Autumn and Spring

Autumn and spring are my favorite seasons. Spring is the season between winter and summer. Autumn, or fall, is the season between summer and winter. Both seasons are beautiful. Although there is beauty in the seasons of fall and spring, there are also some distinctions between them, such as weather, color, and activities one can do during that time. In spring, temperatures rise as the days get longer. In later years, I have come to like spring weather after suffering the cold of winter. More rain tends to fall during this season. Spring is flowery. Leaves on the trees start budding out and begin greening; flowers and grass start growing due to the temperatures getting warmer. Colored flowers with nice smells announces the spring to everybody; we also smell the first cut of grass on a warm spring day. People do gardening in spring time too. Spring is more of a beginning to the trees; while, fall marks the end of their run. Everybody loves to feel free with thin pants and short sleeves in spring. Kids, especially, love to go out and play. They ride their bikes, and if it is a windy day, it is fun to fly kites. Spring is the time for baseball. Spring is a busy time for animals; they sleep all winter and become active again during this time. Many animals will have their young in the spring; when food is plentiful. Furthermore, their young will have time to grow before experiencing a cold winter themselves. Spring is a busy time for people, too. Farmers take care of the newborn animals; and they plant seeds in the fields. People go swimming and sailing for their pleasure. Who can forget the way lemonade tastes on the first day of spring? The fall season is cool with nippy weather. Nothing compares to the color of autumn leaves at the peak of their splendor. Leaves of some trees will turn colors, such as red, yellow, gold, orange, and brown as they all fall to the ground. I love to see the fall colors every autumn. Leaves crunch and crackle under my feet and whirl all around me. The sun goes down so early. Everyone likes the magic of the fall color. Some plants bear fruit. For example, there are apple trees in bloom. Ripe apples falls for eating, baking, and caramel apple making. The next interesting thing is the pumpkin. People choose a great big pumpkin, carve a face, make a ack-o-lantern, and roast the seeds. Halloween and Thanksgiving are the main holidays in fall. Football is a favorite game in fall. People do hiking and bicycling activities in the fall season. One day trees are all bare, leaves have fallen everywhere and there is an icy chill in the air. Very soon winter will be here. Animals will store and eat food to prepare for hibernation or dormancy. Earthworms tunnel down where the earth does not freeze; squirrels and chipmunks store seeds. We can hear the honking of geese when migrating. We can also can smell burning leaves and smoking woods. Even though there are many differences between these two seasons, there are a couple of similarities, too. First, the length of day and night are the same. Second, both seasons are transitional seasons. Spring precedes summer and fall precedes winter. On the first day of spring and fall (March 20 and September 22) the sun shines exactly over the equator and at that time the day and night time are the same at almost all the places in the world. In both seasons people like to travel. Both seasons are great in many ways. However, I admire the magic of fall colors.

What are the major kinds of unconscious pleasures that might be found in common leisure pursuits?

The work of Sigmund Freud shows us that Freud believed that humans are all driven by unconscious needs and leisure pursuits are a result of these unconscious desires but adapted by our minds so that they are displayed in an acceptable way. This essay aims to identify these unconscious desires and examine how they are translated into common acceptable leisure pursuits. One of Freud's major theories was his definition of the conscious. Freud divided the mind into three different levels, the conscious, the pre-conscious and the unconscious. â€Å"The conscious level of mental activity is the level on which all thought processes occur. What one thinks conceptualises, or understands takes place on this level of activity. The pre-conscious is where information is stored away, but is easily obtainable. The unconscious is where memories and information are stored which cannot be accessed readily.† Donadio (2001) Freud tells us that there are three different forces that control our actions and desires; the id, the ego and the superego. â€Å"The id is the drive within us to bring ourselves pleasure. The id is concerned with satiating all basic urges from thirst and hunger to sexual desire, and is determined to attain satisfaction at any cost. People act on the id alone when they are first born, and as time progresses, they learn to suppress these desires in the interest of conventiallity; they realize that a person cannot merely have whatever he/she wants whenever he/she wants it, and that the individual must act in accordance with society. The ego is what brings about one's understanding that one is part of a society, and cannot always satisfy the urges of the id. The ego does not necessarily ignore the id, but rather governs and controls it. It often devises a plan to obtain that which the id desires. The ego is often seen as being responsible for practical and rational decision making. The superego governs over all of these, and is often seen as the conscious. The superego is concerned with the long-term ramifications of actions, adherence to what is â€Å"right and wrong†, and producing guilt as a result of one's actions. The superego is often more a product of society than the individual, as society dictates what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior; it often tends to direct the individual to act in a way which is viewed as positive by society, even if at the expense of personal satisfaction. † Donadio (2001) The id's desires for sex and survival are the basis for all human activity. The need for pleasure and release of tension that originates in the id is translated by the ego into more socially acceptable types of behavior, pleasurable leisure pursuits. â€Å"All behavior is in the service of tension reduction.† Appigananesi & Zarate (1979) p144 It is a basic human need to receive pleasure and release from tension, the most basic way to receive this pleasure and release tension is through sex. However, society, and therefore the superego, dictates that it is not acceptable to have sex continuously whenever we want with whomever we want. Our fear of not being accepted into society helps to translate these primary sexual urges into acceptable releases of tension and pleasurable activities such as sport, watching films, reading, drinking alcohol and going to clubs and pubs. Humans are very social creatures and receive pleasure from interaction with other humans. The majority of leisure pursuits involve some kind of socializing with other people. These social gatherings also provide the opportunity for interaction with members of the opposite sex. This is our basic sexual desire becoming apparent. In some social situations the desire to interact with the opposite sex is very apparent, for example socializing in pubs and clubs. When preparing for a night out members of both sexes will try to dress up to make themselves as attractive as possible. People can understand their desire for sex and put themselves in situations where their desires may come to fruition. However, even if one is aware of their sexual desires, in these situations it is still necessary for them to be made socially acceptable by the superego. Dancing is a good example of the expression of sexual desires in an acceptable way. In recent times dancing has become more sexual with more phys ical contact involved. This is due to modern changes in attitude when sex is becoming more socially acceptable although the taboo of sex seems to provide pleasure itself. The use of alcohol and drugs in these types of situations seem to help reduce the control the superego has over the id. People loose their inhibitions and become less concerned with being socially acceptable, the desires of the id are less suppressed and people's desire for pleasure dominates their actions. It is not uncommon to see inebriated couples on a Saturday night engaging in various kinds of sexual activity in public areas, without the introduction of alcohol or drugs the superego would dominate and demand more acceptable behavior. It is easy to see why we enjoy intoxicating substances as it makes our desire for pleasure more easily obtainable. With many other leisure pursuits the desires of the id are less apparent and the individual will not really know the unconscious origin of their behavior. Many types of leisure activities provide pleasure by escapism, â€Å"The tendency to seek distraction and relief from reality.† Definition: The Concise Oxford Dictionary (2000) Many people obtain pleasure from watching films and reading books. Often these types of leisure pursuits allow us to experience suppressed sexual urges through fantasies in books or films. These types of experiences would not normally be experienced in everyday life but being able to experience them through films or books provides great pleasure, although the individual will not really know the unconscious reason for the pleasure that they receive. In some situations it is because of our desires for food and drink that we receive pleasure. We enjoy going to restaurants and having dinner parties. It is not just the opportunity to interact with others that provides us with pleasure, but also the enjoyment of eating is a direct consequence of our basic human urge of hunger. Sport, as a leisure pursuit, is socially acceptable. It has always been seen as a healthy pastime. It provides a release of tension due to its physical nature and also allows interaction with other individuals. However, sport tends to provide greater pleasure for males than females. It is basic human nature for the male to want to exhibit his strength and power. The enjoyment of sport by males is probably due to the fact that sport as a leisure pursuit has always been seen for males as socially acceptable. â€Å"In Coleman's classic study of adolescent life (1961), being involved in sports was the most important factor contributing to the social status of high school boys.† Mannell & Kleiber (1997) p240 It can be seen by examining the work of Freud that all leisure pursuits provide pleasure and the majority of activities that we involve ourselves in for pleasure are some form of manifestation of our basic human sexual urges. Although we may not realize that we are receiving some form of unconscious pleasure it is necessary for our survival. Humans need the release of tension and to receive pleasure but they also need to be accepted socially so the existence of the superego helps to satisfy all of these urges.

Analysis at the operational level the the presecution of the Allies' Essay

Analysis at the operational level the the presecution of the Allies' defence of Crete in 1941 and identify the enduring lessons - Essay Example Moreover, the leadership, going into the battle already defeated, did not bother to put together a coherent strategy for battle, but, rather, seemed to make it up as they went along. These are all reasons for the defeat, and lessons that were learned. Nevertheless, as the Allies did delay Hitler’s forces for a few weeks, which, in turn, delayed Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, which was the turning point of the war, one could say that the battle of Crete set into motion a chain of events that led to Hitler’s destruction. This paper will examine the reasons why Crete was fought? and how the British tried to defend it? coupled with an analysis of the mistakes made and an analysis of why the battle might not have been so bad after all, as it delayed Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Why Germany Wanted Crete and How Germany Got Involved in Greece The Battle for Crete had its roots in a demand by Benito Mussolini, Italy’s fascist dic tator, to Greece to allow an Italian occupation of Greece in October of 1940. When the premier of Greece, John Metaxas, defied this request, the Italians began the invasion of Greece (Woodhouse, 1976, p. 16), a move that would prove to be a â€Å"disaster† for Mussolini (Heckstall-Smith, A. & Baillie-Grohman, H.T., 1961, p. 15), and would make Mussolini a â€Å"laughingstock† in Greece (Hart, 1996, p. 87). This move by Mussolini was precipitated by Germany sending soldiers into the Ploesti oilfields, which enraged Mussolini enough for him to launch this invasion (Mazower, 1993, p. 15). The reason that the German action of sending soldiers to Greece so piqued Mussolini was because Mussolini was jealous of Hitler, and felt that he stood in Hitler’s shadow while Hitler rampaged Europe. While Hitler added Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, France, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania to the Third Reich, Mussolini fantasi zed about adding the Mediterranean to the Italian column, while Hitler insulted him by not allowing him access to the fruits of victory. The final insult was Hitler’s occupation of Romania, a move that was done behind Mussolini’s back (Kiriakopoulos, 1995, p. xv). This insult to Mussolini was what initially caused the Italian dictator to invade Greece in 1940, as Mussolini stated that, about Hitler invading Rumania without consulting him that he â€Å"shall pay [Hitler] back with his own coin; he shall learn from the newspapers that I have occupied Greece. Thus equilibrium would be restored† (Cervi, 1971, p. 60). However, this move was unsuccessful, as Mussolini’s troops were defeated and pushed back into Albania (Mazower, 1993, p. 15). Hitler was incensed by the Italians failure (Van Creveld, 1973, p. 57), regarding it as â€Å"definitely a regrettable blunder† (Hinsley, 1951, p. 102), however, as Hitler could not allow his ally to be totally defe ated, he had to launch his own invasion of Greece, which began April 6, 1941 (Kiriakopoulos, 1995, p. xvi). Greece was also important to Germany, as it was seen as a prelude to the Russian campaign (Von der Porten, 1969, p. 109). This campaign proved to be successful (von Mellenthin, 1977, p. 228), as the Middle East,

Human Factors Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Human Factors Psychology - Essay Example An area that is known for continuous workload challenges is related to the field of nursing and medicine. Understanding the complications of this profession as well as ways to alleviate these challenges can provide fewer risk factors in this profession. The more in which one understands of the stress and challenges of these jobs, the easier it will become for implementation of a different organizational environment for those working in the nursing profession. When considering human factors and engineering, there are several components to include. Currently, developments in technology have created specific interactions between nurses and requirements within hospitals. There is a direct association with the psychological and mental responses as well as the physical capabilities of nurses and how they respond to different environments. More important, the engineering available through technology is creating new types of limitations and possibilities for nurses. The human – system interaction that is currently required presents new challenges for nurses in their ability to operate different pieces of technology while defining how design relates to specific needs. The combination of human performance and limitations, as well as how this interlinks with systems, then defines the first set of challenges of nurses (Wickens et al, 2004). The problems between human capability and systems use for nurses move into problems with how patients are cared for within a hospital setting. The patient safety often becomes part of the stresses of the situation. Human error, too many expectations among nurses and limitations of technology links can hinder those that are receiving care. If a nurse is required to move into a specialized unit, such as intensive care, then it leads to consequences that are further defined by the pressures required in the work space. Problems with

HR Oursoursment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

HR Oursoursment - Essay Example It is evident from the research that Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO) is an emerging segment, which focuses on improving the effectiveness of an entire corporate function like the HR, according to Sako and Tierney. The rationale is to outsource administrative tasks leaving the personnel to focus on strategy formulation using their competencies and to experience greater flexibility in allocating resources, and greater cost efficiencies but Khatri and Budhwar cite many scholars who argue that human resource can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage for an organization. This argument suggests that all functions related to human resources should be dealt in-house. The line managers have assumed key positions thereby demonstrating a shift in the roles and responsibilities. This has been caused due to downsizing and devolution of responsibilities. The line managers are hence in a position to influence both strategic and operational organizational priorities. Added to th is are introduction of sophisticated software and the development of smart computer systems, which have further reduced the workload on the HR freeing the key personnel to concentrate on the change agent and strategic partner roles. The line managers are not competent in HR work and need to regularly reflect and be critical about their work. They attempt to increase the speed of decision making by wanting to by-pass procedures, which demonstrates that HR should not be outsourced but the HR functions should be expanded.

MARKETING - FINAL CHAPTER PROBLEMS Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MARKETING - FINAL CHAPTER PROBLEMS - Article Example In this case, Eric (2010) showcases constructs of relationship marketing as it identifies with health care customers and practitioners. With regards to the website refreshing after every ten minutes to keep track of appointments, it is a strategy that aims at developing long-term, cost-effective link for a mutual benefit between the organization and the customer. While focusing on the relationship marketing, organizations shift their focus from individual transactions such as convincing a customer to make use of the clinic services, â€Å"to a long-term loyalty – identifying the institution as a regular health care provider† (Eric, 2010). Customers require high-quality services and retaining a customer requires strategy. Delayed, canceled, or unplanned appointment visits are areas that have, for a long time, been haunting customers and health care institutions as the result of these variables is loss of customers or flawed customer service. However, the invention of a s ervice that enables tracking, observation, and keeping of appointments adapts the contemporary notion of shifting from the individual transaction (patient visit, referral, and sale) to the establishment of a longer-term relationship. The refreshing website is a marketing tool that specifically addresses customer satisfaction, service quality, time and resource management, and accomplishment of customer retention (Eric, 2010). Question 2: Chapter 8 â€Å"I’ve sold products all my life and have been successful. Marketing a food product is no different from marketing a hotel, airline, or hospital.† The above point is naive in all aspects. Firstly, marketing is a process through which a seller of a product or provider of a service uses promotional means and integrated marketing communication to convince customers into buying or using a product or a service. As pointed by the above quotation, the term sold is past tense for sell and means the ability to complete a single tr ansaction by offering a product or service in exchange for money. The naivety of the above point starts with the confusion of selling and marketing. In addition, neither marketing nor selling is a skill (with regards to the question posed, the board expects understanding of selling and marketing concepts but the interviewee portrays selling as an event based on sheer luck) and neither can be measured through the consideration of periodic success. Moving on to the second part of the quotation; products differ from one another and comparing food products to hotels, airlines, or an hospital shows a high degree of naivety. Food products are mostly sold in food shops, restaurants, and/or grocery stores and capturing a market for these products depends on fewer variables than providing services in the health care sector (Berkowitz, 2010). Food products appeal to various people all the time and this industry does not necessarily require loyalty like the health care sector. Health care prod ucts depend on variables such as product positioning (drugs, machines), branding (machines, e.g. in radiology), and diffusion of innovation (rate of adoption of a product). Diffusion of innovation is determined by relative advantage (advantage of new product over existing ones), compatibility (compatibility with existing values and customs creates adoptability), complexity (affects adoption of products), divisibility (trial on a limited basis), and communicability (easy communication of benefits). Reflecting on the

Ethics in Business & Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethics in Business & Society - Essay Example Ms. Patricia Dunn actually wanted to discover who (was the culprit) provided secret information to the personnel associated with print and internet media (Wall Street Journal). The paper will first throw light over the business case and will then demonstrate the ethical considerations by analysing Consequentialist and Deontological theories of business ethics. Hewlett Packard (HP), which is an American multinational corporation, has been involved in global business of computer products, accessories, instruments and information technology equipments that facilitate in communication, networking, office work and record keeping of business operations. Indeed, HP competes with Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Apple, IBM and other supranational corporations, yet it has achieved the milestone of over $100 billion sales in a year. This is the evidence that products offered by HP are widely acceptable among customers who demand credibility, security, durability and optimal quality for money they spend on goods and services. The global producer and international giant is specialised in manufacturing, production, assembling and marketing of various hardware equipments and software programs for its large pool of actual and potential buyers that appreciate and endorse the ideas and market offerings of Hewlett Packard (HP). Personal computers, laptops and notebook s, computer accessories, peripheral devices such as scanners, external storage devices, variety of printers including desktop, laser, ink jet and large plotters etc, home servers, monitors, calculators, handhelds (Personal Digital Assistants) and computer maintenance services are among the major products offered by HP to consumers worldwide. It should be pointed out that Ms. Patricia Dunn discovered about information leaks when CNET, which is a famous online technology publisher, openly published a story about upcoming HP products,

Shackletons Artic Adventure Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Shackletons Artic Adventure - Assignment Example when Ernest Shackleton, an Irish born explorer, distinguished himself, not only among the masses, but also among the 27 crew members that included scientists, officers and seamen. Shackleton earned the respect shown to him by these men, not to mention the respect of millions today, by serving as an able leader putting his men’s wellbeing, both physical and mental, above everything else (WGBH, 2001). Repeatedly during the expedition, the Endurance crew members faced fatal situations, yet every time, they were able to beat the odds and survived. Although some of their success can be attributed to providence or luck, but Shackleton’s leadership is widely regarded as the critical differentiation. Put your people first. While Shackleton was leading the expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole, he himself and his crew members suffered a great ordeal that eventually made them weak. Shackleton realized that a further push would be equivalent to putting their life at risk. That is why he chose to turn back, even though he knew that being the first to reach the South would bring hi everlasting fame and glory. Alongside the strong desire to lead to the expedition, his sense of responsibility for his men was impeccable. This decision of Shackleton gave his crew members the confidence that their lives would not be sacrificed as a means for meeting the goal of the expedition. Be flexible in tactics. While the elementary goal to survive remained paramount, Shackleton remained intelligently flexible in the strategies that he adopted to achieve the goal. His adaptability to the demanding environments was incredible and that is what gave him strong control over the expedition and fostered zeal within him making him believe that he would be able to bring all 27 crew members safely back home. Choose your people carefully. The recruitment notice posted by Shackleton itself speaks for his honesty. He knew about the uncertainties that are inevitable during the journey

Informal paper - Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Informal paper - Proposal - Essay Example For doing simple tasks like opening a door in the form of authorized entry to accomplishing complex organizational processes, IT and its tools are playing an optimal role. One of the key IT based processes inside an organizational environment is storing of digitized data, sharing it, and importantly processing or analyzing that data using specialized hardwares and softwares to get the desired results. Among the many existing and emerging technologies, cloud computing is being maximally implemented by many organizations in varied business sectors. When an organization utilizes cloud computing, it takes over majority of its IT processes â€Å"raining† benefits to it like how rainy clouds would normally ‘envelop’ a particular area. In the part one, we will provide background technical details about cloud computing and the processes behind it. In the second part, we will particularly focus on Amazon’s cloud computing service called EC2 and its effective feature s. In the third part, by comparing EC2 with other cloud services, will try to show how EC2 is a far superior service than others. Will conclude the report by summing up the points that will clearly show how EC2 is the best service for your company. Cloud computing refers to a IT based virtual infrastructure where business operations are carried out using third-party ‘virtual’ servers stationed in distant places through internet-dependant interface, instead of using in-house IT structure. So, it obvious that you need not required to build and maintain an internal IS based infrastructure. If you have a pre-existing structure, you can avoid expanding it. This is because normally cloud can store all kind of data and importantly host many softwares, which may be needed to run your processes. The data and softwares can be accessed using a web based application from any place without major physical limitations. â€Å"The storing and accessing of applications and computer data often through

The State of Florida should raise the legal drivers age to 18 Essay

The State of Florida should raise the legal drivers age to 18 - Essay Example aged 16 years old at the time of the incidence made a grave mistake in his judgments: overloading the car with eight people, speeding, driving with near bald tires and overtaking another car full of fellow teen-agers (Driscoll 1). Dreadful tragedies involving young drivers have been reported from all the American states. It is quite clear that at ages eighteen and nineteen, there is a greater level of maturity and better judgments than at sixteen. In the year 2009, Justine Winter (while driving at 85mph) crashed a head on leading to a death of a mothers and her 13-year-old only son. On an interview in a TV show, winter says sorry to the family of the victims: 35-year-old, expectant Erin Thompson and Caden, her son (Daily Mail on Teenage Girl). She apologized saying she dint want to put them through any more pain than they had under gone through. Extending her apologies to her own family, she confirmed that her family went through a lot of pain because of the accident. Asked if she would take responsibility for the accident, she said she would although she clearly states that she cannot remember anything about the crash. Winter, who is the youngest inmate at 18, is serving a 15-year sentence at Montana Women’s Prison for the killings. The horrifying crash happened after winter fought with her boyfriend. They had a heated argument via text messages as she was driving. However winter and her lawyers insisted, it was a normal accident and not a suicide attempt. Winter, which was 16-years-older that time, suffered multiple injuries and had to under go several surgeries due to brain damage. Having been found guilty, of double homicide, she was jailed for 15 years. The prosecutor argued winter was carelessly driving, and she was not wearing a seatbelt. Erin Thompson’s family was praised by the judge who said their compassion and courage was remarkable. They only asked for apologies from the 18-year-old. At the moment, car crashes by the teenagers in the United

Sports team Essay Example for Free

Sports team Essay The sale of sports related memorabilia has become one of the biggest retail industries. However, it has also become one of the hardest to manage and control, legally and creatively (World Intellectual Property Rights Organization [WIPRO] 2007b). This has become particularly apparent in Boston, home of one of the most popular sports team, the Boston Red Sox, despite significant efforts to control the production and distribution of goods bearing their logos and trademarks. Some argue that the proliferation and sale of these items are self-expression and that they have contributed significantly to the popularity of the team (Grimaldi, 2007). However, this compromises the value of authentic memorabilia, the ability or government to protect consumer rights and commercial laws and the intellectual property rights of the teams. The protection of these stakeholders requires that vendors have the proper license both from the government and sports teams, which in the case of the Boston Red Sox, through Major League Baseball (MLB) authorities. In doing so both parties will be able to monitor the merchandise being commercialized and collect the taxes and royalties due them respectively (Tozzi, 2003). In turn, buyers are ensured of the authenticity, quality and safety of the products they are purchasing with full backing of civil and criminal statutes. WIPRO (2007a) notes that that this will also help alleviate the price of sports memorabilia because the price of genuine products will not be beefed up in order to compensate for unauthorized products. At the same time, the unlicensed vendors compromise the rights of legal retailers who bear the burden of licensure fess, taxation and regulation (Grimaldi, 2007). The effect of the lack of proper vendor licensing in Boston is not limited to commercial regulation. It also impacts the protection of consumer and intellectual property rights. It provides neither the movement the means to monitor or control the proliferation of knock-offs and consumers or sports organizations the means to bring action against violators. Thus, it is important that vendors have the proper license to sell so that all parties, sports teams, consumers and vendors alike, can enjoy full benefits of the law and not compromise each others rights. References Grimaldi, Paul (2007). The business of baseball. Projo Online, October 27. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from http://www. projo. com/business/content/BZ_MLB_GEAR_10-27-07_KF7L00S_v20. 2551554. html Tozzi, John (2003). Red Sox and BRA agree on Yawkey Way. The Daily Free Press, January 22. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from http://media. www. dailyfreepress. com/media/storage/paper87/news/2003/01/22/News/Red-Sox. And. Bra. Agree. On. Yawkey. Way-349123. shtml World Intellectual Property Rights Organization (2007a). Enforcement Advisory Body Examines Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. WIPO Press Room, November 5. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from http://www. wipo. int/pressroom/en/articles/2007/article_0082. html World Intellectual Property Rights Organization (2007b). International Conference Underlines Role of IP in the Creative Industries. WIPO Press Room, October 31. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from http://www. wipo. int/pressroom/en/articles/2007/article_0080. html

The Future Or Moores Law Philosophy Essay

The Future Or Moores Law Philosophy Essay Moores law is named after Gordon E. Moore, the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation. He first published what later became known as Moores Law in a 1965 Electronics Magazine article called Cramming more components onto integrated circuits. The Law states that computer manufactures will increase the number of transistors to be placed on an integrated circuit, exponentially by a factor of 2, in every 18 to 24 months. The steady growth of the Law, has held true for decades, and while scientists have had to resort to ever more creative methods to keep it going, Intel has proven that such exponential growth will last for at least for a few more years. It seems that, while Gordon Moore was arguably the first to note the exponential growth in computing power, this exponential trend has been a part of technological progress for much longer than was originally thought. According to futurist Kurzweil, Moores law of Integrated Circuits was not the first, but the fifth paradigm to forecast accelerating price-performance ratios. Computing devices have been consistently multiplying in power (per unit of time) from the mechanical calculating devices used in the 1890 U.S. Census, to [Newmans] relay-based [Heath] Robinson machine that cracked the Nazi [Lorenz cipher], to the CBS vacuum tube computer that predicted the election of Eisenhower, to the transistor-based machines used in the first space launches, to the integrated-circuit-based personal computer. This is illustrated in the chart below. What is technology singularity? This idea was first proposed by the mathematician Vernor Vinge who defined Technological Singularity as a time at which the rate of accelerating change increases to a point where it becomes human surpassing.   He said computers within a decade of our current era will be more powerful than the human brain. The machines will rapidly become much smarter than the humans who initially created them. This will cause a convergence of all technologies, until humans became totally embedded and submerged into a virtual world. This singularity is a state in which humans will be components of a cybernetic social network of such complexity that no one person will be able to understand more than a tiny fraction of the whole. As much as Singularitarians rely upon Moores Law to fuel our visions of the future, its not some inescapable truth of the universe. Producing ever smaller transistors is a job for thousands of engineers around the world, spending billions of dollars in research. Each step towards increasing computer processor performance per dollar requires innovation, and those innovations take time and effort to perfect. TriGate is a great example millions of dollars and a decade of preparation for its eventual launch. If you were to chart the evolution of the computer in terms of processing power, you would see that progress has been exponential and Moores Law seems to be self- fulfilling prophecy than a mere law or observation. But will technology singularity sustain of completely wipe off Moores Law? According to Moores Law, the progress of computational power on computers seems to have an exponential growth; whilst the futurist claim that technology singularity will accelerate at rate that no human brain can comprehend, as computers will achieve human-level intelligence and will be an infusion of different technologies embedded together and the growth will not be exponential. Moores Law may continue indefinitely, but it will rely upon the creativity and resilience of many developers at the top of their game. Can they keep it up? Can we keep pushing computers to become faster, better, and more efficient so they double in performance every two years? But on the contrary to support Moores Law, Intel, commercialized the worlds first 3D transistor, known as TriGate. The 22nm transistor performs better and uses less energy than the current cutting edge 32nm transistor. Computers can already perform individual operations orders of magnitude faster than humans can, Farmer said; meanwhile, the human brain remains far superior at parallel processing, or performing multiple operations at once. For most of the past half-century, engineers made computers faster by increasing the number of transistors in their processors, but they only recently began parallelizing computer processors. To work around the fact that individual processors cant be packed with extra transistors, engineers have begun upping computing power by building multi-core processors, or systems of chips that perform calculations in parallel.This controls the heat problem, because you can slow down the clock, Denning explained. Imagine that every time the processors clock ticks, the transistors fire. So instead of trying to speed up the clock to run all these transistors at faster rates, you can keep the clock slow and have parallel activity on all the chips. He says Moores law will probably continue because the number of cores in computer processors will go on doubling every two years. According to a research team at the Georgia Institute of Technologys Microsystems Packaging Research Center, they demonstrated a new technology called system-on-package (SOP). It addresses the other90 percent of the electronic system and paves the way for mega-function systems.In contrast to Moores Law, which addresses 10 percent of system integration at the IC- or device-level only -called the First Law SOP addresses the system integration problem, leading to the Second Law of Electronics. SOP combines nanoscale ICs with newly developed micro- to nanoscale, thin-film versions of discrete and other components. It embeds both of these components in a new type of package so small that it eventually will transform handhelds into multi- or mega-function systems. SOP technology represents a radically different approach to electronic and bio-electronic systems. It shrinks bulky circuit boards with their many components and makes them nearly disappear, leading to package-sized systems hen ce the name system-on-package. In effect, SOP sets up a new law for system integration. It holds that as the components shrink from milli- to micro- to nanoscale, component density will double every few years, leading to an exponential increase in the number of system functions packaged in a device the size of todays cell phones. Whether we attain the levels and surpass singularity still remains a fierce subject of speculation among the scientist and futurists. Below are excerpts of opponents of singularity, who forecast the phasing out of Moores Law. According to Peter Denning, distinguished professor of computer science at the Naval Postgraduate School and an expert on innovation, he says that By 2030 whatever technology were using will be sufficiently small that we can fit all the computing power thats in a human brain into a physical volume the size of a brain, after all this has been said, there will be the evolution of a super intelligent machine that will surpass human understanding. The British mathematician I.J. Good hypothesized that ultra intelligent machines, once created, could design even better machines. There would then unquestionably be an intelligence explosion, and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultra intelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make, Others argue that Moores law will soon start to break down, or that it has already. The argument stems from the fact that engineers cant miniaturize transistors much more than they already have, because theyre already pushing atomic limits. When there are only a few atoms in a transistor, you can no longer guarantee that a few atoms behave as theyre supposed to, Denning explained. On the atomic scale, bizarre quantum effects set in. Transistors no longer maintain a single state represented by a 1 or a 0, but instead vacillate unpredictably between the two states, rendering circuits and data storage unreliable. The other limiting factor, Denning says, is that transistors give off heat when they switch between states, and when too many transistors, regardless of their size, are crammed together onto a single silicon chip, the heat they collectively emit melts the chip. Some scientists say computing power is approaching its zenith. Already we see a slowing down of Moores law, the theoretical physicist Michio Kaku said in a Big Think lecture. He says that Computer power simply cannot maintain its rapid exponential rise using standard silicon technology.   He claims that Intel Corporation has admitted this company is now going to three-dimensional chips, chips that compute not just flatly in two dimensions but in the third dimension.   The problem is that a Pentium chip today has a layer almost down to 20 atoms across, 20 atoms across.   When that layer gets down to about 5 atoms across, its all over.   You have two basic problems are heat (the heat generated will be so intense that the chip will melt and disintegrate) and leakage.  (You dont know where the electron is anymore.) Thats the reason why the age of silicon will eventually come to a close. The quantum theory takes over. Kurzweil (1999; 2001) has proposed that technical progress can be characterized as accelerating exponential development. According to Kurzweils law of accelerating returns, technical change is generated in an evolutionary process where the outputs of the process are used as inputs in the next phase of the development. This leads to exponential growth. Kurzweil maintains that the rate of exponential growth itself increases. When a particular evolutionary process becomes more effective than its alternatives, greater resources are deployed for the further progress of the effective process. As a result, the rate of exponential growth itself grows exponentially. Evolution, and technology-evolution continued by other means-therefore is a process that leads to accelerating change. Using his observations as a basis, Kurzweil argues that technical development will rapidly lead to computational devices that are more intelligent than humans. The increasing capabilities of computers will further accelerate the speed of technological progress and, at least from our limited perspective, lead to an apparently infinite speed of change. Kurzweil calls this approaching point of extremely rapid change Singularity. Kurzweils hypothesis of approaching Singularity therefore consists of four major claims. One is the empirical claim that technical developments in computing show exponential growth and that the growth speed has increased over time. Another claim is that this process is generated by a law of accelerated returns which feeds back resources to those areas of technology development that grow rapidly. The third claim is that technology creation can be understood as an evolutionary process. The fourth claim is that the speed of change will soon reach levels where the human intelligence, at least in its current forms, perceive infinite pace of change and that this will lead to major changes in the society and in individual lives.

Beliefs, Assumptions, Knowledge (BAK) Research in Teaching

Beliefs, Assumptions, Knowledge (BAK) Research in Teaching 2.1 Belief Research In the mid-1970s a new body of research began to emerge that worked to describe teachers thoughts, judgments and decisions as the cognitive processes that shaped their behaviors (Calderhead, 1996, Clark and Peterson, 1986; Dann, 1990). As a consequence of this, a surge of interest in the area of teacher belief systems has appeared (Pajares, 1992). This research â€Å"has helped to identify the nature and complexity of the teachers work , and helped to provide ways of thinking about the processes of change and support† (Calderhead, 1996, p.721). Researchers found that teaching could not be characterized simply as behaviors that were linked to thinking done before and during the activity but rather that the thought process of teaching included a much wider and richer mental context. As Shavelson and Stern (1981, p.479) explained, research on teacher cognition made â€Å"the basic assumption that teachers thoughts, judgments, and decisions guide their teaching behavior†. Kagan (1990, p. 420) noted that teacher cognition is somewhat ambiguous, because researchers invoke the term to refer to different products, including â€Å"teachers interactive thoughts during instruction; thought during lesson planning, implicit beliefs about students, classrooms and learning; reflections about their own teaching performance; automized routines and activities that form their instructional repertoire; and self-awareness of procedures they use to solve classrooms problems†. Currently, there is increasing recognition that the beliefs individuals hold are the best indicators of the decisions they make during the course of everyday life (Bandura, 1986). Pajares (1992, p. 307) argues that the investigation of teachers beliefs should be a focus of educational research and can inform educational practice in ways that prevailing research agendas have not and cannot. Educational researchers trying to understand the nature of teaching and learning in classrooms have usefully exploited this focus on belief systems. The research of Jakubowski and Tobin (1991) suggests that teachers metaphors and beliefs not only influence what teachers do in the classroom, but that changes in these same metaphors and beliefs can result in changes in their practices. A belief can be defined as a representation of the information someone holds about an object, or a â€Å"persons understanding of himself and his environment† (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975, p.131). This object can â€Å"be a person, a group of people, an institution, a behavior, a policy, an event, etc., and the associated attribute may be any object, trait, property, quality, characteristic, outcome, or event† (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975, p.12). While Rokeach (1972) defined a belief as â€Å"any simple proposition, conscious or unconscious, inferred from what a person says or does, capable of being preceded by the phrase ‘I believe that† (p.113), Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) defined a belief system as a hierarchy of beliefs according to the strength about a particular object. Researchers exploring teachers beliefs at the primary and secondary levels have used a number of definitions: â€Å"the highly personal ways in which a teacher understands classrooms, students, the nature of learning, the teachers role in the classroom, and the goals of education† (Kagan, 1990, p. 423); â€Å"psychologically held understandings, premises or propositions about the world that are felt to be true† (Richardson, 1996, p.103); and â€Å"generally refer to suppositions, commitments and ideologies† (Calderhead, 1996, p.715). Beliefs play an important role in many aspects of teaching as well as in life. They are involved in helping individuals make sense of the world, influencing how new information is perceived, and whether it is accepted or rejected. Teachers beliefs are a term usually used to refer to pedagogic beliefs or those beliefs of relevance to an individuals teaching (Borg 2001b). Teacher beliefs have been identified by Kagan (1992a) as tacit, often unconsciously held assumptions about students, about classrooms, and the academic material to be taught. The literature on teacher knowledge and beliefs from the primary and secondary levels has developed a number of terminological differences. Kagan (1990, p.456) highlighted this problem by noting: â€Å"Terms such as teacher cognition, self-reflection, knowledge and belief can be used to refer to different phenomena. Variation in the definition of a term can range from the superficial and idiosyncratic to the profound and theoretical†. The use of these varying terms makes it difficult to investigate in this area of teacher cognition. Pajares (1992) addressed this difficulty: Defining beliefs is at best a game of players choice. They travel in disguise and often under alias-attitudes, values judgments, axioms, opinions, ideology, perceptions, conceptual systems, preconceptions, dispositions, implicit theories, explicit theories, personal theories, internal mental processes, action strategies, rules of practice, practical principals, perspectives, repertories of understanding, and social strategy, to name but a few that can be found in the literature. (p.309) Defining beliefs is not a very easy task. There is a â€Å"bewildering array of terms† as Clandinin and Connelly (1987, p. 487) put forward including teachers teaching criteria, principles of practice, personal construct/theories/epistemologies, beliefs, perspectives, teachers conceptions, personal knowledge, and practical knowledge. 2.1.1 Belief Research in English Language Teaching The concept of belief, which has been a common feature of research papers in education for the past decade, has recently come into favor in ELT. In the field, various terms have been used to refer to the term ‘belief: pedagogical thoughts (Shavelson and Stern 1981), perspective (Zeichner, Tabachnick, Densmore, 1987), theoretical orientation (Kinzer, 1988), image (Calderhead, 1996), theoretical belief (Kinzer, 1988; Johnson, 1992; Smith 1996). Terms used in language teacher cognition research include theories for practice (Burns, 1996) which refer to the thinking and beliefs which are brought to bear on classroom processes; philosophical orientation and personal pedagogical system (Borg, 1998) which corresponds with stores of beliefs, knowledge, theories, assumptions and attitudes which shape teachers instructional decisions; maxims (Richards, 1996) to comprise personal working principles which reflect teachers individual philosophies of teaching; images (Johnson, 1994) which means general metaphors for thinking about teaching that represent beliefs about teaching and also act as models of action; conceptions of practice (Freeman, 1993) to cover ideas and actions teachers use to organize what they know and to map out what is possible; BAK (Woods, 1996) which includes the concepts beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge, In all those studies the core term on which there is focus is â€Å"belief†. Despite the popularity of the term, there is no consensus on meaning yet. The definition set forth by Rokeach (1968) claims that a belief is any simple proposition, conscious or unconscious, inferred from what a person says or does and knowledge is a component of belief. Rokeach uses the term ‘attitude to refer to the beliefs teachers have about constructs. Richards and Lockhart (1996, p.30) state that â€Å"teachers beliefs systems are founded on the goals and values that teachers hold in relation to the content and process of teaching, and their understanding of the systems in which they work and their roles within it†. These beliefs and values serve as the background to much of teachers decision making action and hence constitute what has been termed the â€Å"culture of teaching†. Richards and Lockhart (1996) summarize those teachers beliefs systems, which are derived from a number of different sources. They are, a) their own experience as language learners, b) their experience of what works best for their learners, c) established practice, d) personality factors, e) educational based or research-based principles, f) principles derived from an approach or method (pp.30-31). Borg (2001b) discusses three aspects of the term belief: The truth element-drawing on research in the philosophy of knowledge, a belief is a mental state which has as its content a proposition that is accepted as true by the individual holding it, although the individual may recognize that alternative beliefs may be held by others. This is one of the key differences between belief and knowledge must actually be true in some external sense. The relationship between belief and behavior most definitions of belief propose that beliefs dispose or guide peoples thinking and action. Conscious versus unconscious beliefs on this point there is disagreement, with some maintaining that consciousness is inherent in the definition of belief, and others allowing for an individual to be conscious of some beliefs and unconscious of others. The field of language teaching has been one of tradition and transition since its beginning hundreds, indeed, by some accounts, thousands of years ago (Kelly, 1969; Howatt, 1984; Richards and Rodgers, 1986). Even though a much newer pursuit than the teaching of languages such as Greek and Latin or Chinese, the teaching of the English language has already been through many transitions in methodology. What are now considered traditional methods were once the innovations of their time, characterized by the attitudes and values of their creators, who recommended that other educators abandon one method and choose another, with unquestioning optimism, as though this latter method were the solution to their classroom concerns (Clarke, 1982). In the past 50 years alone, English language teaching has gone through a whirlwind of transitions in its methodology, from grammar translation to direct method, to audiolingualism, to cognitive code, and a host of variations in each. In recent years, the most substantive transition in English language teaching has taken place through a collection of practices, materials, and beliefs about teaching and learning that are known by many different names, e.g. communicative methodology, communicative language teaching, and the communicative approach (Richards and Rodgers, 1986). Contemporarily, English teaching methodology is going through yet another transition. This transition, frequently referred to as the `post method condition (Kumaravadivelu, 2001), Research in the area of teacher thinking has grown rapidly particularly since the 1980s, with the consequence that the literature is vast and is often focused on very specific aspects of teaching. Nevertheless, the research concerned with teachers implicit theories of teaching and learning, particularly concerned with epistemological and pedagogical beliefs is of considerable relevance to research in language teaching (Kagan, 1992a; Pajares 1992). The reasons are: first, educational beliefs have shown to influence teaching practice (Kagan 1992a) and learning outcomes. Second, methods used to investigate relationship between beliefs and/or conceptions and teaching practice and the ways of analyzing data, are of interest. By the mid 1980s, a rising view of teaching began to highlight the complex ways in which teachers think about their work as being shaped by their prior experiences as students, their ‘personal practical knowledge (Golombek, 1998). More recently the notion of work context has been recognized as central in shaping teachers â€Å"conceptions of their practices† (Freeman, 1993). Language teaching is defined as a dynamic process, which arises out of the meeting and interaction of different sets of principles: different rationalities. In this sense, a rationality is the inner logic which shapes the way in which participants perceive a situation and the goals which they will pursue in this situation (Tudor, 1998). Tudor proposes that to understand language teaching, a first step is to explore the different rationalities which are present in each situation in order to discover the reality the participants involved in. There are four different types of rationalities: those of the students and teachers, socio-cultural rationalities and then the rationality of methodology. While describing teacher rationalities, Tudor (1998) argues that research into subjective needs has led us to appreciate the uniqueness of each learners interaction with their language study. More recently something similar about the teachers has been realized. They, too will perceive and interact with methodology they are implementing in the light of their personality, attitudes, and life experience and the set of perceptions and goals which these give rise to. For this reason there is a need to listen to the teachers voices in understanding classroom practice. There is a need to understand teachers perceptions and the way in which these perceptions influence teachers classroom behaviors. The maxims (Richards, 1996) or the pedagogic principles (Breen et al.2001) teachers use are important in understanding their pedagogical actions. The reality of classroom teaching is how the teachers interpret official curricula or the recommended materials. Teachers are not skilled technicians who dutifully realize a given set of teaching procedures in accordance with the directives of a more or less distant authority. They are active participants in the creation of classroom realities and they do this on the basis of their own attitudes and beliefs, and their personal perceptions of interaction with their teaching situation. All teachers hold beliefs about their work, their students, their subject matter, and their roles and responsibilities. They are individuals with their personal perceptions and goals, which go to shape the rationality which will guide their actions in the classroom and their interaction with the context in which they are operating (Tudor, 1998, p. 324). A major goal of research on teachers thought processes is to increase our understanding of how teachers think and behave in the classroom. The drive for this area of research comes from the assumption that what teachers do is a reflection of what they know and believe, and that teacher knowledge and teacher thinking provide the underlying framework or schema which guides teachers classroom practices (Sutcliffe and Whitfield 1976, Westerman 1991, Flowerdew, Brock Hsia 1992, Kagan 1992a, Richards and Lockhart 1994, Bailey 1996, Woods 1998, Borg 1998, Richards 1998). Therefore, in order to understand teaching, we must understand how thoughts get carried into actions (Clark and Yinger 1977, Shavelson and Stern 1981, Clark and Peterson 1986, Johnson 1992, Nunan 1992). Pajares (1992) reviewed research on teacher beliefs and argued that ‘‘teachers beliefs can and should become an important focus of educational inquiry (p. 307). He then sketched numerous facets of beliefs and acknowledged that a variety of conceptions of educational beliefs appear in the literature. Citing Nespors (1987) influential work, he suggested that ‘‘beliefs are far more influential than knowledge in determining how individuals organize and define tasks and problems and are stronger predictors of behavior (p. 311). Studies on teacher beliefs have slowly gained prominence, especially with regard to teacher change issues. Guskey (1986), for example, examined 52 teachers who participated in teacher development programs and concluded that change in teachers beliefs ‘‘is likely to take place only after changes in student learning outcomes are evidenced (p. 7). In contrast, Richardson, Anders, Tidwell, and Lloyd (1991) found that change in beliefs preceded change in practices. The current view is that relationships between beliefs and practices are interactive and ongoing (Fullan, 1991; Richardson, 1996). Richardson (1996) even states that ‘‘In most current conceptions, the perceived relationship between beliefs and actions is interactive. Beliefs are thought to drive actions; however, experiences and reflection on action may lead to changes in and/or additions to beliefs (p. 104). Pajares (1992) promoted 16 ‘‘fundamental assumptions that may reasonably be made when initiating a study of teachers education beliefs (1992, p. 324). These assumptions include among others, the notions that (a) beliefs are formed early and tend to self perpetuate, persevering even against contradictions caused by reason, time, schooling, or experience; (b) individuals develop a belief system that houses all the beliefs acquired through the process of cultural transmission; (c) beliefs are instrumental in defining tasks and selecting the cognitive tools with which to interpret, plan, and make decisions regarding such tasks; (d) individuals beliefs strongly affect their behavior; and (e) knowledge and beliefs are inextricably intertwined (for complete discussion of all 16 assumptions, see Pajares, 1992, pp. 324-326). 2.2 Teacher Knowledge Research Meanwhile doubts arose also from the scientific community about a conception of professionalism that asked professionals (such as teachers) to just apply the theories and insights provided by others. Schà ¶n (1983, 1987) analyzed the work of various groups of professionals and concluded that they applied a certain amount of theoretical knowledge in their work, but that their behavior was not at all ‘‘rule governed and that they had no straightforward way to determine which behavior was adequate in specific circumstances. Schà ¶n contrasted this principle of ‘‘technical rationality to the principle of ‘‘reflection-in-action, which pertained to the thinking of the professional during professional activity and implied a continuing dialogue with the permanently changing situation. This situation does not present itself as a well-defined problem situation. On the contrary, defining the problem is itself one of the most difficult tasks of the professio nal. This recognition of the centrality of the teacher and the teachers knowledge and beliefs regarding each educational process, including educational innovations, is relatively recent (Calderhead, 1996). Birman, Desimone, Porter, Garet (2000), for example, searched for key features of effective professional development and, based on their research, reported that professional development should focus on deepening teacher knowledge in order to foster teacher learning and changes in practice. Similarly, Hawley and Valli (1999) considered the expansion and elaboration of teachers professional knowledge base as essential for their professional development. In the literature about teacher knowledge, various labels have been used, each indicating a relevant aspect of teacher knowledge. The labels illustrate mainly which aspect is considered the most important by the respective authors. Together, these labels give an overview of the way in which teacher knowledge has been studied to date. The most commonly used labels are ‘‘personal knowledge (Conelly and Clandinin, 1985; Elbaz, 1991), indicating that this knowledge is unique; ‘‘the wisdom of practice (Schwab, 1971), and in more recent publications, ‘‘professional craft knowledge (e.g., Brown and McIntyre, 1993; Shimahara, 1998), referring to a specific component of knowledge that is mainly the product of the teachers practical experience; ‘‘action oriented knowledge, indicating that this knowledge is for immediate use in teaching practice (Carter, 1990); ‘‘content and context related knowledge (Cochran, DeRuiter, King, 1993; Va n Driel, Verloop, De Vos, 1998); knowledge that is to a great extent ‘tacit (Calderhead and Robson, 1991); and knowledge that is based on reflection on experiences (Grimmet and MacKinnon, 1992). It is important to realize that in the label ‘teacher knowledge, the concept ‘knowledge is used as an overarching, inclusive concept, summarizing a large variety of cognitions, from conscious and well-balanced opinions to unconscious and unreflected intuitions. This is related to the fact that, in the mind of the teacher, components of knowledge, beliefs, conceptions, and intuitions are inextricably intertwined. As Alexander, Schallert, and Hare (1991) noted, the term ‘knowledge is mostly used to encompass ‘‘all that a person knows or believes to be true, whether or not it is verified as true in some sort of objective or external way (p. 317). This is particularly relevant with respect to research on teacher knowledge. In investigating teacher knowledge, the main focus of attention is on the complex totality of cognitions, the ways this develops, and the way this interacts with teacher behavior in the classroom. Following Pajares (1992), knowledge and beliefs are seen as inseparable, although beliefs are seen roughly as referring to personal values, attitudes, and ideologies, and knowledge to a teachers more factual propositions (Meijer, Verloop, Beijaard, 2001). 2.2.1 Teachers Knowledge and Beliefs About Teaching In his extensive review of the literature, Calderhead (1996) found that many different kinds of knowledge have been described as underpinning effective teaching. The main forms are those related to the subject being taught, to teaching methods, and to the ways in which students develop and learn. The extent to which teachers have conscious access to this knowledge is, however, far from clear. Some researchers argue that much of this knowledge is implicit or tacit, derived from experience rather than from any conceptual framework. The research concerned with teachers implicit theories of teaching and learning, particularly work concerned with epistemological and pedagogical beliefs, which reflect their experiences, is of considerable relevance to research in language teaching (Kagan, 1992a; Pajares 1992). First, educational beliefs have shown to influence teaching practice (Kagan 1992a) and learning outcomes. Second, methods used to investigate relationship between beliefs and/or conceptions and teaching practice and the ways of analyzing data, are of interest. Pajares (1992) attempts to clarify the confusion with the distinction between knowledge and belief. However, as many researchers have found, it is not so much that knowledge differs from beliefs, but that beliefs themselves constitute a form of knowledge. In his attempts to characterize beliefs, Nespor (1987) provides some distinctions between beliefs and knowledge. He singles out four features of the construct previously identified by Abelson (1979) and considers them in relation to teachers: Existential presumptions or personal truths are generally unaffected by persuasion and are perceived by the teacher as being beyond his/her control or influence. Alternativity is a feature of beliefs that would include situations such as when teachers attempt to establish an instructional format of which they have no direct experience but which they might consider ideal. Belief systems can be said to rely much more heavily on affective and evaluative components than knowledge systems. Teachers values and feelings often affect what and how they teach and may conflict with their knowledge. Belief systems are composed mainly of episodically stored material which is derived from personal experience, episodes or events which continue to influence the comprehension of events at a later time. Whereas beliefs reside in episodic memory, knowledge is semantically stored. A further distinction between beliefs and knowledge, notes Nespor (1987, p.313), is that, while knowledge often changes, beliefs are static. As well, whereas knowledge can be evaluated or judged, such is not the case with beliefs as there is usually a lack of consensus about how they are to be evaluated. Furthermore, there do not appear to be any clear rules for determining the relevance of beliefs to real world events. While there is no doubt other distinctions can be made between the two constructs, a better understanding may be gained by exploring the relationship between the two and by considering beliefs as a form of knowledge. This form of knowledge could be referred to as personal knowledge. Kagan (1992a) refers to beliefs as a particularly provocative form of personal knowledge and argues that most of a teachers professional knowledge can be regarded more accurately as belief. According to Kagan, this knowledge grows richer and more coherent as a teachers experience in classrooms grows and thus forms a highly personalized pedagogy or belief system that actually constrains the teachers perception, judgment, and behavior. In terms of beliefs being personal knowledge, Kagan explains: A teachers knowledge of his or her profession is situated in three important ways: in context (it is related to specific groups of students), in content (it is related to particular academic material to be taught), and in person (it is embedded within the teachers unique belief system) (p.74). Like Clark (1988) who equates ‘implicit theories with beliefs, Nespor (1987) explains how beliefs become personal pedagogies or theories to guide teachers practices: Teachers beliefs play a major role in defining teaching tasks and organizing the knowledge and information relevant to those tasks. But why should this be so? Why wouldnt research-based knowledge or academic theory serve this purpose just as well? The answer suggested here is that the contexts and environments within which teachers work, and many of the problems they encounter, are ill-defined and deeply entangled, and that beliefs are peculiarly suited for making sense of such contexts. (p.324) Munby (1982) also equates implicit theories with teachers beliefs. Clark and Peterson (1986) in their review of the literature on teachers thought processes, argue that teachers theories and beliefs represent a rich store of knowledge. Teachers make sense of their complex world and respond to it by forming a complex system of personal and professional knowledge and theories which, as Kagan (1992a) describes, are often tacit and unconsciously held assumptions about students, classrooms and the material to be taught. 2.2.1.1 Beliefs, Assumptions, Knowledge Throughout this study the term BAK is used as an inclusive term to refer to beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge. Therefore, the following section describes the rationale behind using this term. In the discussion so far, approaches which divide aspects of teacher cognition were examined in separate categories. A more recent strand of research, however, challenges the categorical distinctions outlined above. Woods (1996) suggests that these dichotomies do not accurately reflect the relationship between Teachers beliefs, assumptions and knowledge and their practices in the classroom. In order to take appropriate action, people need to understand; and to understand they need knowledge about the world and specifically about the situation they are in (Woods, 1996, p. 59). Woods (1996) develops a multidimensional cycle of planning and decision making within teaching. He describes three phases of assessment, planning and implementation which operate recursively to inform different hierarchical levels of the teaching process going from the most local level of discrete events in the lesson plan to the most global level of whole course planning (p. 139). Woodss analysis of interview data suggests that knowledge structures and belief systems ‘‘are not composed of independent elements, but [are] rather structured, with certain aspects implying or presupposing others (p. 200). Woods proposes a model to signify the evolving system of beliefs, assumptions and knowledge (BAK) that recursively informs or is informed by the context of teaching: the BAK was part of the perceiving and organizing of the decisions. Woods has demonstrated that language teachers create and maintain background networks of beliefs, assumptions and knowledge which constitute a valid theory of teaching and learning. These background theoretical networks are grounded in every level of routine classroom practice in much the same way that educational theory is grounded in the systematic collection of empirical data. This construct (BAK) is supported by MacDonaldo, Badger and White (2001). They also suggest that while there is some support for a categorical di stinction between theory and practice in language education, it is suggested that the beliefs, assumptions and knowledge of teachers are in fact inextricably bound up with what goes on in the classroom. 2.3 Research on the Relationship between Teachers Beliefs, Instructional decisions, and Practices Beliefs are manifested in teaching practices because teachers instruction tends to reflect their beliefs. Pajares (1992) and Richardson (1996) investigated the relationship between teachers beliefs and their teaching practices, concluding that teachers beliefs were reflected in their actions, decisions and classroom practices. Kagan (1992a) also supported Pajares and Richardsons claim that teachers beliefs served as a vital role in influencing the nature of the instruction. In her study, Johnson (1992) examined the relationship between ESL teachers defined, theoretical beliefs about second language learning as well as teaching and instructional practices during literacy instruction for non-native speakers of English. Three tasks, such as an ideal instructional protocol, a lesson plan analysis, and a beliefs inventory were used to determine how much ESL teachers beliefs were reflected in skill-based, rule-based, and function-based orientations. The findings in Johnsons study showed that ESL teachers defined beliefs were congruent with their theoretical orientations, and teachers with different theoretical orientations gave quite different instruction for ESL students. Therefore, her study concluded that overall, teachers had different teaching approaches, selections of teaching materials, and images of teachers and students according to their beliefs about learning and teaching. For example, a teacher whose dominant theoretical orientation was function-b ased focused generally on comprehending the main idea, following a pattern of pre-reading as well as post-reading questions, and discussion as usual reading activities in her instruction. In addition, Smiths (1996) study explored the relationship between nine experienced ESL teachers beliefs and their decision-making in classroom practices. The result of her study showed that teachers articulated theoretical beliefs were consistent with their instructional planning and decisions. For example, those teachers who believed in communication of meaning as a primary goal in learning a language designed and implemented tasks which promoted student-interaction and meaningful communication, such as small-group or pair activities. Golombek (1998) examined how two in-service ESL teachers personal practical knowledge informed their practice through a description of a tension each teacher faced in the classroom. The teachers personal practical knowledge informed their practice by serving as a kind of interpretive framework through which they made sense of their classrooms as they recounted their experiences and made this knowledge explicit. The results of this study suggested that L2 teacher educators should recognize that L2 teachers personal practical knowledge is embodied in individuals. For this reason, personal practical knowledge is important to acknowledge in L2 teacher education practice and research. Similarly, in his article Borg (2001a) presents two cases which illustrate the extent to which teachers perceptions of their knowledge about grammar emerged as one of the factors which influences teachers instructional decisions in teaching grammar. The two case studies suggested clearly that teachers self-perceptions of their knowledge about grammar had an impact on their work. Two conclusions emergi Beliefs, Assumptions, Knowledge (BAK) Research in Teaching Beliefs, Assumptions, Knowledge (BAK) Research in Teaching 2.1 Belief Research In the mid-1970s a new body of research began to emerge that worked to describe teachers thoughts, judgments and decisions as the cognitive processes that shaped their behaviors (Calderhead, 1996, Clark and Peterson, 1986; Dann, 1990). As a consequence of this, a surge of interest in the area of teacher belief systems has appeared (Pajares, 1992). This research â€Å"has helped to identify the nature and complexity of the teachers work , and helped to provide ways of thinking about the processes of change and support† (Calderhead, 1996, p.721). Researchers found that teaching could not be characterized simply as behaviors that were linked to thinking done before and during the activity but rather that the thought process of teaching included a much wider and richer mental context. As Shavelson and Stern (1981, p.479) explained, research on teacher cognition made â€Å"the basic assumption that teachers thoughts, judgments, and decisions guide their teaching behavior†. Kagan (1990, p. 420) noted that teacher cognition is somewhat ambiguous, because researchers invoke the term to refer to different products, including â€Å"teachers interactive thoughts during instruction; thought during lesson planning, implicit beliefs about students, classrooms and learning; reflections about their own teaching performance; automized routines and activities that form their instructional repertoire; and self-awareness of procedures they use to solve classrooms problems†. Currently, there is increasing recognition that the beliefs individuals hold are the best indicators of the decisions they make during the course of everyday life (Bandura, 1986). Pajares (1992, p. 307) argues that the investigation of teachers beliefs should be a focus of educational research and can inform educational practice in ways that prevailing research agendas have not and cannot. Educational researchers trying to understand the nature of teaching and learning in classrooms have usefully exploited this focus on belief systems. The research of Jakubowski and Tobin (1991) suggests that teachers metaphors and beliefs not only influence what teachers do in the classroom, but that changes in these same metaphors and beliefs can result in changes in their practices. A belief can be defined as a representation of the information someone holds about an object, or a â€Å"persons understanding of himself and his environment† (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975, p.131). This object can â€Å"be a person, a group of people, an institution, a behavior, a policy, an event, etc., and the associated attribute may be any object, trait, property, quality, characteristic, outcome, or event† (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975, p.12). While Rokeach (1972) defined a belief as â€Å"any simple proposition, conscious or unconscious, inferred from what a person says or does, capable of being preceded by the phrase ‘I believe that† (p.113), Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) defined a belief system as a hierarchy of beliefs according to the strength about a particular object. Researchers exploring teachers beliefs at the primary and secondary levels have used a number of definitions: â€Å"the highly personal ways in which a teacher understands classrooms, students, the nature of learning, the teachers role in the classroom, and the goals of education† (Kagan, 1990, p. 423); â€Å"psychologically held understandings, premises or propositions about the world that are felt to be true† (Richardson, 1996, p.103); and â€Å"generally refer to suppositions, commitments and ideologies† (Calderhead, 1996, p.715). Beliefs play an important role in many aspects of teaching as well as in life. They are involved in helping individuals make sense of the world, influencing how new information is perceived, and whether it is accepted or rejected. Teachers beliefs are a term usually used to refer to pedagogic beliefs or those beliefs of relevance to an individuals teaching (Borg 2001b). Teacher beliefs have been identified by Kagan (1992a) as tacit, often unconsciously held assumptions about students, about classrooms, and the academic material to be taught. The literature on teacher knowledge and beliefs from the primary and secondary levels has developed a number of terminological differences. Kagan (1990, p.456) highlighted this problem by noting: â€Å"Terms such as teacher cognition, self-reflection, knowledge and belief can be used to refer to different phenomena. Variation in the definition of a term can range from the superficial and idiosyncratic to the profound and theoretical†. The use of these varying terms makes it difficult to investigate in this area of teacher cognition. Pajares (1992) addressed this difficulty: Defining beliefs is at best a game of players choice. They travel in disguise and often under alias-attitudes, values judgments, axioms, opinions, ideology, perceptions, conceptual systems, preconceptions, dispositions, implicit theories, explicit theories, personal theories, internal mental processes, action strategies, rules of practice, practical principals, perspectives, repertories of understanding, and social strategy, to name but a few that can be found in the literature. (p.309) Defining beliefs is not a very easy task. There is a â€Å"bewildering array of terms† as Clandinin and Connelly (1987, p. 487) put forward including teachers teaching criteria, principles of practice, personal construct/theories/epistemologies, beliefs, perspectives, teachers conceptions, personal knowledge, and practical knowledge. 2.1.1 Belief Research in English Language Teaching The concept of belief, which has been a common feature of research papers in education for the past decade, has recently come into favor in ELT. In the field, various terms have been used to refer to the term ‘belief: pedagogical thoughts (Shavelson and Stern 1981), perspective (Zeichner, Tabachnick, Densmore, 1987), theoretical orientation (Kinzer, 1988), image (Calderhead, 1996), theoretical belief (Kinzer, 1988; Johnson, 1992; Smith 1996). Terms used in language teacher cognition research include theories for practice (Burns, 1996) which refer to the thinking and beliefs which are brought to bear on classroom processes; philosophical orientation and personal pedagogical system (Borg, 1998) which corresponds with stores of beliefs, knowledge, theories, assumptions and attitudes which shape teachers instructional decisions; maxims (Richards, 1996) to comprise personal working principles which reflect teachers individual philosophies of teaching; images (Johnson, 1994) which means general metaphors for thinking about teaching that represent beliefs about teaching and also act as models of action; conceptions of practice (Freeman, 1993) to cover ideas and actions teachers use to organize what they know and to map out what is possible; BAK (Woods, 1996) which includes the concepts beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge, In all those studies the core term on which there is focus is â€Å"belief†. Despite the popularity of the term, there is no consensus on meaning yet. The definition set forth by Rokeach (1968) claims that a belief is any simple proposition, conscious or unconscious, inferred from what a person says or does and knowledge is a component of belief. Rokeach uses the term ‘attitude to refer to the beliefs teachers have about constructs. Richards and Lockhart (1996, p.30) state that â€Å"teachers beliefs systems are founded on the goals and values that teachers hold in relation to the content and process of teaching, and their understanding of the systems in which they work and their roles within it†. These beliefs and values serve as the background to much of teachers decision making action and hence constitute what has been termed the â€Å"culture of teaching†. Richards and Lockhart (1996) summarize those teachers beliefs systems, which are derived from a number of different sources. They are, a) their own experience as language learners, b) their experience of what works best for their learners, c) established practice, d) personality factors, e) educational based or research-based principles, f) principles derived from an approach or method (pp.30-31). Borg (2001b) discusses three aspects of the term belief: The truth element-drawing on research in the philosophy of knowledge, a belief is a mental state which has as its content a proposition that is accepted as true by the individual holding it, although the individual may recognize that alternative beliefs may be held by others. This is one of the key differences between belief and knowledge must actually be true in some external sense. The relationship between belief and behavior most definitions of belief propose that beliefs dispose or guide peoples thinking and action. Conscious versus unconscious beliefs on this point there is disagreement, with some maintaining that consciousness is inherent in the definition of belief, and others allowing for an individual to be conscious of some beliefs and unconscious of others. The field of language teaching has been one of tradition and transition since its beginning hundreds, indeed, by some accounts, thousands of years ago (Kelly, 1969; Howatt, 1984; Richards and Rodgers, 1986). Even though a much newer pursuit than the teaching of languages such as Greek and Latin or Chinese, the teaching of the English language has already been through many transitions in methodology. What are now considered traditional methods were once the innovations of their time, characterized by the attitudes and values of their creators, who recommended that other educators abandon one method and choose another, with unquestioning optimism, as though this latter method were the solution to their classroom concerns (Clarke, 1982). In the past 50 years alone, English language teaching has gone through a whirlwind of transitions in its methodology, from grammar translation to direct method, to audiolingualism, to cognitive code, and a host of variations in each. In recent years, the most substantive transition in English language teaching has taken place through a collection of practices, materials, and beliefs about teaching and learning that are known by many different names, e.g. communicative methodology, communicative language teaching, and the communicative approach (Richards and Rodgers, 1986). Contemporarily, English teaching methodology is going through yet another transition. This transition, frequently referred to as the `post method condition (Kumaravadivelu, 2001), Research in the area of teacher thinking has grown rapidly particularly since the 1980s, with the consequence that the literature is vast and is often focused on very specific aspects of teaching. Nevertheless, the research concerned with teachers implicit theories of teaching and learning, particularly concerned with epistemological and pedagogical beliefs is of considerable relevance to research in language teaching (Kagan, 1992a; Pajares 1992). The reasons are: first, educational beliefs have shown to influence teaching practice (Kagan 1992a) and learning outcomes. Second, methods used to investigate relationship between beliefs and/or conceptions and teaching practice and the ways of analyzing data, are of interest. By the mid 1980s, a rising view of teaching began to highlight the complex ways in which teachers think about their work as being shaped by their prior experiences as students, their ‘personal practical knowledge (Golombek, 1998). More recently the notion of work context has been recognized as central in shaping teachers â€Å"conceptions of their practices† (Freeman, 1993). Language teaching is defined as a dynamic process, which arises out of the meeting and interaction of different sets of principles: different rationalities. In this sense, a rationality is the inner logic which shapes the way in which participants perceive a situation and the goals which they will pursue in this situation (Tudor, 1998). Tudor proposes that to understand language teaching, a first step is to explore the different rationalities which are present in each situation in order to discover the reality the participants involved in. There are four different types of rationalities: those of the students and teachers, socio-cultural rationalities and then the rationality of methodology. While describing teacher rationalities, Tudor (1998) argues that research into subjective needs has led us to appreciate the uniqueness of each learners interaction with their language study. More recently something similar about the teachers has been realized. They, too will perceive and interact with methodology they are implementing in the light of their personality, attitudes, and life experience and the set of perceptions and goals which these give rise to. For this reason there is a need to listen to the teachers voices in understanding classroom practice. There is a need to understand teachers perceptions and the way in which these perceptions influence teachers classroom behaviors. The maxims (Richards, 1996) or the pedagogic principles (Breen et al.2001) teachers use are important in understanding their pedagogical actions. The reality of classroom teaching is how the teachers interpret official curricula or the recommended materials. Teachers are not skilled technicians who dutifully realize a given set of teaching procedures in accordance with the directives of a more or less distant authority. They are active participants in the creation of classroom realities and they do this on the basis of their own attitudes and beliefs, and their personal perceptions of interaction with their teaching situation. All teachers hold beliefs about their work, their students, their subject matter, and their roles and responsibilities. They are individuals with their personal perceptions and goals, which go to shape the rationality which will guide their actions in the classroom and their interaction with the context in which they are operating (Tudor, 1998, p. 324). A major goal of research on teachers thought processes is to increase our understanding of how teachers think and behave in the classroom. The drive for this area of research comes from the assumption that what teachers do is a reflection of what they know and believe, and that teacher knowledge and teacher thinking provide the underlying framework or schema which guides teachers classroom practices (Sutcliffe and Whitfield 1976, Westerman 1991, Flowerdew, Brock Hsia 1992, Kagan 1992a, Richards and Lockhart 1994, Bailey 1996, Woods 1998, Borg 1998, Richards 1998). Therefore, in order to understand teaching, we must understand how thoughts get carried into actions (Clark and Yinger 1977, Shavelson and Stern 1981, Clark and Peterson 1986, Johnson 1992, Nunan 1992). Pajares (1992) reviewed research on teacher beliefs and argued that ‘‘teachers beliefs can and should become an important focus of educational inquiry (p. 307). He then sketched numerous facets of beliefs and acknowledged that a variety of conceptions of educational beliefs appear in the literature. Citing Nespors (1987) influential work, he suggested that ‘‘beliefs are far more influential than knowledge in determining how individuals organize and define tasks and problems and are stronger predictors of behavior (p. 311). Studies on teacher beliefs have slowly gained prominence, especially with regard to teacher change issues. Guskey (1986), for example, examined 52 teachers who participated in teacher development programs and concluded that change in teachers beliefs ‘‘is likely to take place only after changes in student learning outcomes are evidenced (p. 7). In contrast, Richardson, Anders, Tidwell, and Lloyd (1991) found that change in beliefs preceded change in practices. The current view is that relationships between beliefs and practices are interactive and ongoing (Fullan, 1991; Richardson, 1996). Richardson (1996) even states that ‘‘In most current conceptions, the perceived relationship between beliefs and actions is interactive. Beliefs are thought to drive actions; however, experiences and reflection on action may lead to changes in and/or additions to beliefs (p. 104). Pajares (1992) promoted 16 ‘‘fundamental assumptions that may reasonably be made when initiating a study of teachers education beliefs (1992, p. 324). These assumptions include among others, the notions that (a) beliefs are formed early and tend to self perpetuate, persevering even against contradictions caused by reason, time, schooling, or experience; (b) individuals develop a belief system that houses all the beliefs acquired through the process of cultural transmission; (c) beliefs are instrumental in defining tasks and selecting the cognitive tools with which to interpret, plan, and make decisions regarding such tasks; (d) individuals beliefs strongly affect their behavior; and (e) knowledge and beliefs are inextricably intertwined (for complete discussion of all 16 assumptions, see Pajares, 1992, pp. 324-326). 2.2 Teacher Knowledge Research Meanwhile doubts arose also from the scientific community about a conception of professionalism that asked professionals (such as teachers) to just apply the theories and insights provided by others. Schà ¶n (1983, 1987) analyzed the work of various groups of professionals and concluded that they applied a certain amount of theoretical knowledge in their work, but that their behavior was not at all ‘‘rule governed and that they had no straightforward way to determine which behavior was adequate in specific circumstances. Schà ¶n contrasted this principle of ‘‘technical rationality to the principle of ‘‘reflection-in-action, which pertained to the thinking of the professional during professional activity and implied a continuing dialogue with the permanently changing situation. This situation does not present itself as a well-defined problem situation. On the contrary, defining the problem is itself one of the most difficult tasks of the professio nal. This recognition of the centrality of the teacher and the teachers knowledge and beliefs regarding each educational process, including educational innovations, is relatively recent (Calderhead, 1996). Birman, Desimone, Porter, Garet (2000), for example, searched for key features of effective professional development and, based on their research, reported that professional development should focus on deepening teacher knowledge in order to foster teacher learning and changes in practice. Similarly, Hawley and Valli (1999) considered the expansion and elaboration of teachers professional knowledge base as essential for their professional development. In the literature about teacher knowledge, various labels have been used, each indicating a relevant aspect of teacher knowledge. The labels illustrate mainly which aspect is considered the most important by the respective authors. Together, these labels give an overview of the way in which teacher knowledge has been studied to date. The most commonly used labels are ‘‘personal knowledge (Conelly and Clandinin, 1985; Elbaz, 1991), indicating that this knowledge is unique; ‘‘the wisdom of practice (Schwab, 1971), and in more recent publications, ‘‘professional craft knowledge (e.g., Brown and McIntyre, 1993; Shimahara, 1998), referring to a specific component of knowledge that is mainly the product of the teachers practical experience; ‘‘action oriented knowledge, indicating that this knowledge is for immediate use in teaching practice (Carter, 1990); ‘‘content and context related knowledge (Cochran, DeRuiter, King, 1993; Va n Driel, Verloop, De Vos, 1998); knowledge that is to a great extent ‘tacit (Calderhead and Robson, 1991); and knowledge that is based on reflection on experiences (Grimmet and MacKinnon, 1992). It is important to realize that in the label ‘teacher knowledge, the concept ‘knowledge is used as an overarching, inclusive concept, summarizing a large variety of cognitions, from conscious and well-balanced opinions to unconscious and unreflected intuitions. This is related to the fact that, in the mind of the teacher, components of knowledge, beliefs, conceptions, and intuitions are inextricably intertwined. As Alexander, Schallert, and Hare (1991) noted, the term ‘knowledge is mostly used to encompass ‘‘all that a person knows or believes to be true, whether or not it is verified as true in some sort of objective or external way (p. 317). This is particularly relevant with respect to research on teacher knowledge. In investigating teacher knowledge, the main focus of attention is on the complex totality of cognitions, the ways this develops, and the way this interacts with teacher behavior in the classroom. Following Pajares (1992), knowledge and beliefs are seen as inseparable, although beliefs are seen roughly as referring to personal values, attitudes, and ideologies, and knowledge to a teachers more factual propositions (Meijer, Verloop, Beijaard, 2001). 2.2.1 Teachers Knowledge and Beliefs About Teaching In his extensive review of the literature, Calderhead (1996) found that many different kinds of knowledge have been described as underpinning effective teaching. The main forms are those related to the subject being taught, to teaching methods, and to the ways in which students develop and learn. The extent to which teachers have conscious access to this knowledge is, however, far from clear. Some researchers argue that much of this knowledge is implicit or tacit, derived from experience rather than from any conceptual framework. The research concerned with teachers implicit theories of teaching and learning, particularly work concerned with epistemological and pedagogical beliefs, which reflect their experiences, is of considerable relevance to research in language teaching (Kagan, 1992a; Pajares 1992). First, educational beliefs have shown to influence teaching practice (Kagan 1992a) and learning outcomes. Second, methods used to investigate relationship between beliefs and/or conceptions and teaching practice and the ways of analyzing data, are of interest. Pajares (1992) attempts to clarify the confusion with the distinction between knowledge and belief. However, as many researchers have found, it is not so much that knowledge differs from beliefs, but that beliefs themselves constitute a form of knowledge. In his attempts to characterize beliefs, Nespor (1987) provides some distinctions between beliefs and knowledge. He singles out four features of the construct previously identified by Abelson (1979) and considers them in relation to teachers: Existential presumptions or personal truths are generally unaffected by persuasion and are perceived by the teacher as being beyond his/her control or influence. Alternativity is a feature of beliefs that would include situations such as when teachers attempt to establish an instructional format of which they have no direct experience but which they might consider ideal. Belief systems can be said to rely much more heavily on affective and evaluative components than knowledge systems. Teachers values and feelings often affect what and how they teach and may conflict with their knowledge. Belief systems are composed mainly of episodically stored material which is derived from personal experience, episodes or events which continue to influence the comprehension of events at a later time. Whereas beliefs reside in episodic memory, knowledge is semantically stored. A further distinction between beliefs and knowledge, notes Nespor (1987, p.313), is that, while knowledge often changes, beliefs are static. As well, whereas knowledge can be evaluated or judged, such is not the case with beliefs as there is usually a lack of consensus about how they are to be evaluated. Furthermore, there do not appear to be any clear rules for determining the relevance of beliefs to real world events. While there is no doubt other distinctions can be made between the two constructs, a better understanding may be gained by exploring the relationship between the two and by considering beliefs as a form of knowledge. This form of knowledge could be referred to as personal knowledge. Kagan (1992a) refers to beliefs as a particularly provocative form of personal knowledge and argues that most of a teachers professional knowledge can be regarded more accurately as belief. According to Kagan, this knowledge grows richer and more coherent as a teachers experience in classrooms grows and thus forms a highly personalized pedagogy or belief system that actually constrains the teachers perception, judgment, and behavior. In terms of beliefs being personal knowledge, Kagan explains: A teachers knowledge of his or her profession is situated in three important ways: in context (it is related to specific groups of students), in content (it is related to particular academic material to be taught), and in person (it is embedded within the teachers unique belief system) (p.74). Like Clark (1988) who equates ‘implicit theories with beliefs, Nespor (1987) explains how beliefs become personal pedagogies or theories to guide teachers practices: Teachers beliefs play a major role in defining teaching tasks and organizing the knowledge and information relevant to those tasks. But why should this be so? Why wouldnt research-based knowledge or academic theory serve this purpose just as well? The answer suggested here is that the contexts and environments within which teachers work, and many of the problems they encounter, are ill-defined and deeply entangled, and that beliefs are peculiarly suited for making sense of such contexts. (p.324) Munby (1982) also equates implicit theories with teachers beliefs. Clark and Peterson (1986) in their review of the literature on teachers thought processes, argue that teachers theories and beliefs represent a rich store of knowledge. Teachers make sense of their complex world and respond to it by forming a complex system of personal and professional knowledge and theories which, as Kagan (1992a) describes, are often tacit and unconsciously held assumptions about students, classrooms and the material to be taught. 2.2.1.1 Beliefs, Assumptions, Knowledge Throughout this study the term BAK is used as an inclusive term to refer to beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge. Therefore, the following section describes the rationale behind using this term. In the discussion so far, approaches which divide aspects of teacher cognition were examined in separate categories. A more recent strand of research, however, challenges the categorical distinctions outlined above. Woods (1996) suggests that these dichotomies do not accurately reflect the relationship between Teachers beliefs, assumptions and knowledge and their practices in the classroom. In order to take appropriate action, people need to understand; and to understand they need knowledge about the world and specifically about the situation they are in (Woods, 1996, p. 59). Woods (1996) develops a multidimensional cycle of planning and decision making within teaching. He describes three phases of assessment, planning and implementation which operate recursively to inform different hierarchical levels of the teaching process going from the most local level of discrete events in the lesson plan to the most global level of whole course planning (p. 139). Woodss analysis of interview data suggests that knowledge structures and belief systems ‘‘are not composed of independent elements, but [are] rather structured, with certain aspects implying or presupposing others (p. 200). Woods proposes a model to signify the evolving system of beliefs, assumptions and knowledge (BAK) that recursively informs or is informed by the context of teaching: the BAK was part of the perceiving and organizing of the decisions. Woods has demonstrated that language teachers create and maintain background networks of beliefs, assumptions and knowledge which constitute a valid theory of teaching and learning. These background theoretical networks are grounded in every level of routine classroom practice in much the same way that educational theory is grounded in the systematic collection of empirical data. This construct (BAK) is supported by MacDonaldo, Badger and White (2001). They also suggest that while there is some support for a categorical di stinction between theory and practice in language education, it is suggested that the beliefs, assumptions and knowledge of teachers are in fact inextricably bound up with what goes on in the classroom. 2.3 Research on the Relationship between Teachers Beliefs, Instructional decisions, and Practices Beliefs are manifested in teaching practices because teachers instruction tends to reflect their beliefs. Pajares (1992) and Richardson (1996) investigated the relationship between teachers beliefs and their teaching practices, concluding that teachers beliefs were reflected in their actions, decisions and classroom practices. Kagan (1992a) also supported Pajares and Richardsons claim that teachers beliefs served as a vital role in influencing the nature of the instruction. In her study, Johnson (1992) examined the relationship between ESL teachers defined, theoretical beliefs about second language learning as well as teaching and instructional practices during literacy instruction for non-native speakers of English. Three tasks, such as an ideal instructional protocol, a lesson plan analysis, and a beliefs inventory were used to determine how much ESL teachers beliefs were reflected in skill-based, rule-based, and function-based orientations. The findings in Johnsons study showed that ESL teachers defined beliefs were congruent with their theoretical orientations, and teachers with different theoretical orientations gave quite different instruction for ESL students. Therefore, her study concluded that overall, teachers had different teaching approaches, selections of teaching materials, and images of teachers and students according to their beliefs about learning and teaching. For example, a teacher whose dominant theoretical orientation was function-b ased focused generally on comprehending the main idea, following a pattern of pre-reading as well as post-reading questions, and discussion as usual reading activities in her instruction. In addition, Smiths (1996) study explored the relationship between nine experienced ESL teachers beliefs and their decision-making in classroom practices. The result of her study showed that teachers articulated theoretical beliefs were consistent with their instructional planning and decisions. For example, those teachers who believed in communication of meaning as a primary goal in learning a language designed and implemented tasks which promoted student-interaction and meaningful communication, such as small-group or pair activities. Golombek (1998) examined how two in-service ESL teachers personal practical knowledge informed their practice through a description of a tension each teacher faced in the classroom. The teachers personal practical knowledge informed their practice by serving as a kind of interpretive framework through which they made sense of their classrooms as they recounted their experiences and made this knowledge explicit. The results of this study suggested that L2 teacher educators should recognize that L2 teachers personal practical knowledge is embodied in individuals. For this reason, personal practical knowledge is important to acknowledge in L2 teacher education practice and research. Similarly, in his article Borg (2001a) presents two cases which illustrate the extent to which teachers perceptions of their knowledge about grammar emerged as one of the factors which influences teachers instructional decisions in teaching grammar. The two case studies suggested clearly that teachers self-perceptions of their knowledge about grammar had an impact on their work. Two conclusions emergi