History of U.S. in 400 Words Essay Example for Free

History of U.S. in 400 Words Essay I am very proud of my country because it was formed on the foundation of freedom and has continued to support freedom for all of its citizens as well as helping to spread freedom throughout the world. First, America was founded by common people looking for a better way of life, one in which they were able to practice their religion and participate in how their settlements were governed. Committed to their beliefs, America endured eight years of war to gain their freedom. There were many hardships along the way: disease, starvation, and suffering; but we hung in there and eventually beat the British, the most powerful nation at that time. Then, we did something shocking; we made it a democracy, the first in the world. People thought it was crazy, this American experiment, but we proved it could work. Unfortunately there was a problem brewing – slavery! It ended up causing a great civil war, the North pitted against the South. We got through it and in the end the nation was reunited and freedom for all prevailed. Women still had some problems, though, and after nearly one hundred years of protesting they finally received the same rights as men as they got the right to vote. Our ideals of freedom were then tested outside our boundaries. We got involved in World War II as we helped to purge the world of the atrocities that the Nazis inflicted. We helped in the Korean and Vietnam Wars in their struggle for freedom and equality. After a long Cold War, we were successful in our efforts to get the Soviet Union to end communism and tear down the Berlin Wall. We also got involved in the First Gulf War as we worked to get the Iraqis out of Kuwait and restabilize the country. Then, on September 11, 2001, terrorists struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and an airplane in route to Washington, D.C. and we again had to defend our freedom. We are continuing to help put an end to the senseless acts of terrorists along with teaching the people in Iraq and Afghanistan how to defend themselves against the Taliban. The United States of America is a world power, supporting the individual rights and freedom of people throughout the world. It stands for and supports liberty and justice for all, and that makes me incredibly proud.

Wake up to nutella

Wake up to nutella WAKE UP TO NUTELLA CAMPAIGN of 2007 in UK 1. Context Analysis This communications plan focuses on the Wake Up to nutella promotion campaign of 2007 in the UK. The planning of the campaign by the Ferrero Group UK took around eight months and the promotion campaign had a total duration of approximately one year. (See Appendix 1 for further information about the company profile and its range of products). a. The internal and external context The most important opportunity of Ferrero was its differentiated nutella product that had low competition in the UK market. Main competitors were only Rowse Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread and Traidcraft Fairtrade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread. Furthermore the pricing of nutella created an opportunity for the company, as nutella was cheaper than the competitive products. Traidcraft Fairtrade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread for instance was being sold for  £2.26 for 400g and nutella for only  £1.59 for 400g. A threat for nutella represented the changing eating habits and lifestyle of consumers (social factors). Nowadays, the trend is going towards a healthier lifestyle and healthier eating. Due to the fact that nutella contains chocolate, the product was perceived as indulgence and unhealthy by many consumers. b. The customer context The main target market, which is a specific group Ferrero UK aims the product nutella at, are both female and male schoolchildren at the age group between 5 and 14 years and teenagers and college students, also both female and male. This target group is also described as a group of people who are having for breakfast toast with something on it, such as jam or peanut butter. Another reason targeting young people is that they tend to prefer eating sweet for breakfast. This target group is easier to convince to switch from jam or peanut butter to nutella than people who are not eating toast for breakfast. The target audience, which is a group of people the nutella advertising message is designed at, are parents, but mainly mothers of the target market. The target audience is described as urban and middle to upper middle class families. The mothers of the young children and teenagers are the ones the communication message is aimed at and they are the most influential person in the buying decision. In order to illustrate the importance of the mothers which form the target audience, the Decision Making Unit theory of B2C can be used: Usera target group; schoolchildren at the age between 5 and 14 years, teenagers and college students, males and females. Influencera target audience; mothers who need to be convinced about nutella, who require nutritional information about nutella and who are giving nutella to their children. Influencer can also be opinion leaders such as school teachers, doctors, celebrities, the media etc. Decision makera target audience; the mothers who are deciding what to give to their children for breakfast and therefore they represent the most important target of nutella. Purchaser atarget audience such as mothers who have the financial possibility to buy the product and therefore they are the most important group that needs to be convinced. Additionally, Ferrero UK decided to target mothers who are already giving their children toast for breakfast as these are perceived to be easier to convince to switch to nutella rather than mothers that are not already giving their children toast for breakfast. Due to the fact that sales of nutella in UK are low, compared to other European countries, the target market can be described as new to the product nutella rather than existing customers. Furthermore, the target is neither loyal to the brand nor loyal to a competitor. The target market consists of current users of other spread products for breakfast such as jam, cheese, peanut butter etc. There is actually no comparable competition to nutella ´s hazelnut spread in the UK but there are substitute products on the market, as already mentioned. c. Level of awareness, perception and attitudes towards nutella in UK Despite the worldwide success of nutella, the product suffered from a bad image in the UK, as it can be seen from the diagram above. Most people in the UK, in comparison with the rest of Europe, perceived nutella as a threat and indulgence, especially amongst the mothers. However, in other European countries nutella was perceived as a breakfast ritual and a favourite spread that was also gladly given to children.   The bad consumer perception about nutella was the main reason for the â€Å"Wake up to nutella† campaign. d. Stakeholder context The most important stakeholders of the nutella campaign were: Internal: Staff and management; they needed to be convinced about nutella in order to create a positive word-of-mouth effect to friends and relatives. Furthermore, they were involved in the work of the campaign and therefore they were also responsible for the success of the campaign. The tools of communication with internal stakeholders were face to face meetings, the intranet and newsletters.   Connected: Intermediaries; such as supermarkets that were buying nutella from Ferrero and selling them to the end-user. They needed to be convinced to include nutella into their assortment. The way of communication with intermediaries was direct (face to face), as high involvement decisions between two businesses were involved. External: Media; The media represented an opinion leading function, articles and reports about the campaign and the product itself were published and this has had an high influence on consumer ´s perception about Ferrero/the campaign/nutella. Key ways of communication were a press conference prior campaign launch and regular interviews from the CEO of Ferrero UK about the campaign. Regular interviews assured up-to-date information flow to the customers and increased brand awareness, due to the fact that nutella was mentioned on regular basis in several newspapers and magazines. Customers; most important stakeholders as they are the ones who are buying the product. Ways of communication were the various communication tools that will be mentioned later in this assignment. 2. Communications objectives Research that was undertaken prior the campaign showed that consumers perception about nutella being a treat was based on wrong ingredient information. Many UK customers understood nutella being a chocolate spread and not a hazelnut spread. According to that, the first and most important communication objective of the campaign was to reposition the brand as a hazelnut spread. This implied to better inform the customer about the ingredients. In addition, other communication objectives, using the DAGMAR model as an example (see appendix 2) have been to create brand awareness and brand knowledge but also to increase purchase. To raise awareness and knowledge of nutella was important in order to attract new customers. To increase purchase was crucial in order to gain more new customers and to increase the total revenues of nutella.   Another important communication objective was to change the image of nutella in UK. The main goal was to shift nutella ´s image as unhealthy and a treat towards a positive and healthy hazelnut breakfast spread that is also given to children. Moreover, Ferrero UK aimed to achieve the perception of nutella being an everyday product for children, a good source of energy and a trustworthy product with high quality ingredients. In comparison to communication objectives, marketing objectives are sales-related objectives that are above all measurable, specific, targeted and timed (SMART). (Pickton and Broderick, 2006) Ferrero UK defined its marketing objectives as follows: To increase the volume sales within three years time (up to 40%) To drive nutella ´s household penetration from 7.54% to 10.6% by September 2008 To bring nutella to 765, 000 more households a year To increase market share by 2% Corporate objectives of Ferrero UK were the following: Having its focus on customer relationship which is â€Å"based on knowledge, experience, sensitivity and intuition and a mutual and enduring loyalty† (ferrero.com) Care about social issues, food safety and local communities and its human resources (ferrero.com) To reach market leadership by following the rules of developing innovative products that are fresh and of high quality (ferrero.com) 3. Marketing communications strategy After defining the main target segments and key stakeholders, it was crucial for Ferrero to decide in favour of Push, Pull or Profile strategy. For the â€Å"Wake up to nutella† campaign Ferrero decided in favour of a combination between Push and Pull strategy. The aim of the push strategy was to convince intermediaries to promote and sell nutella in their supermarkets. That means that the communication flows down from Ferrero to the retailer and from the retailer to end user. The push strategy appeared to be reasonable because nutella is a low involvement and impulse buying product and there is currently low brand loyalty towards nutella. The assumption that nutella is a low involvement product comes from the fact that it is a FMCG at a low price ( £1.49). Ferrero also used several communication tools such as advertising and promotion to convince the customer to seek out for nutella and require it from supermarkets (Pull strategy). This strategy was aimed to provide information about the product (e.g. nutella is a hazelnut spread and not chocolate spread) to a wider audience and finally pull nutella from the retailer. For Ferrero it was important to use both strategies because with the push strategy they tried to create a demand and desire for the product (with trade promotions and coupons) and the pull strategy enabled Ferrero to build the nutella brand and inform the people about the product. While the push strategy targeted the supermarkets and was able to boost short-term goals such as impulse purchase, the pull strategy targeted the end user and could focus on long-term results such as building brand awareness and trust. 4. Coordinated promotional mix The â€Å"Wake up to nutella† campaign was aimed to reposition the negative image of nutella in the UK. Ferrero UK decided in favour of using media tools such as Advertising, Sales Promotion, Public Relations and Direct Marketing in order to create synergy. The campaign started with a big TV advertisement with the aim to reach a large audience at relatively low costs. In addition, advertising appeared to be the best tool for raising awareness (see appendix 3). The main communication messages from the TV advertising were: Contains 52 hazelnuts, a glass of skimmed milk and a dash of cocoa (a aim: to inform people about the ingredients and that nutella is a hazelnut cream and not chocolate cream) Good as a part of a balanced breakfast (astrongest message; to use it for breakfast) Not just an occasional treat (aaim: to use nutella as a everyday product) Good source of slow release energy Something I ´d be happy to give my kids (a aim: to show whom nutella is aimed at) Public relations were used to add credibility to the customer about nutella at very low costs but also to reinforce the raising awareness aim (see appendix 3). Public relations consisted of various radio and press adverts. On behalf of nutella nutritionist were writing articles in women magazines about nutella in order to increase the credibility. Additionally, two press adverts were published in women and family magazines across UK to target the target audience (families, especially mother) and the target market (children). Both press adverts had the same message- â€Å"surprisingly Nutella on toast can be good for breakfast†. Sales promotion was used to target the already identified target audience and to support the credibility of the product (See appendix 3). Sales promotion consisted of samplings in Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Makro stores with the aim to increase trial, represent nutella as a positive brand and boost impulse sales. Various price cuts and Buy one get one free promotionsprior the Back to School period were aimed to increase short-term sales. Direct marketing was aimed to deliver a personal message to the target audience and target market but also provide interaction between Ferrero and its customers. Ferrero created an own website, based on the campaign -This brand website had the goal to inform the target audience about the brand but also to collect individual data by subscribing to receive e-newsletters. The reason for this brand website was also to generate brand awareness (see appendix 3) but also to form brand attitude (Pelsmacker, Geuens, Van den Bergh, 2005). Furthermore, according to Mintel 2009 food manufacturers are increasingly using the medium internet for targeting children. â€Å"Thirty percent of 8-16 year-olds say that they try food or drinks after seeing them online† (Mintel, Children Eating Habits UK, 2009). Ferrero also recognised this opportunity and targeted its main target market with its online campaign. To sum up, it can be said that Ferrero used an Integrated Marketing Communications approach in order to â€Å"provide clarity, consistency and maximum communication impact† (Pelsmacker, Geuens, Van den Bergh, 2005). Furthermore they had one consistent message that was presented by various tools. In addition, it can be said that different tools vary in their effectiveness. Advertising for instance is a good tool for creating awareness but it is not a good tool to increase sales. However, Personal selling can increase sales but it is not recommended for increasing awareness of the product. Ferrero decided in favour of a synergy of different tools in order to meet all of their objectives. 5. Human and Financial Resources The immense â€Å"Wake up to nutella† campaign was the biggest and most expensive campaign Ferrero UK ever experienced. The total costs of the campaign were  £8m whereas the television advertising and the press advert solely accounted for  £4m. These figures appear to be enormous but when comparing the size of the company and the total annual turnover of 170m EUR, marketing expenditures of  £8m appear to be appropriate. Additionally, though the campaign was expensive, it was able to generate a payback of  £1.85 for every  £1 spent. Besides the financial aspect, the human resources are crucial for every successful campaign. Ferrero UK consists of 133 employees working in several departments such as Marketing, Sales, Finance and I.T. Especially for this campaign Marketing Manager Mr. R. Groumdes-Peace required a close collaboration between single departments to exchange ideas and to profit from different know-how. In addition, the company was providing several trainings in order to involve all employees into the campaign. The television campaign and press advertising were created by Krow Communications, a famous London Communication Agency. The reason for choosing an outstanding agency was the lack of marketing expertise for this enormous and challenging campaign. Ferrero UK decided to hire Krow Communications for this campaign, as they were already well-established in the market and had famous clients such as Unilever, Fiat etc. For the Public Relations campaign Ferrero hired various nutritionists that were writing articles on behalf of nutella with the aim to communicate trust and credibility to the consumer. Here again Ferrero relied on the know-how of outstanding experts. The whole work of Ferrero UK consisted of making strategic decisions and finding other agencies that will implement the ideas for the campaign such as to create an interesting and convincing advertising that will fulfil their objectives. Finally, Ferrero UK employed Millward Brown, a research company that undertook the evaluation of the campaign. The whole planning process took around eight months and the campaign had a total duration of one year. 6. Scheduling and Implementation The duration of the â€Å"Wake up to nutella† campaign was one year but it was implemented in three phases (August 2007, December 2007 and December 2008). Ferrero decided in favour of a DRIP approach which means to use the promotional tools to differentiate its product from others, remind customers of the product but more importantly to inform them about the ingredients of the product and finally persuade them to buy nutella. Moreover, expenditure was spread in more than one period, in order to create presence over a longer period of time. 1st phase of repositioning campaign The first phase of the repositioning campaign started on the 27th of August 2007, a few days before the Back to School period and it consisted of one television advertising and two press adverts. In this phase the most important tools were advertising and sales promotion (sampling) due to the objective to increase high awareness amongst schoolchildren and mothers. 2nd phase of repositioning campaign The second phase started in January 2008/February 2008 just before the Pancake Day and consisted of the TV ad and press ads from the 1st phase. The goal with repeating the TV ad and press ads was to remind the customer of nutella as a good occasion to buy for Pancake Day. 3rd phase of repositioning campaign New press adverts and a new improved version of the TV advertisement were launched between September and November 2008. The reason for a new press advert was simply to refresh the whole campaign and the TV advertisement needed to be improved due to a number of complains. The Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) in UK required to change the information from per jar to per portion and to leave the information â€Å"good as part of a balanced breakfast†. Ferrero UK changed the key information from the TV ad into â€Å"A 15g portion contains 2 hazelnuts, skimmed milk and cocoa† and didn ´t mention the balanced breakfast anymore. Furthermore, the push strategy was scheduled prior the pull strategy in order to communicate and convince the supermarkets to include nutella in their assortment. Moreover, Ferrero wanted to convince the supermarkets to support the campaign with sampling promotions in their supermarkets. Because of this reason Ferrero UK firstly concentrated on its push strategy (prior 1st repositioning phase) and then on the pull strategy (1st to 3rd phase). 7. Evaluation and Control Ferrero UK created an immense campaign supported by different promotional tools. During but especially after the â€Å"Wake up to nutella† campaign Ferrero UK has undertaken research to identify if the objectives they have set have been achieved and which of the promotional tools helped the most in achieving these objectives. Millward Brown, one of the world ´s leading research companies was hired by Ferrero to undertake the evaluation of the campaign. According to the findings of Millward Brown, the TV advertisement achieved an Awareness Index of 11 whereas the average index in the UK is 6.

Michael Moores ‘Bowling for Columbine’ Essay -- Michael Moore, Bowlin

Michael Moore was born on April 23rd 1954. He’s An American film maker, author and a liberal political commentator. He has directed and produced four of the eight highest grossing documentaries of all time. In 2005 Time Magazine named Moore one of the world’s ‘Hundred most influential people’. The documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’ explores the possible causes for the Columbine High School massacre. It has won the ‘Best Documentary feature’ at both the Academy and Independent Spirit Awards, together with the CÃ ©sar award for ‘best foreign films’. In this sequence we see American fighter jets dropping bombs on residential areas of a village in Kosovo. Then the American President, Bill Clinton, says they are ‘trying not to hurt innocent civilians’. Following this there’s a caption reading ‘one hour later’ with the President talking about the shooting at Columbine High School, now a transition occurs where the screen fades to a picture of the schools entrance, showing a plaque which reads ‘Columbine High School-Home of the Rebels. The video changes to a subjective point of view shot, showing someone walking into school while the audio is of a sad, acoustic guitar. As the person walks through the school with his camera he ironically stops and takes footage of a soldier with a gun in his hand. CCTV (close circuit television) footage is then shown of the children at the school scurrying around trying to protect themselves from the onslaught of ammunition and explosives. A shot of Eric Harris a nd Dylan Klebold firing rounds of ammunition and throwing grenades around the hall is followed, during this a telephone call to the emergency services from Eric’s father saying that his son was involved in the shooting is played over the top. We... ... also exposes the U.S government because when President Clinton states that ‘they are trying to minimise the civilian casualties’, he ‘forgets’ to say that the Americans targeted hospitals and primary schools. If I was an American I would feel disgraced and ashamed of my people. Michael Moore uses all the techniques of film making like location, lighting and body language to help the viewers identify the genre and context of the film. He produces a brilliant and enthralling documentary on the Columbine shooting. I think the sequence is quite thought provoking. Perhaps it’s just a subtle reminder for us to stop and think for a moment if we are heading in the right direction or should we turn a blind eye to whatever is happening around us? My opinion is that such violence, the use of guns and ammunition, should be totally condemned in any part of the world.

Shakespeares Othello - Othello and the Heroine, Desdemona :: Othello essays

Othello and the Heroine, Desdemona  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello we see a very exceptional woman in the person of Desdemona, wife of the general. She, as Cassio says, is a â€Å"paragon† of virtues, unlike the other female characters in the drama.    H. S. Wilson in his book of literary criticism, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, discusses Desdemona’s entry into the Moor’s life:    But Othello had not known Desdemona long; he had little knowledge of women in any case; his military life had left scant time for cultivating their society or studying them, before he met Desdemona; and there was a bitter modesty in the man, who thought it quite possible that, for all his greatness and his romantic past, a young girl like Desdemona might hold him but a passing fancy. (64)       In Act 1 Scene1, Iago persuades the rejected suitor of Desdemona, Roderigo, to accompany him to the home of Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, in the middle of the night. Once there the two awaken him with loud shouts about his daughter’s elopement with Othello. In response to Iago’s vulgar descriptions of Desdemona’s involvement with the general, Brabantio arises from bed and, with Roderigo’s help, gathers a search party to go and find Desdemona and bring her home. Once that Brabantio has located Othello, the father presses charges publicly in order to have Desdemona returned:      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To prison, till fit time   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Of law and course of direct session   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Call thee to answer. (1.2)    The proceedings which take place before the Duke of Venice cause the father to permanently lose his daughter, mostly due to Desdemona’s own fluent presentation of her point of view in the city council chamber. This results in Brabantio’s virtual disowning of her and not allowing her to live in his house while Othello’s campaign against the Turks in Cyprus is in progress. Thus it would seem that Desdemona has been living her life with a father who is primarily interested in self and less in daughter.    Entrusted to the ancient’s care and that of his Emilia, Desdemona arrives at the seaport of Cyprus. Blanche Coles in Shakespeare’s Four Giants interprets the protagonist’s very meaningful four-word greeting to Desdemona which he utters upon disembarking in Cyprus:    Othello’s four words, â€Å"O, my soul’s joy,† tell us that this beautiful Venetian girl has brought great joy, felicity, bliss to the very depths of his soul.

Genetic Engineering Brings More Harm Than Good :: Genetic Engineering Essays

Until the recent demise of the Soviet Union, we lived under the daily threat of nuclear holocaust extinguishing human life and the entire biosphere. Now it looks more likely that total destruction will be averted, and that widespread, but not universally fatal, damage will continue to occur from radiation accidents from power plants, aging nuclear submarines, and perhaps the limited use of tactical nuclear weapons by governments or terrorists. What has gone largely unnoticed is the unprecedented lethal threat of genetic engineering to life on the planet. It now seems likely, unless a major shift in international policy occurs quickly, that the major ecosystems that support the biosphere are going to be irreversibly disrupted, and that genetically engineered viruses may very well lead to the eventual demise of almost all-human life. In the course of the major transformations that are on the way, human beings will be transformed, both intentionally and unintentionally, in ways that will make us something different than what we now consider human. Regardless of the dangers, we are rushing full speed ahead on almost all fronts. Some of the most powerful multinational chemical, pharmaceutical and agricultural corporations have staked their financial futures on genetic engineering. Enormous amounts of money are already involved, and the United States government is currently bullying the rest of the world into rapid acceptance of corporate demands concerning genetic engineering research and marketing. In the 1950's, the media was full of information about the great new scientific miracle that was going to make it possible to kill all of the noxious insects in the world, to wipe out insect-born diseases and feed the world's starving masses. That was DDT. In the 1990's, the media is full of information about the coming wonders of genetic engineering. Everywhere are claims that genetic engineering will feed the starving, help eliminate disease, and so forth. The ideas and evidence presented below are intended to help evaluate that central question. Some scientists believe that, since genetic codes determine the appearance, personality, health, and aging process of human beings, if that genetic information in the chromosomes could be decoded and the genetic mechanism were understood, we could potentially control and improve our health, quality of life, and the biochemical processes in our bodies. In other words, we could control our own fate. Also, we'd be able to improve the genes of other animals and vegetables so that they could serve humankind better. At first sight, these ideas seem reasonable and attractive. However, careful analysis reveals that they are based upon an incorrect theory--the theory of gene determinism. Genes are often described as 'blueprints' or 'computer programs' for

Suggestions for Beautifying the Pronunciation of Efl Learners

Suggestions for Beautifying the Pronunciation of EFL Learners in Higher Education Hasan Zainnuri, S. Pd. [email  protected] com English Education Department of Postgraduate Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta Abstract This paper firstly stresses that the importance of the spoken form of the language and for that reason foreign language learners should have correct and accurate pronunciation. It summarizes the background of pronunciation teaching, emphasizes the need for incorporating pronunciation into foreign language classes owing to regarding pronunciation as a key to gaining full communicative competence.Most of the people learning a foreign language encounter some problems of pronunciation of the new language, owing to some contributory factors. This paper consists of the presentation of the factors affecting the pronunciation of EFL learners in Indonesia in language learning and teaching process and also it suggests some necessary techniques for the solution of these factors. Some suggestions are also given for how these techniques should be applied for. Key words: foreign language, accurate pronunciation, EFL, higher education A.Introduction One of the general objectives in the foreign language teaching, maybe the most important one, is to teach the learners to speak the target language accurately and intelligibly since to learn a language also means to produce the sounds, utterances, and the words properly and correctly rather than being able to communicate with the people in the target language community. To reach this goal, speaking activities should be done at every stage of the foreign language teaching process.It must be borne in mind that listening and speaking go hand-in-hand in foreign language teaching because speech is very important medium through which communication is achieved. That’s to say, language is primarily speech and it is more basic to language than the written form (Larsen-Freeman, 2000: 44). According to Knowles (1987: 1 ) written language has the advantage that it is permanent so that it can be studied conveniently and at leisure, but spoken language is more ‘elusive’. In other words, written language looks like an imperfect version of the poken language. As individuals, we all learn to speak before we learn to read and write; that is to say, people learn the language by hearing the sounds spoken in their environment. Unlimited numbers of sounds, especially speech sounds, in the language help the learner to understand and to produce the language. In addition, in the world there are still languages which have never been written down and also societies have had speech before written forms of their languages. Needless to say, human talk is the oldest form all of the societies.It should be noted here that language learners always encounter some difficulties and problems while learning a foreign language. One of the most significant difficulties seen in this process happens to be in the pro nunciation of the foreign language vocabulary. So, foreign language learners have lots of problems with pronunciation because of some factors such as native language factor (mother tongue interference), age, environment, personality, etc. affect their motivation in learning.Rivers (1986: 125) urges that all persons had experience when listening to a foreigners’ speaking language, of having great difficulty in understanding what they are trying to say, not because of their lack of knowledge of 1 vocabulary and language structure, but because the sounds they produce seemed strange and the voice rose and fell in unexpected places. This sentence emphasizes a well-known fact that most of the people learning a foreign language encounter some problems of pronunciation of the new language, owing to some contributory factors.Therefore, they fail in oral communication although they are sufficient enough in other skills of the language. B. Factors Affecting the Pronunciation of EFL Lear ners 1. The Native Language Factor Needless to say, learners of a language speak the target language in a different way: sometimes slightly different and sometimes highly different than the native speakers’ do, which we call â€Å"foreign accent†, the nature of which is determined to a large extend by a learner’s native language (Avery and Ehrlich, 1987: 9).This is known as mother tongue interference. That is to say, every language in the world has different 112 varieties and different accents. Therefore, the way we speak is a part of our identity, that is, phonemic differences between languages causes a target language which will be spoken with a foreign accent. As a result, there may not be any difference in the pronunciation of [? ] and [i], and then a foreign accent carries the sound characteristics of the learners’ native language.As known, a language is a part of a culture, thus it is unavoidable that there must be mother tongue interference, which is native language influence, in the pronunciation of the target language. This view had been recognized by Whorfian Hypothesis. According to Sapir and Whorf, peoples’ view of world influences their language and also people adopt the view of the world around them through the experience and categories of their language.As a user of Indonesian language, we have difficulty in some English words and sounds which are not found in our native language. For example, /? /, /? /, /? /, /? / sounds do not exist in Indonesian and that is why Indonesian learners encounter pronunciation difficulties with the words that include those sounds and thus never obtain a native-like accent, so they produce those sound under the influence of their mother tongue.Since English is not a tonic language, Indonesian students have also some problems with stress, intonation, and rhythm which determine the overall rhythm and melody of a language can be transferred from the native language into the target la nguage (Avery and Ehrlich, 1987: 10) because Indonesian learners think that if they speak or pronounce the words with a strong stress, they will be better understood. The other problem occurs when the rules for combining the sounds in forms of syllables are different in two languages.In foreign language learning, the influence of the native language is unavoidable; this happens to be problem of language teachers. A welltrained English teacher in phonetics and phonology can diminish the negative transfers of sounds to a greater extent. So, he should use specially prepared pronunciation teaching techniques. Then, the non-native English teachers are struggling with the negative interference from the mother tongue of the students in all their teaching lives, and they should do so for a decent teaching practice. 2. The Age Factor This is one of the most important factors in the learning of the ronunciation of a foreign language. We can say that if someone pronounces a second language wit h a nativelike accent, s/he must have probably started to learn it during their childhood. For instance, children of immigrants may be given as an example. Since these children start their second language learning process in target language speaking people environment, they have more advantages than the children who try to learn the target language in their motherlands because there are indispensable differences between the language a group uses and the language of mainstream classrooms and workplaces.At the same time, if young children are exposed to 2 more than one language before the age of puberty, they seem to acquire all languages equally well since it has been claimed that children are better at learning than adults. As Krashen (1988: 43) mentioned acquirers who begin to exposure to a second language during childhood generally achieve higher second language proficiency than those beginning as adults. He also stated that lateralization may even be complete by age 4, not by pub erty. Some researchers and neurolinguists have claimed that there is a strong connection between language learning and lateralization.Lenneberg hypothesized that lateralization is a slow process that begins around the age of 2 and is completed around puberty. He had also added that right hemisphere in children is more active in the language function but as child develops the two sides of the brain become specialized for different functions and thus lateralization takes place. The critical age hypothesis claims that there is such a biological timetable (Brown, 1987: 42). It has been claimed that there is a critical age period for language learning, but it is widely discussed whether there is a critical period for language or not.Evidently, foreign language teaching researchers have outlined many views about the critical age hypothesis. Generally speaking, it coincides with the period when lateralization is taking place and ends when it is complete. This was hypothesized by Lenneberg who was one of the wholehearted supporters of critical age hypothesis. In sum, since children are better in learning the language in short run, teaching pronunciation process should be started in puberty because it has been claimed that beyond puberty it is quite difficult to teach the learners to acquire a native-speakers like language accent.As a result, the age of the learner is highly important in the pronunciation learning of a foreign language due to the factors mentioned above. The aged learners pick up the correct pronunciation a little bit late, so the foreign language teachers must be very patient in this sense, and must prepare special pronunciation drills and have the students repeat. They will obtain an acceptable level of good articulation in the long term. 3. The Amount of Exposure Another factor is the amount of exposure to the practice of English. English is not only used in the classroom environment.We can handle this subject from the point of view whether the lear ner has been living in a country where English has been spoken or not. If the learners have been living in an English-speaking country or community, or a country where English is the second language, then the learners will have many opportunities to listen to and to use the target language; that is they will be surrounded by the target language. But, on the contrary, if the learners have been living in a non-English speaking country, like Indonesia, there will be no advantage for them.So these learners will only be exposed to focusedlistening, so they will have no chance or opportunity to use the target language in a real environment. This means that there will be no communication and if there is no communication, there won’t be language learning. Since those learners won’t have any English-speaking environment except their classrooms, they will have to be satisfied with listening, but it is clear that you cannot teach correct and accurate pronunciation by just asking students to listen to artificial listening courses carried out in the classrooms.Krashen in Celce-Murcia (1996: 16-17) states that learners acquire language primarily from the input they receive, and they must receive large amounts of comprrehensible input before they are required to speak. It must not be forgotten that there are many people who live in an English speaking country, but spend much of their time in a non-English speaking environment, maybe any other language is spoken at home or outside. For this reason, it is not merely exposure that matters, but how the learners respond to the opportunities.Briefly, Kenworthy (1987: 6) mentions that exposure can be a contributory factor, but it cannot be a whole and necessary factor for the development of pronunciation. If a learner is aware of the necessity of being exposed to the target language, s/he should make use of its opportunities. 3 If the learner does that, s/he will be more successful in case of improving his/her pronunc iation. The best ways of being exposed would be native speakers, videos shows, films, cds, radio or TV programs, computer assisted language teaching programs, and etc.Also, the amount of exposure is crucial and it must make the students creative and active, not passive and dull. Therefore, the quantity of exposure must be adjusted with caution. 4. Phonetic Ability There is a common view that some people have a better ear capacity for foreign language than some other people. So, they are able to discriminate between the two sounds more accurately than the others and able to imitate sounds better. We can accept these people as those with phonetic abilities.Also, this phonetic ability of the learner affects the development of his/her pronunciation. But it does not mean that people who have a better phonetic ability will be successful but the others won’t be successful. Accordingly language aptitude ability exists in many people, but its degree is variable, therefore some people have more ability but some have less. Besides the factors mentioned above, the influence of age must be stated as an efficient factor for phonetic ability because the beginners start to learn a language, the more they become successful.It is clear that learners may lose some of their abilities when they become older, so it can be difficult for them to pronounce the target language with a native or near native-like accent. At the same time, immigrants, especially their children, have more chance in learning the target language since they have started to their learning process in a target language speaking environment. The poor phonetic ability can be cured again by the foreign language teachers’ patient attempts. There are several devices to motivate the poor pronunciation of the learners such as the phonetic labs and remedial pronunciation teaching techniques.Those learners must not be discoursed but must be treated meticulously. 5. Personality and Attitude This is also anoth er important factor affects the pronunciation of EFL learners in a bad way if the learners have negative attitudes for the target language community or they are introvert learners. For instance, shy or introvert students do not want to take part in classroom activities, so they cannot find any opportunities to make practice and to make use of phonological and/or phonetic activities.Besides, courageous or extrovert students have more chance to improve their pronunciation. On the other hand, attitude of the learners toward the new language has an effective role in pronunciation learning. If the learner has good attitudes for the target culture, s/he can easily develop more accurate, native-like accents. If the learners have some prejudices on the target language and its society, this event will influence his/her approach to the language.For example, some people do not believe in the necessity of learning a second language, and they think that foreign language will influence the learne rs’ cultural development in a negative way, that is to say, their culture will be imposed on the target language community. In this case, it will not be reasonable to teach or try to teach these learners a foreign language. Thus, personal features and attitudes of the learners are also decisive in the learning of pronunciation. The educational pedagogues may be of great help on this issue.They could give some guidelines to the foreign language teachers. 6. Motivation If the learners are highly motivated to have a better pronunciation, they can develop a concern for pronunciation, and become more eager to take part in the activities and pay more attention to discriminate the sounds of the target language, and they try to produce better utterances. Motivation can be the key to learn the target language, and they try to produce 4 better sounds. Here it must be pointed out what the motivation is and how the learners will be motivated.According to Brown (1997: 114-115) the motivat ion is thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular action. He also stated that learning a foreign language requires some of all three levels of motivation which can be global, situational, or task-oriented. For example, a learner may possess high global motivation but low task motivation on the written mode of the language. On the one hand, some factors such as intelligence, aptitude, and self-confidence have much contribution to the formation of motivation.For example, to motivate the less intelligent people will be more difficult than the intelligent ones because these people cannot appeal to their needs. Motivation, of course, is a number of different kinds of attitudes and can be divided into two basic types: instrumental and integrative motivation (Brown, 1997: 115-117). First one refers to the instrumental goals such as furthering a career, reading some kinds of materials, translation, etc. An integrative motivation is the one which is employed when the learners want themselves to be in the culture of the second language group, to identify themselves with and become part of the society.Needless to say, teachers may need to discern the source of a student motivation in order to meet particular needs. That is, pronunciation teaching must be directed according to the needs, expectations, attitudes, intelligence, etc. of the learners. If the learners’ main goals are to make translation from the native language to the target language, less time may be needed for pronunciation activities, and therefore teachers will spend less time for motivating them.If the learners are highly motivated to have a better pronunciation, they can develop a concern for pronunciation, and become more eager to take part in the activities, and pay more attention to discriminate the sounds of the target language, so they try to produce better sounds and utterances. At the same time, motivation can be achieved by paying attention to the learners’ concern for pronunciation because learners generally are not aware of that the way they speech is full of irritation and misunderstanding for the hearer. Consequently, some factors that are effective in pronunciation accuracy are examined here.All of these factors exert much influence on the learners. We cannot change and affect some of these factors, for example, it is impossible for us to change the age and phonetic ability of the learners. It is clear that the influence of age is undeniable in language learning process. Children are more successful than the adults. When we take into consideration the children of immigrants, we see the difference between their counterparts. Since they start their learning process in their early ages in the target language spoken country, they can be able to speak the target language with a native like accent. So, f a learner starts his/her foreign language learning period abroad, in other words, in a place where the target lan guage has been spoken, s/he will get a better pronunciation because there are differences between the language learning environments, that is to say, to learn a foreign language in classrooms is different than to learn it abroad. So, if we don’t have any chance to change the conditions mentioned above, cannot we do anything to train our learners with a near-native like pronunciation? Is it impossible to help them to well-trained learners having good pronunciation? Of course the answers of these questions are â€Å"No†.For that reason, here we will state some useful techniques to eliminate these negative factors over the pronunciation of EFL learners in our country and suggest some possible solutions. C. Techniques for Eliminating Pronunciation Problems of EFL Learners It is important for the learners to acquire an accurate pronunciation. According to Baker and Sharon (1990), pronunciation is very important and learners should pay close attention to pronunciation as ear ly as possible. Scarcella and Oxford (1994) similarly assume that pronunciation should be taught in all second/foreign language classes through a variety of activities.The obvious argument in favor of pronunciation teaching branches from the 5 techniques adopted by linguists in making a phonological analysis. When we look at the contrast between a minimal pair like bit and beat, we can see that mastery of the difference between the phonemes /? / and /i/ is necessary if the two words are to be adequately differentiated. Thus, the learner must learn the differences in the pronunciation of these two sounds because if he does not learn, he will be misunderstood. For example, ‘Hit the ball! ’ or ‘Heat the ball! ’. We can increase the number of this type of example.Teaching of pronunciation should be an integral part of an English teaching program from the early stages, and it must not be a luxury to be left to the advanced level studies of the language. It must be borne in mind that during pronunciation teaching, some certain methods or techniques should be applied because teaching of pronunciation is not a simple task, on the contrary it must be the essential part of language teaching program. Here, some methods and types of teaching pronunciation will be handled to determine its importance in language teaching process. 1.Initial Teaching Technique This technique focuses on areas which are the essential to basic communications such as introducing stress and intonation, the fall or rise as the difference between spoken questions and answers, the development of a polite and interested way of speaking. Hubbard et al. (1983: 209) explain this: ‘It is a PEN’ always precedes ‘It is a BLUE PEN’ and initial presentation of the present continuous tense is often with intransitive verbs, therefore, there is no object, which would mean a second stress (i. e. He’s running / She’s sleeping, etc. ).This example sh ows this method fits well with a structural syllabus (Demirezen, 1986: 108-125) symbolizes the sustained, rising, and falling intonation with the following signs: > , ^ , v, and give some examples and activities for classroom application. He uses [>] for incomplete sentences and statements wherein the speaker intends to say something. [^] is used for yes/no questions in statement forms, yes/no questions in interrogative forms, when phrases or clauses precede the main clause as a breath-group often heard in lectures and speeches, special calls for children, and stressed word, phrase or clause in a series.Lastly [v] is used for questions with ‘or’, asking questions with question words, declarative statements, in giving commands, and some emphatic statements. Here are some examples and activities. > In sum Since 1999 If you wait She is a nice girl It is doubtful ^ v What I am trying to say I don’t understand you Mary Who is it? Are you interested in Do you want an a pple or music? orange? Do you love her? He looked under the desk in the kitchen and in the closet I am crazy She fell into the lake 2. Remedial Teaching Technique This is a systematic approach and deals with the problems of individual sounds (Hubbard et al. 1983: 209-210). It can be considered as consisting of two separate approaches – Instant Remedial and Planned Remedial. For Instant Remedial, the strategy will divide into four parts: (1) imitation, (2) demonstration, (3) association, and (4) explanation. For example, teacher first of all draws attention to the ‘offending’ sound and pronounces it in isolation to be imitated by the learners. If this becomes inefficient, then teacher shows the students how the sound is formed by putting his tongue between his teeth to produce /? / or /d/ by using demonstration part.However, certain sounds are not easily made visible, so the 6 teacher may adopt the process of association. In this process, sounds must be isolated a nd attention must be drawn to the similarities between two sounds in terms of whether they are voiced, lateral, and dental, etc. Finally, explanation may help as the teacher explains in the mother tongue if necessary, how the sound is formed and gives instruction to the students to move their tongue forward, round their lips, etc. If, despite instant remedial works, the ‘offending’ sound still causes problems for the learners, then Planned Remedial work is needed.In this section, teacher should not insist, but make a note of the problem and plan a short remedial drill for the lesson. (Some of these drills will be explained in the following sections). Remedial teaching can easily be applied to individual sounds by using a similar technique used by the TPR Method. Teacher may use a board and colored board-marker to indicate a sound which is represented by different spelling. For example, the three possible pronunciation of the regular [-ed] ending /t/ and /d/ and /? / can be represented by different colorful board-marker, and words can be written in three columns on the white board: blue is for /-t/, red is for /-d/, and green is for /-id/. The [-ed] ending is the item written in the appropriate color while everything else is written in normal black. For example, BLUE RED GREEN jumped saved waited washed begged folded That is to say, the color coding can be used over and over as the teacher can indicate the pronunciation of the [-ed] ending by writing it in appropriate color. 3. Drilling TechniqueFor drilling technique there are many useful drills for purifying and teaching the correct and accurate pronunciation of the utterances and words. Here we will handle some of the common ones. a. Word – association Drill This is one of the easiest ways to give the students practice on specific problem sounds while the manifest purpose of the drill appears to be vocabulary study. Concentrating on the phonemes /? / and /e/, teacher may ask the students for antonyms of the following words: sick, sit, thin, and more. The students would respons with well, stand, fat, and less.In this type of drill it is useful to call the students’ attention to the fact that the words they will select all contain /? / or /e/. For example, 1. In which of the following word, do we have /? / sound? a. bed b. bad c. but d. bear e. beer 2. In which of the following word, do we have /e/ sound? a. bag b. mail c. get d. lake e. feet 3. In of the following words do we have two /? / sounds? a. handicap b. butterfly c. breakfast d. bankrupt e. walkman b. Saturation Drill This type of drill is suitable for all positions of the problematic sound. For example, let’s take / s / sound as a problem sound.It can be drilled in its three positions by means of saturation drill. Initial see seep seem seed Medial leasing pistol classic faucet 7 Final peace niece purse curse c. Illustrating A Learned Sound In this type of drill, students give examples of the s ound being studied. For example, to practice the diphthong /? / first, students listen to the sound pronounced by the therapist. Then, they are challenged to listen discriminatingly by indicating whether the sound pronounced by the therapist as ‘ right ’ or ‘ wrong ’ in a series of correct and incorrect pronunciations such as /a? , /a? / , /o? / , /e? / , etc. When the sound has been set, the first student starts a chain with a phrase ‘I try ’. The second student repeats the phrase, and adds his own, ‘I try but I cry’. The third one picks up the last part and says ‘I cry but I sigh ’, and goes on. d. Mobility Drill As Rochmis and Doob mentioned (1970: 29), achieving lightness of utterance and mobility of the tongue at conversational speech is a very important aspect of drilling. It is often neglected on the general belief that a student can make and hear the sound at the conversational speech.The following drill is an example for flexibility of the /? / sound. Step 1: Ask your students to suggest 5 simple words beginning with /b/ such as: bat – boat – bike – ball – boy Step 2: Encourage them to pronounce these words with a strong emphasis, and then add the word ‘the’, maintaining the pattern of stress. the bat – the boat – the bike – the ball – the boy Step 3: Substitute the words ‘to the †¦. ’ maintaining the pattern. to the bat†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ , to the boat†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. , etc. Step 4: Continue to amplify the phrase, holding the pattern, but changing its drill. rom the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ there is the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. with and without the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. because of the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ e. Comparative Drill In this type of drill, words almost similar in every respect except the one el ement to be drilled are placed in juxtaposition. Since we tend to confuse sounds that are similar these drills with stimulate accuracy in hearing, performance, and judgment. Most standard texts in voice and diction are excellent sources of such drill material. For example, this drill may be effective if two sounds are confused such as /f-v/, /p-b/, /? ? /, /? -e/, etc. For example, 1 . A sample comparative drill for /f-v/ and /p-b/ sounds fee – bee feat – peat freeze – visa – pisa breeze freed – breed fly – ply fled – bled fact – pact 2. A sample comparative drill for /? -e/ sounds sat – set band – bend sand – send bad – bed fig – pig fester – pester pan – pen It will readily be seen that above drills have certain fringe benefits in that the words are arranged according to the vowel scale. Vowels that are commonly confused are best drilled in this type of drill.The studentsâ€⠄¢ own participation in composing such drills is worth the time it takes because he will drill more intelligently and therefore establish new patterns more firmly and quickly. At the same time, it will give him/her a technique to apply to other areas where drill may be needed (Rochmis and Doob, 1970: 27-28). 8 f. Substitution Drill This type of drilling may be applied by substituting any sound instead of the other sound. For example, /t/ instead of /? / or /d/ instead of /? /, etc. Here are some exercises for classroom application. 1. This is thin / tin. . Did you see her lunge / lunch? 3. Was it a brand / bland reporting? 4. He is our king / kin. 5. It is cheap / chip. 6. Don’t tape / tap. Number of these activities may be increased and it is also possible to apply ‘practicesounds’ and ‘contrast-sounds’ exercises such as, 1. Exercises to practice / / sound a. The dog gave a sharp bark. b. The argument started when the guard refused them entrance c. The yard was so dark. 2. Exercise to contrast / / and /? / sounds. a. That hut was certainly hot. b. Did he rub or rob? c. Hand this cup to the cop. . Tongue Twisters This type of activity is known as a word or phrase which is difficult to say quickly. In the literature there are different ideas about the applicability and the usability of this activity. Celce-Murcia (1996: 5) states that there is a little transfer from practice to natural communication. But, if it is needed and necessary, they can be used. Here are some sample of tongue twisters taken from Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994: 132-133). 1. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 2. Did peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? . If Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers 4. Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? 4. Computer Aided Pronunciation Teaching (CAPT) As stated by Park in Hasan (2011: 45), that the extreme assumptions embedded in Computer Aided Pronunciation Teaching (CAPT): â€Å"tec hnology can solve the educational problems†, speech technology brings forward to EFL. With proper adaptation, speech technology allows beginning language students to practice speaking the langu age outside the classroom. TELL ME MORE Communication ® byAuralog is one of the speech recognition software, which uses speech recognition to provide conversational practice, visual feedback on prosody, and scoring of pronunciation. It contains dialogue-based software using fixedresponse Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) which lets learners have a simulated conversation with a computer. Practicing with such programs should help students improve fluency and confidence in pronouncing English words. Using phonetic exercise, included in the TELL ME MORE Communication ®, is a great way to learn how to pronounce words.Furthermore, the software can provide individual feedback on pronunciation, which is something that is often lacking in the language classroom. Related to the statement abo ve, learning pronunciation using TELL ME MORE Communication ® offers some advantages compared with conventional media being used nowadays. It also offers interesting activities when learning process as follows: (1) role play, (2) dialogue, (3) video and questions, (4) sentence pronunciation, (5) word pronunciation, (6) phonetics exercise, (7) picture/word association, (8) word searches, (9) crossword puzzles, 9 10) word order, and (11) dictation. Hasan (2011: 50-52) states that tips for improving learner’s pronunciation offered by TELL ME MORE Communication ® are as follows: 1) Imitation of teacher or recorded model of sounds, words, and sentences 2) Recording of learner speech, contrasted with native model 3) Systematic explanation and instruction (including details of the structure and movement of parts of the mouth) 4) Immitation drills: repetition of sounds, words, and sentences 5) Varied repetition of drills (varied speed, volume, mood) ) Learning and performing dial ogues (as with drills, using choral work, and varied speed, volume, mood) 7) Self-correction through listening to recordings of own speech. D. Conclusion and Suggestions We can say that the techniques mentioned above may be used to ensure that the EFL learners in higher education will be able to pronounce the target language accurately. As mentioned before, teaching pronunciation is one of the significant aspects of foreign language teaching and at the same it is a very serious task.Therefore, it should be studied in the early stages of the language teaching program in order to eliminate the factors affecting the pronunciation of the learners in a negative way and also to overcome the negative influence of mother tongue interference, fear, making mistakes, etc. While doing this, the techniques mentioned above may be applied to language teaching program in higher education during the teaching process. As a result, language teachers must be aware of these techniques or methods and sho uld apply any of them while teaching pronunciation.It must be borne in mind that teachers are the models for their learners, so first of all they should have good pronunciation; otherwise, they can harm their students. References Avery, P. and Susan Ehrlich. 1987. Preliminary Considerations in the Teaching of Pronunciation. London: TESL Center. Avery, P. and Susan Ehrlich. 1992. The Teaching American English Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Baker, Ann and Goldstein, Sharon. 1990. Pronunciation Pairs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brown, D. H. 997. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. (3rd ed. ) New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents. Celce-Murcia, Donald M. Brinton & Janet M. Goodwin. 1996. Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. New York: Cambridge University Press. Dalton, C. and Barbara Seidlhofer. 1994. Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Demirezen, M. 1986. Phonemics and Phonology. Ankar a: Bizim Buro. Hubbard et al. 1983. A Training Course for TEFL. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Krashen, S. D. 1988. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. New York: Prentice Hall Regents. Krashen, S. D. 1988. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Prentice Hall Regents. Kenworthy, J. 1987. Teaching English Pronunciation. London: Longman. Knowles, G. 1987. Patterns of Spoken English: An Introduction to English Phonetics. London: Longman. Larsen-Freeman, D. 2000. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10 Rivers, W. M. 1968.Teaching Foreign Language Skills. (2nd ed. ) Chicago: Chicago University Press. Rochmis, L. and D. Doob. 1970. Speech Therapy. New York: The John Day Company. Scarcella, R. & Oxford, R. L. 1994. Second Language Pronunciation: State of the Art in Instruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Zainnuri, Hasan. 2011. A Thesis: The Effectiveness of Using TELL ME MORE Communication ® to Improve Students’ Pronunciation Skill (An Experimental Study on The Tenth Grade Students at SMA Negeri 7 Surakarta in The Academic Year of 20102011). 11

Evaluation of Comptronix Corporation: Identifying Inherent Risk and Control Risk Factors Essay

1. Professional auditing standards present the audit risk model, which is used to determine the nature, timing, and extent of audit procedures. Describe the components of the model and discuss how changes in each component affect the auditor’s need for evidence. The audit risk model is used to determine the nature, timing, and extent of substantive audit procedures. The components of audit risk model usually stated as follows: DR = AR/(IR x CR) Where: DR = detection risk; AR = audit risk; IR = inherent risk; CR = control risk Detection Risk: auditors’ procedures will lead them to conclude that a financial statement assertion is not materially misstated when in fact such misstatement does exist. If auditors want to decrease DR, they had better collect more evidence and make sure the validity of evidence. Audit Risk: auditors may unknowingly fail to appropriately modify their opinion on financial statements that are materially misstated. If AR should be keep in low level, which means the other risks also should be low. Inherent Risk: The risk of material misstatement of a financial statement assertion, assuming there were no related controls. As inherent risk increases, PDR decreases, which in turn increases the auditor’s need for stronger evidence. Control risk: The risk that a material misstatement that could occur in an account will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by internal control. If the strength of internal control is assessed as decreasing, the auditor should pay more attention to control risks. 2. One of the components of the audit risk model is inherent risk. Describe typical factors that auditors evaluate when assessing inherent risk. With the benefit of hindsight, what inherent risk factors were present during the audits of the 1989 through 1992 Comptronix financial statements? Inherent risk is a measure of the auditor’s assessment of the susceptibility of an assertion to a material misstatement assuming there are no related internal controls. Some believe that inherent risk would be greater for some assertions and related account based on some conditions as follows: †¢Complex calculations rather than simple calculations. Once the company lost their a key customer, Management have a strong motivation manipulate sales and operating performance to satisfy investor expectations because the loss of a key customer put too much pressure on management to meet the requirements of external users. †¢Public Offering of Stock: After Comptronix made its public offering of stock , they have the pressure which push the management to manipulate operating performance too meet the expectations from the external users. †¢Technological Improvement: Comptronix is a manufacture company which main products are circuit boards and the circuit boards’ development depend on technological improvement. The technological improvement has a negative impact on operating performance. †¢Pressures from a new star Company: By the first year of the fraud (1989), Comptronix became a new company which can employ more than 1,800 employees in less than a decade , and at same time, the company expanded its the size of the company in three different locations. The rapid development of company made the management adjusted their operations instead of monitoring company operations. †¢Estimation of Accounts: The high inherent risk accounts include Accounts receivable/ payable, inventory, and property, plant, and equipment. But all the accounts’ computation is based on estimation which led the numbers are very unreliable and subjective. †¢Cash Flow Pressures: Comptronix suffered net losses from 1986. Until the company attracted a venture capitalist, the company was able to generate strong sales and profits. Prior to 1989, Comptronix had generated only two consecutive years of profit after several years of net losses. cash flow of financial statement cannot cover many years of recurring losses. The management has motives to make up operating accounts to look perfect to attract more investors. 3. Another component of the audit risk model is control risk. Describe the five components of internal control. What characteristics of Comptronix’s internal control increased control risk for the audits of the 1989-1992 year-end financial statements? Five components of control risk are: control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring. Control environment set the tone of an organization by influencing the control consciousness of people. Risk assessment is management’s process for identifying, analyzing, and responding to the risks. Control activities are policies and procedures that help ensure that management’s directives are carried out. Information is needed at all levels of an organization to assist management in meeting the organization’s objectives. Monitoring of controls is a process to assess the quality of internal control performance over time. The information and communication is seriously weak in that he three executives were able to perpetrate the fraud by bypassing the existing accounting system. They could record the fictitious entries manually and other employees were excluded from the manipulations to minimize the likelihood of the fraud being discovered. Besides, the weak control activity and monitoring is represented by the fact that Mr. Shifflett or Mr. Medlin could approve payments based solely on an invoice. Therefore, the fraud team was able to bypass internal controls over cash disbursements. Internal controls were also insufficient to detect the manipulation of sales and accounts receivable. Mr. Medlin had the ability to access the shipping department system. 4. The board of directors, and its audit committee, can be an effective corporate governance mechanism. Discuss the pros and cons of allowing inside directors to sere on the board. Describe typical responsibilities of audit committees.What strengths or weaknesses were present related to Comptronix’s board of directors and audit committee? As shareholders have limited access to the sufficient information, they are hard to monitor the daily transactions and management. They would delegate the responsibilities to the board of directors. Then, board of directors require inside directors to provide sufficient information in order to make decisions those are in the maximum profits of shareholders. However, if the inside directors have improper purposes, it’s easily to be a manipulation tool for management. Audit committee is responsible for ensuring that the company’s financial statements and reports are accurate and use fair and reasonable estimates. More specifically, it is charged with overseeing the financial reporting and disclosure process, monitoring choice of accounting policies and principles, overseeing hiring, performance and independence of the external auditors, oversight of regulatory compliance, monitoring the internal control process, overseeing the performance of the internal audit function, and discussing risk management policies and practices with management. The control environment is significantly influenced by the effectiveness of its board of directors or its audit committee. Factors that bear on the effectiveness of the board or audit committee include the extent of its independence from management, the experience and stature of its members. However, among the seven individuals in Comptronix board of directors, five members are either inside directors or directors had close affiliations with management. In addition, the primary responsibility of the board of directors is to protect the shareholders’ assets and ensure they receive a decent return on their investment. Board members act as trustees of the organization’s assets and must exercise due diligence to oversee that the organization is well managed and that its financial situation remains sound. But the composition of Comptronix’s board of directors obviously lacks objectivity. A qualifying audit committee should be composed of independent directors who are not officers or employees of the organization and who do not have other relationships that impair independence. However, The audit committee of Comptronix is made up two outside directors and one gray director, which would inevitably impair the independence. What’s more, to qualify, the committee must be composed of outside director with at least one qualifying as a financial expert. Nevertheless, for Comptronix Corporation, there is no indication of whether any of these individuals had accounting or financial reporting backgrounds. Lastly, the audit committee met only twice during 1991, it was not efficiently and sufficiently to monitor and oversee the financial reporting. 5. Public companies must file quarterly financial statements in Form 10-Qs, that have been reviewed by the company’s external auditor. Briefly describe the key requirements of Auditing Standards (AU) Section 722, Interim Financial Statements. Why wouldn’t all companies (public and private) engage their auditors to perform timely reviews of interim financial statements? The term interim financial information means financial information or statements covering a period less than a full year or for a 12-month period ending on a date other than the entity’s fiscal year end. A review consists principally of performing analytical procedures and making inquiries of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and does not contemplate (a) test of accounting records through inspection, observation, or confirmation; (b) tests of controls to evaluate their effectiveness; (c) the obtain net of corroborating evidence in response to inquiries; or (d) the performance of certain other procedures ordinarily performed in an audit. The decision to have a review engagement is a joint decision of the client and auditor. So a review would be performed when the benefits to the auditor and to the client exceed the costs to both parties. In general, firms with high complexity are more likely to be reviewed than firms with low complexity. Firms with high growth opportunities a less likely to be reviewed than those with low growth opportunities for they may be associated with higher information and litigation risks. And it’s also about the firms’ audit assurance and insurance needs. 6. Describe whether you think Comptronix’s executive team was inherently dishonest from the beginning. How is it possible for otherwise honest people to become involved in frauds like the one at Comptronix? We don’t think Comptronix’s executive team was inherently dishonest from the beginning. In opposite, we think there are two main reasons for the company committed the fraud. The first is its weak internal control. First comes to the company’s board of director. The board of directors is responsible for overseeing the actions of management. Factors that bear on the effectiveness of the board include the extent of its independence from management, the experience and stature of its members, the extent to which it raises and pursues difficult questions with management, and its interaction with the internal and external auditors. the audit committee of the board of directors should be composed of independent directors who are not officers or employees of the organization and who do not have other relationships that impair independence. In addition, the audit committee should have one or more members who have financial reporting expertise. However, Comptronix’s board of directors consist of the CEO and the COO of the company, And two of the other five directors who had close affiliations with management, one served as the company’s outside general legal counsel and the other who served as vice president of manufacturing for a significant customer of Comptronix, and one of the remaining outside directors who was a partner in the venture capital firm that owned 574,978 shares (5.3%) of Comptronix’s common stock, the second outside director who was the vice chairman and CEO of the local bank originally loaning money to the company, and the third outside director who was president of an international components supplier based in Taiwan. And there was no indication of whether any of these individuals had accounting or financial reporting backgrounds. 28.6% of the board consisted of inside directors. And even all of the board of directors disobey the independence and effectiveness of the formation of the board of directors. The interest relationship with the company increased the potential risk for the management to commit fraud. The second reason is the huge pressure of harsh competition for the companies in the industry. The fraud was motivated by the loss of a key customer in 1989 to the three executives’ former employer, SCI. Since the first manipulation of the financial statement, they were forced to manipulate the other years and evidences to hide the manipulation, which created a vicious circle. In conclusion, the weak internal control system provided a good environment for the commission of fraud. The huge pressure of the company brought the motivation of the fraud. Both of them played important roles for the honest people to become involved in frauds. 7. Auditing Standards (AU) Section 316, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, notes that three conditions are generally present when fraud occurs. Research the authoritative standards for auditors and provide a brief summary of each of the three fraud conditions. Additionally, provide an example from the Comptronix fraud of each of the three fraud conditions. (1) Three fraud conditions First, management or other employees have an incentive or are under pressure, which provides a reason to commit fraud. Second, circumstances exist—for example, the absence of controls, ineffective controls, or the ability of management to override controls—that provide an opportunity for a fraud to be perpetrated. Third, those involved are able to rationalize committing a fraudulent act. Some individuals possess an attitude, character, or set of ethical values that allow them to knowingly and intentionally commit a dishonest act. (2) Examples The incentive for top company executive to do fraud is that after the company went public, the company needed an increasing number for profit on the income statement, to attract more investors and make the stock price higher and higher. One of the opportunities for fraud perpetrated in Comptronix is that their internal controls were so insufficient. The three executives had so many authorities to get access to various accounts. They can get control of both checks and accounts payable, which enable them to make fake equipment purchasing recording. Because Comptronix`s quarterly filings were unaudited, the executives were successful in manipulating quarterly financial statements. After they successfully manipulated 1989 year-end sales and receivables, they thought their performance may not be discovered by external auditors and SEC, so they began recording fictitious quarterly sales frequently. 8. Auditing Standards Section 316, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, notes that there is a possibility that management override of controls could occur in every audit and accordingly, the auditor should include audit procedures in every audit to address that risk. a. What do you think is meant by the term â€Å"management override†? Management override of internal controls is the intervention by managers in handling financial information and making decisions contrary to internal control policy. Managers may think they have the ability to operate outside of the internal controls, but this is not true. b. provide two examples of where management override of controls occurred in the Comptronix fraud. For example, Mr. Medilin, as controller and treasurer, has the authorization to manipulate both sales documents and accounts receivable documents. Thus he can enter bogus sales into the accounting system then make fake accounts receivable to overstate the company`s earnings. Moreover, in order to overstate the equipment and accounts payable, the three company executives cut fake checks to the bogus accounts payable vendors associated with the fake purchases of equipment. However, the check preparing and recording of equipment purchases jobs should be distributed to different staff. Handling these two jobs at the same time by same executives provide them opportunity to make overstated recording of equipment purchasing. c. Research AU Section 316 to identify the three required auditor responses to further address the risk of management override of internal controls. Three required auditor responses to further address the risk of management override: (1) Examining journal entries and other adjustments for evidence of possible material misstatement due to fraud. (2) Reviewing accounting estimates for biases that could result in material misstatement due to fraud. (3) Evaluating the business rationale for significant unusual transactions.