How to Improve Vocabulary Acquisition

The process of learning the words of a language  is referred to as vocabulary acquisition.  As discussed below, the ways in which young children acquire the vocabulary of a native language differ from the ways in which older children and adults acquire the vocabulary of a second language.   Means of Language Acquisition Language AcquisitionActive Vocabulary and Passive VocabularyAnnotationContext CluesEnglish as a Second Language (ESL)Lexical CompetenceLexiconListening and SpeechOvergeneralizationPoverty of the StimulusReading and WritingWorld Knowledge The Rate of New-Word Learning in Children ​[T]he rate of new-word learning is not constant but ever increasing. Thus between the ages of 1 and 2 years, most children will learn less than one word a day (Fenson et al., 1994), whilst a 17-year-old will learn about 10,000 new words per year, mostly from reading (Nagy and Herman, 1987). The theoretical implication is that there is no need to posit a qualitative change in learning or a specialized word-learning system to account for the remarkable rate at which young children learn words; one could even argue that, given the number of new words to which they are exposed daily, infants word learning is remarkably slow. (Ben Ambridge and Elena V. M. Lieven, Child Language Acquisition: Contrasting Theoretical Approaches. Cambridge University Press, 2011) The Vocabulary Spurt ​At some point, most children manifest a vocabulary spurt, where the rate of acquisition of new words increases suddenly and markedly. From then until about six years old, the average rate of acquisition is estimated to be five or more words a day. Many of the new words are verbs and adjectives, which gradually come to assume a larger proportion of the childs vocabulary. The vocabulary acquired during this period partly reflects frequency and relevance to the childs environment. Basic level terms are acquired first (DOG before ANIMAL or SPANIEL), possibly reflecting a bias towards such terms in child-directed speech. . .Children appear to need minimal exposure to a new word form (sometimes just a single occurrence) before they assign some kind of meaning to it; this process of rapid mapping appears to help them to consolidate the form in their memory. In the early states, mapping is exclusively from form to meaning; but it later also takes place from meaning to form, as childr en coin words to fill gaps in their vocabulary (spooning my coffee; cookerman for a chef). (John Field, Psycholinguistics: The Key Concepts. Routledge, 2004) Teaching and Learning Vocabulary ​If vocabulary acquisition is largely sequential in nature, it would appear possible to identify that sequence and to ensure that children at a given vocabulary level have an opportunity to encounter words they are likely to be learning next, within a context that uses the majority of the words that they have already learned. (Andrew Biemiller, Teaching Vocabulary: Early, Direct, and Sequential. Essential Readings on Vocabulary Instruction, ed. by Michael F. Graves. International Reading Association, 2009)Although additional research is sorely needed, research points us in the direction of natural interactions as the source of vocabulary learning. Whether through free play between peers . . . or an adult introducing literacy terms (e.g., sentence, word), as children engage in play with literacy tools, the likelihood that vocabulary will stick is heightened when childrens engagement and motivation for learning new words is high. Embedding new words in activities that children w ant to do recreates the conditions by which vocabulary learning takes place in the crib. (Justin Harris, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Lessons From the Crib to the Classroom: How Children Really Learn Vocabulary. Handbook of Early Literacy Research, Volume 3, ed. by Susan B. Neuman and David K. Dickinson. Guilford Press, 2011) Second-Language Learners and Vocabulary Acquisition The mechanics of vocabulary learning are still something of a mystery, but one thing we can be sure of is that words are not instantaneously acquired, at least not for adult second language learners. Rather, they are gradually learned over a period of time from numerous exposures. This incremental nature of  vocabulary acquisition  manifests itself in a number of ways. . . . Being able to understand a word is known as  receptive knowledge  and is normally connected with listening and reading. If we are able to produce a word of our own accord when speaking or writing, then that is considered  productive knowledge  (passive/active  are alternative terms). . . .[F]raming mastery of a word only in terms of receptive versus productive knowledge is far too crude. . . . Nation (1990, p.31) proposes the following list of the different kinds of knowledge that a person must master in order to know a word. - the meaning(s) of the word- the written form of the word- the spoken form of the word- the grammatical behavior of the word- the collocations of the word- the register of the word- the associations of the word- the frequency of the word These are known as types of word knowledge, and most or all of them are necessary to be able to use a word in the wide variety of language situations one comes across. (Norbert Schmitt,  Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press, 2000)Several of our own studies . . . have explored the use of annotations in second-language multimedia environments for reading and listening comprehension. These studies investigated how the availability of visual and verbal annotations for vocabulary items in the text facilitates vocabulary acquisition as well as the comprehension of a foreign language literary text. We found that especially the availability of picture annotations facilitated vocabulary acquisition, and that vocabulary words learned with picture annotations were better retained than those learned with textual annotations (Chun Plass, 1996a). Our research showed in addition that incidental vocabulary acquisition and text comprehension was best for words where learners looked up both picture and text annotations (Plass et al., 1998). (Jan L. Plass and Linda C. Jones, Multimedia Learning in Second Language Acquisition. The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, ed. by Richard E. Mayer. Cambridge University Press, 2005)There is a quantitative and qualitative dimension to vocabulary acquisition. On the one hand we can ask How many words do learners know? while on the other we can enquire What do the learners know about the words they know? Curtis (1987) refers to this important distinction as the breadth and depth of a persons lexicon. The focus of much vocabulary research has been on breadth, possibly because this is easier to measure. Arguably, however, it is more important to investigate how learners knowledge of words they already partly know gradually deepens. (Rod Ellis, Factors in the Incidental Acquisition of Second Language Vocabulary From Oral Input. Learning a Second Language Through Interaction, ed. by Rod Ellis. John Benjamins, 1999 )

Bhutan s Gross National Happiness - 1332 Words

Bhutan s gross national happiness If you don t know about Bhutan s government and their focus over the past forty years than you should, you and people in your community might want to take a closer look at this small country and how it is impacting the world. Bhutan is a small country located in the himalayas between China and India and is one of the happiest countries in the world because the government has focused on following the four pillars of happiness. Each pillar supports and helps to provide the right environment for happiness, these pillars are compatible living conditions, religion, maintaining the environment, and reliable government support. Bhutan s government has decided to take this radical approach, helping its citizens by trying to improve the nation s gross national happiness. Bhutan has stayed relatively poor in wealth but rich in culture and happiness. Only recently has Bhutan started building cities and roads but the country is careful not to jump into an industrial revolution like many countries already have. Bhutan has been careful to slowly bring western culture and technology into their country hoping to preserve their culture and lifestyle. Although Bhutan can only give an estimate on their population most people still live in small villages and rely use sustenance farming, and only recently have they made small cities for people to come to. According to the Asian Development Bank Bhutan small economy results in â€Å"On average, food accountsShow MoreRelatedSummary Of Barbara Kingsolver s Stone Soup Essay1251 Words   |  6 Pagestime, it really isn’t negative. Kingsolver and White argue that the normal mindset is married parents equals happy children. This whole idea is spread out throughout so many media outlets, most of which don’t know the particular situation. Blink 182’s song, ‘Stay together for the kids’ argues that rather than fixing their problems, parents never solve them. Lyrically written: â€Å"If it is what they he wants and what she wants then why is their so much pain?†. To people like Kingsolver and White, thisRead MoreEducation System in Bhutan3178 Words   |  13 Pagesâ€Æ'  ¬Ã‚ ¬ Acknowledgement Getting this research done was a team effort. Our sincere appreciation goes to Mr. Sangay Tenzin, examination controller of Bhutan council for School Examination and Assessment, for his kind support to get standardized test scores of tenth and twelfth standard; Mr. Sonam Gyeltshen working under Bhutan council for School Examination and Assessment staffed under IT Department for his tireless work in getting the scores and providing us with the same; Dr. Shivaraj Bhattarai deanRead MoreDemocracy in Bhutan9371 Words   |  38 Pages of democracy in Bhutan and Tonga Naizang (November 7th, 2012) Acknowledgement I wish to thank and acknowledge my module tutor Mr. Sabarjeet Mukherjee and Mr. Mahindra Balasuriya for guiding me throughout my research. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my colleagues for their advice and help. Abstract A comparative analysis of democracy in Bhutan and in Tonga has notRead MoreLimitation of National Income4235 Words   |  17 Pagesis real national output per head of population or real GDP per capita. This is the value of national output divided by the resident population. Other things being equal, a sustained increase in real GDP increases a nation’s standard of living providing that output rises faster than the total population.   However it must be remembered that real income per capita on its own is both an inaccurate and insufficient indicator of true living standards both within and between countries. National income dataRead MoreSustainability, Well Being, Welfare Essay1996 Words   |  8 Pagesharvest more than what the timberland yields in new development The word Nachhaltigkeit (the German expression for sustainability) was initially utilized with this significance as a part of 1713. The worry with safeguarding normal assets for what s to come is perpetual, obviously: without a doubt our Palaeolithic progenitors stressed over their prey getting to be wiped out, and early agriculturists more likely than not been uneasy about keeping up soil richness. Customary convictions charged thinkingRead MoreEco-Buddhism7194 Words   |  29 Pagestrained into violent forms of aggression. Now that we have ‘accidentally’ acquired the capacity to destroy the climate of this planet, what will we call upon to restrain ourselves in time? Technological prowess alone cannot confer contentment or happiness on us: in ‘advanced’ societies, the rates of anxiety, stress and mental illness are greater than ever previously recorded.  [  On a physical level too, cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory and auto-immune disease as well as diverse ‘functional

Health Care Usa vs. France Free Essays

Comparison of the Health Care Systems: France and the United States| Yet in 1948 the United Nations proclaimed that, â€Å"everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care. † We should understand that health care should be considered a human right, rather than an economical benefit. However, there are two hundred countries in the World and many of them still lack an adequate health care system. We will write a custom essay sample on Health Care Usa vs. France or any similar topic only for you Order Now Throughout the World health, except the U. S. , care systems tend to follow general patterns. There are four basic models: Beveridge, Bismarck, the National health insurance, and the out-of-pocket. The Beveridge model named after the founder of British health care system William Beveridge. According to McCanne (2010), the majority of hospitals and clinics are owned by government. In this model the government is a sole payer, which controls the costs of medical expenses. Therefore, there is the tendency for low cost per capita. The second model of health care named after a founder of European welfare Otto von Bismarck. The major principle of this system based on the insurance plans, which financed jointly by employers and employees. Moreover, the insurance plans are non-profit and cover everyone. The government tightly regulates and controls the health system, that allows to keep low medical costs. The third model is a the National health insurance model. It uses private sector of health providers, but payments come from a government based insurance, to which every citizen must pay. The National health insurance controls and keeps low prices for medical services, and tend to be cheaper and simpler administratively. The last and most disorganized health system follows the out-of-pocket model. The major principle of that system based on the money and basically people with money can get the medical assistance, whereas poor get sicker or die. According to the World health report (2000) released by World Health Organization, France is the country that provides the best health care. The same report states, â€Å"The U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance. † The question is, why equally strong, politically and economically, countries have such significant difference of health care performance? Certainly, one of the major dissimilarity of the systems is the difference of health care models. The French health system rigorously follows only one, as most of European countries, the Bismarck’s model. At first glance it seems to be very similar to the American; both countries widely use an insurance system, where employers and employee are both responsible for an insurance payment. However, in contrast to USA, the biggest fundamental difference between the two systems is that the Bismarck-type health insurance plans have to cover everybody, and they do not make a profit. Opposite to France, the United States of America does not follow any of the models of health care. American health care system have elements of all of the models. When it comes to treating veterans, it becomes a government owned and controlled system, as Beveridge model. For Medicare dependant Americans and population over the age of 65, our health care system uses the model of National Health Insurance, otherwise known as universal health system, which tends to be cheaper and simpler. The health care system of a working population, who gets insurance through the employer, is more aligned with the Bismarck model. Finally, for those fifteen percent of Americans, who do not have any health care insurance the current system becomes an Out-of-Pocket Model, which is primarily used in Third World countries. Most of health care industries in the World, in order to be efficient, try to meet only three of the models, but very important basics: costs, quality and access. All those major elements of a health care system have a complex and often challenging nature; they often interlace with each other, what leads to a conglomerate of hard solvable health care issues. For example, the quality of care is tightly bounded to the cost of therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. Consequently, the high cost of health care puts access restrictions for certain populations. Therefore, one of the major health industry concerns is access to quality and affordable health care. The French health care system combines universal coverage with a public–private mix of hospital and ambulatory care, higher levels of resources, and a higher volume of service provision than in the United States (Rodwin, 1993) As shown in Table 1, France has a higher physicians’ density per population than USA. Moreover, there is a significant difference, of more than 50%, between physicians of general practice and more disparity in more specialized practices. It demonstrates that French health care is based on more generalized medicine, than the US, where high costly specialty medicine is common practice. Table 1, Health Care Resources: France and United States, 1997–2000. American Journal of Public Health 2003 Resources| France| US| Active physicians per 1000 population| 3. 3 | 2. 8| Active physicians in private, office-based practice per 1000 population| 1. 9| 1. | General/family practice, %| 53. 3| 22. 5| Obstetricians, pediatricians, and internists, %| 7. 5| 35. 6| Other specialists, %| 39. 2| 41. 0| Non-physician personnel per acute hospital bed| 1. 9 | 5. 7 | Total inpatient hospital beds per 1000 population| 8. 5| 3. 7| Short-stay hospital beds per 1000 population| 4. 0| 3. 0| Share of public beds, %| 64. 2| 19. 2| Share of private beds, %| 35. 8| 80. 8| Proprietary beds as p ercentage of private beds, %| 56| 12| Nonprofit beds as percentage of private beds, %| 44| 88| Share of proprietary beds, %| 27| 10. 7| France and the U. S. ace a crises of unprecedented scope. Both countries possess large and growing elderly populations that threaten to push the pace of health care price increases even higher than their already faster-than-inflation rates. (Dutton, 2011) However, France has wide access to comprehensive health services for a population that is, on average, older than that of the United States (Rodwin, 1993). France and the United States, relies on both private insurance and government insurance. In both countries, working populations generally receive their insurance through their employer. However, French health care s based on the National Health Insurance and there is no uninsured population. French national insurance covers about 70 percent of the medical bills, the rest of the 30 percents is paid by private insurance companies, which are typica lly provided and paid by employer. Furthermore, contradictory to the common American opinion, that universal health care system does not allow one to choose doctors, hospitals and clinics, French people are not restricted in their choice of medical professionals and institutions, and they freely navigate themselves from doctor to doctor (Imai, Jacobzone, Lenain, 2000). In contrast to that, certain American HMOs allow their members to visit doctors strictly in their systems. The other tremendous distinction of the French health care system is that there is no discrimination of people with preexisting conditions. Moreover, individuals with preexisting conditions have a priority and receive more coverage; patients with long-standing diseases, such as mental illness, cancer, diabetes, obtain 100 percent governmental support for all medical expenses, including surgeries, therapy and pharmaceutical agents (Imai et. al. , 2000). At a final point, most of American’s health budget oriented on the end of life diseases, which as a rule, heavily involve costly sophisticated technology and procedures, that enormously brings operating cost up. At the same time USA still neglects major successful health care steps such as disease prevention and public health education. This perhaps explains, in spite of impressive achievements in the biomedical science and technology the US do not have a better health care performance. References Dutton,V. P. (2011). Health care in France and the United States: Learning from each other. Imai, Y. Jacobzone, S. , Lenain, P. (2000). The changing health system in France. France: Economics department, organization for economic cooperation and development. p. 268. McCanne, D. (2010). Health Care Systems – Four Basic Models. Physicians for a National Health Program, p. 1 Rodwin V, Sandier S. 2003; Health care under French national health insurance. 12(3):113–131. Ameri can Journal of Public Health 2003 The universal declaration of human rights. Article 25. (1948) World Health Organization, (2000). The world health report 2000 – World Health Organization Assesses the World’s Health Systems. How to cite Health Care Usa vs. France, Essay examples

Health Care Usa vs. France Free Essays

Comparison of the Health Care Systems: France and the United States| Yet in 1948 the United Nations proclaimed that, â€Å"everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care. † We should understand that health care should be considered a human right, rather than an economical benefit. However, there are two hundred countries in the World and many of them still lack an adequate health care system. We will write a custom essay sample on Health Care Usa vs. France or any similar topic only for you Order Now Throughout the World health, except the U. S. , care systems tend to follow general patterns. There are four basic models: Beveridge, Bismarck, the National health insurance, and the out-of-pocket. The Beveridge model named after the founder of British health care system William Beveridge. According to McCanne (2010), the majority of hospitals and clinics are owned by government. In this model the government is a sole payer, which controls the costs of medical expenses. Therefore, there is the tendency for low cost per capita. The second model of health care named after a founder of European welfare Otto von Bismarck. The major principle of this system based on the insurance plans, which financed jointly by employers and employees. Moreover, the insurance plans are non-profit and cover everyone. The government tightly regulates and controls the health system, that allows to keep low medical costs. The third model is a the National health insurance model. It uses private sector of health providers, but payments come from a government based insurance, to which every citizen must pay. The National health insurance controls and keeps low prices for medical services, and tend to be cheaper and simpler administratively. The last and most disorganized health system follows the out-of-pocket model. The major principle of that system based on the money and basically people with money can get the medical assistance, whereas poor get sicker or die. According to the World health report (2000) released by World Health Organization, France is the country that provides the best health care. The same report states, â€Å"The U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance. † The question is, why equally strong, politically and economically, countries have such significant difference of health care performance? Certainly, one of the major dissimilarity of the systems is the difference of health care models. The French health system rigorously follows only one, as most of European countries, the Bismarck’s model. At first glance it seems to be very similar to the American; both countries widely use an insurance system, where employers and employee are both responsible for an insurance payment. However, in contrast to USA, the biggest fundamental difference between the two systems is that the Bismarck-type health insurance plans have to cover everybody, and they do not make a profit. Opposite to France, the United States of America does not follow any of the models of health care. American health care system have elements of all of the models. When it comes to treating veterans, it becomes a government owned and controlled system, as Beveridge model. For Medicare dependant Americans and population over the age of 65, our health care system uses the model of National Health Insurance, otherwise known as universal health system, which tends to be cheaper and simpler. The health care system of a working population, who gets insurance through the employer, is more aligned with the Bismarck model. Finally, for those fifteen percent of Americans, who do not have any health care insurance the current system becomes an Out-of-Pocket Model, which is primarily used in Third World countries. Most of health care industries in the World, in order to be efficient, try to meet only three of the models, but very important basics: costs, quality and access. All those major elements of a health care system have a complex and often challenging nature; they often interlace with each other, what leads to a conglomerate of hard solvable health care issues. For example, the quality of care is tightly bounded to the cost of therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. Consequently, the high cost of health care puts access restrictions for certain populations. Therefore, one of the major health industry concerns is access to quality and affordable health care. The French health care system combines universal coverage with a public–private mix of hospital and ambulatory care, higher levels of resources, and a higher volume of service provision than in the United States (Rodwin, 1993) As shown in Table 1, France has a higher physicians’ density per population than USA. Moreover, there is a significant difference, of more than 50%, between physicians of general practice and more disparity in more specialized practices. It demonstrates that French health care is based on more generalized medicine, than the US, where high costly specialty medicine is common practice. Table 1, Health Care Resources: France and United States, 1997–2000. American Journal of Public Health 2003 Resources| France| US| Active physicians per 1000 population| 3. 3 | 2. 8| Active physicians in private, office-based practice per 1000 population| 1. 9| 1. | General/family practice, %| 53. 3| 22. 5| Obstetricians, pediatricians, and internists, %| 7. 5| 35. 6| Other specialists, %| 39. 2| 41. 0| Non-physician personnel per acute hospital bed| 1. 9 | 5. 7 | Total inpatient hospital beds per 1000 population| 8. 5| 3. 7| Short-stay hospital beds per 1000 population| 4. 0| 3. 0| Share of public beds, %| 64. 2| 19. 2| Share of private beds, %| 35. 8| 80. 8| Proprietary beds as p ercentage of private beds, %| 56| 12| Nonprofit beds as percentage of private beds, %| 44| 88| Share of proprietary beds, %| 27| 10. 7| France and the U. S. ace a crises of unprecedented scope. Both countries possess large and growing elderly populations that threaten to push the pace of health care price increases even higher than their already faster-than-inflation rates. (Dutton, 2011) However, France has wide access to comprehensive health services for a population that is, on average, older than that of the United States (Rodwin, 1993). France and the United States, relies on both private insurance and government insurance. In both countries, working populations generally receive their insurance through their employer. However, French health care s based on the National Health Insurance and there is no uninsured population. French national insurance covers about 70 percent of the medical bills, the rest of the 30 percents is paid by private insurance companies, which are typica lly provided and paid by employer. Furthermore, contradictory to the common American opinion, that universal health care system does not allow one to choose doctors, hospitals and clinics, French people are not restricted in their choice of medical professionals and institutions, and they freely navigate themselves from doctor to doctor (Imai, Jacobzone, Lenain, 2000). In contrast to that, certain American HMOs allow their members to visit doctors strictly in their systems. The other tremendous distinction of the French health care system is that there is no discrimination of people with preexisting conditions. Moreover, individuals with preexisting conditions have a priority and receive more coverage; patients with long-standing diseases, such as mental illness, cancer, diabetes, obtain 100 percent governmental support for all medical expenses, including surgeries, therapy and pharmaceutical agents (Imai et. al. , 2000). At a final point, most of American’s health budget oriented on the end of life diseases, which as a rule, heavily involve costly sophisticated technology and procedures, that enormously brings operating cost up. At the same time USA still neglects major successful health care steps such as disease prevention and public health education. This perhaps explains, in spite of impressive achievements in the biomedical science and technology the US do not have a better health care performance. References Dutton,V. P. (2011). Health care in France and the United States: Learning from each other. Imai, Y. Jacobzone, S. , Lenain, P. (2000). The changing health system in France. France: Economics department, organization for economic cooperation and development. p. 268. McCanne, D. (2010). Health Care Systems – Four Basic Models. Physicians for a National Health Program, p. 1 Rodwin V, Sandier S. 2003; Health care under French national health insurance. 12(3):113–131. Ameri can Journal of Public Health 2003 The universal declaration of human rights. Article 25. (1948) World Health Organization, (2000). The world health report 2000 – World Health Organization Assesses the World’s Health Systems. How to cite Health Care Usa vs. France, Essay examples