Grammatical gender Essay Example

Grammatical gender Essay An analysis of cohesive devices in reading texts in English 11 / Hoang Tra My PART 1: I TRODUCTIO 1. Rationale Among all skills which students need to master in English, reading is considered to be very important because it helps students to get materials for other skills. To learn reading well, it is necessary for students to comprehend sufficient language base, one of which is the cohesion in the text. Because of the importance of cohesion in comprehending a text, this small study on discourse analysis of cohesive devices is decided to be carried out. . Aims of the Study: The study aims: to describe and analyze lexical and grammatical cohesive devices in the new English textbook 11; to give some suggestions for teaching reading skill for 11th grade students. In order to achieve the aims stated, the study is meant to find out the answers to the two following research questions: 1. What are the grammatical and lexical cohesive devices used in reading texts in English textbook 11? 2 . How can the findings help English teachers and 11th grade students to improve reading skill? 3.Scope of the Study Because of the lack of time and the paper size, it is unable for all the issues of discourse to be analyzed. The study focuses on the grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in reading texts in the new English textbook 11. 4. Significance of the Study The study contributes to verifying the correctness and significance related to linguistic theories in discourse analysis by analyzing discourse in one specific textbook. In addition, the practical significance of the study is to help 11th grade students and teachers in reading skill by applying the knowledge of cohesion. 5.Methods of the Study: descriptive, statistical and analytical methods 6. Design of the Study The minor thesis consists of three parts: 2 Part 1 is The Introduction Part 2 is The Development which is divided into three chapters: Literature Review, Methodology and Major Findings and Discussions Part 3 is The Conclusion 3 PART 2: DEVELOPME T CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Discourse and Discourse Analysis 1. 1. The Concept of Discourse Discourse is defined in various ways by different scholars and authors, however, the definition given by Halliday and Hasan (1976) is regarded as the simplest and the clearest to follow.Halliday and Hasan (1976: 38) state that discourse is language that is functional. It means that discourse is â€Å"language in use†. 1. 2. Text and Discourse In the view of Halliday and Hasan (1976: 23), â€Å"text† is employed to refer to â€Å"discourse†; they see â€Å"text† as a â€Å"semantic unit† characterized by cohesion. Sharing the same ideas, Brown Yule (1983) support that text is the representation of discourse and the verbal record of a communicative act. In other words, they all view the notion of text is the representation of discourse, text is the form of discourse and they have a close relationship. 1. 3.Spoken a nd Written Discourse Spoken and written language can be also distinguished by different functions. According to Brown and Yule (1983: 13), the function of spoken language is mainly to establish and maintain human relationship whereas written language has functions to store information from time and space and to permit words and sentences to be examined out of their original contexts. 1. 4. Discourse Analysis In the view of Brown and Yule (1983: viii), discourse analysis is concerned with a broad range of activities including many disciplines from sociolinguistics, philosophical linguistics to computational linguistics.To be clearer, Brown and Yule (1983: 1) write, â€Å"the analysis of discourse is, necessarily, the analysis of language in use. As such, it cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms independent of the purposes of functions which these forms are designed to serve human affairs†. 1. 5. Context in Discourse Analysis According to Nunan, D (1993: 7 ), context is the situation in which discourse is embedded. Context may be understood as all factors and elements that are non-linguistic and textual which affect spoken or written communication interaction..However, in the view of Malinowski (1923) and Halliday M. A. K (1985: 52) context is divided as â€Å"context of situation† and â€Å"context of culture†. 4 1. 6. Register and Genre in Discourse Analysis According to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 41), register is language variety according to use. Register is featured by â€Å"field†, â€Å"tenor† and â€Å"mode†. The concept of genre is defined in terms of culture context. Eggins (1994: 32) defines genre as follow: Genre, or context of culture, can be seen as more abstract, more general – we can recognize a particular genre if we are not sure exactly what the situational context is.Genre, then, can be thought of as the general framework that gives purpose to interactions of particular types , adaptable to the many specific contexts of situation that they get used in. 2. Cohesion 2. 1. The Concept of Cohesion Cohesion is defined in the relation with text. It is concerned with the grammatical and lexical relationship among different factors in a text. 2. 2. Cohesion vs. Coherence Cohesion is a formal network which connects or links many parts of a text together by grammar or words. Meanwhile, coherence is the connections which bring interpretation of linguistic messages. 2. 3. Aspects of Cohesion 2. 3. 1.Topical Cohesion Topic is concerned with the description of sentence structure which contains the topic or theme and the comment or rheme. 2. 3. 2. Logical Cohesion Hoa, N (2000: 28) indicates that â€Å"logical cohesive devices are also powerful sentence connectors. They demonstrate the logical relationships holding between sentences, thus creating or expressing cohesion. † Cohesive devices can be divided into some types as: And, Enumeration, Addition, Transition , Summation, Apposition, Result, Inference, Reformulation or replacement, Contrast, Concession, and Comparison. 2. 4. Types of Cohesion 2. 4. 1. Grammatical Cohesion 2. . 1. 1. Reference In the view of Halliday and Hasan (1976: 32), reference is a semantic relation and â€Å"since the relationship is on the semantic level, the reference item is in no way constrain to match the grammatical class of the item it refers to†. The two scholars also distinguish reference into 5 three types: anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric. Reference items in English include three types: personal reference, demonstrative reference and comparative reference. 2. 4. 1. 2. Substitution Halliday and Hasan (1976: 89) divides substitution into three main types namely: nominal, verbal and clausal substitution. . 4. 1. 3. Ellipsis In Halliday and Hasan’s point of view (1976: 142), ellipsis is â€Å"the omission of certain elements from a sentence, allowed by context† 2. 4. 1. 4. Conjunction Halliday and Hasan (1976: 242-243) divide conjunction into four types including additive, adversative, casual and temporal. 2. 4. 2. Lexical cohesion 2. 4. 2. 1. Reiteration Reiteration is regarded as a significant feature of textuality. Reiteration can be divided into five subtypes, namely repetition, synonym or near-synonym, super-ordinate and general words. 2. 4. 2. 2.Collocation According to Halliday and Hassan (1976) â€Å"word combination† or â€Å"word co-occurrence† is known as collocation which brings a particular sense or meaning. Collocation has two subtypes: grammatical collocation and lexical collocation. The first one usually contains a lexical content word and a grammar function word. There are four main types of grammatical collocation: V + Prep, Adj + Prep, + Prep, Prep + . The second one is restricted by word pairs. Lexical collocation do not contain preposition but consist of various combinations of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.They can be se en in following common patterns: Adj + V, Adv + Adj, + . , Quant + ,V+ , + V, V + Adv, V + Adj, V + 6 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 1. An Overview of the English Textbook 11 1. 1. The Role of the English Textbook in English Language Teaching English textbooks give primary supplements to teachers to plan their lessons appropriately and perfectively. 1. 2. Description of the English Textbook 11 English 11, including sixteen units for two semesters, follows the theme-based approach and is developed on six broad themes, that is, You and me, Education, Community, ature and Environment, Recreation and People and Places.Each theme, in its turn, is broken into subthemes or topics which are used as titles for sixteen units in English 11. 2. Research Methodology 2. 1. Materials for Analysis All materials used for analyzing in this study are extracted from sixteen reading texts in English 11. 2. 2. Methods of the Study This study aims at investigating the frequency of the use of cohesive devices in r eading texts in English 11 to obtain the data for the study, some steps below are followed. Steps 1: Determine the Research Topic Step 2: Determine and Define the Research Questions Step 3: Build the framework for he study Step 4: Collect the Data Step 5: Analyze the Data Step 6: Give Conclusions and Suggestions for 11th Grade Students in Learning Reading 2. 3. Data Collection Procedures After deciding on the research topic, research questions and building the study framework, the researcher has taken time to collect the data. The methods of descriptive and statistical have been used to gather the data. 2. 4. Data Analysis Procedures Analytical method has been restored to when dealing with data. 7 CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FI DI GS A D DISCUSSIO 1. Grammatical Cohesion 1. . Reference Reference Anaphoric Cataphoric Exophoric umber of items 422 53 120 Percentage 70. 9 8. 9 20. 2 Total 595 Table 1: The percentage of different types of reference 1. 1. 1. Anaphoric Reference The total pattern of markers takes up 241 items. All seven patterns of markers appearing in anaphoric reference are definite article, personal pronoun, demonstrative pronoun, comparative adverb, comparative adjective and demonstrative adverb. The table below shows the data of seven patterns in 16 reading passages in the English 11.Anaphoric reference Definite article Personal pronoun Demonstrative pronoun Comparative adjective Personal determiner Comparative adverb Demonstrative adverb umber of items 126 171 27 7 86 5 0 % 29. 9 40. 5 6. 4 1. 7 20. 4 1. 2 0. 0 422 Total Table 2: The percentage of different types of reference words for anaphoric ties 1. 1. 2. Cataphoric Reference Cataphoric reference Definite article Personal pronoun Demonstrative pronoun Comparative adjective Personal determiner Comparative adverb Demonstrative adverb umber of items 35 4 4 3 1 3 3 % 66 7. 5 7. 5 5. 7 1. 9 5. 7 5. Total 53 Table 3: The percentage of different types of reference words for cataphoric ties 8 Cataphoric refer ence accounts for the smallest part of reference, however, it is vital to vary the direction of reference and create the cohesion of the text. Surprisingly, the definite article takes up the largest ties with 35 ties accounting for 66%. . 1. 1. 3. Exophoric Reference Exophoric reference Definite article Personal pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Comparative adjective Personal determiner Comparative adverb Demonstrative adverb umber of items 92 14 1 7 5 0 1 % 76. 7 11. 0. 8 5. 8 4. 2 0. 0 0. 8 Total 120 Table 4: The percentage of different types of reference words for exophoric ties Exophoric reference refers to objects or events which are out of language and it can be understood by all people without relation to the meaning of the text. For this reason, it does not have much value in connecting the text together. 1. 2. Substitution Type of substitution Nominal Verbal Clausal umber of items 15 0 1 % 93. 8 0. 0 6. 2 Total 16 Table 5: The percentage of substitution in English 11 Substitu tion occupies a very low frequency of occurrence.There are only 16 ties of substitution in 16 reading texts. Surprisingly, nominal substitution takes up 15 ties, representing for 93. 8% of total. 1. 3. Ellipsis Sixteen reading passages in English 11 consist of 29 ellipsis items including all three classes namely nominal, verbal and clausal, which are presented in the table below: Type of ellipsis Nominal Verbal Clausal umber of items 18 6 5 % 62. 1 20. 7 17. 2 Total 29 Table 6: The percentage of ellipsis in English 11 9 Firstly, in sixteen reading texts, nominal ellipsis occupies the largest percentage with eighteen items, representing for 62. %. Secondly, verbal ellipsis takes up only six items, accounting for 20. 7%. These six items occur in four units: 5, 6, 7 and 16. Lastly, clausal ellipsis accounts for the smallest number with five items for 17. 2%. Five elliptical items appear in unit 1, 2 and 3. 1. 4. Conjunction Type of conjunction Additive Temporal Causal Adversative umber of items 183 66 13 27 % 63. 3 22. 8 4. 5 9. 4 Total 289 Table 7: The percentage of conjunction in English 11 At the first look, it can be seen that additive conjunction occupies the biggest percentage of the total.Additive conjunction takes up 183 items, accounting for 63. 3%. Temporal conjunction, which is used in rather high percentage, comes second with 66 items, accounting for 22. 8% of total. Adversative conjunction comes third with 27 items, representing for 9. 4%. Causal conjunction presents the lowest frequency of use with only 13 items, representing for 4. 5%. Causal conjunction stands at the lowest rank of conjunction with only 4. 5%. 2. Lexical Cohesion 2. 1. Reiteration Reiteration Repetition Synonym/ near-synonym Super-ordinate General word umber of items 709 111 188 27 Percentage 68. 10. 7 18. 2 2. 6 Total 1035 Table 8: The percentage of reiteration in English 11 As shown in the table, among the four types of reiteration, repetition is the most frequentlyused device w ith the percentage of up to 68. 5%. Super-ordinate ranking second takes up 18. 2%. Synonyms or near-synonym comes third with 10. 7%. General word accounts for the smallest portion of total with only 2. 6%. 2. 2. Collocation Collocation is divided into two types: grammatical and lexical collocation. Basing on the statistics from the analysis, the total of collocation patterns in sixteen reading passages in 0 English textbook 11 are 421 ties. Lexical collocation takes up 361 items, accounting for 85. 7% while grammatical collocation occupies only 60 items, representing for 14. 3%. 2. 2. 1. Lexical Collocation There are 361 lexical cohesion items used in sixteen reading passages in English 11, equivalent to 85. 7%. Lexical collocation can be analyzed basing on the data illustrated in the table below: Types of collocation Adj + N V+N N+N Quant + N V + Adj Adv + Adj V + Adv V+V N+V umber of items 121 91 74 48 8 2 7 1 9 % 33. 5 25. 2 20. 5 13. 3 2. 2 0. 6 1. 0. 3 2. 5 Total 361 Table 9: T he percentage of lexical collocation in English 11 2. 2. 2. Grammatical Collocation Grammatical collocation often consists of a lexical content word and a grammar function word. An overall picture of lexical collocation can be seen as follow: Types of collocation V + Prep Prep + N Adj + Prep N + Prep umber of items 33 10 15 2 % 55 16. 7 25 3. 3 60 Total Table 10: The percentage of grammatical collocation in English 11 3. Summary According to statistics above, the gap between grammatical and lexical cohesion is very big.While grammatical cohesion makes up 39%, lexical cohesion occupies 61%. The imbalance between grammatical and lexical cohesion is due to the ways of word combination. 11 PART 3: CO CLUSIO S 1. Conclusions Basing on all the statistics and analyses on the grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in sixteen reading passages above, the researcher comes to conclusions as follows: Firstly, these texts are highly cohesive. This can be proved by the number of cohesive ties us ed in 16 reading texts.The total number of cohesion ties used in sixteen passages is 2385, so in a text, there are about 150 cohesion ties, accounting for a half of it in terms of word count. Secondly, the use of cohesion in one text is different from others. Thirdly, the use of lexical cohesive devices is much more than grammatical cohesive devices in sixteen reading passages. Fourthly, with respect to grammatical cohesive devices, reference, conjunction, substitution and ellipsis are seen in their most common features. In terms of reference, it accounts for the highest rate in all sixteen reading passages.In terms of conjunction, its use in sixteen reading passages is special because in each text, some typical types of conjunction are employed. In terms of substitution and ellipsis, they present for a very small percentage, this proves the simplicity of sixteen reading texts because the high frequent use of substitution and ellipsis can make the texts more difficult and complicate d to understand and without the knowledge of substitution and ellipsis, students may misunderstand and misinterpret the text. Fifthly, with respect to lexical cohesion, reiteration and collocation are seen in their most popular features.In terms of reiteration, repetition seems to be overused while a very small percentage of synonym/ near-synonym, antonym, super-ordinate and general word are employed in these sixteen reading texts. In terms of collocation, lexical collocation occupies more percentage than grammatical collocation because of different ways of combination. 2. Suggestions 2. 1. Suggestions for English Teachers and Learners English teachers should provide students with knowledge of cohesion which is considered to be an effective means to help them in reading skill.Furthermore, English teachers are suggested to raise students’ awareness of the importance of cohesive devices. English teachers can also take advantage of cohesion in teaching vocabulary. Finally, whene ver students do the exercises related to cohesion knowledge, teachers should remind them. By this way, students can apply cohesion in dealing with the exercises of the same types. Basing on the statistics given above, some significant features of reading texts in English 11 are drawn out and some suggestions for 11th grade students are proposed.Firstly, reference is used in a very high rate in these reading passages, and anaphoric should be paid more 12 attention because of its value in connecting texts together. Secondly, substitution and ellipsis are used in small percentages in these reading texts. In terms of substitution, teachers had better remind students when dealing with unit 4 and unit 13. Because ellipsis occurs many times in four units: unit 1, 5, 6 and 7, students are advised to think about them when learning these units. Thirdly, conjunction is used to organize the structure of the reading passages.In reading process, 11th grade students should consider the ways the te xts are written in. For example, in unit 1 and 7 all the ideas are constructed by listing. Lastly, in reiteration cohesion, synonym or near-synonym is regarded as the most important issue to 11th grade students. English teachers can apply synonym and super-ordinate to teach new words. 2. 2. Suggested Cohesion Exercises for English Teachers and Learners Cohesive devices can be seen in various forms of reading exercises or reading tasks. Two most significant forms of reading tasks for cohesion are gap-filling and true-false.Besides gap-filling and true – false exercises, there are also various forms of exercises. The first one is multiple-choice. Secondly, finding equivalents exercises are also employed to treat with synonym and antonym words. The last one is matching exercise, which designed to solve with vocabulary. 3. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies Firstly, because there is no content-focus in these reading texts, the results of this research can not actuall y show the most typical features of the reading texts as a whole, but in themes or in units only.Secondly, due to the limitation of the paper size, on discussing each type of cohesion, only some examples from one or two units are proposed. Lastly, applications of cohesion in other skills such as speaking, listening, writing have not been stated. Due to the constraint in time, all the issues of the related to the study cannot be covered. I do hope to develop this topic with a larger range of topic as follow: The study of grammatical cohesive devices in English 10, 11 and 12. The study of lexical cohesive devices in English 10, 11 and 12. The study of cohesive devices in reading texts in English 10, 11 and 12. Grammatical gender Essay Example Grammatical gender Essay An analysis of cohesive devices in reading texts in English 11 / Hoang Tra My PART 1: I TRODUCTIO 1. Rationale Among all skills which students need to master in English, reading is considered to be very important because it helps students to get materials for other skills. To learn reading well, it is necessary for students to comprehend sufficient language base, one of which is the cohesion in the text. Because of the importance of cohesion in comprehending a text, this small study on discourse analysis of cohesive devices is decided to be carried out. . Aims of the Study: The study aims: to describe and analyze lexical and grammatical cohesive devices in the new English textbook 11; to give some suggestions for teaching reading skill for 11th grade students. In order to achieve the aims stated, the study is meant to find out the answers to the two following research questions: 1. What are the grammatical and lexical cohesive devices used in reading texts in English textbook 11? 2 . How can the findings help English teachers and 11th grade students to improve reading skill? 3.Scope of the Study Because of the lack of time and the paper size, it is unable for all the issues of discourse to be analyzed. The study focuses on the grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in reading texts in the new English textbook 11. 4. Significance of the Study The study contributes to verifying the correctness and significance related to linguistic theories in discourse analysis by analyzing discourse in one specific textbook. In addition, the practical significance of the study is to help 11th grade students and teachers in reading skill by applying the knowledge of cohesion. 5.Methods of the Study: descriptive, statistical and analytical methods 6. Design of the Study The minor thesis consists of three parts: 2 Part 1 is The Introduction Part 2 is The Development which is divided into three chapters: Literature Review, Methodology and Major Findings and Discussions Part 3 is The Conclusion 3 PART 2: DEVELOPME T CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Discourse and Discourse Analysis 1. 1. The Concept of Discourse Discourse is defined in various ways by different scholars and authors, however, the definition given by Halliday and Hasan (1976) is regarded as the simplest and the clearest to follow.Halliday and Hasan (1976: 38) state that discourse is language that is functional. It means that discourse is â€Å"language in use†. 1. 2. Text and Discourse In the view of Halliday and Hasan (1976: 23), â€Å"text† is employed to refer to â€Å"discourse†; they see â€Å"text† as a â€Å"semantic unit† characterized by cohesion. Sharing the same ideas, Brown Yule (1983) support that text is the representation of discourse and the verbal record of a communicative act. In other words, they all view the notion of text is the representation of discourse, text is the form of discourse and they have a close relationship. 1. 3.Spoken a nd Written Discourse Spoken and written language can be also distinguished by different functions. According to Brown and Yule (1983: 13), the function of spoken language is mainly to establish and maintain human relationship whereas written language has functions to store information from time and space and to permit words and sentences to be examined out of their original contexts. 1. 4. Discourse Analysis In the view of Brown and Yule (1983: viii), discourse analysis is concerned with a broad range of activities including many disciplines from sociolinguistics, philosophical linguistics to computational linguistics.To be clearer, Brown and Yule (1983: 1) write, â€Å"the analysis of discourse is, necessarily, the analysis of language in use. As such, it cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms independent of the purposes of functions which these forms are designed to serve human affairs†. 1. 5. Context in Discourse Analysis According to Nunan, D (1993: 7 ), context is the situation in which discourse is embedded. Context may be understood as all factors and elements that are non-linguistic and textual which affect spoken or written communication interaction..However, in the view of Malinowski (1923) and Halliday M. A. K (1985: 52) context is divided as â€Å"context of situation† and â€Å"context of culture†. 4 1. 6. Register and Genre in Discourse Analysis According to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 41), register is language variety according to use. Register is featured by â€Å"field†, â€Å"tenor† and â€Å"mode†. The concept of genre is defined in terms of culture context. Eggins (1994: 32) defines genre as follow: Genre, or context of culture, can be seen as more abstract, more general – we can recognize a particular genre if we are not sure exactly what the situational context is.Genre, then, can be thought of as the general framework that gives purpose to interactions of particular types , adaptable to the many specific contexts of situation that they get used in. 2. Cohesion 2. 1. The Concept of Cohesion Cohesion is defined in the relation with text. It is concerned with the grammatical and lexical relationship among different factors in a text. 2. 2. Cohesion vs. Coherence Cohesion is a formal network which connects or links many parts of a text together by grammar or words. Meanwhile, coherence is the connections which bring interpretation of linguistic messages. 2. 3. Aspects of Cohesion 2. 3. 1.Topical Cohesion Topic is concerned with the description of sentence structure which contains the topic or theme and the comment or rheme. 2. 3. 2. Logical Cohesion Hoa, N (2000: 28) indicates that â€Å"logical cohesive devices are also powerful sentence connectors. They demonstrate the logical relationships holding between sentences, thus creating or expressing cohesion. † Cohesive devices can be divided into some types as: And, Enumeration, Addition, Transition , Summation, Apposition, Result, Inference, Reformulation or replacement, Contrast, Concession, and Comparison. 2. 4. Types of Cohesion 2. 4. 1. Grammatical Cohesion 2. . 1. 1. Reference In the view of Halliday and Hasan (1976: 32), reference is a semantic relation and â€Å"since the relationship is on the semantic level, the reference item is in no way constrain to match the grammatical class of the item it refers to†. The two scholars also distinguish reference into 5 three types: anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric. Reference items in English include three types: personal reference, demonstrative reference and comparative reference. 2. 4. 1. 2. Substitution Halliday and Hasan (1976: 89) divides substitution into three main types namely: nominal, verbal and clausal substitution. . 4. 1. 3. Ellipsis In Halliday and Hasan’s point of view (1976: 142), ellipsis is â€Å"the omission of certain elements from a sentence, allowed by context† 2. 4. 1. 4. Conjunction Halliday and Hasan (1976: 242-243) divide conjunction into four types including additive, adversative, casual and temporal. 2. 4. 2. Lexical cohesion 2. 4. 2. 1. Reiteration Reiteration is regarded as a significant feature of textuality. Reiteration can be divided into five subtypes, namely repetition, synonym or near-synonym, super-ordinate and general words. 2. 4. 2. 2.Collocation According to Halliday and Hassan (1976) â€Å"word combination† or â€Å"word co-occurrence† is known as collocation which brings a particular sense or meaning. Collocation has two subtypes: grammatical collocation and lexical collocation. The first one usually contains a lexical content word and a grammar function word. There are four main types of grammatical collocation: V + Prep, Adj + Prep, + Prep, Prep + . The second one is restricted by word pairs. Lexical collocation do not contain preposition but consist of various combinations of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.They can be se en in following common patterns: Adj + V, Adv + Adj, + . , Quant + ,V+ , + V, V + Adv, V + Adj, V + 6 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 1. An Overview of the English Textbook 11 1. 1. The Role of the English Textbook in English Language Teaching English textbooks give primary supplements to teachers to plan their lessons appropriately and perfectively. 1. 2. Description of the English Textbook 11 English 11, including sixteen units for two semesters, follows the theme-based approach and is developed on six broad themes, that is, You and me, Education, Community, ature and Environment, Recreation and People and Places.Each theme, in its turn, is broken into subthemes or topics which are used as titles for sixteen units in English 11. 2. Research Methodology 2. 1. Materials for Analysis All materials used for analyzing in this study are extracted from sixteen reading texts in English 11. 2. 2. Methods of the Study This study aims at investigating the frequency of the use of cohesive devices in r eading texts in English 11 to obtain the data for the study, some steps below are followed. Steps 1: Determine the Research Topic Step 2: Determine and Define the Research Questions Step 3: Build the framework for he study Step 4: Collect the Data Step 5: Analyze the Data Step 6: Give Conclusions and Suggestions for 11th Grade Students in Learning Reading 2. 3. Data Collection Procedures After deciding on the research topic, research questions and building the study framework, the researcher has taken time to collect the data. The methods of descriptive and statistical have been used to gather the data. 2. 4. Data Analysis Procedures Analytical method has been restored to when dealing with data. 7 CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FI DI GS A D DISCUSSIO 1. Grammatical Cohesion 1. . Reference Reference Anaphoric Cataphoric Exophoric umber of items 422 53 120 Percentage 70. 9 8. 9 20. 2 Total 595 Table 1: The percentage of different types of reference 1. 1. 1. Anaphoric Reference The total pattern of markers takes up 241 items. All seven patterns of markers appearing in anaphoric reference are definite article, personal pronoun, demonstrative pronoun, comparative adverb, comparative adjective and demonstrative adverb. The table below shows the data of seven patterns in 16 reading passages in the English 11.Anaphoric reference Definite article Personal pronoun Demonstrative pronoun Comparative adjective Personal determiner Comparative adverb Demonstrative adverb umber of items 126 171 27 7 86 5 0 % 29. 9 40. 5 6. 4 1. 7 20. 4 1. 2 0. 0 422 Total Table 2: The percentage of different types of reference words for anaphoric ties 1. 1. 2. Cataphoric Reference Cataphoric reference Definite article Personal pronoun Demonstrative pronoun Comparative adjective Personal determiner Comparative adverb Demonstrative adverb umber of items 35 4 4 3 1 3 3 % 66 7. 5 7. 5 5. 7 1. 9 5. 7 5. Total 53 Table 3: The percentage of different types of reference words for cataphoric ties 8 Cataphoric refer ence accounts for the smallest part of reference, however, it is vital to vary the direction of reference and create the cohesion of the text. Surprisingly, the definite article takes up the largest ties with 35 ties accounting for 66%. . 1. 1. 3. Exophoric Reference Exophoric reference Definite article Personal pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Comparative adjective Personal determiner Comparative adverb Demonstrative adverb umber of items 92 14 1 7 5 0 1 % 76. 7 11. 0. 8 5. 8 4. 2 0. 0 0. 8 Total 120 Table 4: The percentage of different types of reference words for exophoric ties Exophoric reference refers to objects or events which are out of language and it can be understood by all people without relation to the meaning of the text. For this reason, it does not have much value in connecting the text together. 1. 2. Substitution Type of substitution Nominal Verbal Clausal umber of items 15 0 1 % 93. 8 0. 0 6. 2 Total 16 Table 5: The percentage of substitution in English 11 Substitu tion occupies a very low frequency of occurrence.There are only 16 ties of substitution in 16 reading texts. Surprisingly, nominal substitution takes up 15 ties, representing for 93. 8% of total. 1. 3. Ellipsis Sixteen reading passages in English 11 consist of 29 ellipsis items including all three classes namely nominal, verbal and clausal, which are presented in the table below: Type of ellipsis Nominal Verbal Clausal umber of items 18 6 5 % 62. 1 20. 7 17. 2 Total 29 Table 6: The percentage of ellipsis in English 11 9 Firstly, in sixteen reading texts, nominal ellipsis occupies the largest percentage with eighteen items, representing for 62. %. Secondly, verbal ellipsis takes up only six items, accounting for 20. 7%. These six items occur in four units: 5, 6, 7 and 16. Lastly, clausal ellipsis accounts for the smallest number with five items for 17. 2%. Five elliptical items appear in unit 1, 2 and 3. 1. 4. Conjunction Type of conjunction Additive Temporal Causal Adversative umber of items 183 66 13 27 % 63. 3 22. 8 4. 5 9. 4 Total 289 Table 7: The percentage of conjunction in English 11 At the first look, it can be seen that additive conjunction occupies the biggest percentage of the total.Additive conjunction takes up 183 items, accounting for 63. 3%. Temporal conjunction, which is used in rather high percentage, comes second with 66 items, accounting for 22. 8% of total. Adversative conjunction comes third with 27 items, representing for 9. 4%. Causal conjunction presents the lowest frequency of use with only 13 items, representing for 4. 5%. Causal conjunction stands at the lowest rank of conjunction with only 4. 5%. 2. Lexical Cohesion 2. 1. Reiteration Reiteration Repetition Synonym/ near-synonym Super-ordinate General word umber of items 709 111 188 27 Percentage 68. 10. 7 18. 2 2. 6 Total 1035 Table 8: The percentage of reiteration in English 11 As shown in the table, among the four types of reiteration, repetition is the most frequentlyused device w ith the percentage of up to 68. 5%. Super-ordinate ranking second takes up 18. 2%. Synonyms or near-synonym comes third with 10. 7%. General word accounts for the smallest portion of total with only 2. 6%. 2. 2. Collocation Collocation is divided into two types: grammatical and lexical collocation. Basing on the statistics from the analysis, the total of collocation patterns in sixteen reading passages in 0 English textbook 11 are 421 ties. Lexical collocation takes up 361 items, accounting for 85. 7% while grammatical collocation occupies only 60 items, representing for 14. 3%. 2. 2. 1. Lexical Collocation There are 361 lexical cohesion items used in sixteen reading passages in English 11, equivalent to 85. 7%. Lexical collocation can be analyzed basing on the data illustrated in the table below: Types of collocation Adj + N V+N N+N Quant + N V + Adj Adv + Adj V + Adv V+V N+V umber of items 121 91 74 48 8 2 7 1 9 % 33. 5 25. 2 20. 5 13. 3 2. 2 0. 6 1. 0. 3 2. 5 Total 361 Table 9: T he percentage of lexical collocation in English 11 2. 2. 2. Grammatical Collocation Grammatical collocation often consists of a lexical content word and a grammar function word. An overall picture of lexical collocation can be seen as follow: Types of collocation V + Prep Prep + N Adj + Prep N + Prep umber of items 33 10 15 2 % 55 16. 7 25 3. 3 60 Total Table 10: The percentage of grammatical collocation in English 11 3. Summary According to statistics above, the gap between grammatical and lexical cohesion is very big.While grammatical cohesion makes up 39%, lexical cohesion occupies 61%. The imbalance between grammatical and lexical cohesion is due to the ways of word combination. 11 PART 3: CO CLUSIO S 1. Conclusions Basing on all the statistics and analyses on the grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in sixteen reading passages above, the researcher comes to conclusions as follows: Firstly, these texts are highly cohesive. This can be proved by the number of cohesive ties us ed in 16 reading texts.The total number of cohesion ties used in sixteen passages is 2385, so in a text, there are about 150 cohesion ties, accounting for a half of it in terms of word count. Secondly, the use of cohesion in one text is different from others. Thirdly, the use of lexical cohesive devices is much more than grammatical cohesive devices in sixteen reading passages. Fourthly, with respect to grammatical cohesive devices, reference, conjunction, substitution and ellipsis are seen in their most common features. In terms of reference, it accounts for the highest rate in all sixteen reading passages.In terms of conjunction, its use in sixteen reading passages is special because in each text, some typical types of conjunction are employed. In terms of substitution and ellipsis, they present for a very small percentage, this proves the simplicity of sixteen reading texts because the high frequent use of substitution and ellipsis can make the texts more difficult and complicate d to understand and without the knowledge of substitution and ellipsis, students may misunderstand and misinterpret the text. Fifthly, with respect to lexical cohesion, reiteration and collocation are seen in their most popular features.In terms of reiteration, repetition seems to be overused while a very small percentage of synonym/ near-synonym, antonym, super-ordinate and general word are employed in these sixteen reading texts. In terms of collocation, lexical collocation occupies more percentage than grammatical collocation because of different ways of combination. 2. Suggestions 2. 1. Suggestions for English Teachers and Learners English teachers should provide students with knowledge of cohesion which is considered to be an effective means to help them in reading skill.Furthermore, English teachers are suggested to raise students’ awareness of the importance of cohesive devices. English teachers can also take advantage of cohesion in teaching vocabulary. Finally, whene ver students do the exercises related to cohesion knowledge, teachers should remind them. By this way, students can apply cohesion in dealing with the exercises of the same types. Basing on the statistics given above, some significant features of reading texts in English 11 are drawn out and some suggestions for 11th grade students are proposed.Firstly, reference is used in a very high rate in these reading passages, and anaphoric should be paid more 12 attention because of its value in connecting texts together. Secondly, substitution and ellipsis are used in small percentages in these reading texts. In terms of substitution, teachers had better remind students when dealing with unit 4 and unit 13. Because ellipsis occurs many times in four units: unit 1, 5, 6 and 7, students are advised to think about them when learning these units. Thirdly, conjunction is used to organize the structure of the reading passages.In reading process, 11th grade students should consider the ways the te xts are written in. For example, in unit 1 and 7 all the ideas are constructed by listing. Lastly, in reiteration cohesion, synonym or near-synonym is regarded as the most important issue to 11th grade students. English teachers can apply synonym and super-ordinate to teach new words. 2. 2. Suggested Cohesion Exercises for English Teachers and Learners Cohesive devices can be seen in various forms of reading exercises or reading tasks. Two most significant forms of reading tasks for cohesion are gap-filling and true-false.Besides gap-filling and true – false exercises, there are also various forms of exercises. The first one is multiple-choice. Secondly, finding equivalents exercises are also employed to treat with synonym and antonym words. The last one is matching exercise, which designed to solve with vocabulary. 3. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies Firstly, because there is no content-focus in these reading texts, the results of this research can not actuall y show the most typical features of the reading texts as a whole, but in themes or in units only.Secondly, due to the limitation of the paper size, on discussing each type of cohesion, only some examples from one or two units are proposed. Lastly, applications of cohesion in other skills such as speaking, listening, writing have not been stated. Due to the constraint in time, all the issues of the related to the study cannot be covered. I do hope to develop this topic with a larger range of topic as follow: The study of grammatical cohesive devices in English 10, 11 and 12. The study of lexical cohesive devices in English 10, 11 and 12. The study of cohesive devices in reading texts in English 10, 11 and 12.

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Sunk Cost already incurred and cannot be changed by any decision made now or in the future. An irrelevant cost in decision-making. The econometrical model which is used to analyze costs is a model in which explanatory variable represents total costs and endogenous variables represent factors that influence their level. Production quantity is the most important factor which determines the level of total costs. Total costs consist of two parts: total fixed costs, which appear independently of the production quantity (when production level is zero) total variable costs, which are dependent only on the production quantity Cost Function : K = F + VX (Where K is total cost, F is Fixed Cost , V is Variable Cost and X is volume) What is cost accounting system and cost allocation?(Managerial Accounting) Sol:Cost accounting is linked to tax accounting, financial accounting and managerial accounting because it is an important component of each discipline as cost accounting involves determining the cost of something, such as a product, a service, an activity, a project, or some other cost object. These costs are needed for several purposes. For example, the costs of products and services produced and sold are needed for both tax and external financial statements. In other words, tax and financial accounting depend on cost accounting to provide cost information. Information about costs is also needed for a variety of management decisions. For example, cost estimates are needed to determine whether or not a product or service can be produced and sold at a profit. Unit costs of a product (or service) are also needed for product pricing and product discontinuance decisions. In addition, accurate cost information is required to determine whether or not a company should make (produce) or buy the raw materials, parts and subassemblies that become part of its major products and services. From this perspective, cost accounting is perhaps underrated as a discipline since none of the other disciplines including tax accounting, financial accounting or managerial accounting could exist without cost accounting. The costs associated with a manufacturing firm are separated into two broad categories. These include manufacturing costs and selling and administrative costs. This functional separation is important because each category of cost is treated differently in the accounting records. The different treatments are required to obtain proper matching. Manufacturing Costs There are three types of manufacturing costs. These include: 1) direct material or raw material, 2) direct labor, and 3) indirect manufacturing costs, or factory overhead. Direct material becomes the product, or becomes a part of the product. Direct labor converts the direct material into a finished product. Factory overhead represents all the other factory costs that cannot be directly identified with a particular product. This indirect category includes a variety of costs that are discussed in more detail in subsequent chapters. These three types of costs are also referred to as product costs, or inventorial costs, because they are capitalized in (or charged to) the inventory, i.e., they become assets. Matching Accountants capitalize manufacturing costs to obtain proper matching. The matching concept is pervasive in accrual accounting and requires that costs and benefits are matched or brought together on the income statement. In a production setting, the idea is to match the costs of producing a product (or service) against the benefits, i.e., revenue derived from the sale. When the inventory is sold, these costs are charged to an expense account referred to as cost of goods sold. At the end of the accounting period, cost of goods sold is closed to the income summary where, theoretically, matching takes place. Remember that unexpired costs represent assets. Expired costs represent expenses. When the inventory is sold, we say these costs have expired, i.e., the benefits to be obtained (from the effort that generated the costs) have been recognized. Thus, manufacturing costs become expenses when they reach cost of goods sold, but represent assets until the sale takes place. Selling and Administrative Costs In traditional accounting systems, selling and administrative costs are expensed in the period in which they are incurred. Theoretically, if there are future benefits associated with a cost, the cost should be capitalized as an asset rather than expensed. Certainly there are some future benefits associated with costs such as research and development, training, market promotion and advertising. However, these costs are expensed as incurred because it is difficult if not impossible to relate them to the future benefits. As a result, these costs are referred to as period costs. COST BEHAVIOR AND PREDICTION In addition to separating costs into categories such as direct and indirect and manufacturing and non-manufacturing, costs are also frequently identified by their behavior in relation to changes in an activity level. This separation is helpful for planning and budgeting purposes. The major types of costs, in terms of cost behavior, are: 1) variable costs, and 2) fixed costs, 3) semi-variable costs and 4) semi-fixed costs. These concepts are illustrated graphically in Exhibit 1-3 and discussed individually below. Variable Costs Variable costs are those costs that vary with changes in the level of activity. Variable costs tend to increase at various rates that generate linear (straight line) or a variety of non-linear cost functions when the costs are plotted on a graph. The major activity that affects manufacturing costs is production volume, i.e., producing output. Production volume is frequently measured in terms of units produced, direct labor hours used, machine hours used, materials costs or some other production volume related measure. However, other activities that are not related to production volume might also be important in analyzing cost behavior. 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Cost accounting system requires five parts that include: 1) an input measurement basis, 2) an inventory valuation method, 3) a cost accumulation method, 4) a cost flow assumption, and 5) a capability of recording inventory cost flows at certain intervals. These five parts and the alternatives under each part are summarized in Exhibit 2-1. Note that many possible cost accounting systems can be designed from the various combinations of the available alternatives, although not all of the alternatives are compatible. Selecting one part from each category provides a basis for developing an operational definition of a specific cost accounting system. 1) INPUT MEASUREMENT BASES The basis of a cost accounting system begins with the type of costs that flow into and through the inventory accounts. There are three alternatives including: pure historical costing, normal historical costing and standard costing. Pure Historical Costing In a pure historical cost system, only historical costs flow through the inventory accounts. Historical costs refers to the costs that have been recorded. The term actual costs is sometimes used instead, but the term actual seems to imply that there is one true cost associated with a particular output. But determining the cost of a product, or service requires many cost allocations, e.g., allocating the cost of fixed assets to time periods, and allocating indirect manufacturing costs, or overhead to products. Since there are many alternative allocation methods, (e.g., straight line or accelerated depreciation) the calculated cost of a unit of product or service simply represents an attempt to approximate the true cost. Normal Historical Costing Normal historical costing uses historical costs for direct material and direct labor, but overhead is charged, or applied to the inventory using a predetermined overhead rate per activity measure. Typical activity measures include direct labor hours, or direct labor costs. The amount of factory overhead charged to the inventory is determined by multiplying the predetermined rate by the actual quantity of the activity measure. The difference between the applied overhead costs and the actual overhead costs represents an overhead variance. Standard Costing In a standard cost system, all manufacturing costs are applied, or charged to the inventory using standard or predetermined prices, and quantities. The differences between the applied costs and the actual costs are charged to variance accounts as shown symbolically in the enlarged graphic below. The variances provide the basis for the concept of accounting control, that is somewhat different from the statistical control concept 2) FOUR INVENTORY VALUATION METHODS The four inventory valuation methods that appear in Exhibit 2-1 are arranged in the order of the amount of cost that is traced to the inventory. The throughput method involves tracing the least amount of cost to the inventory, while the activity based method includes tracing the greatest amount of costs to the inventory. In direct (or variable) costing, a greater amount of cost is traced than in the throughput method, but a lesser amount than in the full absorption method. Direct costing and full absorption costing are the traditional methods, while the throughput and activity based methods are relatively new. These inventory valuation methods are very important because they control the manner in which net income is determined. As we shall see is this chapter and subsequent chapters, the amount of net income can vary substantially for different inventory valuation methods. The Throughput Method The throughput method was developed to complement a concept referred to as the theory of constraints. In this method only direct material costs are charged to the inventory. All other costs are expensed during the period. The concept is symbolized in the enlargement below. Sales, less direct material costs is referred to as throughput which reflects how the method got its name. The throughput method does not provide proper matching (as defined by GAAP) because all manufacturing cost, other than direct material are expensed when incurred rather than capitalized in the inventory. Therefore, the throughput method is not acceptable for external reporting although advocates argue that it provides many advantages for internal reporting. The Direct or Variable Method In the direct (or variable) method, only the variable manufacturing costs are capitalized, or charged to the inventory. Fixed manufacturing costs flow into expense in the period incurred. This method provides some advantages and some disadvantages for internal reporting. However, it does not provide proper matching because the current fixed costs associated with producing the inventory are charged to expense regardless of whether or not the output is sold during the period. For this reason direct costing is not generally acceptable for external reporting. The Full Absorption Method Full absorption costing (also referred to as full costing and absorption costing) is a traditional method where all manufacturing costs are capitalized in the inventory, i.e., charged to the inventory and become assets. This means that these costs do not become expenses until the inventory is sold. In this way, matching is more closely approximated. All selling and administrative costs are charged to expense. Technically, full absorption costing is required for external reporting, although many companies apparently use something less than a pure full absorption costing system. The full absorption method is also frequently used for internal reporting. The second major section of this chapter compares the income statements for full absorption costing with those used for direct costing because they are by far the dominant methods. The Activity Based Method Activity based costing is a relatively new type of procedure that can be used as an inventory valuation method. The technique was developed to provide more accurate product costs. This improved accuracy is accomplished by tracing costs to products through activities. In other words, costs are traced to activities (activity costing) and then these costs are traced, in a second stage, to the products that use the activities. The concept of ABC is illustrated in the enlarged graphic below. Another way to express the idea is to say that activities consume resources and products consume activities. Essentially, an attempt is made to treat all costs as variable, recognizing that all costs vary with something, whether it is production volume or some non-production volume related phenomenon. Both manufacturing costs and selling and administrative costs are traced to products in an ABC system. Note that treating selling and administrative costs in this way is not acceptable for external repor ting. 3) FOUR COST ACCUMULATION METHODS Cost accumulation refers to the manner in which costs are collected and identified with specific customers, jobs, batches, orders, departments and processes. The center of attention for cost accumulation can be individual customers, batches of products that may involve several customers, the products produced within individual segments during a period, or the products produced by the entire plant during a period. The companys cost accumulation method, or methods are influenced by the type of production operation and the extent to which detailed cost accounting information is needed by management. Job Order In job order costing, costs are accumulated by jobs, orders, contracts, or lots. The key is that the work is done to the customers specifications. As a result, each job tends to be different. For example, job order costing is used for construction projects, government contracts, shipbuilding, automobile repair, job printing, textbooks, toys, wood furniture, office machines, caskets, machine tools, and luggage. Accumulating the cost of professional services (e.g., lawyers, doctors and CPAs) also fall into this category. Chapter 4 illustrates a cost accounting system that includes normal historical costing as the basic cost system, full absorption costing as the inventory valuation method and job order costing as the cost accumulation method. Process In process costing, costs are accumulated by departments, operations, or processes. The work performed on each unit is standardized, or uniform where a continuous mass production or assembly operation is involved. For example, process costing is used by companies that produce appliances, alcoholic beverages, tires, sugar, breakfast cereals, leather, paint, coal, textiles, lumber, candy, coke, plastics, rubber, cigarettes, shoes, typewriters, cement, gasoline, steel, baby foods, flour, glass, mens suits, pharmaceuticals and automobiles. Process costing is also used in meat packing and for public utility services such as water, gas and electricity. Back Flush Back flush costing is a simplified cost accumulation method that is sometimes used by companies that adopt just-in-time (JIT) production systems. However, JIT is not just a technique, or collection of techniques. Just-in-time is a very broad philosophy, that emphasizes simplification and continuously reducing waste in all areas of business activity. JIT systems were developed in Japan and depend on the communitarian concepts of teamwork and continuous improvement. In fact, many of the assumptions, attitudes and practices of communitarian capitalism are included in the JIT philosophy. One of the many goals of JIT systems is zero ending inventory. In a backflush cost system, manufacturing costs are accumulated in fewer inventory accounts than when using the job order or process cost methods. In fact, in extreme backflush systems, most of the accounting records are eliminated. The production facilities are also arranged in self contained manufacturing cells that are dedicated to the production of a single, or similar products. In this way more of the manufacturing costs become direct product costs and fewer cost allocations are necessary. Thus, more accurate costing is obtained in spite of the fact that the cost accumulation method is simplified. The just-in-time philosophy and related accounting methods are discussed in Chapter 8. Hybrid, or Mixed Methods Hybrid or mixed systems are used in situations where more than one cost accumulation method is required. For example, in some cases process costing is used for direct materials and job order costing is used for conversion costs, (i.e., direct labor and factory overhead). In other cases, job order costing might be used for direct materials, and process costing for conversion costs. The different departments or operations within a company might require different cost accumulation methods. For this reason, hybrid or mixed cost accumulation methods are sometime referred to as operational costing methods. 4) FOUR COST FLOW ASSUMPTIONS A cost flow assumption refers to how costs flow through the inventory accounts, not the flow of work or products on a production line. This distinction is important because the flow of costs is not always the same as the flow of work. The various types of cost flow assumptions include: specific identification (e.g., by job), first in, first out, last in, first out and weighted average. Costs flow through the inventory accounts by the job in a job order cost system which represents an example of specific identification. The requirements of the various jobs determines the timing of the cost flows. Simple jobs tend to move through the system faster than more complex jobs. The first-in, first-out (FIFO) and weighted average cost flow assumptions are used in process costing. Since costs are accumulated by the process or department in a process cost environment, a cost flow assumption is needed to determine the treatment of the beginning inventory. When FIFO is used, it is assumed that the units of product in the beginning inventory are finished first and transferred to the next department before any of the units that are started during the period. The group of units in the beginning inventory maintain their separate identity and prior period costs. However, when the weighted average cost flow assumption is used, the beginning inventory units lose their separate identity because they are lumped together with the units of product started during the period. Process costing tends to be fairly challenging, therefore you may find these introductory concepts to be confusing. Although last-in, first-out (LIFO) is frequently used for tax reporting purposes, it is not normally used in the accounting records. For this reason, we consider the FIFO and weighted average cost flow assumptions in Chapter 5, but leave the LIFO cost flow assumption for courses that emphasize financial and tax reporting. 5) RECORDING INTERVAL CAPABILITY Inventory records can be maintained on a perpetual or a periodic basis. Conceptually, the perpetual inventory method provides a company with the capability of maintaining continuous records of the quantities of inventory and the costs flowing through the inventory accounts. The periodic method, on the other hand, requires counting the quantity of inventory before inventory records can be updated. In the past, manufacturers tended to keep perpetual inventories, while retailers used the periodic method. However, today a variety of modern point of sale devices and dedicated microcomputer software are readily available to provide any company with perpetual inventory capability. Cost allocation is the assigning of a common cost to several cost objects. For example, a company might allocate or assign the cost of an expensive computer system to the three main areas of the company that use the system. A company with only one electric meter might allocate the electricity bill to several departments in the company.Allocation implies that the assigning of the cost is somewhat arbitrary. Some people describe the allocation as the spreading of cost, because of the arbitrary nature of the allocation. Efforts have been made over the years to improve the bases for allocation. In manufacturing, the overhead allocations have moved from plant-wide rates to departmental rates, from direct labor hours to machine hours to activity based costing. The goal is to allocate or assign the costs based on the root causes of the common costs instead of merely spreading the costs. Direct costs can be physically traced to each department.Indirect costs must be allocated. Many companies develop allocation methods to assign service department costs to the producing departments. All organizations accumulate costs for their products or services for financial reporting purposes. An accounting system will assign to a departments output all its direct costs plus all the indirect costs allocated to it. A cost driver that has a logical, cause-effect relationship to the cost will be used as a cost-allocation base. Linking costs with cost objectives is accomplished by selecting cost drivers.When used for allocating costs, a cost driver is often called a cost-allocationbase. Major costs, such as newsprint for a newspaper and direct professionallabour for a law firm, may each be allocated to departments, jobs, and projects on an item-by-item basis, using obvious cost drivers such as tonnes of newsprint consumed or direct-labour-hours used. Other costs, taken one at a time, are not important enough to justify being allocated individually. These costs are pooled and then allocated together. A cost pool is a group of individual costs that is allocated to cost objectives using a single cost driver. For example, building rent, utilities cost, and janitorial services may be in the same cost pool because all are allocated on the basis of square metres of space occupied. Or a university could pool all the operating costs of its registrars office and allocate them to its colleges on the basis of the number of students in each faculty. In summary, all costs in a given cost pool should be caused by the same factor. That factor is the cost driver. Many different terms are used by companies to describe cost allocation in practice. You may encounter terms such as allocate, attribute, reallocate, trace, assign, distribute, redistribute, load, burden, apportion, and reapportion, which can be used interchangeably to describe the allocation of costs to cost objectives. The allocation of costs is necessary when the linkage between the costs and the cost objective is indirect. In this case, a basis for the allocation, such as direct-labour-hours or tonnes of raw material, is used even though its selection is arbitrary. A cost allocation base has been described as incorrigible, since it is impossible to objectively determine which base perfectly describes the link between the cost and the cost objective. Given this subjectivity in the selection of a cost-allocation base, it has always been difficult for managers to determine When should costs be allocated? and On what basis should costs be allocated? The answers to these questions depend on the principal purpose or purposes of the cost allocation. Costs are allocated for three main purposes: 1. To obtain desired motivation. Cost allocations are sometimes made to influence management behaviour and thus promote goal congruence and managerial effort. Consequently, in some organizations there is no cost allocation for legal or internal auditing services or internal management consulting services because top management wants to encourage their use. In other organizations there is a cost allocation for such items to spur managers to make sure the benefits of the specified services exceed the costs. 2. To compute income and asset valuations. Costs are allocated to products and projects to measure inventory costs and cost of goods sold. These allocations frequently service financial accounting purposes. However, the resulting costs are also often used by managers in planning, performance evaluation, and to motivate managers, as described above. 3. To justify costs or obtain reimbursement. Sometimes prices are based directly on costs, or it may be necessary to justify an accepted bid. For example, government contracts often specify a price that includes reimbursement for costs plus some profit margin. In these instances, cost allocations become substitutes for the usual working of the marketplace in setting prices. . What is activity based costing? (ABC system)? Sol : In the past, the vast majority of departments used direct labour hours as the only cost driver for applying costs to products. But direct labour hours is not a very good measure of the cause of costs in modern, highly automated departments. Labour-related costs in an automated system may be only 5 percent to 10 percent of the total manufacturing costs and often are not related to the causes of most manufacturing overhead costs. Therefore, many companies are beginning to use machine-hours as their cost-allocation base. However, some managers in modern manufacturing firms and automated service companies believe it is inappropriate to allocate all costs based on measures of volume. Using direct labour hours or cost-or even machine hours-as the only cost driver seldom meets the cause/effect criterion desired in cost allocation. If many costs are caused by non volume-based cost drivers, Activity-Based Costing (ABC) should be considered Activity Based Costing (ABC) is an economic model that identifies the cost pools or activity centers in an organization and assigns costs to cost drivers based on the number of each activity used. It identifies activities in an organization and assigns the cost of each activity resource to all products and services according to the actual consumption by each: it assigns more indirect costs (overhead) into direct costs.In this way, an organization can precisely estimate the cost of individual products and services so they can identify and eliminate those tha

Comparing The Handmaids Tale and Oryx and Crake Essay -- Compare Cont

Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake describes a world very different from the one we live in today, but not too far from a possible future. The story, told from the viewpoint of Snowman, possibly the only human survivor, recounts the end of days in human history. His description, given to us as flashbacks, tells of a world where technology is power, and those who lack power are doomed to a sub-par existence. This world gone mad is reminiscent of another Atwood novel written in 1986, The Handmaid’s Tale. In this story, the world of today is gone, democracy has been eradicated, and it is the elite few who control the fate of the masses. By comparing these two novels by Atwood, one can see corresponding themes dealing with governmental control, the dangers of technology, the uses of religion, and the treatment of sexuality. Government control is a serious issue in both novels. In the compounds, where the elite live in Oryx and Crake, every aspect of day to day life is closely monitored by compound security known as CorpSeCorps. The idea behind such tight security might seem as though it is to protect the citizens of the compounds from outside terrorism, but in many ways it is to protect the compounds from the citizens living within. After Jimmy’s mom leaves home when he is a young boy, he becomes a target for investigation for the rest of his life. Even into his college years he is still questioned by security about her. â€Å"So they were still tracking his snail mail. All of the postcards must be stored on their computers; plus his present whereabouts, which was why they hadn’t asked where he’d come from,† (Atwood Oryx 197). Her escape from the compound, and the potential damage she could do with her knowledge of what goes on ther... ... what he’s doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven’t signed up for,† (Atwood Handmaid’s 94). Although she remembers a time when sex meant more, for Offred that time is almost nothing more than a memory. The world has changed since The Handmaid’s Tale was written in 1986. Oryx and Crake is a continuation of and a development of many of the ideas first brought up in The Handmaid’s Tale. Although the details are different, the terrifying possibility of either future is enough to make anyone question the morals of the world today and stay vigilant against these warnings offered by the author. Works Cited Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. New York: Anchor Books, 1986. Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor Books, 2003.

Ethical Analysis of Gumdrop Northern

At the conclusion of this audit, the following ethical Issues were identified: emergence to International law and treaties by exporting manufactured landmines to Afghanistan and Iran; use of substandard materials used to construct body armor; disclosing Information from the military that would prevent Injuries; and the formulated plan to send out notices under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, and severing ties to the collective bargaining agreement which resulted in 100+ employees out of work.Despite the several issues that have been identified, we are optimistic that we can implement solutions that can correct these incidents and prevent future issues from happening. Due to the magnitude of the issues that were found it is essential to get a basic understanding of business in ethics. Ethics can be perceived differently among people because it has several nuances. According to Frederica, Farrell and Farrell, The American Heritage Dictionary defines ethics as, â€Å"The study of the general nature of morals and of specific moral choices, moral philosophy, and the rules or standards governing the conduct of the members of a profession. (p. 7). This Is a good starting point to help us further understand the importance of ethical compliance. For the purpose of this memorandum, the definition that will be used is the principles, values, and standards that businesses should adhere to, to ensure it is acting within ethical standards. Furthermore, studying ethics in business is very important because ethical misconduct is a considerable concern in business throughout the world. My ethics committee and I have referenced this definition and statement through the duration of our audit, and is the foundation of our findings.Now that we have discussed the definition and importance of ethics in business, we will discuss ACH ethical Issue that was discovered in Gumdrop Northerner operations. After each ethical Issue has been addressed, we will di scuss potential solutions and our reasoning for the betterment In your short and long-term goals. Ethical Issue #1 : Ignorance to International Law and Treaties by exporting manufactured landmines to Afghanistan and Iran. This is a very dynamic issue because there is conflict of interest.This conflicts with your parent company, the Department of Defense because you are a long-term military contractor that manufactures munitions, body armor and armored vehicles for the United States military. The U. S. Litany is currently fighting in a decade-long war in the Middle East, and landmines have been common amongst the fatalities since the beginning of the war. Improvised explosive devices (Deeds) have continued to be the number one killer of United States armed forces in Afghanistan, and 60 percent of all combat- related deaths in 2011 alone were caused by Deeds (Moral, 2011).Deeds are the most common method used by insurgent groups and rebels who wage non-traditional warfare, and are des igned to kill or cause serious bodily harm. The conflict of interest that my committee and I are most concerned with is the simple fact that you are opposed to supply effective body armor to the coalition forces to protect them from explosive blasts, but you are also supplying the enemy with the essential tools that cause these aforementioned explosive blasts.This conflict of interest not only violates international law and treaty, but you are potentially responsible for deaths of uniformed personnel serving in the armed forces. It is your responsibility to behave ethically, and this has not happened by your ignorance to the law, and the endangerment you have caused to uniformed personnel. In addition, the landmines hat you sell to the Taliban and Iranian government are defective, and many of who attempted to plant the mines was killed in the process due to the faulty switches.It should also be noted that many of these deaths were children and soldiers of each respective country. Th is ignorance on every angle is unethical by all counts. The basis of this ethical issue can have a wide range of effects legally, and can have severe repercussions on corporate stakeholders. The legal effects are very straightforward. The company can potentially be taken to court to file the violation of international law, and the consequences can be severe.For example, Department of Justice lawyers are rumored to be involved where families of injured or killed service members can consult attorneys to investigate Gumdrop Northerner contributions. Furthermore, the stakeholders are also potentially at risk. Anyone who has a stake or claim in your business can be directly affected because of your negligence to law, and this can damage your reputation, which is important in keeping your contract with the Department of Defense. In addition, it can Jeopardize the future of your company.Ethical Issue #2: The Use of Substandard Materials Used in the Company's Manufacturing and Failure to Di sclose to Stakeholders It has also been brought to our attention that Gumdrop Northern has utilized substandard materials in their manufacturing. Given the nature of your business, the United States military needs state of the art body armor that has the sophistication to stop penetrating shrapnel aimed for the body. The use of substandard materials is unacceptable because the safety of our soldiers is paramount in today's war.The body armor is the primary mode of protection that protects America's sons and daughters, and the armor you are providing the U. S. Litany does not protect them to Afghanistan and Iran. The substandard material is not only limited to the personnel body armor, but it also is connected to the armored vehicles used to transport military personnel throughout the theater. It has been revealed that there is a thin sheet of steel on the underside of the vehicle that makes them extremely vulnerable to improvised explosive device explosions.This is alarming because, as previously mentioned, Deeds are among the chief causes of death of soldiers. You have structured a vehicle that is protective on the sides and top, but have ignored arguably the most important part of up-armored vehicles used in the Middle East. This also leads to the negligence of the company to disclose this information to its primary and secondary stakeholders, and failure to understand the stakeholder orientation. The failure to disclose information can cause the rescission of an agreement.In your case, the Department of Defense can void the agreement with your company and also pursue a money settlement. Also, the purpose of the stakeholder orientation is for you to understand and address the demands of a stakeholder. The U. S. Litany is your primary stakeholder and you have failed to meet their demands and standards by using substandard materials and failing to disclose this information to them. It is your responsibility along with other top managers in Gumdrop to act in a responsible manner by providing truthful information to all stakeholders.We have found in our audit that you have failed in this field, and you have not complied with ethical standards. Ethical Issue #3: The formulated plan to send out notices under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, and severing ties to the collective arraigning agreement, which resulted in 100+ employees out of work. We have found that your actions under the WARN Act are completely legal because you have acted within all the guidelines underlined in the act. Also, your plan to file for bankruptcy to reject the collective bargaining agreement is another area of concern.However, we believe it is unethical to do so because of the circumstances that you have found yourself in the aforementioned ethical issues. This issue is controversial because you are middling between the lines of ethical and legal issues. We believe that this is an unnecessary approach, and there are other venues to pursu e to resolve the issues at hand. I believe you should place significant value on your shareholders because they are primarily responsible for the day-to-day operations and ensuring your company is bringing in profit.Therefore, you should treat your people right and you can accomplish this by giving them a fair shot. If you trade seats at the table, it would seem unfair to dump them so quickly because they have families to feed, bills to pay and priorities to maintain; so we think you should do the right thing and help them in any way possible. The ethical issues hat we have identified are substantial and they can have serious potential effects on the reputation of your company and its future. With that said, we have outlined a detailed plan that we have formulated as the best for the business.Resolving the Ethical Issues: All of the issues have been put on the table and addressing possible solutions is statement of Gumdrop because this is where we believe you have failed. We suggest that a meeting is held by the Board of Directors to re-tool the mission statement of Gumdrop Northern. When all of the issues are put on the table it helps to have all eye players there to innovative think of the direction the company wants to move in. For the first ethical issue, the resolution is quite simple.We believe that Gumdrop Northern should adhere to international law and treaty by severing your ties with Afghanistan and Iran. It doesn't make sense to supply the enemy with antipersonnel ammunition, and protect the individuals fighting the enemy. Although more than half of your profits derive from these clandestine operations, it is conflicting with your interest by protecting the United States military with your manufactured products. This relationship should be terminated, and it should tie into your company's mission statement.Furthermore, it is your moral and ethical responsibility to report your shortcomings. I believe that showing integrity defines a company, and thi s can be the first step to repairing and strengthening your relationship with your stakeholders. It is also a great first step into repairing your corporate image. Moving on, the second ethical issue that we discovered is definitely a priority in addressing. The United States Military deserves the best protection because of their illnesses to volunteer their lives to fight for our freedom.Gumdrop Northern is using substandard materials when superior equipment should be used in preparing the body armor and armored vehicles. I think that the best solution to this problem is using the best equipment available to help protect the soldiers. I believe you should immediately recall all the body armor that has been issued, and rebuild the body armor that the soldiers use. This move is good for your image because it shows you have identified faults in your products, and will work relentlessly to alter it to meet military standards.You are also doing yourself a favor by telling your primary s takeholder that there are issues with your product, which is something that you have failed to do so. In addition, you should also revamp the armored vehicles that you supply to the troops. This is the primary mode of the transportation for uniformed personnel, and ensuring the safest vehicle possible should be a priority. Gumdrop Northern should provide additional sheets of metal to the bottom of the vehicle to strengthen the most vulnerable part of the vehicle. Finally, the third ethical issue can be resolved by not doing any of it.It is our belief that you should take responsibility for your actions, and slowly repair your image. I believe that taking care of your shareholders is important in business because they make sure your company is working. Therefore, the essential portion of this resolution is to own up to your mistakes and build on what you have. This solution shows ethical responsibility, and this is the focal point of this memorandum. I previously mentioned that an es sential part of this meeting is also to identify fiduciary duties of the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Operation Officer.It is the ethical responsibilities of each of these managers to gain back the trust and confidence of the stakeholders (I. E. – United States Military). This is the best alternative that is the best for the business considering the ethical issues that were identified and the potential circumstances that were discussed. It is the right thing to fixing your problems. By owning up to your mistakes it may damage your company's problems in the short-term, but you are strengthening your company in the long run.I believe the first couple of months will be difficult because of the backlash you'll chive by showing your integrity, but with strength and perseverance, Gumdrop Northern can return to prominence. I also believe that part of repairing the company is implementing an ethics committee and appointing an individual to act as the ethics officer. I believ e this is essential because it would help prevent issues like the previously mentioned from happening in the future. It also will keep Gumdrop Northern in ethical compliance. Your company has fallen short in this area, and it should be a priority in your company's mission statement.

The Life And Works of Aristotle

The Life And Works of Aristotle When Plato died in 347 bc, Aristotle moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, where a friend of his, Hermias (died 345 bc), was ruler. There he counseled Hermias and married his niece and adopted daughter, Pythias. After Hermias was captured and executed by the Persians, Aristotle went to Pella, the Macedonian capital, where he became the tutor of the king's young son Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great. In 335, when Alexander became king, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his own school, the Lyceum. Because much of the discussion in his school took place while teachers and students were walking about the Lyceum grounds, Aristotle's school came to be known as the Peripatetic ('walking' or 'strolling') school. Upon the death of Alexander in 323 bc, strong anti-Macedonian feeling developed in Athens, and Aristotle retired to a family estate in Euboea. He died there the following year.Detail of The School of Athens by Raffaello Sanzio...WorksAristotle, like Plato, made regular use of the dialogue in his earliest years at the Academy, but lacking Plato's imaginative gifts, he probably never found the form congenial. Apart from a few fragments in the works of later writers, his dialogues have been wholly lost. Aristotle also wrote some short technical notes, such as a dictionary of philosophic terms and a summary of the doctrines of Pythagoras. Of these, only a few brief excerpts have survived. Still extant, however, are Aristotle's lecture notes for carefully outlined courses treating almost every branch of knowledge and art. The texts on which Aristotle's reputation rests are largely based on these lecture notes, which were collected and arranged by later editors.Among the texts are treatises on logic, called Organon ('instrument'), because they provide the means by which positive knowledge is to be attained. His works on...

Practice English Using This Dialogue With a Famous Actor

Practice English Using This Dialogue With a Famous Actor Use this interview with a famous actor to practice speaking and pronunciation skills, as well as review important grammar points on tense usage. Read, practice with a partner, and check your understanding of important vocabulary and grammar points. Finally, create a dialog of your own with exercise cues. Interview Part 1: Practice Using the Present Simple and Present Continuous The first part of  the dialog concerns daily routines, as well as current activities.  Notice that the  present simple  is used to speak and ask about daily routines: He usually gets  up early and goes to the gym.How often do you travel for work?She doesnt work from home.   The  present continuous  is used to speak about what is happening at this specific moment in time, as well as around  the current moment in time: Im studying French for a test right now. (at this moment)What are you working on this week? (around current moment)Theyre getting ready to open the new store. (at this moment / around current moment) Interviewer: Thank you for taking some time off from your busy schedule to answer a few questions about your life!Tom: Its my pleasure. Interviewer: Could you tell us about an average day in your life?Tom: Sure, I get up early, at 7 in the morning. Then I have breakfast. After breakfast, I go to the gym. Interviewer: Are you studying anything now?Tom: Yes, Im learning dialog for a new film called The Man About Town. Interviewer: What do you do in the afternoon?Tom: First I have lunch, then I go to the studio and shoot some scenes. Interviewer: Which scene are you working on  today?Tom: Im acting out a scene about an angry lover. Interviewer: Thats very interesting. What do you do in the evening?Tom: In the evening, I go home and have dinner and study my scripts. Interviewer: Do you go out at night?Tom: Not always, I like going out at weekends. Interview Part 2: Practice Using the Present Perfect and Future Tenses The second section of the interview focuses on the actors experience from the past to  the present. Use the  present perfect  when speaking about experience over time: Ive visited many countries throughout the world.Hes made more than fifteen documentaries.Shes worked at that position since 1998. The  future forms  going to  and  will  are used to speak about the future. Notice that  going to  is used with future plans whereas  will  is used to predict the future. Im going to visit my uncle next week.Theyre going to open up a new store in Chicago.I think Ill take a vacation in June, but Im not sure.She thinks hell get married soon. Interviewer: Lets talk about your career. How many films have you made?Tom: Thats a hard question. I think Ive made more than 50 films! Interviewer: Wow. Thats a lot! How many years have you been an actor?Tom: Ive been an actor since I was ten years old. In other words, Ive been an actor for twenty years. Interviewer: Thats impressive. Do you have any future projects?Tom: Yes, I do. Im going to focus on making a few documentaries next year. Interviewer: That sounds great. Do you have any plans beyond that?Tom: Well, Im not sure. Maybe I will become a film director, and maybe Ill just retire. Interviewer: Oh, please dont retire! We love your films!Tom: Thats very kind of you. Im sure Ill make a few more films. Interviewer: Thats good to hear. Thank you for the interview.Tom: Thank you. Practice Exercise: Create Your Own Dialogue Use these cues to create your own dialogue with a famous actor. Pay careful attention to the time words and context to help you choose the correct tense. Try to come up with different possibilities.   Interviewer: Thank you / interview. Know / busyActor: Welcome / Pleasure Interviewer: work new film?Actor: Yes / act in Sun on My Face this month Interviewer: congratulations. Ask questions about life?Actor: Yes / any question Interviewer: what do after work?Actor: usually relax pool Interviewer: what do today?Actor: have interview today! Interviewer: where go evening?Actor: usually stay home Interviewer: stay home this evening?Actor: no go movies Interviewer:   which movie?Actor:  not say Example Solution: Interviewer:  Thank you for letting me interview you today. I know how busy you are.Actor:  Youre welcome. It was  a pleasure to meet you. Interviewer:   Are you working on a new film these days?Actor: Yes, Im acting in Sun in My Face this month. Its a great film! Interviewer:   Congratulations! May I ask you some questions about your life?Actor:  Of course you can! I can answer almost any question! Interviewer:   Great. So, acting is hard work. What do you like doing after work?Actor:  I  usually relax at my pool.   Interviewer:   What are you doing today for relaxation?Actor: Im having an interview today!   Interviewer:   Thats very funny! Where do you enjoy going in the evening?Actor: I usually just stay home! Im boring! Interviewer:   Are you staying home this evening?Actor: No. This evening Im going to the movies. Interviewer:   Which movie are you going to?Actor: I cant say. Its a secret! Key Vocabulary take time off   stop working in order to do something elseaverage day   a normal or typical day in someones lifestudio   the room(s) in which a movie is madeshoot some scenes   act scenes from a movie for the camerascript   the lines the actor needs to speak in a moviecareer   your job or work over a long period of timefuture projects   work that you will do in the futurefocus on something   try to do only one thingdocumentary   a type of film about something that happened in real liferetire   stop working