be redirected. Ryanair, as already stated, follows neither strategic approach religiously and possesses a strategy unique to their organisation, which has identified their needs and objectives. However their approach to strategic management isnt unique in itself as the majority of organisations will tailor strategies to suit their business own individuality. 1.3.3 Competitive Advantages: Their main competitors are carriers including Easy Jet, BMIbaby, Fly Be and Thomson Fly all of who try to attract potential customers by emphasising their low cost tickets. This makes the competition in this market segment fierce as in order to offer the lowest fares, costs must also be kept to a minimum. Ryanair continues to be the lowest cost airline in Europe. The firm manages to maintain its cost leadership despite the presence of other low cost airlines in Europe. The source of competitive advantage of the company is its ability to drive down costs to sustain low fares while at the same time remains profitable. This is done through: Fleet Commonality The airlines fleet is made up of Boeing 737, the most common aircraft being flown in the present. Because of fleet commonality the firm is able to cut on costs in obtaining spares and maintenance services. Contracting Out of Services Other than Dublin Airport where the firm maintains its staff and services, Ryanair contracts out aircraft handling, ticketing, baggage handling and other functions to third parties. The firm is able to obtain competitive rates and multi-year contracts at fixed prices, limiting exposure to cost increases. Third party service outsourcing also limits Ryanairs direct exposure to employee relations responsibilities and potential disputes. Airport Charges and Route Policy Airport charges include landing fees, passenger loading fees, aircraft parking fees and noise surcharges. In order to reduce these fees, the firm avoids congested main airports and chooses secondary and regional airport destinations which are very interested in increasing passenger throughput. Staff Costs and Productivity In order to control employee compensation costs, the firm implements a performance related pay structure. Although the company provides lower labor costs, the employees can earn additional pay or remuneration base on their performance. Marketing Costs In order to reduce marketing costs, the firm cut its rate commission to travel agents. The firms main advertisement tools are newspapers, radio, television and its company website. 2.0 External analysis: For success within the airline industry, an awareness of the external environment is essential. This section aims to highlight the position of the industry, in particular looking at competitors and assessing Ryans capability to meet current and future challenges. 2.1 PESTLE Analysis In Pestle analysis we investigate macro external factors for companies, which are very important for identify their strategies. There are 6-core elements of Pestle analysis. These are Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental options. We can examine these factors in the airline industry to realize Ryanairs future external threats and opportunities. PESTEL Factor Key Points Implications for RYAN Political Heavy regulation (AEA, 2009). Compliance is essential if Ryan wants to continue operations. Increased security due to past terrorist threats (DFT, 2008). Sufficient security measures should be in place to ensure consumer confidence and competitive advantage is maintained. Economic Global economic crisis:World growth is projected to just over 2  percent in 2009 (IMF, 2008). Pound weakens especially against the Euro. Possible reduction in the amount of business travel as companies are cutting costs and using alternative means of communication such as teleconferencing. Oil prices: declined by 50 % since their peak retreating to 2007 levels. Decline in fuel price = strengthening of the dollar (IMF, 2008) Fluctuations in oil prices and exchange rates will directly affect Ryans cost base. UK consumer spending saw its sharpest decline for 13 years between July and September 2008 (Channel 4, 2008). More intense competition Social The UK has an aging population (see appendix 3) (National Statistics Online, 2008). Potential opportunity for growth as older generations havemore time to spend on leisure activities such as international travel. Increasing unemployment (Kollewe and Sager, 2008). Increased bargaining power as an employer. Technological A recent survey revealed that 34% of online consumers plan to use price-comparison sites more in 2009 (NMA, 2009). Increased consumer awareness and therefore bargaining power. Online booking services and check-in is becoming increasingly used by the airline industry. Ryan must ensure that they remain up to date with these technological advances whilst avoiding becoming overly reliant, as this may isolate certain consumer markets (i.e the elderly) who dont feel comfortable using such technology. Environmental/Ethical Noise pollution controls,and energy consumption controls (DFT, 2008). New legislation (e.g. Climate Change Bill) enforcing tighter environmental regulation may increase operational costs each year. Limited land and for growing airports Expansion is difficult at Heathrow as it would result in a loss in the Londons Green belt area. (BBC News 2006) Limited capacity=>utilisation of capacity. Consumers are becoming increasingly green and more aware of the environmental impact of their actions. Failure to adopt an integrated environmental strategy could lead to a detrimental effect on the Ryans reputation and income. Cancellations of flights and loss of baggage (Channel 4, 2008). Such ethical issues could have a detrimental effect on reputation if left unresolved. Legal Recognition of trade unions and industrial action e.g. Cabin Crew strikes. Good employee relations are essential if Ryan wants to avoid industrial action and interrupted operations. Open Skies Agreement (AEA, 2009) Opportunity for Ryan and its competitors to freely transport aircraft between the EU and US. There is a cruel competition in airline industry. Especially, after credit crunch in 2008 the competition has become crueler. Companies have to fight with recession also and in this economic situation we can see lots of threats in sector. If you reverse these threats to the opportunities you will be one step further in the competition. Ryanair is the most suitable company to gain advantages from todays world. With this assignment we answered the questions, which frequently asking for their future strategy and their positions of the future competition. Thats why; they have started to corporate social responsibilities. 2.2 Porters Five Forces Before starting to write analysis of the Ryanair based on Porters five forces I should write some special information about Ryanair or all low cost airlines. The main characteristics of these companies are designed for reducing costs. Because it is obvious that the most competitive maybe just one- side of them is their low fares. For Ryanair, their aircrafts seat density is very high and they prefer just one aircraft types (Boeing 737-800). All of their bookings are via Internet so they earn huge amount of money because of no sales commissions. They havent got any frills such as free food or havent got any air-mile promotions. They always prefer secondary airports. Actually these all I mentioned above are had mentioned at their S.W.O.T. analysis in strengths part. In my opinion we can use every single detail from S.W.O.T. analysis of Ryanair when we are writing about Porters Five Forces analysis of it. This analysis has five-core element. These are 1. Bargaining Power of Suppliers 2. New Entrants 3. Threat of Substitutes 4. Competitive Rivalry 5. Bargaining Power of Customers Bargaining Power of Customers Ryanair customers are highly price sensitive. It is very easy to change their airline and it is not related to high cost. In this century customers knowledge about the cost of service is high and there is no customer loyalty for Ryanair. Even though there is no customer loyalty, bargaining power of customers is low. Ryanair is the cheapest airline for all Europe destinations and customers are -especially in recession times- highly price sensitive. New Entrants It is very hard to be new in airline industry. There are lots of barriers to entry. You should take the flight authorizations. The capital that you will invest in this sector is very high. It is also hard to take a place current competition and also hard to find suitable airports for your flights. In my opinion in short time period there will not be any threats of new entrants against Ryanair even though some existing companies are changing their strategy and reducing their ticket price (Lufthansa). Threat of Substitutes As I mentioned before there is not any brand loyalty of customers and Ryanair preferred customer relationship is not-close relationship. If their customers find better way to travel they will not feel any hesitation to chose it. So the threat of direct and indirect substitutes is very high and the most important point is there are no switching costs for the customers. Competitive Rivalry The market is highly competitive. Most of Ryanairs cost advantages can be copied immediately. In Europe it seems like there is an agreement between Ryanair and Easyjet about not to compete head to head. However if any company does decide to compete on the same basis as Ryanair it will be highly crucial for Ryanair. There will be heavy pressure on prices, margins, and hence on profitability. 2.3 Bowmans Strategy Clock Bowman created his Strategy Clock in The Essence of Competitive Strategy book. With this strategic model he illustrates companys competitive position in comparison with their rivals. For him the real advantage of companies being achieved cost and differentiation. His strategy clock has 8 options. First two options are about the low price. First option is totally low cost low added value but the second option totally about to be a cost leader without caring its value. Second option has the risk of price war and low margin. Third option is a hybrid option. Mainly the low cost but not the lowest price. The most important difference between second and the third option is in third option reinvestment in differentiation. Fourth option is about differentiation. For option five the biggest difference is the differentiation is highly focused. It perceived added value to a particular segment warranting a premium price. Rests of the options are failure options. At option six the price is increased but the value is standard. Option seven is worse than option six. In option seven you can see increased price with low values. It is only feasible in monopoly situation. Last option is option 8, which is the cause loss of market share. Because your low value has a standard price. Ryanair had dramatic changes during last decade period time and this was flabbergasted its competitors. Their profitability rose within a short period of time. Their low-fares strategy without frills and punctuality in flight service helped their high profitability period and it brought a significant value on the growth. The high level competition needs efficient strategy to gain advantages and at the same time high profit. In different times we can put Ryanairs strategy in different options in Bowmans Strategy Clock. But all of them can be placed between options 1 to 5. Their strategy never placed in failure part of Bowmans clock. Mainly, in these days Ryanair place in the clock is between options 1-2, which is mainly about low price. We can easily realize Ryanair is the best example for this option. If they can secure their price and gives higher valued service they can easily take a place option three and they will be strongest company in the competition. In my opinion, hybrid strategy is the most preferable strategy in the clock that is why Virgin Airlines prefer this option. If Ryanair updates their lowest price strategy with a standard service they easily will be the strongest company in the competition. 3.0 SWOT Analysis: Strengths Ryanair has been known as Europes first low-cost, no-frills airline brand.This fact alone credits is the companys strongest selling point. Ryanair started in year 1985 with only 57 staff members and with one 15-seater turboprop plane from the south of east of Ireland to London-Gatwick which carried 5000 passengers on one route. In 1986, inspired from the story of David and Goliath the company go after the big guys for a slice of the action and end up smashing the Aer Lingus or British Airways high fare cartel on the Dublin-London route. From therein, Ryanairs lower fares offering increased their market share rapidly resulting to the establishment of low-cost subsidiaries of established airline companies such as British Airlines and KLM. The low-cost, no-frills strategy resulted to a rapid increase of customers and expansion of their operations, wherein the staff increased from mere 57 to 3, 400 staff members and almost 35 million passengers. In terms of operations, the EU air transport deregulation allowed the airline for the first time to open up new routes to Continental Europe with over 3 million passengers on 18 routes carried in 1997. Ryanair also launched services to Stockholm, Oslo, Paris and Brussels and took time out to float Ryanair Holdings plc on Dublin and NASDAQ Stock exchanges. The company was awarded as Airline of the Year in 1999 by the Irish Air Transport Users Committee. In 2001, while almost all traditional airline companies suffered from losses and stiff competition, Ryanair, being a low-cost airline became more than merely profitable by recording 26 percent in operating margins results that the former only dreams about. In June of the following year, Ryanair made a market capitalization amounting to 4.9 billion euro ($4.82 billion), breaking the records of 45 percent more than the mighty British Airways that has 20 times larger in terms of revenue. Ryanair possesses the sophisticated and able technology that can cater to the fast changing global marketing management trends. It has core competence in its use of information technology that can support its management and marketing operations. Thus, adding to its innovations in service providing among the wide range of clientele. Its IT supports competent procurement of services (e.g. bookings and ticketing) in e-marketing or online aspect. After establishing its website in January 2000, it became one of the busiest sites in the country with 14 million impressions a month. The booking in their web accounts have increased to 94% which has probably has something to do with opening another 26 routes. In year 2003, the company is characterized by rapid expansion and the start the year by announcing that the company has ordered an additional 100 new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft to facilitate the rapid European growth plans. The company is named as the most popular airline on the web i n 2004 by Google. The company has also passed out British Airways to become the UKs favorite airline in United Kingdom and throughout Europe. In sum, Ryanairs strengths rest on the companys commitment to low fares, deep-seated management, and willingness to address managerial challenges and marketing trends (e.g. competition, expansion, and IT solutions). Weaknesses Despite of the increase of passengers, the company is not so good in managing cost that the company has lose its money. At the moment, there have been urgent and deliberate mechanisms that were implemented to address such weakness. Such cost reduction strategy relies on five main aspects like fleet commonality, contracting out services, airport charges and route policies, managed staff costs and productivity and managed marketing costs. Ryanair, in spite of its strategies has other problems that serve as weaknesses too. One of the problems is in terms of handling customers or target market. Reports say that Ryanair accumulates hidden taxes and other fees, restricted customer services, and deceiving advertisements. In addition, another problem is assuring quality service. According to the result of poll conducted by BBC involving air travelers in 2003, 56 percent of respondents claimed that the airline caused them the biggest headaches in terms of services and customers. Also, in 2007 Irelands Commission for Aviation Regulation recorded a total of 60 percent of all complaints accumulated by the commission. There has been significant number of bad publicity for the company, thus, creating a negative impression to the airline brand. The company is faced with different unsolved issues because of lack of strategic decision making in several areas of human resources particularly in relation to trade union policies. Opportunities With the management system of the company and the strengths that it has, Ryanair has bigger opportunities to still dominate and catch up with the competition in the European airline industry in terms of providing more quality service standard and at the same time preserving it low-cost no-frills strategy to its clients or even have an opportunity to be the number one airline company in the whole region after its eventual application of its proposed plans in the future. Another opportunity that can be attached to the company is it would gain more customers if they would be able to determine the latest trends in airline management and marketing to meet the demands of their target market. The continuous initiatives of the company in diversification of its revenue resources also open new opportunities to make the business become stronger to outgrow all its rival companies. Such opportunities will include e-business development by strategic alliances as well as suppliers, leveraging the c ompanys investment in the World Class Customer Satisfaction Systems, and other business opportunities in both non-core and core areas. Threats Operating in the most competitive marketplace especially European airline industry, Ryanair is faced with the inevitable threat of stiff competition. For a company to succeed in global competition there is a continuous plan to develop new products with higher quality than its competitors. New product and new business development must be highly effective and efficient, however that alone will not ensure its competitiveness. The expansion of its operations to other areas means adjusting to the trade policies and political problems of the locality. The dynamic needs and demands of customers served to be a challenge to the management. Furthermore, consumer behaviour and satisfaction with regards to the product/service procurement is also a risk. If the company will continue to be a vertically integrated corporation, the company may fail in terms of management ability. The division of the company may tend to have internal complexity. Additionally, fast paced technological advancement may be a threat to Ryanair as a whole. In terms of the competitors, the company should be able to provide unique and more technologically advanced services to be able to survive in the competition in the world airline industry. Future Strategy and Recommendations Mergers and Acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions have become one of the most important corporate-level strategies in the new millennium. Merger and acquisition strategies are important to firm growth and success in the 21st century. As Ryanair continues to grow it is expected that the company will acquire other companies such as Buzz, in order to improve its capabilities and acquire more competitive advantage. Strategic Human Resource Management Ryanair, in its commitment to low-cost airfare have sacrificed its processes and services. The human resources of the company are not seen as a potential source of competitive advantage. The company do not seem to value its people. There is a growing belief that a companys human resources is the most important source of competitive advantage. Human resources or the companys people are one source of sustainable competitive advantage. In a fast-changing environment where technological innovations and other strategies can be copied, it is the human resources that bring a sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing Plan Strategies Ryanair should has a detailed plan for its strategic moves in the market and be able to provide good customer services to the customers like by having discounted flights and value promotion to keep the competitive advantage at a stable mode within its competitors and will need to focus more on the core competencies that allow Ryanair to practically and wisely designs suitable airline operations within the bracket of their marketing network services in a market standard-based perspective. Ryanair need to be goal oriented and must not stop to rejuvenate and change their marketing plan strategies from time to time in order to re-invent the performance process upon the upgrading of rules and regulations mandated by the state. Ryanair is to overcome the lack of product differentiation and increase it that will have the ability to revive revenue generation. Operational Effectiveness It is then recommended that Ryanair should outsources as many non-core functions as possible that may abandon peripheral services such as catering or ground handling services and can be required to perform such activities as external specialist companies defined to be independent profit centers. Recommendation Based on above analysis, it is recommended that Ryanair consider the expansion in to haul markets specially the transatlantic routes which accounts for more than 60% of worlds air travel. By moving in to this new market with its low fare strategy coupled with added service options the company can utilize its existing business with introducing complementary goods and services via its web site its also recommended as this will allow the company to further reduce its cost base per unit of customer.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Linguistics and Language Essay

1. The underlying assumptions, theories, and methods used by psychologiest, linguists, and researchers are believed to strongly affect the way each defines psycholinguistics. Please discuss some different conceptions of psycholinguistics in its relation to other branches of linguistics. Then, define yours. One of your reference should be â€Å"fundamentals of Pyscholinguistics by Fernandez and Cairns (2010)†. OPsycholinguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study in which the goals are to understand how people acquire language, how people use language to speak and understand one another, and how language is represented and processed in the brain. Psycholinguistics is primarily a sub-discipline of psychology and linguistics, but it is also related to developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, neurolinguistics, and speech science (Fernandez: 2011). OPsycholinguistics examines the psychology of language; psycholinguistics is the name given to the study of the psychological processes involved in language. Psycholinguists study understanding, producing, and remembering language, and hence are concerned with listening, reading, speaking, writing, and memory for language. (Harley, Trevor A. 2001. The Psychology of Language. ) O†Psycholinguistic studies have revealed that many of the concepts employed in the analysis of sound structure, word structure, and sentence structure also play a role in language processing. However, an account of language processing also requires that we understand how these linguistic concepts interact with other aspects of human processing to enable language production and comprehension. â€Å"( William O’Grady, et al. , Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001 O†Psycholinguistics, there is a constant exchange of information between psycholinguists and those working in neurolinguistics, who study how language is represented in the brain. There are also close links with studies in artificial intelligence. Indeed, much of the early interest in language processing derived from the AI goals of designing computer programs that can turn speech into writing and programs that can recognize the human voice. â€Å"(John Field, Psycholinguistics: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge, 2003) OPsycholinguistics refers to the efforts of both linguists and psychologists to explain whether certain hypotheses about language acquisition and language competence as proposed by contemporary linguistic theories (e. g. : transformational generative grammar) have a real basis in terms of : perception, memory, intelligence, motivation, etc. (Hartmann and stork: 1973) Oâ€Å"†¦.. psycholinguists are interested in the underlying knowledge and abilities which people must have in order to use language in childhood. I say â€Å"underlying knowledge and abilities† because language, like all systems of human knowledge, can only be inferred from the careful study of overt behavior. † (Dan Isaac Slobin: 1979) OBased on my reading, Psycholinguistics is study about language acquisition, language used one another, and study how language is represented and processed in the brain. Psycholinguistics is primarily a sub-discipline of psychology and linguistics, but it is also related to developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, neurolinguistics, and speech science. 2. Linguistic analysis might use similar language data or language corpuses as the object of analysis. Please give an example of language use which can be analyzed from different point of view, particularly from semantics, pragmatics, socialinguistics, discourse analysis, and psycholinguistics. Support your answer in term of their focuses of analysis. How are they similar, different, and how are they related one other. Linguistics study about human language as communication. In other hand, linguistics as fild of study that the object is language.  ·Semantics is one of study that hand-in-hand with pragmatics. specializing in semantics studies, languageis study about the meaning of words, that is influenced by the context in which the words are presented. Semantics study how words are given meaning by their structure, tone, and the situation in which they are used.  ·Pragmatics is concerned with the role of context in the interpretation of meaning.  ·Pragmatics and semantics is different parts but the same general study. Both semantics and pragmatics are concerned with people’s ability to use language meaningfully. While semantics is concerned with a speaker’s competence to use the language system in producing meaningful utterances and processing (comprehending).  ·Sociolinguistics a close neighbour of psycholinguistics, can be defined as the linguistic study dealing with the functioning of language in society. Sociolinguitics has to do with the study of language from the viewpoint of how social, regional, individual and historical aspects influence the language and its use in society which is specifically called speech community. OPsycholinguistics is the study of language acquisition and linguistic behavior. Psycholinguistics refers to the efforts of both linguists and psychologists to explain whether certain hypotheses about language acquisition and language competence as proposed by contemporary linguistic theories (e. g. : transformational generative grammar) have a real basis in terms of : perception, memory, intelligence, motivation, etc. (Hartmann and stork: 1973)  ·Discourse Analysis is approaches to analyzing written, vocal, or sign language use. discourse analysis is, like descriptive linguistics, a way of studying language. It may be regarded as a set of techniques, rather than a theoretically predetermined system for the writing of linguistic ‘rules’. (Yule, George. 1983. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). ‘Doing discourse analysis certainly involves doing syntax and semantic, but it primarily consists of doing pragmatics. In discourse analysis, as in pragmatics, we are concerned with what people using language are doing, and accounting for the linguistic features in the discourse as the means employed in what they are doing. 3. The objects of psycholinguistic studeis are addressed to language production, acquisition, and comprehension. Could you explain how are the processes of the three language uses in term of psycholinguistics analysis.  ·Language production based on Levelt, speech production divided into four stage; I. Conceptualization and formulation Primitive linguistic concept about first conceptualized in human mind by David Mcneill stated that linguistic concepts are formed as two current and parallel modes of taught. These are syntactic thinking and imagistic thinking. Then syntactic thinking and imagistic thinking ellaborate to conceptualize conversation in which speech utterance and gestures to be tied together in time. But this concept has gone record. Formulation as the output of the process language production. Lashely stated that production and comprehension of speech is linear process. Based on tradition od examining speech production, sleep tangue as a window of the formulation process. II. slips of the tongue Slip of the tongue is normal mistake, it happen to catch the goof ourselve. Then we can immediately correct. Slip the tongue as the production process . but this concept has gone record too. III. Articulation In this stage we consider about what happens when all of he information go from our brain to articulation. IV. Self-Monitoring Self – monitoring seems that as final stage. It is not only produce speech and listen one to another, but also to keep one ear open on what they themselve saying.  ·Language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words[->0] and sentences[->1] to communicate. Language acquisition began the same with the cognitive science at 1950’s. Chomsky argued that language acquisition falsified these beliefs in a single stroke: children learn languages that are governed by highly subtle and abstract principles, and they do so without explicit instruction or any other environmental clues to the nature of such principles. While Hence stated language acquisition depends on an innate, species-specific module that is distinct from general intelligence. Chomsky believes that every child has a ‘language acquisition device’ or LAD which encodes the major principles of a language and its grammatical structures into the child’s brain. In other point of view There are five stages in language acquisition stated by Chumbow and Adegbija (1984) such as babbling stage, the holophrastic stage, the two-word utterances, the telegraphic stage and recursive stage.  ·Language comprehension Clark and Clark argue that language comprehension is mental process by listeners take in the sounds uttered by speaker and use them to construct an interpretation of what they think the speaker intended to convey. (Clark and Clark: 1977)In sum up, language comprehension is building the meaning from sounds. While Language comprehension is generally viewed in cognitive theory as con-sisting of active and complex processes in which individuals construct meaning from aural or written information (Anderson 1985; Byrnes 1984; Call 1985; Howard 1985; Pearson 1985; Richards, 1983). An-derson (1983, 1985) proposes that the mental processes necessary for comprehending aural and written texts are sufficiently similar that comprehension of both can generally be discussed as a common phe-nomenon. 4. Following Clark and Clark (1977), comprehension involves two processes-construction and utilization processes. The first is concerned with the way listeners construct an interpretation of a sentence from the speakers’ words. The second deals with how listeners utilize this interpretation for further purposes for registering new infromation, answering questions, following orders, and registering promises. What really happens in our cognitive domains (memory) for both processes? Examplify your answer that the first happens earlier than the second OClark and Clark (1977) say that short-term memory is roughly related to the working memory in the construction process; long term memory is dealt with the process of utilization. In other word In short, short-term just focus on the surface of the utterance (how the sentence is constructed) while the long one concern on the meaning more (how the sentence is properly utilized). Outilization, consists of relating a mental represen-tation of the text meaning to declarative knowledge in long-term mem-ory. This process is referred to as elaboration in other descriptions of the reading process. Utilization is the key to comprehension and the basic determinant that facilitates it. In any mes-sage, there may be an interplay between information we already know and information that is entirely new. 5. Production of a speech requires speakers to plan what to say before its execution. Theoritically, the plan begins firstly with discourse plan followed by sentence plan and, at last, constituent plan. What should be the underlying concepts of this order? In the execution of a speech plan, several mental activities happen, what are they? Explain your answer OSpeech production is the process by which spoken[->2] words are selected to be produced, have their phonetics[->3] formulated and then finally are articulated by the motor system[->4] in thevocal apparatus[->5]. Speech production can be spontaneous such as when a person creates the words of a conversation[->6], reaction such as when they name a picture or read[->7] aloud a written word[->8], or a vocal imitation such as in speech repetition[->9]. Speech production is not the same as language production since language[->10] can also be produced manually by signs[->11]. The production of spoken language[->12] involves three major levels of processing. The first is the processes of conceptualization[->13] in which the intention[->14] to create speech links a desired concept to a particular spoken word to be expressed. The second stage is formulation in which the linguistic[->15] form required for that word’s expression is created. This process involves such processes as the generation of a syntactic[->16] frame, and phonological[->17] encoding which specifies the phonetic[->18] form of the intended utterance, the third stage is articulation[->19] which involves the retrieval of the particular motor phonetics[->20] of a word and the motor coordination[->21] of appropriate phonation[->22] and articulation by the lungs, glottis, larynx, tongue[->23], lips[->24], jaw[->25], and  other parts. (Levelt, WJ (1999). â€Å"Models of word production. â€Å"[->26]. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3 (6): 223–232) 6. Children acquire language faster than adults’. Please give your arguments to agree or disagree to this statement. How do children use their utterance compared to adult. You should refer to, at least, four references. OChomsky points out that a child could not possibly learn a language through imitation alone because the language spoken around them is highly irregular – adult’s speech is often broken up and even sometimes ungrammatical. In ways understanding and establish meaning in words, children and adults are different. Children tend to focus more on the superficial physical characteristics of an object when defining the prototype for an object and when comparing a stimulus to that prototype. Thus, children will gradually their understanding of an object. Steinberg at all (2001) conclude the progress started from vocalization to babbling, babbling to speech, naming and using holophrastic for one word utterances, and using telegraphic speech for two and three words utterances. Another expert Mc Neill in Steinberg at all (2001:36) gives another opinion that the child who is learning language can compare the language that they have in their mind with what they hear from his parents. Children give priority to collocational links between words. For example, a child might respond with the word ‘night’ when told the word ‘dark’, whereas an adult more likely to respond with the word ‘light’ when presented with the same word ‘dark. Children may take time to discover the criteria by adult classify item as co-ordinates. 7.  Language structure and language function can be seen differently by different scholars from the side of the meaning of an utterance. Please discuss your opinion about the function approach to meaning (the procedures and uses) Outterances has different meaning in context (including the situation, condition, location and the time in which the utterances are produced). For example : †Masak begitu saja jadi gila sih? † this utterance May be in giving support or motivate somebody who just got disappointed or depressed. 8. Please quote a mass demonstrant’s discourse (at least consisting of ten sentences). Please analyze psycholinguisticly the discourse of the demonstrant by considering his/her mass psychology. ODemo guru bantu : ‘angkat kami jadi PNS. Kami telah lama mengabdi untuk negri ini. Kalau kami tidak diangkat jadi PNS, gaji kami tidak cukup untuk memenuhi kebutuhan primer kami. Yaitu kebutuhan hidup keluarga dan kebutuhan pendidikan anak-anak kami. Guru bantu perlu diperhatikan kesejahteraan hidupnya. Dari demo guru di atas terlihat semua individu memiliki kepentingan menjadi satu yaitu meminta kenaikan Gaji yang tidak sesuai standar untuk memenuhi kebutuhan utama. Dari kalimat demo di atas, setiap idividu guru lebih memiliki power yang lebih besar untuk meminta kenaikan gaji dikarekan mereka bersatu menjadi satu. OMass psychology is a branch of social psychology[->27]. Mass psychology is concerned with the behaviour and thought processes of individual mass members and the mass as a whole. The main idea of Sigmund Freud[->28]’s crowd behavior theory is that people who are in a crowd act differently towards people from those who are thinking individually. The minds of the group would merge to form a way of thinking. Each member’s enthusiasm would be increased as a result, and one becomes less aware of the true nature of one’s actions. Other major thinkers of crowd psychology include Rene Girard[->29], Gustave Le Bon[->30], Wilfred Trotter[->31], Gabriel Tarde[->32],Sigmund Freud[->33], Elias Canetti[->34], Steve Reicher[->35] and Julia Constintine. 9. How do you agree (support) or disagree to the following ideas: a. language need not be taught, nor can it be suppressed. OI agree that language need to be taught nor can be suppressed, Fernandez stated that language acquisition in the child is a naturally unfolding process, Every normal human acquires alinguistic system, and failure to do so is evidence for some sort of pathology. that children need to experience social, interactive language in order to acquire language. In fact, people acquire language at about the same speed during about the same age span, no matter what kind of cultural and social situation they grow up in. b.  children everywhere acquire language on a similar developmental schedule OI agree that children everywhere acquire language on a similar developmental schedule. Based on (Fernandez: 2011) state that babies coo in the first half of their first year and begin to babble in the second half. The first word comes in the first half of the second year for just about everyone. In all societies, babies go through a one-word stage, followed by a period of early sentences of increasing length; finally, complex sentences begin. By the age of 5 the basic structures of the language are in place, although fine-tuning goes on until late child-hood. Children all over the world are sensitive to the same kinds of language properties, such as word order and inflection. They make remarkably few errors, but their errors are of a similar type. While there is much individual variation in the age at which children acquire aspects of language, that variation is conditioned by individual char-acteristics of the child rather than by the language being acquired or the culture in which the language is used. c. language is universal in human being OI agree with that statement about there are close to 7,000 languages spoken in the world today and, on the surface, they differ greatly. However, there are profound similarities among the languages of the world – so many similarities, in fact, that human language can be thought of as a single entity. Language universals result from the way the human brain organizes and processes linguistic information: language universals are a product of human neurology. Thus, a person’s ability to acquire and use language is natural These universals do not derive from social, cultural, or general intellectual characteristics of humans. Instead, List of references: Clark, H. H. and E. V.  Clark (1977): Psychology and Language, New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Fernandez, Eva M. (2011). Fundamental of psycholinguistics. Oxford. Wiley-Blackwell Steinberg, at all (2001): Psycholinguistic: Language, Mind, and World. Malaysia, Pearson Education. Scovel, T (2001): Psycholinguistics. Hong Kong, Oxford University Press. Yasin, Anas. (2010). Tindak Tutur: sebuah model gamatika komunikatif. Padang: Sukabina Press [->0] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Word [->1] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sentence_(linguistics) [->2] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Spoken [->3] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonetic [->4] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Motor_system [->5] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Vocal_apparatus [->6] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Conversation [->7] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Reading_(process) [->8] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Writing [->9] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Speech_repetition [->10] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Language [->11] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sign_language [->12] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Spoken_language [->13] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Conceptualization. [->14] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Intention [->15] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Language [->16] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Syntactic [->17] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonological [->18] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonetic [->19] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Manner_of_articulation [->20] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonetics [->21] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Motor_coordination [->22] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonation [->23] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Tongue [->24] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Lip [->25] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Jaw [->26] – http://www. columbia. edu/~rmk7/HC/HC_Readings/Levelt. pdf [->27] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Social_psychology [->28] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud [->29] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Girard [->30] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon [->31] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Wilfred_Trotter [->32] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Gabriel_Tarde [->33] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud [->34] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Elias_Canetti [->35] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Steve_Reicher

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Mr Alex

Human science fragments everything In order to understand It, kills everything In order to examine It. † (Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace)l There has always existed the question whether human sciences are considered real sciences and if do they really follow the established guidelines of science. The argument is that the natural sciences take a different approach to results and have a strong dependence on the observer. This is due to the fact, that in some cases human sciences have to take into account concepts, which are hard to measure like peppiness or love.Likewise, the background knowledge and empathy of the observer affect the results of the experiment. When talking about human sciences is important to highlight that they don't prove a theory, as there is no 100% certainty in any of the experiments. They only add information to the understanding of a topic or concept. To further develop my argument that states that Human sciences are scientific, the Boob Doll Experiment will b e analyses to develop this claim. The Boob Doll Experiment was presented by Albert Bandeau to help prove his belief hat all human behavior was learned through copying and imitating, rather than through genetic factors.This experiment is still controversial to this day, as many debaters state that today's globalize society that promotes violence. Therefore children are more prone to violent behavior than in other generations. Dry. Albert Bandeau used children on his experiment, as they have less knowledge on rules of society and less prone on behaving as the society think is right. He had four hypotheses; the first one was that children witnessing aggressive behavior by adults loud replicate their actions even if adults were not nearby.The second one states that children who have observed non-aggressive behavior are less likely to be violent. Even less than the control group, who have not even seen an adult. (Role Model) The third one proposes that children are more susceptible to co py the actions of an adult of the same-sex. The last one suggested that male children would be more aggressive than the opposite sex. Ii The Experiment had a simple and clearly stated Dependent Variable and Independent Variable. Also it had a Control Group used as comparison with the other woo groups, the one with aggressive and peaceful adults.Moreover the experiment can be repeated to add up and compare the information; this is a scientific quality that complies with the scientific theory. Another Important aspect to take into account Is that each of the subjects was tested Individually to avoid other Individuals affecting the reactions of the subject. Ill On the other hand, the experiment had some clear flaws. For example It generalizes the results as Just a few children were part of the experiment, so the sample is very narrow and specific.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

How to Say and Write I in Chinese

The Chinese symbol for I or me is 我 (wÇ’). Easily remember how to write 我 by understanding the Chinese characters radicals and interesting etymology. Me Versus I While the English language has separate terms that differentiate between me and I, Chinese is simpler. One character, 我, represents both me and I in the Chinese language.   For example,  Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã© ¥ ¿Ã¤ ºâ€  (wÇ’ à ¨ le) means I am hungry. On the other hand,  Ã§ »â„¢Ã¦Ë†â€˜ (gÄ›i wÇ’) translates to give me. Radical The Chinese character  Ã¦Ë†â€˜ (wÇ’) is composed of 手 (shÇ’u), which means hand, and 戈 (gÄ“), which is a dagger-like tool.  In this case, 手 is used here in the form of æ‰Å', the hand radical.  Thus,  Ã¦Ë†â€˜ appears as a hand holding a little spear.   Pronunciation 我 (wÇ’) is pronounced using the third tone. This tone has a falling-rising quality. Character Evolution An early form of 我 showed two spears crossing. This symbol evolved into its present form over time. Depicting a hand holding a spear, the Chinese character for I is a  symbol of ego assertion and therefore an appropriate representation of â€Å"I or me.† Mandarin Vocabulary With WÇ’ Here are five examples of common Chinese phrases that incorporate the character,  Ã¦Ë†â€˜: 我們 traditional / 我ä » ¬ simplified (wÇ’ men) - We; us; ourselves 我è‡ ªÃ¥ · ± (wÇ’ zà ¬ jÇ ) - Myself 我的 (wÇ’ de) - Mine 我明ç™ ½ ( wÇ’ mà ­ngbà ¡i) - I understand 我ä ¹Å¸Ã¦Ëœ ¯ (wÇ’ yÄ›shà ¬) - Me too