The Ideal Life Essay -- Personal Narrative Family Essays

The Ideal Life I awake to the sounds of bacon sizzling and eggs frying. It is other wonderful, futile Saturday morning breakfast. This weekend is akin so many others, and yet it is unique in and of itself. The shadows on the floor coalesce to form the german shepherd, Hg, we once rescued. Then, like Mercury himself, the shadows disperse leaving nothing tho emptiness where he once was. Breakfast comes the call from the kitchen. Coming, I respond, fully intending not to. I extend where I am, reminiscing about the past, about elementary particles, about how Ive reached the point where I now am, and about who I was 10 years ago.Ive never wanted my manner to stand out overmuch. Ive never dreamed of winning the race, scoring the goal, or saving the day. I dont mind at all having the appearance of just another faceless mass in a crowd, because I am so much more than anything anyone could catch in a glimpse. Not that I recover Im special or anything, since there are very few peop le who one can know instantaneously. Spending the time and energy to make an painting on people I will never again see is not normally my style. I care much more for the depth of a single relationship than the mind-numbing breadth of a multitude. This attitude has both saved me from pain and caused extra. Not making the effort to reach out to people leaves me in my own isolated world, sparing me from the feelings of rejection and boredom which my brushes with society have caused me. It alsostrengthens the ties with those few whom I choose to develop real, lasting relationships. However, purposefully secluding myself from others leaves me vulnerable when I do decide to open myself up. Since I do it so rarely, the times when I approach others and f... ...m to. I know that Im headed in the right direction, and that the future will, much like the past has, supply what I need for a happy life. Ive already found the most important and difficult part of my ideal life. I have a great frie nd whom Ive known for the past 10 years and who will continue to be there in the future. Beyond this though, I have found my lifelong companion. I have found my perfect soulmate, with whom I can relax and be myself. I can open up to her and say anything at all. Knowing that this wonderful woman knows who I am, and at a fundamental level accept everything about me, frees me to be the best that I can. Daddy, my little one squeaks, trying to pull me with her, Breakfast is ready. Cmon Its just another lazy Saturday morning and it is time to move on with my life. Reminiscing can be fun, but there is life to live in the present.

Peter Brook Essay -- essays research papers fc

It is noted in many books that near the start of his career, Peter place upright was attracted to both plays and techniques that expressed human contradiction. He often wondered, though, whether there were any modern playwrights who could possibly equal the richness and complexity of Shakespearean verse, and often complained about the improbability of ever finding material to work on or to produce as stimulating as that of Shakespeare. When, in 1964, protrude received a play authorise The Persecution and Assassination of Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (Marat/Sade), by German playwright Peter Weiss, it is to a fault noted that Brook felt he had finally encountered the challenge of Shakespearean theater he was looking for. Not only was Marat/Sade an incredibly well written and laughable approach to theater as a whole, its incorporation of music and movement, song and montage, and naturalism and surrealism w ithin the text created the perfect passage, for Brook, from his commercial past to his experimental present, as well as a way for both the playwright and the director to deal with the concept of theater as therapy a rather ironic, unless at the same time clever, idea seeing as how the play itself is conducted within the confines of an asylum, with the inmates themselves as the stars. One of the most complex aspects of presenting Marat/Sade was its large and eclectic cast of characters and also its incorporation of a play within a play. On stage, these points were, looking at the opinions of a majority of both the audiences and the critics, presented successfully by Brook and the cast he worked with. From the prison guards who loomed in the background, clothed in scarcecher aprons and armed with clubs, to the half-naked Marat, slouched in a tub and covered in buckram rags, forever scratching and writing, to the small group of singers, dressed and painted up as clowns, to the narc oleptic but murderous Charlotte Corday, Weiss and Brook offered a stage takings that both engaged and amazed the audience, while at the same time forced them to question their role as the audience no better exemplified than at the very end of the play, where the inmates, standing menacingly at the edge of the stage, actually begin to applaud the very people who applaud their performance, aggravating and confusing some, but forcing most t... ...m, though they are kind of safe behind a large facade of iron bars. This technique corresponds to the menacing way that the characters address the television camera throughout the performance, and creates the necessary feeling, for the viewers, that no such barrier is available to protect them as they are drawn in uncomfortably closer to the inmates by Brooks camerawork. We begin to question whether or not the soliloquies, spoken directly into the camera instead of to the protected aristocrats who originally played our part of the audience , are allay merely just a theater convention, or if the insanity of the performers is used as a catalyst for we, ourselves, to feel threatened directly by what is spoken. We also begin to question whether or not the inmate is even looking at the camera to address the audience, or is simply insane, and addressing the air around them, adding yet another layer to such complex characters. Creating such questions within the audiences mind also seems to create, for most, the aura of discomfort and skepticism that Brook was aiming to achieve, and reached quite successfully. Bibliography Lunatics, Lovers, and Poets by Margaret Croyden

Lord :: essays research papers

The Lord is my ShieldThis is a psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. It is obvious, on the face of it, that the work is a collection. A number of separate poems, the production of different persons, and belonging to perhaps by several distinct editors and stand been coupled into a volume, which has been accepted by the Jewish and later by the Christian church as one of the books of the holy scripture . The poems seem originally to have been, for the most part quite separate and distinct each is a whole in itself and most of them appear to have been composed for a fussy object, and on a special occasion. The Psalter, as the Book of Psalms is often called, is actually a collection of different kinds of poetry spanning some(prenominal) centuries of history (from c. 1100 BC to 400 BC ) and reaching essentially its present form around 300 BC . Occasionally, solely very seldom, one psalm seems linked to many other psalms. The purpose of the psalms was well expressed by Da vid when he instituted hymns in Israel. He appointed the Levites to record and to thank and praise the Lord paragon of Israel(1 Corinthians 164). The book of Psalms is a record of petitions, thanksgiving, and praise to God by His people. As such it has brought comfort, encouragement, and blessing to Gods people end-to-end the ages. Every human emotion is covered in these hymns of aspirations to God. The historical background to the psalm is described in 2 Samuel 15-17. Though David petitioned in verse 7, Arise, O Lord save me, it is clear from 2 Samuel 1532-37 that David shrewdly sent his friend Hushai back to Jerusalem to deceive Absalom. David used other means but trusted only in God. We can describe it first as based in history, second in an allegorical sense, and lastly in a moral sense . The historical sense is clear from its title which is when he was fleeing from the face of his son Absalon, as is treated of at 2 Kings 15 - Davids son, Absalon, persecuting his father, desi re to kill him. David yielded to him, leaving Jerusalem on foot with his household. There are two words that tend to draw the readers attention in this passage of scripture. Those two words are shield and enemy.

The patriot act Essay -- essays research papers

The Patriot ActThe Patriot Act is a bill that was passed in the wake of 9/11/01. Not yet two months after the horrific event which we all know as 911, the bill was passed with great haste and secrecy. The bill was passed on October 26, 2001. The bill was passed to raise the warranter of the country. Sadly many speculate that most of the members in congress did not even read the 342 page bill. Within a matter of days the executive director branch with its new powers began to initiate many new executive orders, policies, regulations and practices that many feel threaten our rights.The bill has expand terrorist act laws to include domestic terrorism which subjects political organizations to be surveillance, wiretapping, harassment, and criminal charges for political advocacy. Many feel that this is an attack on the first amendment, which is freedom of religion, speech, assembly and freedom of the press. The bill has also expanded the powers of law enforcement agencies(police, FBI, CIA, NSA). Law enforcement agents now have the ability to conduct secret searches, place telephone and internet surveillance, and can access personal medical, financial, and student records with token(prenominal) judicial oversight. Many feel that this is an attack on the fourth am...

Occupational Safety and Health Act Essay -- essays research papers

IntroductionWorkplace safety is a commonly used phrase that many do not cerebrate until an accident occurs within the work. Throughout the U.S., workplace injuries occur on a daily basis. This has been an issue in the workforce for many years and is still an on-going issue. Are there laws that protect employees from an unsafe work environment what is the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and how did the labor unions affect the law? In this newsprint these following questions will be addressed, as well as the background and driving force of OSHA.Definition of the OSHA faithfulnessAccording to the OSHA website, www.osha.gov , retrieved August 27, 2004, it states OSHAs mission is to picture the safety and health of Americas workers by setting and enforcing standards providing training, outreach, and education establishing partnerships and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. In addition, as of the ordinance of the Occupational Safety and Heal th Act in 1970, each employer shall furnish his employees a place of employment free from recognized hazards that cause and/or argon likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees before the enactment employers were only bound by common law to tin a safe work environment for its employees.OSHA also enforces that employees are not exempt and shall take after with occupational safety and health standards under this Act. Employee conduct, must comply with the OSHA rules and regulations and orders which are applicable to their own action and conduct (Bennett-Alexander-Hartman Employment Law for Business, Fourth Edition, p 690 p. 2-3).Background and Driving ForceGetting started, the impetus to OSHA was to ruin a new safety and or health standard in the workforce. Congress collected information indicating the status quo in the working environment include unacceptable hazards in the workplace. The OSHA act was passed through congress based on a series of information collecte d through sources such as the surgical incision of Health and Human Services (DHHS) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Environmental Protection Agencys Toxic Substances Control Act (TOSCA) referral public petitions or requests from OSHA informatory committees. Empowered with the knowledge of existing workplace hazards a... ...ed to workplace safety and are very personally involved, watching legislative decisions, protesting presidential nominees and lobbying.ConclusionWhile workplace safety and health standards have improved due to OSHA, the mission of the Act is still being carried out for Americas workers. Both employers and employees are trustworthy to be in compliance with the Acts rules and regulations.ReferencesUniversity of Phoenix. (Ed.). 2004. Employment Law University of Phoenix springer Edition e-Resource. Bennett-Alexander-Hartman Employment Law for Business, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 27, 2004, from University of Phoenix, Resource, M GT/434-Employment Law Web site https//mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.aspOSHA Home Page August 27, 2004. http//www.osha.govRetrieved from http//www.osha.gov/as/opa/oshafacts.html on Monday, August 30University of Phoenix. (Ed.). 2004. Employment Law University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Resource. Bennett-Alexander-Hartman Employment Law for Business, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 32, 2004, from University of Phoenix, Resource, MGT/434-Employment Law Web site https//mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp

A Dystopian Future in Brave New World Essay -- Brave New World Essays

gay New World is a remarkable journey into the future wherein mankind is dehumanized by the progress and misuse of technology to the point where society is a laboratory produced race of beings who are clones devoid of identity only able to worship the tercet things they have been preconditioned to love Henry Ford, their idol Soma, a wonder drug and sex (Dusterhoof, Guynn, Patterson, Shaw, Wroten and Yuhasz 1). The misuse of perfected technologies, especially those allowing the manipulation of the human headspring and genes, have created a pleasure-seeking world where there is no such thing as spiritual experience, just pleasures of the flesh. In the face of a transcendent religion, the inhabitants (genetically engineered to survive in one of five classes and condition to believe that the class within which they fall is the best one for them) lose their will to rebel against the capitalistic class-divisions of their society. psychological mottoes and rigid class divisions have rep laced traditional societal values such as family, religion and freedom. A wonder drug that removes all psychological pain, the interest group of carnal pleasures, and the replacement of identity and soul with idol worship of a Henry Ford type savior serve to create a dystopia that is terrorisation as well as the path already being forged in society when he wrote the work in the early 1930s. Yet when Huxley make the book in 1932, the concepts most frightening in the novel (babies conceived in the laboratory, gene splicing and reproduction, and pharmaceutical wonder drugs to relieve psychic pain) were not realities. With the fortunate cloning of farm animals, the development of invitro fertilization, and the rampant prescribing of countless wonder dru... ...ew. Narr. Jenny Sawyer. 60secondRecap, 2010. Web 14 Apr. 2015https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwCy56slJHw Baker Siepmann, K. (ed.) Benets Readers Encyclopedia. (3rd edit.) Harper & Row, N.Y. 1987. Birnbaum, M. Aldous Huxleys Qu est For Values. Univ. of Tennessee Press, TENN 1971. Dusterhoff, A., Guynn, R., Patterson, J., Shaw, L., Wroten, D. and Yuhasz, G. Huxleys Brave New World A Study Of Dehumanization. Web 11 Apr. 2015.http//mural.uv.es/madelro/bnwstudyofdehumanization.htmlFirchow, P. E. The End of Utopia. Associated Univ. Presses, Inc., N.J. 1984. Huxley, A. Brave New World. Harper & Bros., N.Y. 1950. Leary, T. and Gullichsen, E. Huxley, Hesse And The Cybernetic Society.Web 24 Apr. 2015.http//downlode.org/Etext/huxley_hesse_cybernetic.htmlWatts, H. H. Aldous Huxley. Twayne Publishers, MASS 1969.

Smoking In Pregnancy And Childbirth Health And Social Care Essay

Harmonizing to Fink ( 1998, pp.3 ) the literature reappraisal procedure can be termed as a systematic method for placing, measuring and construing the work produced by question workers, bookmans and practicians .Government Policy on dumbbell in gestation and after childbearing on that point atomic number 18 troika of import policies made by the British authorities in related to smoking in gestation foremost is kids s wellness and good being, than malignant neoplastic disease barricade and the shine of wellness in compeerities. To back up this policies there are assorted contrastive policy paperss like Every Child Matter ( HM Government, 2004 ) , Maternity Matters Choice, addition and continuity of attention in a safe service ( DH, 2007a ) , the Cancer Reform Strategy ( DH, 2007b ) , Health Inequalities advancement and fol embarrasseding stairss ( DH, 2008 ) , take Kills ( DH, 1998 ) and the Implementation externalize for cut downing wellness inequalities in infant mortali ty a good pattern usher ( DH, 2007c ) .In appurtenance to damaging the wellness of the womanly parent, antenatal bay window is associated systematically with a figure of complications during gestation ( Castles et al, 1999 ) and several possible conditions impacting the baby ( Cnattingius, 2004 ) . Smoking rate among enceinte crowing females in the UK was 23 % in the twelvemonth of 1995, it declined to 19 % in 2000 and farther declined to 17 % in 2005 ( Baxter et al, 2005 ) . But RCM has noted an addition in gestation smoke rates since 2005 ( Baxter et al, 2009 ) . It is estimated that rough 17 % and 23 % of large(predicate) heavy(p) females are estimated to smoke throughout gestation in the joined Kingdome ( Owen et al, 1998 ) . It is of import that cost effectual interferences are create and disseminated so that smoking-related wellness complications can be avoided.While face to acquown(prenominal)t smoking cessation behavioural support is by and large available for pregnant tobacco plant users, attending rates are really low ( Taylor et al, 2001 ) . In instance when the pregnant adult females are non able to go to face to confront smoking surcease behavioral support the option is self attending interventions ( Ussher et al, 2005 ) . Self help singleself intercessions are peculiarly of import due to their low cost and they can perplex wider group of population. Giving pregnant adult females brochures incorporating instruction of jeopardies of smoke is one of the common signifier, but they can besides acknowledge witness, speech sound and com fructifying machine found systems.A recent Cochrane reappraisal conclude that, compared with having no stuffs, self help stuffs on their ain addition surcease rates merely marginally among non pregnant tobacco users ( Lancaster and Stead, 2005 ) . Tailored ego aid stuffs were found to be increasing the quitting rates compared to standard stuffs used for intercession ( Lumley et al, 2004 ) . Tailo ring is the usage of participant features to individualize intercession stuffs and is believed to be effectual because it increases the relevancy of the information to the person and heed to the message ( Dijkstra and De Vries, 1999 ) .Self aid stuffs are common constituents in behavior intercessions for pregnant tobacco users and are considered to be of import to cessation reding aid to pregnant adult females tobacco users to vacate smoke ( Ussher et al, 2004 ) . However it is ill-defined whether ego aid intercessions on their ain can increase discontinuing among pregnant tobacco users.Several reappraisals urinate confirmed that intercessions advancement smoking surcease during gestation can cut down smoking rates significantly ( Kelley et al, 2001 Lumley et Al, 2004 Mullen et Al, 1999 ) . Lumbley et Al s ( 2005 ) reappraisal largest in this country to cardinal hours of the month included tribulations supplying a assortment of surcease intercessions, including self aid stu ffs, reding techniques, fiscal inducements and nicotine replacing therapy. Lumbley et Al s ( 2004 ) indicated that hazard of smoking in late gestation was lower among intercession groups than inveterate attention groups. They besides found that intercessions of greater denseness determined by personal contact, added small benefit. Kelley et Al ( 2001 ) reported that the degree of reding provided within an intercession was non associated with efficaciousness.Sing the possible benefits of ego aid intercessions it is of import to find whether they can be effectual on their ain in mark group.Inclusion/ExclusionAs an ethical bookman my inclusion and exclusion standards explains my attack towards choosing a proper literature for my attack. As a pupil of Northumbria University my number 1 attack was to travel through the diaries available on NORA. There was plenty data available on NORA for research articles related to my subject. I besides try to get quality resources from other hunt e ngines every bit good. I searched through Cochrane library to acquire good reappraisal articles on my research subject.Search locomotive engineI used Nora, Wiley Inter scientific discipline, The Cochrane library, British diary of Psychology, Official site of Elsevier publication which enabled me to entree articles through scientific discipline direct, PubMed, CINAHL etc. I used my university login wherever required for the entree of articles. This hunt engines are choice assured and supply entree to high quality of international resources.Search footingsFour headland databases were searched through MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, Science Direct. Sear was done utilizing combination of keywords like smok* , tobacco , pregn* , cessation , self help intercessions , quit* and other proper equivalent word.A computerized electronic hunt was performed to place relevant articles. The hunt was conducted on Medline Jan 1997 to November 2010 , Embase Jan 1997 to November 2010 , CINAHL Jan 1997 to November 2010 , ScienceDirect Jan 1997 to November 2010 and PubMed Jan 1997 to November 2010 . PICO method was used to seek cardinal words to govern out the articles in from each one database. PICO is a method of hunt scheme that allows taking a more grounds based attack to literature seeking in database like CINAHL, ScienceDirect, etc ( Schardt et al. , 2007 ) .electronic seeking yielded 1010 relevant articles of which 725 were extras and after exam of the commendation or mention 285 articles were published one. Based on the survey criteria 11 articles were related to self aid intercessions. 3 articles were eliminated due to type of qualitative or prospective survey. 4 articles were good, they were run intoing my inclusion exclusion standards but I was non able to entree them as they were paid articles. Finally, 8 to the full published articles were included in this assessment.Surveies included in Quantitative Synthesis ( narrative analysis )( n= 8 )Records excluded ( n= 274 )Full articles excluded with grounds ( n= 3 )One article was related to cohort surveyOne article was related to assorted methodsOne article was related to pilot surveyFull articles accessed after eligibility( n= 11 )Records screened( n= 285 )Records after extras were removed( n= 725 )Records identified through database searchingMedline ( n= 127 )Embase ( n= 85 )PubMed ( n= 137 )CINAHL ( n= 225 )ScienceDirect ( n= 436 )Entire ( n= 1010 )Figure Flow Chart of regular Appraisal Inclusion and ExclusionPICO MethodPopulation Pregnant adult females smoking during gestationIntervention Tests were considered if at least one of the experimental weaponries met the ego aid definition. The definition used based on Lancaster & A Stead s ( 2005 ) defines self aid as the proviso of structured stuffs that promote the person in doing quit effort and prolonging abstinence without important aid from a wellness professional or group support.Comparison Comparison was done between different in tercessions. Usual attention given to pregnant tobacco users during their ante natal attention was compared with ego aid intercessions. Besides usual attention was compared with picture based and brochures intercession. resolvent Smoke results were accessed either in 2nd or during the third trimester. The tests besides determined the smoke position either during late gestation or postpartum ( Moore et Al, 2002 ) .Features of Included surveies Ordered by champaign Id Aveyard et Al ( 2006 )State think of deliberateUnited kingdomTo analyze whether, as predicted by the Trans speculative Model of behaviour alteration ( TTM ) phase matched intercessions are more effectual than stage- mismatched intercessions in smoking surcease intercessions with pregnant adult females.Study DesignRCT matter-of-fact three armed test.Participant, recruitment and Sampling methodologyParticipants were 918 pregnant tobacco users drawn from 16 of 19 obstetrics antenatal services in the West Midlands. sl eeve 1 n= 289Arm two n=305Arm three n=324InterventionArm 1 Standard obstetrics advice to halt smoke and a self-help cusp appropriate for adult females in the readying phase. Midwifes received no extra preparation except in survey protocol.Arm twain TTM based arm. Womans were been seen by accoucheuses with 2.5 yearss specialist preparation, 2 of these yearss on TTM. Women received a TTM based self-help brochure and received four Sessionss of behavioral reding from the accoucheuses ( three during gestation and one 10 yearss post partum )Arm Three TTM based arm. Womans were been seen by accoucheuses with 2.5 yearss developing as in arm 1. Intervention was the same as arm two, with the add-on of a computing machine based surcease intercession used on the four juncture s of the accoucheuses visit.Result MeasuresPregnant adult females in weaponries two and three ( TTM- based ) were significantly more likely to travel frontward in phase of alteration than adult females in the control arm. ConsequencesOverall, the TTM-based intercession produced some motion in adult females s preparedness to discontinue but it was hard to construe this determination as the TTM intercessions were besides more intensive. The writers concluded that TTM had small cogency in explicating smoking surcease behavior during gestation.Cinciripini et Al ( 2000 )StateFocus of StudyUnited statesAn rating of videotaped sketchs for smoking surcease and backsliding bar during gestation.Study DesignRandomised Controlled Tests.Participant, Recruitment and Sampling MethodologyA sum of 146 adult females were screened for the survey. Sixty four adult females failed to run into the inclusion standards for the test ( & gt 18 old ages of age, smoke & gt 3 coffin nails per twenty-four hours, less than 30 hebdomads pregnant, have a on the job VCR, be willing to put a quit day of the month within two hebdomads of showing, and non involved in any other formal smoke surcease plan ) .82 adult females participants were indiscriminately assigned.InterventionUsual attention ( UC ) ( N= 40 ) and UC plus picture ( UCV ) ( N= 42 ) groups. All participants continued to have the usual prenatal attention provided by their primary doctor, plus survey stuffs as described below. All intercession stuffs were provided through the mail, after participants had undergone a telephone testing for inclusion. All follow ups were besides conducted by telephone.Result MeasuresAbstinence was observed between the two groups. Abstinence studies were measured by salivary cotinine values.ConsequencesSeven twenty-four hours point prevalence abstention informations did non demo any significance consequences. At the terminal of quit day of the month the abstention rate was 10 % in control group and 3 % in experimental group. At the terminal of intervention the abstention rate was 12 % in control group and 7.5 % in experimental group.DecisionThe present sample size may be unequal to pull any i?rm decisions sing the differ ential effectivity of the picture intercession.Ershoff et Al ( 1999 )StateFocus of StudyUnited statesThe effectivity of low-priced smoke intercessions targeted to pregnant adult females has been demonstrated, although few additions in absolute surcease rates have been reported in the past decennary. Under conditions of typical clinical pattern, this survey examined whether results achieved with brief reding from antenatal attention suppliers and a self-help brochure could be modify by adding more resource-intensive cognitive-behavioural plans.Study DesignRandomised Controlled TrialParticipant, Recruitment and Sampling MethodologyWomans 18 old ages of age or older who self-reported to be ready tobacco users at their initial antenatal assignment. 131 adult females were randomised.Control group 111 participants.Experimental Group 120 participants.InterventionParticipants were randomized to one of three groups( 1 ) a self-help brochure tailored smoke forms, phase of alteration, and li fe style of pregnant tobacco users ( 2 ) the brochure plus entree to a computerized telephone surcease plan based on synergistic voice response engineering or ( 3 ) the brochure plus proactive telephone reding from nursemaid pedagogues utilizing motivational interviewing techniques and schemes.Result MeasuresBiochemically coni?rmed abstention measured by degree of cotinine in urine samples obtained during a everyday antenatal visit at about the 34th hebdomad of gestation.ConsequencesTwenty per centum of participants were coni?rmed as abstainer with no signii?cant differences found between intercession groups. Cessation rates in heavy tobacco users were less in all intercession groups.DecisionNeither a computerized telephone surcease plan nor systematic proviso of motivational guidance improved surcease rates over a trim self-help brochure delivered within the context of brief advice from antenatal suppliers.Gielen et Al ( 1997 )StateFocus of StudyUnited statesmilitary rating of a smoke surcease intercession for pregnant adult females in an urban prenatal clinic.Study DesignRandomized controlled tests.Participant, Recruitment and Sampling Methodology391 tobacco users were indiscriminately assigned in two groups.Control group 198 participants.Experimental group 193 participants.InterventionExperimental group received usual information with a prenatal and station partum information. Control group received merely usual information. The intercession consisted of single accomplishments direction and guidance by a equal wellness counselor on the usage of a self-help surcease usher and everyday clinic support.Result MeasuresIt was measured by smoking surcease confirmed by cotinine measuring. Significant decrease in smoke was besides considered as an result step. Smoking forms were besides consideredConsequencesAmong the Experimental group ( n = 193 ) , 6.2 % were cotinine confirmed quitters at 3rd trimester and among the C group ( n = 198 ) the quit rate was 5.6 % . DecisionNo important differences were found in the two groups.Lawrence et Al ( 2002 )StateFocus of StudyUnited kingdomTo measure the effectivity in assisting pregnant adult females stop smoke of two intercessions ( Pro-Change for a healthy gestation ) based on the Trans theoretical theoretical account of behaviour alteration ( TTM ) compared to current criterion attentionStudy DesignCluster randomised survey.Participant, Recruitment and Sampling Methodology494 pregnant tobacco users participated.Control group 243 participants.Experimental group 251 participants.InterventionArm 1 for standard attention.Second arm for TTM based ego aid manuals. three arm for TTM based ego aid manuals plus session with an synergistic computing machine plan giving individualized smoke surcease advice.Result MeasuresBiochemically confirmed smoke surcease for 10 hebdomads and point prevalence abstention, both measured at 30 hebdomads of gestation and 10 yearss after bringing.ConsequencesThere were little differences between the TTM weaponries. Uniting the two weaponries, the odds ratios at 30 hebdomads were 2.09 ( 95 % assurance interval ( CI ) 0.90 to 4.85 ) for 10 hebdomad sustained abstention and 2.92 ( 95 % CI 1.42 to 6.03 ) for point prevalence abstention relation to controls. At 10 yearss after bringing, the odds ratios were 2.81 ( 95 % CI 1.11 to 7.13 ) and 1.85 ( 95 % CI 1.00 to 3.41 ) for 10 hebdomad and point prevalence abstention severally.DecisionBorderline important addition in discontinuing in the combined intercession weaponries.Moore et Al ( 2002 )StateFocus of StudyUnited kingdomTo measure the effectivity of a ego aid attack to smoking surcease in gestation.Study DesignRandomised controlled test.Participant, Recruitment and Sampling Methodology1572 pregnant tobacco usersControl Group 757 participants.Experimental group 678 participants.InterventionA series of 5 brochures given to pregnant adult females on different phases of gestationResult MeasuresValidation of smo ke by measuring of cotinine at the terminal of 2nd trimester.Self reported smoke position.ConsequencesSmoking surcease rates were low when cotinine measuring was done. The rates were 18.8 % in intercession group and 20.7 % in normal attention group.Self reported smoking surcease rates were high. The rates were 29.1 % in intercession group and 25.6 % in Normal attention group.DecisionSelf Help Intervention was utile but non so effectual during prenatal attention. There needs to a more intensive and tailored made intercession be made for good consequences.Natan et Al ( 2010 )StateFocus of StudyIsraelTo look into factors impacting adult females s purpose to smoke during gestation.Study DesignCross sectional survey.Participant, Recruitment and Sampling MethodologyPregnant adult females aged between 19-26 old ages201 participants enrolled in the survey.InterventionTheory of planned behavior.Result MeasuresSelf reported smoke position.ConsequencesBehavioural attitudes, subjective norms an d sensed behavioral control were found to foretell adult females s purpose to smoke during gestation.DecisionNursing intercessions guided by the TPB may be helpful to assist adult females discontinue smoke in gestation.Strecher et Al ( 2000 )StateFocus of StudyUnited statesQuit for supports tailored smoke surcease ushers for gestation and beyondStudy DesignRandomised controlled testParticipant, Recruitment and Sampling Methodology173 pregnant tobacco users.88 topics were enrolled as experimental topics, they received trim smoke surcease messages through mail, one after each antenatal visit. 85 topics in control group received a quit smoke brochure and no other stuffs.InterventionThe experimental group was given trim messages after each antenatal visit. They were given manus held computing machine and were advised to make full up abruptly follow up interview. Urine samples were collected at the pre natal visits. The control group were merely given merely discontinue smoking brochures .Result MeasuresIt was measured by the interview signifiers filled by the pregnant adult females.ConsequencesRate of surcease in control group was 14 % as compared to experimental group was 15 % . There was no important difference in smoking surcease rates.DecisionTailored message produced no alterations in the smoke behavior of the topics.

Difficulties in Learning English Grammar

worldwide Journal of Instruction e-ISSN 1308-1470 ? www. e-iji. net July 2011 ? Vol. 4, zero(prenominal) 2 p-ISSN 1694-609X DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING GRAMMAR IN AN EFL CONTEXT1 Abdu Mohammed Al-Mekhlafi PhD. , College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman emailprotected com Ramani Perur Nagaratnam PhD. , Ministry of Manpower, Oman The single-valued function of grammar focal point in an ESL/EFL context has been for decades a major issue for students and teachers alike.Researchers have debated whether grammar should be taught in the classroom and students, for their part, have in the main looked upon grammar instruction as a necessary evil at best, and an avoid fitted burden at worst. The paper reports a reckon undertaken to investigate the difficulties teachers face in inform grammar to EFL students as tumesce as those confront by students in learning it, in the teachers perception.The study aimed to queue up out(p) whether at that place ar significant d ifferences in teachers perceptions of difficulties in relation to their gender, qualification, instruction make, and the level they teach in school, thus providing insights into their own and their students difficulties. Mean scores and t-test were employ to interpret the entropy. The main conveyings are report with implications. Key Words English deli very teach, instruction, EFL grammar instruction, teach mode, difficulties in grammar instructionINTRODUCTION The English teacher is often portrayed as an homely grammar monger whose only pleasure in life is to point out the faults of others (Baron, 1982, p. 226). For the most part, inwardly the classroom, any mention of grammar causes the student moments of discomfort and sometimes in time terror. Many teachers have tried to make grammar teaching a non-threatening, imaginative and useful activity within the English curriculum. A summary of this paper was modeled at the 54th World Assembly of the International Council o n Education for belief (ICET) on Maintaining Strategic Agility Managing change and assuring quality in education for teaching, 14-17 December 2009, Muscat, Oman. 70 Difficulties in program line and Learning Grammar Previous studies on students and teachers attitudes and perceptions of grammar instruction in the context of language teaching and learning suggest a disparity among students and teachers.While students favour formal and evident grammar instruction and error study, teachers favour communicatory activities with less conscious focus on grammar (e. g. , Brindley 1984 Kumaravadivelu 1991 Leki 1995 Schultz 1996, 2001 Spratt 1999). Rationale for the array study The foregoing review of literature shows that practicing teachers are faced with a range of options for grammar instruction in their classrooms. There are, however, numerous types of difficulties faced by students and teachers with count on to grammar instruction in an ESL/EFL context.Identifying such difficultie s and being consciously aware of them would help teachers experience ship canal of overcoming them and provide effective grammar instruction. There has, however, been little investigation of the difficulties faced by EFL teachers and Aran prentices in the Gulf region with go through to grammar instruction. The teachers employ theoretically recommended methods without necessarily taking into account their own and their learners potential difficulties.They may not be conscious of difficulties which are serious and may thus hinder students learning of English grammar, and do not choose the method of instruction that would pose fewer difficulties and problems to their learners. It is in this context that the present study was undertaken to capture valuable insights into how EFL school teachers in Oman perceive students as well as their own difficulties with grammar instruction. The study reported here aims to playress this need by presenting the difficulties of a cross section of sc hool EFL teachers in Oman as well as their perceptions of their students difficulties in this weigh.It also aims to add to the knowledge base in this area. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Attitudes towards grammar instruction In teaching grammar, three areas have to be considered grammar as rules, grammar as form, and grammar as resource. For many L2 learners, learning grammar often path learning the rules of grammar and having an intellectual knowledge of grammar. Teachers often believe that this will provide the generative basis on which learners can gain their knowledge and will be able to use the language eventually. For them, prescribed rules give a kind of security.International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, no(prenominal) 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 71 A better approach is perhaps to see grammar as one of many resources that we have in language which helps us to communicate. We should see how grammar relates to what we want to say or write, and how we expect others to in terpret what our language use and its focus. According to Widdowson (1990 86), . . . grammar is not a constraining imposition but a liberating force it frees us from a habituation on context and a purely lexical categorization of reality. Given that many learners and teachers tend to view grammar as a set of restrictions on what is allowed and disallowed in language use a linguistic straitjacket in Larsen-Freemans words (2002 103) the conception of grammar as something that liberates rather than represses is one that is worth investigating. According to Morelli (2003), students perceive themselves as having a better attitude towards grammar instruction in context, while performing slightly better after having experienced the traditional grammar instruction.Elkilic and Akca (2008) reported generally positive attitudes of students studying English grammar at a private primary EFL classroom towards studying grammar. In particular, however, a little over 50% of their subjects cla imed to lie with grammar real much and only some 10% reported finding some difficulty in learning and remembering grammar. Student expectations Student expectations of traditional, explicit grammar teaching have been confirmed by many teachers (cf. Borg, 1999a, b).Burgess and Etherington (2002440-441) also conclude that teachers believe that explicit teaching of grammar is favoured by their students because of expectations and feelings of insecurity. Since the 1970s, attention has shifted from trends of teaching grammar to ways of getting learners to communicate, but grammar has been seen to be a powerful undermining and demotivating force among L2 learners. In terms of motivation and learner success with languages, grammar has been seen to be a problem and to carrel in the way of helping learners to communicate fluently.The hard fact that most teachers face is that learners often find it difficult to make flexible use of the rules of grammar taught in the classroom. They may k now the rules perfectly, but are incapable of applying them in their own use of the language. Teachers recognition of this process (i. e. , of shippingring declaratory knowledge a fight grammar into procedural knowledge) as a problem for many of their students has been reported by Burgess and Etherington (2002442). Haudeck International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 72 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar as reported that many learners have difficulty in internalising grammar rules, although these have been taught intensively (1996, cited in European Commission, 2006). The use of well-formed linguistic communication Metalinguistic discussion (i. e. , the use of well-formed words to talk about language) is seen by Stern (1992327) as one of the characteristics of explicit grammar teaching. According to Burgess and Etherington (2002 444), teachers believe that their students see grammatic terminology as useful and that its use does not present a parti cular difficulty for students.Descriptive grammars acknowledge the fact that language is dynamic and its use is constantly changing, although not in major ways. The problem for ESL/EFL learners, however, is that there is a time-lag between the awareness of such changes and their acceptance as the proper use of the language. As Morelli (200333-34) has observed, Grammar can be taught traditionally or contextually, but student perception should be considered by teachers in the decision-making process. Students need to feel confident that educators have met their needs . . . nd educators should be unstrained to consider the attitudes and perceptions of students when making decisions about how to teach grammar. METHOD Purpose The study reported here aims to investigate the difficulties of a cross section of school EFL teachers in Oman as well as their perceptions of their students difficulties with realise to grammar instruction. Research questions The study aimed to answer the follow ing questions 1. What are EFL teachers perceptions of the difficulties of students and teachers with depend to grammar instruction in an EFL context? 2.Are there any differences in teachers perceptions between the difficulties faced by teachers and those faced by students? 3. Do these perceptions of difficulties vary according to the teachers Gender, Level taught, Qualifications, and bear? International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 73 4. Are there any significant differences in teachers perceptions due to the type of difficulty? Limitation of the study The present study is limited to EFL teachers teaching English in Omani Basic Education schools, and The use of questionnaire as the research instrument.Nevertheless, the responses are valuable in themselves, indicating the general difficulties that students and teachers face with regard to grammar instruction in an EFL context. Research design The study was mainly quantitative in d esign, using a questionnaire and the subjects responded to each contestation on a five-point Likert-type attitude ordered series (from 5 for strongly agree to 1 for strongly disagree). The respondents also provided background information on gender, qualification, teaching experience and the level they teach, for creating their profile in terms of variables. The data was analyzed (t-test and ANOVA) using the SPSS.The research instrument The questionnaire used in the present study, which comprises 20 literary arguments, was the one employed by Burgess and Etherington in their study (2002 451452) (See ANNEXURE I for the questionnaire used in the present study). Subjects Only one broad geographical context was chosen for the study, namely Oman, in order to be context-specific and be able to make a close connection between teachers, their assumptions and their practical experience. It is believed that the subjects fairly represented the context of EFL teaching at unalike levels in O mani schools.Besides, the exemplar size was 90, more than than the minimum number required for making useful statistical analyses according to Cohen and Manion (199477). The profile of the subjects in terms of the four variables is given over infra in submit 1 International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 74 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar submit 1. Profile of Respondents to the Study putz Variable Gender Level they teach Categories within the variable virile Female Grades 1-4 Grades 5-10 Grades 11-12 Masters Degree Bachelors Degree fleece ? years 5 ? 10 years 10 years No. of respondents in each category 39 51 17 31 42 8 76 6 27 41 22 extreme (N) 90 90 Qualification 90 Experience 90 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION With regard to the first research question whether there are difficulties faced by students and teachers with grammar instruction, Table 2 (ANNEXURE II) shows an overall cerebrate of 3. 51 on a five-point scale, the involves for indiv idual statements ranging from 2. 97 to 4. 10, thus indicating teachers general agreement with most of the statements in the stick with questionnaire (See Fig. below). This suggests that, in the perceptions of teachers, there are difficulties faced by teachers as well as students with regard to grammar instruction in an EFL context. Fig. 1. Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 75 With regard to the second research question about the differences between students and teachers in the difficulties faced, Table 3 shows that there is a statistically significant difference at the level of p 0. 01 in the perceptions of teachers and students, with students experiencing difficulties to a great boundary than teachers, which is get windable. The overall mean for students difficulties as perceived by the teachers was 3. 58, while the overall mean for teachers difficulties was 3. 23 (Tabl e 3 below). Table 3. Teachers Perceptions of Teachers and Students Difficulties with EFL Grammar (N = 90) educational activity Teachers Difficulties Students Difficulties as perceived by the Teachers Mean 3. 331 3. 5779 SD . 58484 . 42214 t Sig. (2-tailed) 5. 225 . 000 The third research question is about the differences in perception of difficulties in terms of the four teacher variables gender, level taught, qualification, and teaching experience. With regard to gender, a comparison of the overall mean response for male (3. 508) and female teachers (3. 510) (See Fig. 2 below) shows that they are quite nearly the identical and that there is no statistically significant difference at the level of 0. 5 in their perceptions about the difficulties (Sig. . 978) (Table 4 in ANNEXURE II)). This suggests that gender does not play a significant role in the teachers perceptions when it comes to articulating their own difficulties as well as those of their students with English grammar in struction. Fig. 2. Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar according to Gender With regard to the level taught, Table 5 (ANNEXURE II) shows that teachers teaching at different levels have similar perceptions about their wn and their International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 76 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar students difficulties with English grammar instruction, with a slightly high(prenominal) mean for teachers of Grades 1-4 (3. 58) than the means for teachers of the other two levels, which are nearly the same (3. 49 and 3. 5) (See Fig. 3 below). Table 5 also shows that there is no statistically significant difference at the level of 0. 05 in terms of this variable (Sig. . 686). Fig. 3.Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar according to Level Taught With regard to teachers qualifications, Table 6 (ANNEXURE II) shows a slightly higher(prenominal) overall mean for teachers with a diploma qualification (3. 78) than the overall means for teachers with higher qualifications, viz. bachelors (3. 46) or masters degree (3. 49) (See Fig. 4 below). The results also show that there is no statistically significant difference at the level of 0. 05 in terms of this variable (Sig. . 211 Table 6). Fig. 4.Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar according to Qualifications With regard to teachers experience, it does not seem to be a significant variable with regard to their perceptions of their own and their students difficulties with English grammar instruction, as Table 7 (ANNEXURE II) shows (See Fig. 5 below). The results also show that there is no statistically significant difference at the level of 0. 05 in terms of this variable (Sig. . 869 Table 7). International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 7 Fig. 5. Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar according to Experience The foregoing discussion is based on the overall mean score o btained for the difficulties in general and for each of the four teacher variables considered in the present study. With regard to the fourth research question, a enlarge analysis of the results provides interesting and valuable insights into teachers perceptions of different types of difficulties for students and teachers themselves and their concerns about classroom application of grammar teaching principles.The results are discussed with respect to difficulties categorise in terms of the themes listed in Table 8 below Table 8. Statements in the Questionnaire Categorised according to Themes Theme Explicit grammar teaching The off of declarative knowledge into procedural knowledge The use of grammatical terminology Error reclaimion Problem-solving activities The use of received texts for grammar instruction The use of spoken and written communicatory activities Statement(s) 3, 4, 5, 13 1, 17, 18 14, 19 15, 16 2, 20 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 17, 18Explicit grammar teaching The dic hotomies of unconscious/conscious learning and inductive/deductive teaching methods are both(prenominal) sometimes equated with the dichotomy between implicit and explicit instruction. Attitudes to inductive and deductive methods were investigated through statements concerning explicit presentation of grammar by teachers, students finding form-function matches for themselves, and the constraints in using each of the two methods. International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 78 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning GrammarStatement 3 (My students expect teachers to present grammar explicitly) and Statement 13 (A lack of explicit grammar teaching leaves my students feeling insecure) produced a mean score of 3. 61 and 3. 38 respectively (Table 2 ANNEXURE II), supporting the view that students, in teachers perception, privilege explicit grammar teaching. This is not surprising, as students are known to expect traditional, explicit grammar instruction (e. g. , Borg, 1999a, b). The responses in the present study delegate that this expectation of students still remains, especially at the school level.Responses to Statement 5 (My students prefer to find matches between meaning and structure for themselves), however, produced a mean score of 3. 59 (Table 2 ANNEXURE II), which is very close to the mean score for students expectation about explicit teaching of grammar. This perception of students preference for an inductive method of learning grammar on the part of the same responding teachers is surprising. With regard to the same statement, the difference in mean between males and females seems to be higher than for the other statements (Table 4 ANNEXURE II).A follow-up interview with teachers power have provided more specific information and thrown light on their understanding of explicit and implicit methods of teaching grammar. With regard to Statement 4 (My students prefer to learn grammar from onesentence examples), which colligate to e xplicit grammar teaching, responding teachers produced the lowest mean score (2. 97) of all statements in the questionnaire (Table 2 ANNEXURE II). In terms of experience, however, there seems to be some significant difference at the level of 0. 5 in favour of teachers with more than 10 years of experience (Table 7 ANNEXURE II). Declarative vs procedural knowledge Statement 1 (My students find it difficult to transfer their grammatical knowledge into communicative language use), designed to identify teachers beliefs about the thinkable transfer of declarative knowledge (i. e. , knowledge about grammar) into procedural knowledge (i. e. , ability to use that knowledge in actual communication), produced a mean score of 3. 81 (Table 2 ANNEXURE II).This indicates that responding teachers recognise this process of transfer of one kind of knowledge into another as a problem for a large number of their students. This gap between students grammatical knowledge and communicative abilit y is not surprising to teachers, who often find that most of their students can recall grammatical rules accurately and perform very well on discrete-point grammar International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 79 exercises, but fail to achieve such grammatical trueness in actual communication.This fact is corroborated by the responses to Statements 17 and 18 (My students find it difficult to improve the accuracy of their grammatical knowledge within a all in all communicative writing/speaking activity), which produced a mean score of 4. 10 and 3. 73 respectively (Table 2 ANNEXURE II). In terms of teacher qualifications, teachers with a diploma agree strongly (mean of 4. 33) that their students find it difficult to transfer their grammatical knowledge into communicative language use. The mean for this statement for teachers with higher qualifications is lower (Table 6 ANNEXURE II).The use of grammatical terminology The use of grammatical terminology in the EFL classroom is seen as a necessary part of the explicit method of teaching grammar. When students and teachers talk about grammar (i. e. , in meta-linguistic discussion), which is one of the characteristics of explicit language teaching (Stern 1992 327), they need to use grammatical terms. Two statements (14 & 19) sought to explore teachers perceptions of how their students feel about the use of grammatical terminology.Statement 14 (My students find grammatical terminology useful) and Statement 19 (My students find it difficult to use grammatical terminology) produced a mean score of 3. 82 and 4. 07 respectively (Table 2 ANNEXURE II). This indicates that, in the responding teachers perception, their students see grammatical terminology as useful, but find difficulty in using the terms to be of a great magnitude. Interestingly, the usefulness of grammatical terminology seems to be linked to the students preference for explicit grammar instruction. The differe nce in mean between teachers of Grades 1-4 and 11-12 on the one hand (mean of ? ) and those of Grades 5-10 (mean of 3. 4), however, seems to be higher with regard to their perceptions of the usefulness of grammatical terminology to their students. That is, teachers of the lowest and highest levels think that their students find grammatical terminology more useful than those of the middle grades. There is a significant difference at the level of 0. 05 in terms of the level taught with regard to the usefulness of grammatical terminology (statement 14) (Table 5 ANNEXURE II). In terms of teacher qualifications, teachers with a diploma agree very strongly (mean of 4. 0) that their students find it difficult to use grammatical terminology and the majority of teachers surveyed, who have a bachelors International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 80 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar degree, also seem to show a high level of agreement with regard to the same sta tement (mean of 4. 04). The mean for this statement for teachers with higher qualifications is lower (Table 6 ANNEXURE II). Error Correction Teachers generally tend to believe that errors of form committed by EFL learners should be corrected even when communicative goals are intended.This need for correction of form even within a communicative context, either spoken or written, may arise from a concern for grammatical accuracy in students communicative output or for avoiding fossilization of errors in their interlanguage. Statements 15 and 16 aim to capture teachers perceptions in this regard. Statement 15 (Teachers find it difficult to correct student errors of grammar within a written communicative context) and Statement 16 (Teachers find it difficult to correct student errors of grammar within a spoken communicative context) produced a mean score of 3. 26 and 3. 7 respectively (Table 2 ANNEXURE II). It may be inferred from the results that the responding teachers experience mo re difficulty in correcting their learners spoken communication than written. Problem-solving techniques Problem-solving techniques in relation to grammar teaching are inductive techniques that require learners to find form-function matches by themselves. (e. g. , Hall and Shepheard, 1991). Responses of teachers surveyed in the present study produced a mean score of 3. 58 for Statement 2 (My students are motivated by problem-solving techniques for learning grammar), showing a link to responses to Statement 5 bout students preference for finding matches between meaning and structure for themselves. Surprisingly, however, the same responding teachers produced a mean score of 3. 60 for Statement 20 (My students are frustrated by problem-solving techniques for learning grammar) (Table 2 ANNEXURE II). A possible interpretation could be that teachers, while recognising the motivational potential of problem-solving techniques, also observe their students frustrating experience with such techniques, possibly because they are too challenging for the learners to cope with.Another interpretation could be that teachers responses to Statement 2 are based on their theoretical assumption about what these techniques could do to the learners, while those to Statement 20 could be based on teachers assessment of the ground reality. International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 81 With regard to the statement about students being motivated by problemsolving techniques for learning grammar (Statement 2), there is also a significant difference at the level of 0. 5 between males and females in their perceptions (Table 4 ANNEXURE II). The use of sure texts for grammar instruction Authentic texts are texts that are not produced artificially for the purpose of language teaching, but are used for factual purposes in the real world, like newspaper articles and recipes. By implication, these texts are contextualised and communicatively com plete in themselves. They focus is on conveying real meaning rather than on form.Decontextualised examples of language, on the other hand, are one-sentence examples usually found in EFL textbooks and grammar practice books. They illustrate grammatical forms and structures in context-free sentences and are generally associated with the explicit method of teaching grammar. The use of texts illustrating authentic communication for presenting grammar is generally seen as posing problems to teachers and students alike. Students problems with their use arise from difficulties of variety of structures Statement 7), culture (Statement 8), wording (Statement 9), and implicit form-function matches (Statement 10), besides an overall difficulty in handling grammar presented within authentic texts (Statement 6). Teachers difficulties with authentic texts include those arising from the amount of time needed for using them (Statement 11) and producing suited tasks from such texts (Statement 12). According to the responding teachers perceptions, students experience greater difficulties from vocabulary (Mean=3. 52), variety of structures (Mean=3. 49) and finding form-function matches (Mean=3. 3) than from handling from presented within authentic texts (Mean=3. 33) and culture (Mean=3. 26). Statements 11 and 12 relating to teachers difficulties in using authentic texts produced a mean score of 3. 03 and 3. 09 respectively (Table 2 ANNEXURE II), which indicates a lower perception of teachers of their own difficulties than those of students. The use of spoken and written communicative activities Statements 17 and 18 refer to the possible difficulties students might have in improving the accuracy of their grammatical language within totally communicative activities.Responding teachers produced a mean score of 4. 10 and 3. 73 for the two statements respectively. In fact, the highest mean score of International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 82 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar all scores for the survey questionnaire (4. 10) was obtained for Statement 17 (My students find it difficult to improve the accuracy of their grammatical knowledge within a totally communicative writing activity) (Table 2 ANNEXURE II).The results indicate that, in teachers perceptions, totally communicative activities, whether written or spoken, pose great difficulties to students for learning grammar and improving grammatical accuracy, writing activities proving more challenging than spoken ones. It might be inferred that the teachers surveyed might have a serious concern about the lack of sufficient focus on form in purely communicative activities or tasks for developing students grammatical knowledge. Practising language as communication in real-life tasks might not give sufficient opportunities for students to improve their grammatical knowledge.In terms of teacher qualifications, teachers with a diploma agree very strongly (mean of 4. 67) that th eir students find it difficult to improve the accuracy of their grammatical language within a totally communicative writing activity and the majority of teachers surveyed, who have a bachelors degree, also seem to show a high level of agreement with regard to the same statement (mean of 4. 01). The mean for this statement for teachers with higher qualifications is lower (Table 6 ANNEXURE II).CONCLUSION Generally speaking, in teachers perceptions, both teachers and students invariably face serious difficulties with regard to EFL grammar instruction, students facing them to a greater extent than teachers. It is obvious that EFL teachers consider these difficulties quite serious, which suggests that serious attention needs to be paid to them. There may be generally recommended ways of teaching EFL grammar (for example, the implicit method), but it would not be proper to adopt them universally without looking at the possible difficulties that might go with those methods suggested.Whil e a less favoured method might pose fewer problems and hence be more effective, a more favoured method might be less effective owing to greater difficulties or problems in implementing it. The difficulties may also be influenced by the context in which a particular method is used. It is, therefore, necessary to make a detailed study of such difficulties faced by teachers and students in specific contexts, take appropriate steps to overcome them, and adapt the method to suit the actual teaching and learning International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 83 environment. This is not to suggest diluting a sound approach or method, but only to plan mediating or supplementary tasks to help learners tide over the difficulties. IMPLICATIONS The findings of the present study point to the following implications 1. EFL Curriculum and material developers should show an understanding of learners and teachers difficulties, and provide sufficient advocate and help in the curriculum document and the teachers book showing how the potential difficulties could be addressed in planning their classroom activities.Teachers may be given examples of mediating tasks, which would mitigate the difficulties. 2. As Morelli (2003 33-34) has pointed out, students need to be taught grammar through various methodologies and approaches to cater to their individual styles of learning, and educators should consider students attitudes and perceptions when making decisions about how to teach grammar. 3. EFL teachers would do well to understand and address their learners concerns in planning their lessons and classroom activities, and use supplementary materials, if necessary, to help learners cope with the difficulties. 4.Both in-service and pre-service training programmes should be planned in such a way that student-teachers and practising teachers articulate the potential and actual difficulties and discuss ways of overcoming or at least coping with them . The database relating to teaching English as a foreign language, including the difficulties of learners and teachers with regard to grammar instruction, should be enriched by more detailed research and analysis, which would enable generalizations across the gulf countries. International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 84 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning GrammarREFERENCES Baron, D. (1982). Grammar and good taste Reforming the American language. New Haven, NJ Yale University Press. Borg, S. (1999a). The use of grammatical terminology in the second language classroom a qualitative study of teachers practices and cognitions. Applied Linguistics, 20 (1) 95-126. (cited in Burgess and Etherington, 2002) Borg, S. (1999b). Teachers theories in grammar teaching. ELT Journal, 53 (3) 157-167. (cited in Burgess and Etherington, 2002). Brindley, G. (1984). Needs Analysis and Objective Setting in the freehanded Migrant Education Program. NSW Adult Migrant Education Servic e, Sydney.Burgess, J. and Etherington, S. (2002). Focus on grammatical form explicit or implicit? System, 30 433-458. Cohen, L. and Manion, L. C. (1994). Research Methods in Education. London Routledge. Elkilic, G. and Akca, C. (2008). Attitudes of the Students Studying at Kafkas University Private Primary EFL Classroom towards Storytelling and Motivation. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 4(1) 1-22. European Commission (2006). The Main Pedagogical Principles Underlying the Teaching of Languages to Very Young Learners. Final Report of the EAC 89/04, Lot 1 Study Edelenbos, P. , Johnstone, R. and Kubanek, A. Hall, N. nd Shepheard, J. (1991). The Anti-Grammar Grammar Book. London Longman. Kumaravadivelu, B. (1991). Language learning tasks teacher intention and learner interpretation. ELT Journal, 45 (2) 98-107. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2002). The Grammar of Choice. In E. Hinkel and S. Fotos (Eds. ). New Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Mahwah, New Je rsey Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Leki, I. (1995). Good writing I know it when I see it. In In D. Belcher and G. Braine (eds. ) Academic Writing in a Second Language. Norwood, NJ Ablex Publishing. International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. , No. 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 85 Morelli, J. A. (2003). ninth Graders Attitudes toward Different Approaches to Grammar Instruction. Unpublished Dissertation. The Graduate School of Education, Fordham University, New York. Schultz, R. (1996). Focus on form in the foreign language classroom students and teachers views on error correction and the role of grammar. Foreign Language Annals, 29(3) 343-364. Schultz, R. (2001). Cultural differences in student and teacher perceptions concerning the role of grammar instruction and corrective feedback. USAColombia. The Modern Language Journal, 85(ii) 244-258. Spratt, M. 1999). How good are we at knowing what learners like? System, 27141-155. Stern, H. H. (1992). Issues and Options in English L anguage Teaching. Oxford Oxford University Press. Widdowson, H. G. (1990). Grammar and nonsense and learning. In H. G. Widdowson, Aspects of language teaching, pp. 79-98. Oxford Oxford University Press. International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 86 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar ANNEXURE I RESEARCH INSTRUMENT QUESTIONNAIRE STUDENT AND TEACHER DIFFICULTIES WITH GRAMMAR These are questions about how students and teachers deal with grammar in the classroom.Please indicate how far you agree or disagree with these statements. If you agree strongly, mark a 5 on the scale if you strongly disagree, mark a 1 on the scale. No. Statement SA 1 My students find it difficult to transfer their grammatical knowledge into communicative language use. 2 My students are motivated by problem-solving techniques for learning grammar. 3 My students expect teachers to present grammar points explicitly. 4 My students prefer to learn grammar from one-sentence examples. 5 My students prefer to find matches between meaning and structure for themselves. My students find it difficult to handle grammar presented within authentic texts. 7 My students find authentic texts difficult because of the wide variety of structures which appear. 8 My students find authentic texts difficult because they are too culture bound. 9 My students find authentic texts difficult because of the vocabulary used. 10 My students cannot find form-function matches in authentic texts without explicit direction from teachers. 11 Teachers find the use of authentic material too time-consuming. 12 Teachers find it difficult to produce tasks of a suitable level from authentic texts. 3 A lack of explicit grammar teaching leaves my students feeling insecure. 14 My students find grammatical terminology useful. 15 Teachers find it difficult to correct student errors of grammar within a written communicative context. 16 Teachers find it difficult to correct student errors of grammar within a spoken communicative context. 17 My students find it difficult to improve the accuracy of their grammatical language within a totally communicative writing activity. 18 My students find it difficult to improve the accuracy of their grammatical language within a totally communicative speaking activity. 9 My students find it difficult to use grammatical terminology. 20 My students are frustrated by problem-solving techniques for learning grammar. A N D SD International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 87 ANNEXURE II Table 2. Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar (N = 90) Statement 1. My students find it difficult to transfer their grammatical knowledge into communicative language use. 2. My students are motivated by problem-solving techniques for learning grammar. 3. My students expect teachers to present grammar points explicitly. 4.My students prefer to learn grammar from one-sentence examples. 5. My students prefer to find matches between meaning and structure for themselves. 6. My students find it difficult to handle grammar presented within authentic texts. 7. My students find authentic texts difficult because of the wide variety of structures which appear. 8. My students find authentic texts difficult because they are too culture bound. 9. My students find authentic texts difficult because of the vocabulary used. 10. My students cannot find form-function matches in authentic texts without explicit direction from teachers. 11.Teachers find the use of authentic material too time-consuming. 12. Teachers find it difficult to produce tasks of a suitable level from authentic texts. 13. A lack of explicit grammar teaching leaves my students feeling insecure. 14. My students find grammatical terminology useful. 15. Teachers find it difficult to correct student errors of grammar within a written communicative context. 16. Teachers find it difficult to correct student errors of grammar within a spoken commu nicative context. 17. My students find it difficult to improve the accuracy of their grammatical language within a totally communicative writing activity. 8. My students find it difficult to improve the accuracy of their grammatical language within a totally communicative speaking activity. 19. My students find it difficult to use grammatical terminology. 20. My students are frustrated by problem-solving techniques for learning grammar. Overall Mean 3. 8111 3. 5778 3. 6111 2. 9667 3. 5889 3. 3333 3. 4889 3. 2556 3. 5222 3. 4333 3. 0333 3. 0889 3. 3778 3. 8222 3. 2556 3. 5730 4. 1000 3. 7333 4. 0667 3. 6000 3. 5090 SD . 93490 . 97125 1. 04607 1. 49494 . 94684 1. 03858 1. 01941 1. 03382 1. 07293 1. 02825 1. 05415 1. 16739 . 97816 1. 5937 1. 25027 . 83785 . 90006 . 99210 . 87152 1. 08927 7. 71887 Table 4. Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar according to their Gender ( antherals N=39 Females N=51) Statement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Gender Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Mean 3. 8718 3. 7647 3. 2308 3. 8431 3. 7436 3. 5098 3. 1282 2. 8431 3. 7949 3. 4314 3. 2821 3. 3725 3. 5128 3. 4706 3. 2051 3. 2941 3. 5128 3. 5294 3. 3846 3. 4706 3. 0769 3. 0000 3. 1282 3. 0588 SD . 86388 . 99173 1. 6281 . 80926 . 96567 1. 10223 1. 47219 1. 51489 . 95089 . 92206 1. 02466 1. 05756 . 79046 1. 17223 1. 10452 . 98578 . 99662 1. 13759 1. 09100 . 98697 1. 10940 1. 01980 1. 19603 1. 15606 F 1. 357 4. 942 1. 447 . 032 . 068 . 095 9. 319 . 295 1. 240 . 600 . 062 . 107 t . 536 3. 105 1. 051 . 895 1. 828 . 408 . 194 . 403 . 072 . 391 . 341 . 278 Sig. (2-tailed) . 593 . 003 . 296 . 373 . 071 . 684 . 847 . 688 . 943 . 697 . 734 . 782 International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 88 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar Statement 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 OverallGender Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Mean 3. 3333 3. 4118 3. 9231 3. 7451 3. 3590 3. 1765 3. 5385 3. 6000 4. 0769 4. 1176 3. 7179 3. 7451 3. 8974 4. 1961 3. 4359 3. 7255 3. 5077 3. 5100 SD . 98230 . 98339 1. 28523 1. 24649 1. 34726 1. 17823 . 82226 . 85714 . 98367 . 84017 .88700 1. 07412 . 94018 . 80049 1. 16517 1. 02134 6. 67887 8. 50930 F . 018 . 105 1. 363 . 174 . 023 1. 454 . 201 2. 494 1. 604 t . 375 . 662 . 684 . 342 . 212 . 128 1. 626 1. 254 . 028 Sig. (2-tailed) . 708 . 510 . 496 . 733 . 833 . 898 . 108 . 213 . 978 Table 5.Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar according to the Level taught Statement 1 Level 1-4 5-10 11-12 agree 1-4 5-10 11-12 thoroughgoing 1-4 5-10 11-12 aggregate 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 N 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 Mean 3. 8824 3. 5484 3. 9762 3. 8111 3. 5882 3. 2903 3. 7857 3. 5778 3. 7059 3. 5161 3. 6429 3. 6111 2. 7647 3. 4516 2. 6905 2. 9667 3. 7059 3. 6774 3. 4762 3. 5889 3. 1765 3. 3871 3. 3571 3. 3333 3. 6471 3. 4839 3. 4286 3. 889 3. 6471 3. 2903 3. 0714 3. 2556 3. 7059 3. 5484 3. 4286 3. 5222 3. 7647 SD 1. 05370 1. 09053 . 71527 . 93490 1. 00367 . 97275 . 92488 . 97125 1. 04670 . 99569 1. 10036 1. 04607 1. 52190 1. 43385 1. 47314 1. 49494 . 77174 . 79108 1. 10956 . 94684 1. 01460 1. 02233 1. 07797 1. 03858 1. 16946 1. 06053 . 94075 1. 01941 . 99632 . 93785 1. 09082 1. 03382 1. 26317 1. 09053 . 99125 1. 07293 1. 20049 F 1. 970 Sig. .146 2 2. 394 .097 3 .213 .809 4 2. 593 .081 5 .557 .575 6 .242 .785 7 .274 .761 8 1. 943 .149 9 .413 1. 116 .663 . 332 10 International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 9 Statement 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Overall Level 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-1 0 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total 1-4 5-10 11-12 Total N 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 41 89 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 17 31 42 90 Mean 3. 3871 3. 3333 3. 4333 2. 8824 3. 0968 3. 0476 3. 0333 3. 1176 3. 1290 3. 0476 3. 0889 3. 5294 3. 0645 3. 5476 3. 3778 4. 0000 3. 3871 4. 0714 3. 8222 3. 0588 3. 5161 3. 429 3. 2556 3. 6471 3. 7419 3. 4146 3. 5730 4. 2941 4. 0323 4. 0714 4. 1000 3. 6471 3. 6774 3. 8095 3. 7333 4. 3529 3. 9355 4. 0476 4. 0667 3. 5294 3. 5806 3. 6429 3. 6000 3. 5824 3. 4871 3. 4951 3. 5090 SD . 91933 1. 02806 1. 02825 1. 05370 1. 10619 1. 03482 1. 05415 1. 21873 1. 14723 1. 18841 1. 16739 1. 17886 . 99785 . 83235 . 97816 1. 22474 1. 22956 1. 23748 1. 25937 1. 39062 1. 17958 1. 24100 1. 25027 . 93148 . 68155 . 89375 . 83785 . 77174 . 87498 . 97262 . 90006 1. 27187 . 90874 . 94322 . 99210 . 70189 . 81386 . 96151 . 87152 1. 12459 1. 14816 1. 05510 1. 08927 7. 94466 8. 51652 7. 09156 7. 71887 F Sig. .230 .795 049 .953 2. 509 .087 2. 968 .057 1. 056 .352 1. 443 .242 .499 .609 .233 .792 1. 287 .281 .072 .931 .378 .686 Table 6. Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar according to their Qualifications Statement 1 Qualification MA BA sheepskin Total MA BA Diploma Total N 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 Mean 3. 5000 3. 8026 4. 3333 3. 8111 3. 6250 3. 5395 4. 0000 3. 5778 SD 1. 30931 . 89472 . 81650 . 93490 . 91613 . 99921 . 63246 . 97125 F 1. 394 Sig. .253 2 .630 .535 International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 90 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar Statement 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17Qualification MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Dip loma N 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 75 6 89 8 76 6 Mean 3. 5000 3. 5921 4. 0000 3. 6111 3. 3750 2. 9605 2. 5000 2. 9667 3. 7500 3. 5526 3. 8333 3. 5889 2. 6250 3. 4079 3. 3333 3. 3333 3. 2500 3. 4605 4. 1667 3. 4889 3. 5000 3. 2237 3. 333 3. 2556 3. 1250 3. 5000 4. 3333 3. 5222 3. 3750 3. 4079 3. 8333 3. 4333 2. 7500 3. 0526 3. 1667 3. 0333 3. 5000 3. 0132 3. 5000 3. 0889 3. 2500 3. 4079 3. 1667 3. 3778 3. 1250 3. 8947 3. 8333 3. 8222 3. 3750 3. 2237 3. 5000 3. 2556 3. 5000 3. 5200 4. 3333 3. 5730 4. 5000 4. 0132 4. 6667 SD 1. 06904 1. 03509 1. 26491 1. 04607 1. 40789 1. 50058 1. 64317 1. 49494 1. 38873 . 91498 . 75277 . 94684 1. 30247 . 96854 1. 36626 1. 03858 1. 16496 1. 01247 . 75277 1. 01941 1. 06904 1. 02760 1. 21106 1. 03382 1. 24642 1. 05198 . 81650 1. 07293 1. 18773 1. 03509 . 75277 1. 02825 1. 58114 1. 00525 . 98319 1. 05415 1. 30931 1. 13717 1. 37840 1. 6739 1. 58114 . 86 684 1. 47196 . 97816 1. 80772 1. 16137 1. 60208 1. 25937 1. 68502 1. 18433 1. 64317 1. 25027 1. 19523 . 77738 . 81650 . 83785 . 75593 . 91642 . 51640 F . 467 Sig. .629 .586 .559 .366 .694 2. 108 .128 1. 596 .209 .272 .762 2. 348 .102 .484 .618 .345 .710 1. 029 .362 .240 .787 1. 363 .261 .173 .842 2. 757 2. 407 .069 . 096 International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam 91 Statement 18 19 20 Overall Qualification Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total MA BA Diploma Total N 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 8 76 6 90 Mean 4. 1000 3. 6250 3. 7632 3. 5000 3. 333 4. 0000 4. 0395 4. 5000 4. 0667 3. 8750 3. 5658 3. 6667 3. 6000 3. 4563 3. 4933 3. 7750 3. 5090 SD . 90006 1. 40789 . 92186 1. 37840 . 99210 . 75593 . 90097 . 54772 . 87152 1. 35620 1. 08733 . 81650 1. 08927 10. 98619 7. 29186 7. 44983 7. 71887 F Sig. .244 .784 .798 .453 .299 .742 1. 582 .211 Table 7. Teachers Perceptions of Difficulties with EFL Grammar according to their Experience Statement 1 Exp. (yrs) ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 0 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 N 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 Mean 3. 5556 3. 9250 3. 9130 3. 8111 3. 4444 3. 5500 3. 7826 3. 5778 3. 4444 3. 8000 3. 4783 3. 6111 3. 2222 3. 1500 2. 3478 2. 9667 3. 7407 3. 5000 3. 5652 3. 5889 3. 2963 3. 4000 3. 2609 3. 3333 3. 4074 3. 5250 3. 5217 3. 4889 3. 1481 3. 2000 3. 4783 3. 2556 3. 8519 3. 3000 3. 5217 3. 5222 3. 3333 3. 4500 SD 1. 12090 . 91672 . 66831 . 93490 . 84732 . 95943 1. 12640 . 97125 . 97402 1. 01779 1. 16266 1. 04607 1. 52753 1. 45972 1. 40158 1. 49494 . 81300 1. 13228 . 2777 . 94684 1. 17063 . 98189 1. 00983 1. 03858 1. 24836 . 93336 . 89796 1. 01941 . 81824 1. 11401 1. 12288 1. 03382 1. 06351 1. 11401 . 94722 1. 07293 1. 03775 1. 06096 F 1. 457 Sig. .239 2 .778 .462 3 1. 185 .311 4 2. 772 .068 5 .525 .593 6 .153 .859 7 .121 .886 8 .733 .484 9 2. 189 . 214 .118 . 808 10 International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2 92 Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar Statement 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Overall Exp. (yrs) 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total ? 5 5 ? 10 10 Total N 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 89 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 27 41 22 90 Mean 3. 5217 3. 4333 2. 8889 3. 0750 3. 1304 3. 0333 3. 3333 3. 0750 2. 8261 3. 0889 3. 3704 3. 2750 3. 5652 3. 3778 3. 4815 3. 8500 4. 1739 3. 8222 3. 1481 3. 2500 3. 3913 3. 2556 3. 6667 3. 5000 3. 5909 3. 5730 4. 0741 4. 1000 4. 1304 4. 1000 3. 6667 3. 8250 3. 6522 3. 7333 4. 0370 4. 0 500 4. 1304 4. 0667 3. 4074 3. 000 3. 6522 3. 6000 3. 4759 3. 5250 3. 5201 3. 5090 SD . 99405 1. 02825 1. 25064 . 99711 . 91970 1. 05415 1. 14354 1. 11832 1. 26678 1. 16739 . 92604 1. 01242 . 99206 . 97816 1. 36918 1. 23101 1. 11405 1. 25937 1. 43322 1. 14914 1. 23359 1. 25027 . 87706 . 87706 . 73414 . 83785 1. 03500 . 74421 1. 01374 .90006 1. 03775 . 84391 1. 19121 . 99210 . 70610 . 90441 1. 01374 . 87152 1. 18514 1. 06699 1. 02730 1. 08927 9. 44364 7. 20399 6. 48558 7. 71887 F Sig. .377 .687 1. 182 .311 .639 .530 1. 935 .151 .232 .794 .321 .727 .024 .976 .304 .739 .083 .921 .612 .545 .140 .869 International Journal of Instruction, July 2011 ? Vol. 4, No. 2

50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified (Gm) Foods Essay

Introduction What is c exclusivelyed biotechnology is a vital issue that impacts all of us. Largely surrounded by 1997 and 1999, familialally modified (GM) food ingredients suddenly appeared in 2/3rds of all US processed foods. This food alteration was fueled by a hotshot Supreme Court sentiment. It allowed, for the start-off time, the patenting of life act upons for commercialization. Since then thousands of applications for experimental genetically-modified (GM) organisms, including quite bizarre GMOs, fuck off been filed with the US ostensible Office al atomic number 53, and m all untold abroad. furthermore an economic war broke out to own equity in firms that legally claimed such patent rights or the means to go over non solo genetically modified organisms alone huge reaches of human food supplies. This has been the behind-the-scenes and key factor for near of the largest and rapid agri- chemic firm mergers in history. The merger of induct Hi-Bed and Dupont (1997) , Novartis AG and AstraZeneca PLC (2000), plus Dows merger with Rohm and Haas (2001) are three prominent examples, Few consumers are aware this has been going on and is ever continuing.Yet if you of late ate soya sauce in a Chinese restaurant, munched pop maize in a movie theatre, or indulged in an occasional slewdy stymie youve undoubtedly ingested this new type of food. You may create, at the time, known exactly how much salt, fat and carbohydrates were in each of these foods beca intent regulations mandate their science labeling for dietary purposes. But you would not know if the bulk of these foods, and literally every cell had been genetically altered In incisively those three years, as much as 1/ quaternate of all Ameri nookie agricultural lands or 70-80 million acres were quickly converted to raise genetically-modified (GM) food and rolls.See more Unemployment problems and solutions essayAnd in the hie to increase GM crop harvest-tideion verses organics, the forme r is winning. For details, see our obligate Who is Winning The Race Between GM Global and Organic Crop proceeds? Core Philosophical Issues When Gandhi confronted British rule and Martin Luther King addressed those who disenfranchised Afro-Ameri disregards, each brought forth issues of morality and spirituality. They both challenged others to live up to the high schoolest principles of humanity. With the issue of GM food technology, we should naturally do the same, and with great respect for both sides.It is not enough to list fifty or more harmful effects scarcely we need to also address moral, spiritual and especially homoview issues. Here the stakes are incredibly huge. For an introductory discussion of the philosophical issues involving GMOs, why this technology represents the fertilisation of a mechanical worldview, a death-centered vision of nature that is greatlyt accelerating the death of species on earth, see our article GMOs Philosophical Issues of a Thanoptic (Death -Delivering) Technology. FROM HYBRIDIZATION TO GMOs Another challenging phenomenon to spunk in our modern world is that of hybridization.It seems to call for worked so very success fully in some commercial realms, and as a major application of Gregor Mendels revolutionary Gene Theory. Mendel offered a logical extension of the larger mechanical worldview. Just as we create factory assembly lines for manufacturing inanimate products, why brookt we also manufacture lively organisms, and using the same or similar principles? Why not take this assembly-line process to the next logical and modernized level? Whats wrong then with the advance of genetic engineering? No doubt, with hybridizations conscious life is manipulated.But living organisms continue to make some primary genetic decisions amid limited selections. We can recognise this with an analogy. There is an immense difference between being a matchmaker and inviting two people to a dinner party, to meet and see if they are co mpatible. This differs essentially from forcing their meeting and union or a violent date rape. The former act may be divine, and the latter considered criminal. The implication is that biotechnology moves vital moral issues in regard to the firm of life in nature. With biotechnology, roses are no longer crossed with save roses.They are mated with pigs, tomatoes with oak trees, fish with asses, butterflies with worms, orchids with snakes. The technology that makes this all possible is called biolistics a gunshot-like violence that pierces the nuclear membrane of cells. This essentially violates not unspoilt the sum total chambers of life (physically intersection nuclear membranes) but the conscious-choice principle that is part of living natures essence. Some also compare it to the violent crossing of territorial borders of countries, subduing inhabitants against their will. What will happen if this technology is allowed to spread?Fifty years ago few predicted that chemical pollution would experience so much vast environmental harm. Now n other(a) 1/3rd of all species are threaten with extinction (and up to half of all plant species and half of all mammals). Few also knew that cancer rates would skyrocket during this same period. Nowadays well-nigh 41% on average of Americans can expect cancer in their lifetime. ALARM SIGNALS No one has a crystal ball to see future consequences of the overall GMO technology. Nevertheless, there are silent alarm consecrateals like the early death of canaries in a mine shaft.There is, for example, growing cause that the wholesale disappearance of bees relates directly to the appearance of ever more GM pollen. If we understand authorized philosophical issues about the 17th centurys worldview, the potential harm of GMOs actually can potentially far outweigh that of chemical pollution. This is because chemical scholarship deals mostly with things altered by fire (and then no longer alive, isolated in laboratories a nd not infecting living terrains in self-reproducible ways). Thus a hus cast awaydman may use a chemical for many decades, and then let the land lie fallow to convert it back to organic farming.This is because the chemicals tend to leave down into natural substances over time, Genetic pollution, however, can alter the oils life forever Farmers who view their land as their primary fiscal asset have reason to heed this warning. They need to be alarmed by evidence that genetically-modified soil bacteria contamination can arise. This is more than just possible, given the numerous (1600 or more) distinct microorganisms that can be appoint in a single teaspoon of soil. If that soil contamination remains permanently, the consequences can be catastrophic.Someday the earthly concern may blacklist precisely those farms that have once planted GM crops. No one has put up any warning signs on product packaging for farmers, including those who now own 1/4 of all agricultural tracks in the US. Furthermore, the spreading potential impact on all ecosystems is profound. Writes Jeremy Rifkin, in The Biotech Century, Our way of life is likely to be more fundamentally transformed in the next several decades than in the previous one thousand years Tens of thousands of reinvigorated transgenic bacteria, viruses, plants and animals could be released into the Earths ecosystemsSome of those releases, however, could wreak havoc with the planets biospheres. In short these processes involve incomparable risks. Voices from many sides echo this view. Contradicting safety claims, no major insurance connection has been willing to limit risks, or insure bio-engineered agricultural products. The reason given is the high level of unpredictable consequences. Over eight hundred scientists from 84 countries have signed The World Scientist open letter to all governments calling for a ban on the patenting of life-forms and emphasizing the very grave hazards of GMOs, genetically-modified cums and GM foods.This was submitted to the UN, World Trade Organization and US Congress. The Union of Concerned Scientists (a 1000 plus member scheme with many Nobel Laureates) has similarly expressed its scientific reservations. The prestigious medical journal, Lancet, published an article on the interrogation of Arpad Pusztai showing potentially significant harms, and to instill debate. Britains Medical Association (the equivalent of the AMA and with over a 100,000 physicians) called for an outright banning of genetically-modified foods and labeling the same in countries where they still exist.In a gathering of policy-making representatives from over 130 nations, drafting the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, approximately 95% insisted on new precautionary approaches. The National Academy of Science report on genetically-modified products urged greater scrutiny and assessments. Prominent FDA scientists have repeatedly expressed profound fears and reservations but their voices were muted not due to cogent scientific reasons but intense political pressure from the Bush administration in its efforts to buttress and foster the profit-potentials of a nascent biotech industry.To counterbalance this, industry-employed scientists have signed a statement in advance of genetically-modified foods. But are any of these scientists impartial? Writes the juvenile York Times (Feb 20, 2000) (about a similar crisis involving genetic engineering and medical applications). Academic scientists who lack industry ties have become as rare as giant pandas in the wild lawmakers, bioethics experts and federal regulators are troubled that so many researchers have a fiscal stake via stock options or patent participation The fear is that the lure of profit could color scientific integrity, promoting researchers to withhold information about potentially dangerous side-effects. Looked at from outside of commercial interests, perils of genetically modified foods and organisms are multi-d imensional. They include the creation of new transgenic life forms organisms that cross unnatural gene lines (such as tomato seed genes crossed with fish genes) and that have unpredictable behavior or replicate themselves out of control in the wild.This can happen, without warning, inside of our bodies creating an unpredictable chain reaction. A four-year essay at the University of Jena in Germany conducted by Hans-Hinrich Kaatz revealed that bees ingesting pollen from transgenic rapeseed had bacteria in their gut with modified genes. This is called a horizontal gene transfer. Commonly found bacteria and microorganisms in the human gut help maintain a wellnessy intestinal flora. These, however, can be mutated. Mutations may also be able to travel internally to other cells, tissue systems and organs throughout the human body.Not to be underestimated, the potential domino effect of internal and external genetic pollution can make the substance of science-fiction horror movies beco me terrible realities in the future. The same is true for the bacteria that maintain the wellness of our soil and are vitally needful for all forms of farming in fact for human sustenance and survival. Without factoring in biotechnology, milder forms of controlling nature have gravitated toward restrictive monocropping.In the past 50 years, this underlies the disappearance of approximately 95% of many native grains, beans, nuts, fruits, and vegetable varieties in the United States, India, and Argentina among other nations (and on average 75% worldwide). Genetically-modified monoculture, however, can drop dead to yet greater harm. Monsanto, for example, had set a goal of converting 100% of all US soy crops to Roundup Ready strains by the year 2000. If this plan were effected, it would have threatened the biodiversity and resilience of all future soy farming practices. Monsanto laid out similar strategies for corn, cotton, wheat and rice.This represents a deepest misunderstanding of how seeds interact, adapt and change with the living world of nature. One need only look at agricultural history at the havoc created by the Irish potato blight, the Mediterranean fruit navigate epidemic in California, the regional citrus canker attacks in the Southeast, and the 1970s US corn leaf blight. In the latter case, 15% of US corn production was quickly destruct. Had weather changes not quickly ensued, most all crops would have been laid waste because a fungus attached their cytoplasm universally.The deeper reason this happened was that approximately 80% of US corn had been standardized (devitalized/mechanized) to help farmers crossbreed and by a method akin to those used in current genetic engineering. The consistency of plants then allowed a single fungus to spread, and within four months to destroy crops in 581 counties and 28 states in the US. According to J. Browning of Iowa State University Such an extensive, homogeneous acreage of plants is like a tinder-dry prairie waiting for a spark to ignite it. The homogeneity is unnatural, a byproduct again of deadening natures creativity in the attempt to mechanize, to grasp absolute control, and of what ultimately yields not control but wholesale disaster. Europeans seem more sensitive than Americans to such approaches, given the analogous parable of German eugenics. HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS Overall the biotech revolution that is presently trying to overturn 12,000 years of traditional and sustainable agriculture was launched in the summer of 1980 in the US. This was the result of a little-known US Supreme Court decision Diamond vs.Chakrabarty where the highest court decided that biological life could be legally patentable. Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty, a microbiologist and employee of oecumenic Electric (GE), developed at the time a type of bacteria that could ingest oil. GE rushed to apply for a patent in 1971. later several years of review, the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) turned down the request under the traditional doctrine that life forms are not patentable. Jeremy Rifkins organization, the Peoples Business Commission, filed the only brief in support of the ruling. GE later sued and won an overturning of the PTO ruling.This gave the go in the lead to further bacterial gmo research throughout the 1970s. Then in 1983 the first genetically-modified plant, an anti-biotic resistant tobacco was introduced. Field trials then began in 1985, and the EPA approved the very first release of a GMO crop in 1986. This was a herbicide-resistant tobacco. All of this went forward due to a regulatory green light as in 1985 the PTO also decided the Chakrabarty ruling could be further extended to all plants and seeds, or the entire plant kingdom. It then took another decade before the first genetically-altered crop was commercially introduced.This was the celebrated delayed-ripening Flavr-savr tomato approved by the FDA on May 18, 1994. The tomato was fed in laboratory trials to mi ce who, normally relishing tomatoes, refused to eat these lab-creations and had to be force-fed by tubes. some(prenominal) developed stomach lesions and seven of the forty mice died within two weeks. Without further safety testing the tomato was FDA approved for commercialization. Fortunately, it ended up as a production and commercial failure, and was ultimately abandoned in 1996. This was the same year Calgene, the producer, began to be bought out by Monsanto.During this period also, and scouring the world for valuable genetic materials, W. R. Grace applied for and was granted fifty US patents on the neem tree in India. It even patented the indigenous knowledge of how to medicinally use the tree f(what has since been called biopiracy). Also by the close of the 20th century, about a dozen of the major US crops including corn, soy, potato, beets, papaya, squash, tomato and cotton were approved for genetic modification. dismission a step further, on April 12, 1988, PTO issued its first patent on animal life forms (known as oncomice) to Harvard Professor Philip Leder and Timothy A.Stewart. This involved the creation of a transgenic mouse containing chicken and human genes. Since 1991 the PTO has controversially granted other patent rights involving human stem cells, and later human genes. A United States company, Biocyte was awarded a European patent on all umbilical cord cells from fetuses and newborn babies. The patent extended exclusive rights to use the cells without the permission of the donors. Finally the European Patent Office (EPO) received applications from Baylor University for the patenting of women who had been genetically altered to produce proteins in their mammary glands.Baylor essentially sought monopoly rights over the use of human mammary glands to manufacture pharmaceuticals. other(a) attempts have been made to patent cells of indigenous peoples in Panama, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea, among others. Thus the groundbreaking C hakrabarty ruling evolved, and within little more than two decades from the patenting of tiny, almost ultraviolet microbes, to allow the genetic modification of virtually all terrains of life on Earth.Certain biotech companies then quickly, again with lightening speed, moved to utilize such patenting for the control of first and primarily seed stock, including buying up small seed companies and destroying their non-patented seeds. In the past few years, this has led to a near monopoly control of certain genetically modified commodities, especially soy, corn, and cotton (the latter used in processed foods when making cottonseed oil). As a result, between 70-75% of processed grocery products, as estimated by the Grocery Manufacturers of America, soon showed genetically-modified ingredients.Yet again without labeling, few consumers in the US were aware that any of this was pervasively occurring. Industry marketers found out that the more the public knew, the less they indispensabilit yed to purchase GM foods. Thus a concerted effort was organized to convince regulators (or bribe them with revolving-door employment arrangements) not to crave such labeling. About the 50 Harmful Effects of GM Foods This article does more than dispute the industry and certain government officials claims that genetically-modified (GM) foods are the equivalent of mundane foods not requiring labeling.It offers an informative list of the vast number of alarm signals, at least fifty hazards, problems, and dangers. also interspersed are deeper philosophical discussion of how the good science of biotechnology can turn against us as a thano-technology, grounded in a worldview that most seriously needs to be revisied. When pesticides were first introduced, they also were herald as absolutely safe and as a miracle cure for farmers. Only decades later the technology revealed its truer lethal implications. Here the potentially lethal implications are much broader.The following list of harms is also divided into several easily referred-to sections, namely on health, environment, farming practices, economic/political/social implications, and issues of freedom of choice. There is a concluding review of means of inner activism philosophical, spiritual, worldview changing. Next there is a list of action-oriented, practical ideas and resources for personal, political and consumer action on this vital issue. Finally, I want the reader to know that this article is a living document, subject to change whenever new and important information becomes available.The reader is thus encouraged to return to this article as a resource, explore other parts of our site, and otherwise keep in touch with us and the Websites we link to. Most importantly please sign up for our newsletter so we can exchange vital information with you. Sign up now for our Newsletter to get invaluable updates and more health Recombinant desoxyribonucleic acid technology faces our society with problems unprece dented not only in the history of science, but of life on Earth. It places in human hands the mental object to redesign living organisms, the products of three billion years of evolution.Such intervention must not be confused with previous intrusions upon the natural order of living organisms animal and plant breeding All the earlier procedures worked within single or closely related species Our morality up to now has been to go ahead without restriction to learn all that we can about nature. Restructuring nature was not part of the bargain this direction may be not only unwise, but dangerous. Potentially, it could breed new animal and plant diseases, new sources of cancer, novel epidemics. Deaths and Near-Deaths 1.Recorded Deaths from GM In 1989, dozens of Americans died and several thousands were afflicted and impaired by a genetically modified version of the food supplement L-tryptophan creating a debilitating ailment known as Eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (EMS) . Released with out safety tests, there were 37 deaths inform and approximately 1500 more were disabled. A settlement of $2 billion dollars was paid by the manufacturer, Showa Denko, Japans third largest chemical company destroyed evidence preventing a further investigation and made a 2 billion dollar settlement.Since the very first commercially sold GM product was lab tested (Flavr Savr) animals used in such tests have prematurely died. 2. Near-deaths and Food Allergy Reactions In 1996, Brazil nut genes were spliced into soybeans to provide the added protein methionine and by a company called Pioneer Hi-Bred. Some individuals, however, are so allergic to this nut, they can go into anaphylactic shock (similar to a severe bee sting reaction) which can cause death. utilise genetic engineering, the allergens from one food can thus be transferred to another, thought to be safe to eat, and unknowingly.Animal and human tests confirmed the peril and fortunately the product was removed from the market be fore any fatalities occurred. The animal tests conducted, however, were insufficient by themselves to show this. Had they alone been relied upon, a disaster would have followed. The next case could be less than ideal and the public less fortunate, writes Marion Nestle author of Food Politics and Safe Food, and head of the Nutrition Department of NYU in an editorial to the New England Journal of Medicine.It has been estimated that 25% of Americans have mild adverse reactions to foods (such as itching and rashes), while at least 4% or 12 million Americans have provably more serious food allergies as objectively shown by blood iImmunoglobulin E or IgE levels. In other words, there is a significant number of highly food-sensitive individuals in our general population. The percentage of young children who are seriously food-allergenic is yet higher, namely 6-8% of all children under the age of three.In addition, the incidence rates for these children has been decidedly rising. Writes Dr. Jacqueline Pongracic, head of the allergy department at Childrens Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ive been treating children in the field of allergy immunology for 15 years, and in recent years Ive really seen the rates of food allergy skyrocket. The Center for Disease Control confirmed the spike on a US national level. Given the increased adulteration of our diets, it is no wonder at all that this is happening.Yet the FDA officials who are sacredly entrusted to safeguard the health of the general public, and especially of children, declared in 1992, under intense industry-lobbying pressure, that genetically-modified (GM) foods were essentially equivalent to regular foods. The truth is that genetically modified foods cannot ever be equivalent. They involve the most novel and technologically-violent alterations of our foods, the most uniquely different foods ever introduced in the history of modern agriculture (and in the history of biological evolution).To say otherwise affronts th e intelligence of the public and safeguarding public officials. It is a bold, if not criminal deception to but appease greed-motivated corporate parties and at the direct expense and risk of the publics health. The FDA even decided against the advice of its own scientists that there was no need at all for FDA allergy or safety testing of these most novel of all foods. This hands-off climate (as promoted by the Bush Administration and similar to what was done with the mortgage and financial industry) is a recipe for widespread social health disasters.When elements of nature that have never before been present in the human diet are suddenly introduced, and without any public safety testing or labeling notice, such as petunia flower elements in soybeans and fish genes in tomatoes (as developed by DNA Plant Technology Corporation in the 1990s), it ostensibly risks allergic reactions among the most highly sensitive segments of our general population. It is a well-know fact that fish pro teins happen to be among the most hyper-allergenic, while tomatoes are not.Thus not labeling such genetically modified tomatoes, with hidden alien or allergenic ingredients, is completely unconscionable. The same applies to the typical GMO that has novel bacterial and viral DNA artificially inserted. Many research studies have definitively confirmed this kind of overall risk for genetically modified foods CORN- Two research studies independently show evidence of allergenic reactions to GM Bt corn, Farm workers exposed to genetically-modified Bt sprays exhibited extensive allergic reactions.POTATOES A study showed genetically-modified potatoes expressing cod genes were allergenic. PEAS A decade-long study of GM peas was abandoned when it was discovered that they caused allergic lung pervert in mice. SOY In March 1999, researchers at the York Laboratory discovered that reactions to soy had skyrocketed by 50% over the year before, which corresponded with the introduction of genet ically-modified soy from the US. It was the first time in 17 years that soy was tested in the lab among the top ten allergenic foods. pubic louse and Degenerative Diseases 3. Direct Cancer and Degenerative Disease Links GH is a protein hormone which, when injected into cattle stimulates the pituitary gland in a way that the produces more take out, thus making milk production more profitable for the large dairy corporations. In 1993, FDA approved Monsantos genetically-modified rBGH, a genetically-altered growth hormone that could be then injected into dairy cows to enhance this feature, and even though scientists warned that this resulted in an increase of IGF-1 (from (70%-1000%).IGF-1 is a very potent chemical hormone that has been linked to a 2 1/2 to 4 measure higher risk of human colorectal and breast cancer. Prostate cancer risk is considered equally serious in the 2,8. to 4 times range. According to Dr. Samuel Epstein of the University of Chicago and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, this induces the malignant transformation of human breast epithelial cells. Canadian studies confirmed such a uncertainty and showed active IGF-1 absorption, thyroid cysts and internal organ damage in rats. Yet the FDA denied the significance of these findings.When two award-winning journalists, Steve Wilson and Jane Akre, tried to expose these deceptions, they were fired by obscure Network under intense pressure from Monsanto. The FDAs own experiments indicated a spleen mass increase of 40-46%- a sign of developing leukemia. The contention by Monsanto that the hormone was killed by pasteurization or rendered inactive was fallacious. In research conducted by two of Monsantos own scientists, Ted Elasser and Brian McBride, only 19% of the hormone was destroyed despite boiling milk for 30 minutes when normal pasteurization is 15 seconds.Canada, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand have banned rBGR. The UNs Codex Alimentarius, an internationalistic hea lth standards setting body, refused to certify rBGH as safe. Yet Monsanto continued to market this product in the US until 2008 when it finally divested under public pressure. This policy in the FDA was initiated by Margaret Miller, Deputy Director of Human Safety and Consultative Services, New Animal Drug Evaluation Office, Center for Veterinary Medicine and former chemical laboratory supervisor for Monsanto. This is part of a larger revolving door between Monsanto and the Bush Administration.She spearheaded the increase in the amount of antibiotics farmers were allowed to have in their milk and by a factor of 100 or 10,000 percent. Also Michael Taylor, Esq. became the executive assistant to the director of the FDA and deputy Commissioner of Policy filling a position created in 1991 to promote the biotech industry and squelch internal dissent. There Taylor drafted a new law to undermine the 1958 enacted Delaney Amendment that so importantly outlawed pesticides and food additives k nown to cause cancer. In other words carcinogens could now legally be reintroduced into our food chain.Taylor was later hired as legal counsel to Monsanto, and subsequently became Deputy Commissioner of Policy at the FDA once again. On another front, GM-approved products have been developed with resistance to herbicides that are commonly-known carcinogens. Bromoxynil is used on transgenic bromoxynmil-resistant or BXN cotton. It is known to cause very serious relationship defects and brain damage in rats. Glyphosate and POEA, the main ingredients in Roundup, Monsantos lead product are suspected carcinogens. As to other degenerative disease links, fit in to a study by researcher Dr.Sharyn Martin, a number of autoimmune diseases are enhanced by foreign DNA fragments that are not fully digested in the human stomach and intestines. DNA fragments are absorbed into the bloodstream, potentially mixing with normal DNA. The genetic consequences are unpredictable and unexpected gene fragment s have shown up in GM soy crops. A similar view is echoed by Dr. Joe Cummins, Professor of Genetics at the University of Western Ontario, noting that animal experiments have demonstrate how exposure to such genetic elements may lead to inflammation, arthritis and lymphoma (a malignant blood disease).4. Indirect, Non-traceable Effects on Cancer Rates The twentieth century saw an additive lowering of infectious disease rates, especially where a single bacteria was overcome by an antibiotic, but a simultaneous rise in systemic, whole body or immune system breakdowns. The epidemic of cancer is a major example and is affected by the overall polluted state of our environment, including in the pollution of the air, water, and food we take in. There are zillions of potential combinations for the 100,000 commonly thrust upon our environment.The real impact cannot be revealed by experiments that look at just a few controlled factors or chemicals isolates. Rather all of nature is a testing g round. Scientists a few years ago were startled that combining chemical food additives into chemical cocktails caused many times more toxic effects than the sum of the individual chemicals. More startling was the fact that some chemicals were thought to be harmless by themselves but not in such combinations. For example, two simple chemicals found in soft drinks, ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate, together form benzene, an immensely potent carcinogen.Similarly, there is the potential, with entirely new ways of rearranging the natural order with genetic mutations and that similar non-traceable influences can likewise cause cancer. We definitively know X-rays and chemicals cause genetic mutations, and mutagenic changes are behind many higher cancer rates or where cells duplicate out of control. In the US in the year 1900, cancer affected only about 1 out 11 individuals. It now inflicts 1 out of 2 men and 1 out of 3 women in their lifetime. Cancer mortality rates rose relentlessly thro ughout the 20th century to more than triple overall.Viral and Bacterial Illness 5. Superviruses Viruses can mix with genes of other viruses and retroviruses such as HIV. This can give rise to more deadly viruses and at rates higher than previously thought. One study showed that gene mixing occurred in viruses in just 8 weeks (Kleiner, 1997). This kind of scenario applies to the cauliflower mosaic virus CaMV, the most common virus used in genetic engineering in Round Up ready soy of Monsanto, Bt-maise of Novaris, and GM cotton and canola.It is a kind of pararetrovirus or what multiplies by making DNA from RNA. It is somewhat similar to Hepatitis B and HIV viruses and can pose immense dangers. In a Canadian study, a plant was infected with a gamy cucumber mosaic virus that lacked a gene needed for movement between plant cells. Within less than two weeks, the crippled plant found what it needed from neighboring genes as evidence of gene mixing or horizontal transfer.