Cross Linguistic Influence English Language Essay

Cross Linguistic Influence English Language Essay The research area of this paper is a cross-linguistic influence or as otherwise known transfer. Specifically, I propose to examine orthographic transfer and its potential effects on English native speakers pronunciation of segmentals in German as their second language. The fact that orthography can influence second language pronunciation is recognized by many foreign language teachers. Nevertheless, there is not enough evidence for such influence and more research is needed (Bassetti, 2008). Previous research on orthographic transfer has mainly looked at its effects on reading and spelling (Jarvis Pavlenko, 2008). Cook and Bassetti (2005) argue that writing system transfer is separate from language transfer maintaining that it is not so much aspects of the language that may be carried over as the attributes of a particular writing system (p. 29). Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008) concur with the above statement; however they also emphasize the importance of the connection between orthographic transfer and language use, since it relates to the orthographic effects on phonology and vice versa. According to Jarvis and Pavlenko, during the development of L1literacy skills, which uses the phonetic alphabet, important sound-letter correspondences are acquired which later can be transferred to the acquisition and use of the second language. Before proceeding any further, the discussion of two key terms that are extensively used in this paper as well as their definitions as proposed by the researchers in the field of SLA is required. The terms are writing system and orthography. The first term to define is writing system. Coulmas (1999) defines writing system (WS) as a set of visible or tactile signs to represent units of language in a systematic way (p. 560). There are various types of writing systems depending on what type of linguistic units they represent (Bassetti, 2005). Consequently, there are writing systems whose linguistic units are consonants hence the name consonantal WSs (for example, Hebrew and Arabic). Morphemic WSs are represented by morphemes (Chinese) and alphabetic WSs are represented by phonemes (English, German, and Spanish). In addition, there are also syllabic WSs whose linguistic units are syllables (Japanese). This paper will specifically focus on alphabetic writing systems of English and German languages which use the same script the Roman alphabet. The term writing system relates to orthography which is the second term and is defined as a set of rules for using script in a particular language, such as symbol- phoneme correspondences, capitalization, punctuation, etc. (Coulmas, 2003, p. 35). For example, in English orthography the letter Ë‚s˃ is read as /s/ and in German orthography as /z/ (Benware, 1986). Thus, the same script- the Roman alphabet- is used differently in the English and German orthographies. Orthographies of the same type of alphabetic writing system and script are also varied in their regularity of sound-symbol correspondences (Cook Bassetti, 2005). For instance, in English, the letter Ë‚a˃ maps to different phonemes in words such as park, bank, and ball, whereas in German the same letter Ë‚a˃ has only one pronunciation /a/ as in German nouns Park, Ball, Bank (Goswami, Ziegler, Richardson, 2005). English orthography is very inconsistent in terms of its sound-letter correspondences thus it is considered to have deep orthography. Languages such as German, Italian and Spanish have relatively consistent letter-to-sound correspondences, so their orthographies are shallow or as otherwise called phonologically transparent (Cook Bassetti, 2005). Thus, it should be easier for English native speakers to acquire German sound-letter correspondence rules than for German native speakers to acquire English sound-letter correspondence rules. Nevertheless, there has been observed a considerable number of segmental mispronunciations by English native speakers learning German as a foreign language. Therefore, the question arises whether the knowledge of L1 orthography has an effect on how English native speakers pronounce segmentals in German or are there any other factors such as cognate status or the age of acquisition that contribute to the orthographic transfer?. Literature review The focus of this paper is to explore whether the knowledge of L1 (English) orthography, namely its sound-letter correspondence rules, is transferred to L2 (German) and whether it has any positive or negative effects on L2 pronunciation of segmentals in adult language learners of different proficiency levels. The paper also aims at investigating whether there is a significant difference of orthographic transfer produced by learners at different proficiency levels (beginning, intermediate and advanced). Finally, the study will examine whether a lexical factor such as cognate status has either positive or negative effect on the acquisition and use of German as a foreign language. A number of studies have examined orthographic effects on either spelling or reading. Many studies also have looked at the effects of L1 orthographic experience on L2 word learning and decoding. However, there has been little research examining the effects of orthography on phonology and vice versa. According to Hayes-Harb, Nicol, and Barker (2010) no research has examined spelling conventions of the native and second languages where both share the same script. Although there is some evidence of the relationship between orthographic and phonological representations in learning new vocabulary, more research is needed to shed light on this phenomenon (Hayes-Harb et al., 2010). As this study examines orthographic transfer from English to German, the notion of cross-linguistic similarity should be taken into consideration especially given the fact that both languages share a significant number of cross-linguistic similarities in cognate, lexical, phonological, and writing systems areas. Ringbom and Jarvis (2009) discuss the importance of cross-linguistic similarities in foreign language learning. Specifically, they maintain that learners rely on their previous linguistic knowledge and look for similarities rather than differences between the L1 and the TL. Ringbom and Jarvis also state that second language learners refer to their previous linguistic knowledge mostly at the beginning stages of second language acquisition. Another important factor such as phonetic awareness and phonetic sensitivity should not be neglected. Piske (2008) maintains that children develop phonetic sensitivity to speech contrasts specific to their L1 long before they begin read and write and at the same time their ability to perceive non-native speech contrasts (L2) weakens with age. So for adult language learners perceiving non-native speech contrast and sounds that are particular to the target language is difficult. To develop phonological awareness and sensitivity would require an extensive practice and frequent exposure to target language. Considering this fact, Piske states that adult language learners are influenced by writing systems of their L1 during L2 acquisition. Consequently this results in learners pronunciation errors which are linked to the reliance on L1 grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules. Especially this refers to the cases when sound-letter correspondences are inconsistent between the L1 and L2. Odlin (1989) also provides ample evidence compiled from different studies that demonstrate the clear effect of first language influence on L2 speech production and orthography. Odlin states that similar writing systems in L1 and L2 represent a much easier task for learners acquiring a new language. The same however, cannot be said of pronunciation, as other variables may influence decoding of written symbols in L2. Flege, Freida, Walley, and Randaza (1998) examined whether lexical factors such as frequency, familiarity, cognate status and the age of acquisition have an effect on production. The authors provide an insight into what role the cognate status of words can play and how it effects speech production. More specifically, Flege et al. state that degree of perceived relatedness can vary depending on degree of cross-linguistic similarities the L1 and L2 share. Specifically, they point to the proximity of cognate pairs in L1-L2 in their meaning and especially in sound. This paper will also examine whether cognate pairs influence L2 pronunciation of target sounds. Based on these statements it is also likely that English-speaking learners of German will rely on their knowledge of English sound-letter correspondence rules when speaking or reading in the target language. This may result in either mispronunciation of certain sound-letter correspondences that are inconsistent with English orthography or it may have facilitatory effects on L2 phonology acquisition. In terms of findings several studies particularly stand out. Young-Scholten (2002)1 provides evidence of orthographic effects on the production of German consonants by English speakers. Another study conducted by Young-Scholten, Akita, and Cross (1999)2 also shows evidence of the effects of written representations on the pronunciation of consonant clusters in learners of Polish as a second language. These findings led the researchers to conclude that there is a relationship between orthographic representations and L2 phonology. Other studies investigating the effects of orthography on second language phonology demonstrate that second language learners pronunciation can be influenced by orthographic input (Bassetti, 2007). Bassetti (2007) examined the effects of pinyin (a romanized version of the Chinese language) on pronunciation in learners of Chinese as a foreign language. The author predicted that orthographic representation of pinyin would result in learners not pronouncing the main vowel in the rhymes whose transcription does not represent that main vowel as in rhymes /iu/ which maps to [iou], /ui/ [uei] and /un/ [uÓâ„ ¢n]. The results of the study suggest strong influence of pinyin orthographic rules on the pronunciation of Chinese rhymes. Specifically, learners of Chinese as a foreign language would delete the main vowel, which is not present orthographically; however they would always pronounce the same main vowel in the rhymes /you/, /wen/, and /wei/ (Bassetti, 2006; Bassetti, 2007). One of the most recent studies conducted by Hayes-Harb et al. (2010) provides some evidence of orthographic influence on the acquisition of the phonological forms of new words. In this study, Hayes-Harb et al. recreated conditions in which subjects experienced learning new vocabulary in a new language. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the presence of the written form of the new words affected the learning of their phonological form. Thus, native speakers of English were divided into three groups. The first group was provided with the written forms of new words that were inconsistent with English spelling. The second group was presented with words that were matching the English sound-letter correspondences. The third group had only an auditory input and no written forms of the new words were provided. The results demonstrated that L1 orthography interfered with students ability to learn new words especially when new vocabulary differed from English sound-letter correspo ndences. While Hayes-Harb et al. (2010) provide some evidence of orthographic effects in the process of learning new phonological forms of words, the authors admit that the method is a novel one and in the future should be controlled by learners spelling ability. Previous studies show clear effects of a relationship between orthography and phonology in second language acquisition. Much of the research has analyzed orthographies that use different writing systems, and as Hayes-Harb et al. (2010) point out very little research has been done investigating the effects of orthographies on L2 pronunciation within the same writing system and script. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate further the notion of orthographic transfer by analyzing the relationship between orthography and phonology of two languages that share the same script and the following research questions are addressed in this paper: Is orthographic transfer statistically present in the sample? Do results vary and are they statistically significant between different proficiency levels? What is the nature of relationship between error score and students perceptions of cognate status? Method 2.1 Participants The participants of this study were 28 undergraduate American English speakers from Ohio University. The students were enrolled in the 100, 200 and 300 levels of German as a foreign language. The levels differ by proficiency. The 100 level is offered to beginners, the 200 level is an intermediate level, and the 300 level is taught to the advanced students respectively. Each proficiency level consists of a three quarter sequence meeting four hours per week with regular homework assignments. Each year sequence of German series focuses on developing all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). 2.2 Materials and procedures The study consisted of two phases: the screening phase and the data collection phase. During the screening phase, students enrolled in all three proficiency levels volunteered to fill out an online language background survey. The purpose of this survey was to select potential participants for the study by controlling several variables that could have had an effect on the results. It was set up in such a way that participants could be screened based on their responses to the first three questions. Thus, those who did not qualify for the study were automatically eliminated without going over all of the survey questions. First of all, it helped eliminate the students with any reading or speech disorders. It also helped exclude those students who were taking another foreign language class along with German. The survey also eliminated the students who had taken a foreign language other than German less than a year ago, which could have contributed to transfer from that language into their knowledge and use of German. In addition, information such as students motivation, number of years they have studied German and the time spent in German speaking countries was collected through this survey. As a result, out of 63 students who had volunteered to fill out the survey, 28 were qualified and participated in the data collection phase. The selected participants included nine beginners, eight intermediate-level students, and eleven advanced-level students. The data collection phase consisted of three tasks administered in the following order: an informal reading aloud task, a formal reading aloud task, and a perception task. All three tasks were performed by the students during individual single session meetings lasting fifteen minutes. Reading aloud is considered to be the best way to test the knowledge of sound-letter correspondences. It provides good control and allows for comparison of speech samples from different subjects. Reading aloud is also a technique that is widely used in a foreign language class thanks to which participants feel more comfortable during data collection (Madsen, 1983). During the informal reading task, students were asked to read aloud a German text which was adapted in order to target certain German consonants and consonant clusters as detailed in Tables 1 and 2. The inventory sets (see Table 1) include incongruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences students presumably would have had the most difficulty producing. Table 1. Incongruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences Sounds exist in both languages, but are represented with different letters German phoneme-grapheme correspondences English phoneme-grapheme correspondences 1 Ë‚w˃ / [v] e.g., Wind [vÉ ªnt] Ë‚v˃ /[v] eg.: van [và ¦n] 2 Ë‚v˃ / [f] e.g., Vogel [foË gl] Ë‚f˃ / [f] eg.: fan [fà ¦n] 3 Ë‚s˃ / [z] e.g., sinken [zÉ ªÃƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¹knÃÅ' ©] Ë‚z˃ / [z] eg.: zone [zoÊÅ  n] 4 Ë‚s˃/[ʃ] when followed by e.g., Sport [ʃpɆrt] Ë‚s˃ / [ʃ] when followed by eg.: shine [ʃaÉ ªn] 5 Ë‚s˃ /[ʃ] when followed by e.g., Student [ʃtudɆºnt] Ë‚s˃ / [ʃ] when followed by eg.: shed [ʃɆºd] Sounds are different in both languages, but are represented with the same letters 6 Ë‚t˃/ [ts] e.g., Tradition [traditsioË n] Ë‚t˃/[ʃ] e.g., tradition [trÉâ„ ¢Ãƒâ€¹Ã‹â€ dÉ ªÃƒÅ Ã†â€™http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngÉâ„ ¢n] 7 Ë‚z˃/ [ts] e.g., Zimmer [tsÉ ªmÉ ] Ë‚z˃ / [z] e.g., zone [zoÊÅ  n] 8 Ë‚ch˃/[à §] e.g., sportlich [ʃpɆrtlÉ ªÃƒ §] Ë‚ch˃/ [tʃ] e.g., rich [rÉ ªtʃ] Also is included a set of congruent phoneme-grapheme correspondences that exist in both English and German languages (see Table 3). Table 3. Congruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences Grapheme-phoneme correspondences existing in both languages German examples English examples 1 2 3 4 5 Ë‚b˃ maps to [b] Ë‚n˃ maps to [n] Ë‚l˃ maps to [l] Ë‚t˃ maps to [t] Ë‚p˃ maps to [p] Bank [baņ¹k] Nuss [nÊÅ  s] Land [lant] Tag [taË k] Park [park] Bank [bà ¦Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¹k] Nut [nÊŒt] Land [là ¦nd ] Tag [tà ¦g ] Park [pÉ‘rk ] To test students pronunciation of the targeted German segmentals in relation to potential transfer effects, each grapheme-phoneme correspondence listed in Tables 1 and 2 was encountered at least twice in the informal reading task and once in the formal reading task. Students readings in both tasks were recorded in a soundproof recording laboratory using audio recording software. During the first task, students had one minute to read the text silently before being recorded. The formal reading task followed the informal one and required the participants to read words with the targeted sounds in isolation. The words in the formal task were a subset of those used in the informal task and some of them were cognates with English. Finally, during the perception task students had to categorize a list of both cognate and non-cognate German words in terms of their similarity to any of the English words. Students had to rate the words on a three-point scale (1=same; 2= similar; 3= dissimilar) relying on their own perceptions. Table 3 below contains examples of words students rated in the perception task. Table 3 Categorization of cognate and non-cognate words Same meaning Form Same Similar Dissimilar Ger. Wind Eng. Wind Ger. Sturm Eng. storm Ger. Viel Eng. many Ger. Student Eng. Student Ger. Milch Eng. Milk Ger. Vogel Eng. bird Ger. Winter Eng. Winter Ger. Temperatur Eng. Temperature Ger. Zeit Eng. time Ger. Warm Eng. Warm Ger. Wetter Eng. Weather Ger. Zimmer Eng. room Ger. Sport Eng. Sport Ger. Naturlich Egn. Naturally Ger. traurig Eng. sad Ger. Tradition Eng. Tradition Ger. Sportlich Eng. sporty Ger. Information Eng. Information Ger. Sonne Eng. Sun Ger. Strudel Eng. Strudel Results from these tasks revealed whether the reliance on first language orthography had a positive or negative effect on students pronunciation of segmentals in German. The mispronunciations in the recordings were quantified, categorized and recorded in a data file. Their performance was then codified and entered in the data file. Finally, student survey responses and identifying information collected through the questionnaire were matched with participants reading performance results and the perception task. Once the survey information and performance results were merged, the data was de-identified to ensure the confidentiality of the participants. Data analysis and results In order to address the first research question of whether orthographic transfer is statistically present in the sample, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, the nonparametric alternative to the paired-sample t-test was used to examine whether the participants pronunciation errors were statistically more prevalent in cases of incongruent sound-letter correspondences between the L1 and L2 than in cases of congruent sound-letter correspondences. That is, we tested whether the participants distribution of errors and successes is keyed to the specific ways in which the L1 and L2 are related in terms of sound-letter correspondences. The results of the test revealed that orthographic transfer is statistically present in the sample (p=.00). Students indeed produced more errors in cases of incongruent sound-letter correspondences and there were zero number of mistakes in cases with congruent sound-letter correspondences. In order to address our second research question concerning whether there is any difference in the mean scores between proficiency level groups, The Kruskal Wallis test was performed. This test was conducted on the results of the reading tasks of the experiment to test whether the subjects from the three proficiency level groups differed significantly in producing German segmentals [à §, f, ts, ʃp, ʃt, z, v]. It was assumed that the distribution of errors would be more prevalent in the beginner level group as opposed to intermediate and advanced level groups. The results demonstrated a significant difference in mean scores between all three proficiency groups for both informal and formal reading tasks (p =.009). The results of the descriptive statistics are summarized below in Table 5.   Table 5 Mean error scores for each proficiency level Beginners group mean score Intermediate group mean score Advanced group mean score Group Mean Informal reading task 22.50 15.58 8.00 14.83 Formal reading task 20.42 13.85 5.41 12.64 Cumulative error mean 43.37 30.43 13.41 27.90 Valid N 9 8 11 28 Finally, in our last research question we examined the relationship between students performance results in both reading tasks and their perceptions regarding cognate status of the words. For this purpose a correlation analysis was conducted to examine what kind of relationship there exist between the number of errors produced in the target sounds and the number of students rating the words as same or dissimilar. As a result, correlation coefficient between error score and a number of students rating the words as same revealed a weak negative relationship between these two variables, with correlation coefficient r = -.47. On the other hand, correlation analysis between error score and a number of students rating the words as dissimilar showed a moderate positive relationship between the variables with r = .57. Discussion The present study is exploratory in its nature yet the results show evidence of orthographic transfer in the sample. By that we mean that students do tend to rely on their L1 knowledge of sound-letter correspondence rules specifically in the cases of incongruent sound-letter correspondences between the L1 and L2. The results also indicate a significant difference in mean error scores at different proficiency levels. Thus, the beginner level students produced the highest number of errors in targeted segmentals than students from intermediate and advanced levels. These findings support the idea Ringbom and Jarviss (2009) stated that the second language learners rely more on their previous linguistic knowledge at an early stages of second language acquisition. This especially applies to the languages that share a significant number of cross-linguistic features in cognate, lexical, phonological and writing systems, as in case of English and German. The results of this study are also in line with previous findings of Piske (2008), which suggested that adult learners are influenced by the writing systems of their L1. A considerable number of errors were observed in producing in seven out of eight German segmentals [à §, f, ts, ʃp, ʃt, z, ts] with the exception of [v] which maps to Ë‚w˃ in German. For example, the highest number of errors students produced was the German consonant Ë‚g˃ in word final which maps to palatal fricative [à §] when preceded by front vowels as in traurig and consonantal cluster Ë‚ch˃ in word final which also maps to palatal [à §] in words such as Milch, natà ¼rlich, sportlich. Students produced these two sounds as [k]. They also confused German Ë‚v˃ which maps to [f] with its English counterpart [v]. The same was observed with the other two German consonants Ë‚s,z˃ which map to [z,ts] respect ively and were pronounced as English phonemes [s, z]. This can be explained by the fact that all German consonants mentioned above are represented by the same graphemes in English, which resulted in students mispronunciations. Interesting results were obtained from the words that contained labio-dental [v] which in German maps to Ë‚w˃ grapheme. None of the students had errors producing this sound despite the fact that the same grapheme /w/ maps to an approximant [w] in English. This could be interpreted as following: it appears easier for students to produce sounds that are far apart in terms of their place of articulation than for instance, the sounds that vary only in their voicing. Thus students in this study had difficulty to devoice fricative [f] in German because it is represented by grapheme Ë‚v˃, which in English maps to voiced fricative [v]. Participants of this study also struggled producing consonantal clusters Ë‚ st, sp Ã⠀¹Ã†â€™ which in German language map to [ʃt, ʃp]. Although English has phoneme [ʃ], it exists in different phonetic environment and is never followed by [p,t] phonemes in onset. Therefore students confused these two consonantal clusters with their English counterparts and produced them as [sp] for example English sport or [st] as in English student. Lastly, the perception task yielded somewhat ambiguous results. It appears that there might be a relationship between the error score and a number of students rating the words as dissimilar. Nonetheless, this needs to be investigated in the future research using a larger sample as there was insufficient amount of data to strongly support the findings. For more details regarding error score and the students perceptions see Table 6 in Appendix A. Conclusion The purpose of this study was to find out to what extent English-speaking learners of German rely on the English orthography and whether the presence of cognate words results in mispronunciation in the target language or vice versa helps learners to acquire L2 phonology. Given what was found (a) evidence that English orthography, namely its grapheme-phoneme rules interferes with learners pronunciation of German segmentals, (b) evidence that learners were influenced by L1 writing system mostly at the beginning stages of second language acquisition, and (c) some evidence of potential relationship between the errors produced and students perceptions of cognate status, we might consider some practical implications for foreign language classroom as well as future research implications. As Hayes-Herb et al. (2010) suggested language teachers might find it beneficial presenting new vocabulary using initially auditory input only. This may particularly refer to the non-cognates words as students in this study made more errors in words that they rated as dissimilar with English. At the same time, it may be helpful for learners to receive written input of the words that contain German Ë‚w˃ in word initial, as students produced zero errors, which might suggest that in this particular case written input positively influenced learners pronunciation. Therefore it is important for language instructors to be aware of orthographic transfer and its positive and negative effects so that they can address this information accordingly in their classroom. On the other hand more research is needed to support these findings. For this purpose a more comprehensive study with a larger sample would help to expand the current analysis of data and make the findings general izable for a larger population of students studying German as a foreign language. Teacher surveys might reveal whether language instructors focus on orthographic transfer or is it something new to them as well as to what extent they focus on pronunciation of those specific sounds that might be problematic due to the reliance on L1 sound-letter correspondence rules in their classroom. The results can provide valuable insights that can be applied to the teaching of German as a foreign language. Furthermore, given the scope of this study only eight German segmentals were investigated. Examining other segmentals whose orthographic representations exist only in German (for example, Ë‚Â Ã‚ ¢Ãƒâ€¹Ã†â€™, Ë‚Ã ¼, à ¶, à ¤ ˃) or segmentals whose sounds exist only in German but are represented by the same graphemes (for example German Ë‚r˃ which maps to several phonemes [Êâ‚ ¬, Ê , r] depending on the in word position) would clearly provide better results on the way English and German orthographies interact with German as a foreign language phonology. To conclude, while the this study attempted to address questions on how orthography of L1 and its sound-letter correspondence rules can be transferred to L2 phonology resulting in mispronunciation of certain segmentals still more research on this topic is needed.

Does marketing create or satisfy needs? Essay

When we talk about marketing, there are lot things that we should know first. Marketing is activities of creating value that desired by the potential buyers and receiving value from the potential buyers for the value that they have received. When marketers want to create something that has value to the potential buyers, marketers must know first, what do the potential buyers need or want. As a marketer, it does not make any sense if we sell something that does not have value, or if the marketers want people to purchase something that they do not need of even want. Marketers can not force anyone to do something. They can only ask them to buy their product or service. Some people might not care about what they are asking for. So, in the business of selling product or service, we know word â€Å"marketing†. Marketing is an art of identifying and meeting the people’s needs and wants. It is all about communication between two parties that profitable for the both sides by exc hanging value. Marketing is not that easy to do. As we know, we can not mess with the â€Å"free will† of the people around us or people that we see as the potential buyers. It is up to them if they are willing to buy the marketers’ products or service. In this case, the marketers have to do their marketing activities. Their job is to tell people that their product or service is suit with the people’s need or want. Therefore, the marketers have to know what do people need or want. How can the marketers find out about what the people need or want? They analyze the potential buyers. They have to collect data about the potential buyers. The data is all about their behavior and so on. Anything that can help the marketers to make the potential buyers recognize their product or service and tell them that they should buy it because it is something that they need or want. Products and services can not be created or even sold if people do not need or even want them. So, the data about t he potential buyers’ behavior is important. When the marketers analyze the data, they can tell if their product or service is desirable or not. In the marketing, we know â€Å"4p’s†. 4p’s are product, place, price, and promotion. First is product. It means that in order to make the potential buyers purchase the marketers’ product or service, they have to create a product or service that has desirable value. In another word, a useful product must be created for the potential buyers. Second is place. When the marketers want to sell their product or service, they have to consider the place also. Place that geographically potential to sell the product or service. Selling product or service at a wrong place can bring the marketers to the misery of loss. It can happen because place or environment can affect the ways of thinking or the behavior of the people in it. Different place means different need and want. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) recognize the need of Indonesia people for chicken that being eaten with rice. So, unlike in the other countries, they sell not only fried chicken, but also rice in In donesia. So, it is an important thing to consider the place to sell the product or service. Third is price. When the marketers sell their product or service, they have to set price that suit with their product or service. For example, we can not sell T-shirt at a price of $10,000. It will make sense if what we sell is car. So, the marketers have to set the price based on the value they are offering to the potential buyers. Nowadays, discounts can make the product or service being purchased. Setting the lowest price to pull the potential buyers is becoming trend to many companies. The last one is promotion. Talking about promotion is all about sending message to the potential buyers. The message tells the potential buyers that they need or want the product or service. That is why they have to buy it to fulfill their need or want. Promotion can be in any forms. The product or service can be promoted in commercials, banners, and any other media. The message must reach the way of thinking of the potential buyers or even their heart. Whatever it takes to make them desire and purchase the product or service. To sell the product or service, any marketers have to really consider about the 4 p’s. As we know, nowadays, people are independent and have their own thought. So, marketers have to think hard in order to reach a lot of people. But only reach people, but they also have to pull people to recognize and purchase the product or service. We can not avoid the fact, different  person, different personality, different thought, and different perception. What the marketers think is not the same as the people think. The way people think is influenced by the environment or the society around them. Places with different cultures must have different kind of people. Culture influences people time after time. So, it is something that can not be easily erased or changed by any marketers. And people with different kind of family backgrounds and different kind of friends must have different perception or way of thinking. People or group around the potential buyer influence their way of thinkin g and sometimes help them to decide what do they need or want. So, any marketers can not underestimate the 4 p’s. The needs and wants of the customers are differently created because of factors, such as cultural factors, social factors, and personal factors. First, cultural factors like the cultures around the customers create several certain needs and wants. Mostly, the culture in a country is different from the other countries. In a culture of a country, people have a different perception and way of thinking than people in the other country. It is a fundamental determinant of the marketers’ opportunities to enter the market. The second is social factors, such as reference group, family, role, and status. As we know, people around the customers are influence the way of thinking or perception and the behavior of the customers. We also know that people with different roles and status must have different needs and wants. For example, a person with a role as a governor needs a security. Unlike the common people who do not need any added security need. High status people usually purchase more than low status people. The high status people might need an expensive brand like Armani to show other people that they have a high status and power. Unlike the common people with middle to low status. They do not need more than a well known brand like Zara or something like that. As long as they are wearing an outfit that looks good on them. The third one is personal factors, such as gender, age and life cycle, economic circumstances, and lifestyle. Gender is really matter to create needs and wants. Women and men have different perception and circumstances. Women routinely need cosmetic to make them look good. But men do not need any cosmetics. Age and life cycle of the customers determine their need. A person in age 1 up to 2 or in ‘baby’ life cycle needs nappies. But a girl in  age 16 or in ‘teenager’ life cycle needs tampons. Economic circumstances of people are also determining what do they purchase. People with a good economic circumstance can recognize more needs and wants and purchase more than the other people. Next is lifestyle. It is obviously that lifestyles of the customer influence their behavior and they can also recognize their need and want. Because of their lifestyle, people purchase different thing with the other people. Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living in the world as expressed in activities, interests, and opinion. For example, mostly of the people with a healthy lifestyle do not purchase junk foods. They only purchase fresh foods. So, they basically create their need based on the way they are thinking and their own perceptions. We can think of marketing as a way of making sure the customers have the right types of product and service experiences to create the right brand knowledge structures and maintain them in the customers’ memory. In practice, marketing is following the logical. First, marketers have to analyzing their opportunities, and then they have to select their target market. Market is a group of consumers or potential buyers. Marketers select the market which is desire their product or service, because they need or want it. Targeting market is about targeting people who do you think want to buy your product or experience your service. In practicing marketing in the target market, marketers also have to consider the four dimension of SIVA. SIVA contains of solution, information, value, and access. These are the questions of the customers that are designed to be answered in order to make the benefit exchange between the customers and the marketers. Solution : How can I solve this problem? Information : Where can I learn more about it? Value : What is my total sacrifice to get this solution? Access : Where can I find it? The dimensions above are the basic questions that must be answered by the marketers. So, to attract the customers, marketers must tell them that they can solve their problem. Somehow, the marketers must communicate with the  customers and make them sure that the marketers are really care about their problem and also care to solve it. In communication, marketers not only make the customers recognize their care, but also recognize the capability of the marketers to help the customers. The marketing process cans not being processed without any push by any means from the customers. Marketers are developing the marketing plan by analyzing the customers’ behavior or customers’ environment first. Any strategies that created are basically reflected by the data of the customers and their environment. Marketers communicate with customers in order to find out what do they need or what is their problem and tell them that marketers can fulfill it and also solve their problem. So, we can say that Marketing is reflect the needs and wants of the customers and happening in order to satisfy customers’ needs and wants. There is no way a company creates a useless product or service. There must be reasons and goal to reach when a company creates product or service. The marketing plan that developed by the marketers simply reflected by needs and wants of the customers. Marketing exist in order to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers. There is another thought that say ‘Marketing shapes or create the need of the customers’. Some people might be agreed with the statement. There are a lot of marketers that have innovative and creative thinking who usually ‘think outside the box’. They make a new product and service. An unusual product or service that launched by the marketers. They promote them and tell the market that they should buy this for goodness sake. Because they need it. So, people simply think that marketing might shapes or even create the need of the customers. But there is something that we have to consider. They are creative and innovative marketers who basically just like the other marketers. They collect data from the customers and the environment around them and then transform it into useful information. But, they who think outside the box can recognize the ‘new need’ of the customer. So they create product or service based on their recognition. Product or servic e that the customers might do not think to need it but in the end, the customers hold on that product or service. All we can say is that the marketers just recognize the ‘new need’ of the  customers, but not create them. Who creates them are the customers themselves. For example, when they need communication, they have cable telephone. But, the marketers recognize that the cable telephone might not appropriate for people nowadays. So now there are cell phones. Portable phones are now become a basic need. People can not live without communicate with the other people by cell phones. The marketers found the ‘new need’ just by analyzing the customers and the environment. But, the customers are basically creating them time after time. Marketing is about recognize the existing problem or even the new problem of the customers and tell the customers that they can solve it by their product or service. It is all about satisfying the customers’ need and want to gain value from them too.

Stroop Effect On The Brain - 1854 Words

The aim of this experiment was to basically analyze how fast the brain can perceive color and describe words simultaneously with the Stroop Effect theory. The Stroop Test is also done to determine new findings on the human’s brain automaticity and how it processes certain functions. In reference, to the independent and dependent variables involved, the independent variable in this experiment would be the color word followed by the conflicting color and the dependent would be the time that it took for the applicant to make a decision. At the conclusion of the lab, applicants were to record their results as well as the group data results and new findings of how the brain functions under certain processes. However, the age differences and the reading comprehension levels of the applicants involved, may have also caused an error due to the lack in understanding of the of time intervals in the ending data. Area: Stroop Effect Introduction: Humans acquire lifelong tendencies, such as reading, that become natural, almost like a second nature. The tendency in reference to this research is that automaticity that humans acquire when reading. According to The Psychonamic Bulletin and Review (1977), a â€Å"widespread view in cognition is that once acquired through extensive practice, mental skills such as reading are automatic.† The Stroop Test, study done by psychologist John Ridley in 1935, was done to test the human brains automaticity. He noticed that humans have a largerShow MoreRelatedThe Stroop Effect On The Reaction Time1254 Words   |  6 Pagesas the Stroop Effect. The Stroop Effect is a study that lead to the occurence where objects of incongruent context and word display are used to find the reaction time it takes to determine the context of the word. The original way that is used to test the Stroop Effect is by printing a name of a color, in a varying font color. The purpose is to determine whethe r or not gender affects the reaction time it takes to determine what the color of the word is printed in. Two parts of the brain are usedRead MoreConceptual Metaphor Theory ( Cmt )919 Words   |  4 Pages1980) proposes that people use concrete experiences to represent abstract concepts through metaphorical mappings. Santiago and his colleagues (2012) reviewed the literatures on CMT, and summarized task effect called conceptual congruency. Conceptual congruency effect (CCE) indicates the task effect that while people do judgment on an abstract conceptual dimension, their performance can be influenced by the manipulation on a concrete conceptual dimension. In daily life language, color-emotion is aRead MoreThe Stroop Task And Further Exploration Essay1046 Words   |  5 PagesThe Stroop Task and Further Exploration Lesly Cabrera City College of New York The cognitive task of the Stroop task is the proof that an interference of a task has a reaction time delay. From the moment I saw the Stroop effect on my textbook and on the power point in lecture class, I grew an interest to this subject. I found it a mentally challenging task; it was tricky and therefore grasped my attention and wanted to further explore this cognitive task. As stated by MacLeod, â€Å"The Stroop effectRead MoreMy Experience With The Stroop Effect862 Words   |  4 Pages Based on my experience with the Stroop effect I have concluded the test with the conflicting words and colors showed increased complexity. I realized during the test that the incompatible inputs created conflict in my mind. In order for me to formulate a response I had to disqualify an input and validate the solution prior to the final answer. According to George Washington University’s cognitive psychology department this phenomena is due to the top down processing theory. This theoryRead MoreThe Effect of Visual Field Position and Type of Stimuli on the Stroop Effect1184 Words   |  5 PagesAbstract An experiment was conducted to test the effect of lateralization and congruency on reaction time to name colors. This was done using a computer program provided by The University of Mississippi. This effect is called the stroop effect. Results showed that it was neither lateralization nor congruency had a significant effect on reaction time, but the interaction of these two variables that created a significant change in the time needed to recognize colors. It is believed that this isRead MoreThe Enigmatic Phenomenon Of Stroop Effect1171 Words   |  5 PagesThe Enigmatic Phenomenon of Stroop Effect The Stroop Effect is an interesting, yet complex, phenomenon that presents itself when someone attempts to say a color, yet ends up incorrectly calling the color something else, due to the word being different in some way than the actual color itself (Imbrosciano Berlach, 2005). For example, imagine a person being asked to name the color of a certain word, such as blue, but instead of saying the correct color, they say what the word spells out, which couldRead MoreThe Stroop s Stroop Experiment1308 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction In 1935, John Ridley Stroop further researched and printed the whole idea of the Stroop effect which is also named after himself. The main purpose of the stroop experiment is to time how fast the participants are to respond to different coloured stimuli presented to them in different conditions. This measures the cognitive ability of the individuals involved as it tests the memory and focus. The work of John Ridley Stroop was originally a study that came from James McKeen Cattell (1991)Read MoreThe Matter Of Paying Attention1494 Words   |  6 Pagesflexibility of our brain (Cognitive Psychology Class Notes, n.d.). The response of two or more conflicting signals is located in the part of the brain called the, anterior cingulate (Pardo, Pardo, Janer, Raichle, 1980). This region of the brain has two main cognitive processes; one of which is the capability to read words and the other to detect colors through visual stimuli. A way to understand the how this part of the brain works is through attention fails. J. Ridley Stroop (1935) investigatedRead MoreUnderstanding the Results: Breakdown of the Stroop Effect1199 Words   |  5 PagesUnderstanding the Results: The Breakdown of the Stroop Effect The beauty of science is the fact that it is not ever a complete certainty. There are times when an experiment might yield results that conflict with prior results in past experiments, which then forces the researcher to try to account for the possibility of new findings that lay outside the range of prior discourse. This is the case here, where a variation of the Stroop test was conducted, with atypical results. After coming to theseRead MoreThe Stroop Effect Experiment Essay773 Words   |  4 PagesThe Stroop experiment can be traced back as far as the nineteen century around the time of some particular works of Cattell and Wundt. The experiment was first written about in 1929 in German. The experiment was name after John Ridley Stroop after he had written the article â€Å"Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions,† which was published in 1935.there have been over 700 replications of this experiment The experiment is a demonstration of reaction time of a task . The Stroop experiment

Sample University Essay

University essay is a type of the academic papers written by the students, which is characterized by the clear-cut thesis statement and the convincing evidential support. Obviously, this essay can be considered as the advanced version of the College composition, which is deprived of the grammatical and punctual mistakes, word choice and order violations. Besides, it should demonstrate the author’s critical thinking on the controversial topic under the discussion. University essay below confirms all the above-mentioned characteristics and shows my argument on the issue of the computers’ emotional intelligence. For the time being, there exists the considerable amount of the evidential support that allows the scientists to agree in their majority that the computers can think, at least, in a unique way the machines are able to proceed with this task. Meanwhile, the question that remains highly disputable in the academic circles is whether the computers experience some emotional reaction to the user’s actions or not. The results of the studies on the topic are quite controversial, what aggravates the process of reaching the unanimous and distinct answer on it. Nevertheless, plunging into the differences of the human brain functioning and the computer mode of operation, it becomes apparent that even despite the computers’ ability to think, these robot-like objects have nothing in common with the other living creatures in terms of emotions. The research in this realm has started with the assumption that the emotiveness cannot be considered as the only distinguishable feature of the living organism. Correspondingly, the scientists have dared to assume that the computers possess some emotions but they are delivered in the other way in comparison to the one typical of the humans. Furthermore, based on this hypothesis, the various scholars have attempted at testing the claim that â€Å"alive† is not limited to the biological condition solely. Specifically, the analysis of the data has shown that such point of view is unconvincing, what has caused another wave of criticism on this matter. The common ground concluded by the investigators is that it is the machines’ lack of the dialectical thinking, which serves as the major stumbling block of their capacity to react emotionally to some actions of the user. In other words, the researchers have explained the computers’ emotional deficiency by the assertion that they possess only the one-dimensional perception enabled by the mechanisms of logic rather than intuition. What is more, many scholars have admitted that the computers cannot execute the assignment of understanding the associative connection or metaphorical meanings, what also supports the stance of their emotional incompetence. In contrast, the human beings are known for their emphatical skills, which activate the better comprehension of the analogical connections. In the specific terms, by comparing the computer-like exercise can be equated not more than to the half of the human thinking performances that are governed by the left brain hemisphere. Controversially, the functions that are ruled by the right brain hemisphere are solely man-like and cannot be reproduced by the machines. Overall, these distinctions manifest the clear-cut confirmation of the position that the computers fail to undergo any emotions and show them directly to the users. What is more, the biological reasoning together with the recent scientific findings also provides the evidence to the fact that the machines are capable of disposing of the exact and unbiased thinking with the exclusion of any emotional experiences. References Gelernter, D. (2016). Machines that will think and feel. The Wall Street Journal. Web. 20 Sept. 2016. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/when-machines-think- and-feel-1458311760. Griffiths, S. (2014). Robots will NEVER have feelings: Mathematics reveals that droids cant experience emotions like us. Mail Online. Web. 20 Sept. 2016. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2628150/Robots-NEVER-feelings-Mathematics-reveals-droids-experience-emotions-like-us.html. Hay, M. (2014). Could a machine or an AI ever feel human-like emotions? Humanity Media. Web. 20 Sept. 2016. Retrieved from http://hplusmagazine.com/2014/04/29/could-a- machine-or-an-ai-ever-feel-human-like-emotions/. Keim, B. (2014). Can a computer fall in love if it doesn’t have a body? Wired. Web. 20 Sept. 2016. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2014/02/her-artificial-intelligence-love/. Miller, M. (2015). Can computers be conscious? Big Think. Web. 20 Sept. 2016. Retrieved from http://bigthink.com/going-mental/can-computers-be-conscious.