Reflective Autobiography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflective Autobiography - Assignment Example At a very young, when I had just started school, I was taught about the family and here the subject of diversity first emerged. My teachers and my parents taught me on how diversity played a significant role in the family make-up. Not only were roles played by each individual in my family were diverse, but I also came to learn having different families leaving in the same community and in harmony despite their many differences represented a significant role of diversity to the community. Just like a family, the community is linked to a more complex state of diversity as there are so many factors involved in distinguishing not only families but individuals as well. It is at this stage that I was able to learn factors such as ‘nuclear,’ ‘single’, ‘extended’ and many other terms that were used to describe families (Harris). Then while interacting with my peers and the community as a whole I was able to notice how we all looked different. Growing up reflected many incidences of diversity, and I grew to understand its meaning in-depth. Later into life as my education advanced is when I started understanding the meaning of diversity under more complex subjects and contexts such as its role in communication, business, sociological, political, and technological. I came to realize that diversity is the uniqueness in every aspect of our life, the differences that define each of us as a person. These aspects include race, age, religion, political ideology, ethnicity, sexuality, physical appearance and abilities, preferences, as well as cultural practices (Unzueta, Knowles, and Ho). As I grow older, I realized that diversity is what determines every step in my life including the diversity in the choices I made for my lifestyle. Having been born and raised in China and later moving to the US where I have been studying the English language for the last ten years has been a great step for me as far as diversity is concerned. Not only have I

Motivation to Learn Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Motivation to Learn - Essay Example It is mainly compose of an individual internal desire to comprehend their underlying interest, self-esteem and corresponding personal sense of accomplishment. It is also mainly influenced by internal factors. The main factors that aid in fostering intrinsic motivation of students entail individual’s autonomy, experience, handling of underlying challenges positively, and self-appraisal. A feeling of accomplishment of an individual can mainly be evaluated by underlying numerous devastating challenges that can correspondingly impart tautness and fear. This can make student feel realize set up to fail. Thus, teachers ought to monitor the way students fair on with diverse intensities of challenges. According to Dweck (2008), students possessing intrinsic motivation have different mindsets and are concern about numerous issues as compared to those one devoid of intrinsic motivation. Moreover, individuals with intrinsic motivation are normally interested getting knowledge at the expe nse of being noticed as smart by their colleagues and corresponding teachers. Instructors are normally in a position of assisting students in becoming intrinsically motivated via attaining necessary experience, which are commonly achieved via repetitive issuing of the prevailing evaluation tests. This can also be accomplished via provision of a participatory environment, which ensures that prevailing learners remain active in the course of the learning process. Diverse mindsets also aid in fostering intrinsic motivation.

Relationship Between Employees and Health Care Organizations Essay Example for Free

Relationship Between Employees and Health Care Organizations Essay Analyze the factors affecting the relationship between employees and health care organizations to determine which single factor is the most significant. Explain your reasoning. The long-term economic success of healthcare organizations depends on the efforts of employees with the appropriate capabilities and motivation to perform their jobs well. Organizations that are successful over time have understood that individual relationships do matter and should be managed. (Flynn, Mathis amp; Jackson, 2011) The relationship between individuals and healthcare organizations is influenced by outside forces. Four of the biggest influences are economic changes, the expectations of different generations of individuals, loyalty, and changing career expectations for women. These factors affect the psychological contracts in a number of ways. (Flynn, Mathis amp; Jackson, 2011) All of these factors are just as significant and important but the only that I feel has the more impact is the loyalty. One important organizational value that affects employee loyalty is trust. Employees who believe that they can trust their managers, coworkers, and the organizational justice systems are much less willing to leave their current employers. According to a survey conducted by a nursing magazine, one of the top reasons given for RNs leaving their previous employers was a lack of trust and confidence in management. (Flynn, Mathis amp; Jackson, 2011) Supportive learning and working environment are crucial factor for job satisfaction, especially in the field of nursing. An ageing population with an increasing number of patients suffering from chronic diseases are included in the factors affecting work environments negatively, resulting in dissatisfied employees. To improve the environment and prevent persistent employee dissatisfaction, Richer at al. 2009) suggested â€Å"appreciative inquiry† to create radical changes. Knowles (1990) reported that a supportive learning environment is considered to be a critical  element of human resource development, and he acknowledged the need for the development of individual workers through improvements to the educational aspect. Four of the biggest influences between employees and health care organizations are economic changes, the expectations of different generations of individuals, loyalty, and changing career expectations for women. All these factors play a significant role in the workplace and staff and leaders have to be cognizant of them. I believe the most significant in this relationship is the ever-changing economy, especially with the onset of the Affordable Care Act. The economy has been in a recession, and many organizations have had to cut their budgets to stay afloat. Personnel have been laid off, they have quit their jobs in healthcare to find a more stable job field, and providers have additional regulations that in turn change their practices. Healthcare is still appealing and a necessity, but the demands are becoming more and more stressful on employees. You absolutely need loyalty and managers and leaders can control it but they cannot control the economy hence why I believe it is more significant. You can’t control the difference in generations, but you can understand the differences and change the leadership style to accommodate those gaps. You cannot control the economy and it can drive substantial decisions that can be unfavorable * From in the e-Activity, determine how well the health care organization you found is addressing the factor you identified in the first part of this discussion. Discuss additional steps the organization could take to do a better job. Samaritan Medical Center is the largest hospital in the Watertown, New York area. It is a 294-bed community medical center. In order to retain their current employees Samaritan Full-time employees are eligible to participate after six months of employment and may be reimbursed up to $3,000 annually for tuition assistance. Part-time employees are eligible to participate after one year of service and may be reimbursed up to $1,500 annually. They offer 401(k) Retirement Benefit + Employer Match, RN, LPN, Tech Retirement and 403 (b) retirement plans. They offer paid time off and also the following other benefits: * Employee Referral Quit for Life Smoking Cessation * Employee Fitness Rebate * Aflac Cancer Coverage * Cafeteria and Gift Shop Discounts * Over the Counter Pharmaceutical Discounts * Employee Assistance Program (ESP) They also offer the following insurances for all employees: * Medical Insurance * Dental Insurance * Vision Insurance * Life Insurance * Accidental Death and Disme mberment Insurance * Short Term and Long Term Disability * Medical and Dependent Care Spending Accounts This hospital also recognizes that employees are happy when they continuously learn and grow in their jobs. They offer a professional development program as well. I think that this hospital does a terrific job at concentrating on all areas of incentives and purpose for their employees to retain the best qualified personnel. â€Å"Samaritan recognizes the importance of investing in their leaders with ongoing management training. Excel IV will assist leaders of all levels in developing greater efficiency through increased managerial competence. Excel IV focuses on the following Leadership Competencies: Communicating with Impact, Building a Successful Team, Facilitating Change, and Aligning Individual and Team Performance† (Samaritan Medical Center, 2013). References: http://www. samaritanhealth. com/join-our-team/why-choose-samaritan/professional-development ince the textbook indicated Griffin Hospital located in Derby, CT at number three on list of small companies in the Fortune magazine as one of the best companies to work for 10 years consecutively, I decided to look up this company on the internet. At Griffin Hospital, every employee is a caregiver and every employee makes a difference. We understand that employee satisfaction leads to patient satisfaction. Our culture of teamwork, professionalism, and respect makes Griffin Hospital a place where both patients and employees want to be. Griffin Hospital was named to  FORTUNE Magazines 100 Best Companies to Work for in America  list for ten consecutive years and our management team has been nationally recognized for listening and responding to employee feedback. Also looking at the hospital, they give recognition and much gratification to their employees for all their hard work and dedication by having an awards program. They also offer bonuses to their employees. I would suggest having a flexible schedule if possible but the hospital appears to offer an array of great benefits and compensation to their employees which is why the rank so highly in the Fortune. And this a highlight that has taken place at the hospital to turn things around according the CEO, â€Å"We surveyed all of our departments, and the one that came out worst was our obstetrics. In fact it was so bad an outside consultant suggested we close it. † What were the things he did to turn around the obstetrics department? We turned the traditional maternity unit on its head. We created a welcoming, home like environment for women, but it was really based on empowerment and information. First of all we moved to all private rooms. We installed a Jacuzzi in our maternity ward to help relieve pain early in a woman’s labor. We also embraced the whole family in the birthing experience by having specially designed double beds put into private rooms so the husband could sta y with his wife from start to when the three of them could leave. In the past the husbands were relegated to the proverbial waiting room. So our approach to vastly changing our obstetrics department was the start of the transformation of Griffin. † From that auspicious beginning, Pat Charmel has raised the profile and patient centric care to one of the highest in the nation. It has won numerous awards for their approach, including awards for their nursing staff and the NAACP for their diversity program. References: http://www. griffinhealth. org/About-Us/Careers-Volunteers. aspx   http://blog. istage. com/ceo-tv-show/pat-charmel-ceo-of-griffin-hospital-explains-what-he-did-to-turn-around-the-hospital The health care organization I chose is a local healthcare organization-Saint Francis Medical Center; I believe they facilitate employee loyalty because on their website numerous references are made where they address employees as being family and the benefits of employment page offers various healthcare programs, continued education savings, a nd reimbursement plans, and savings and annuity plans. Additional steps I believe additional steps the organization could take to do a better job are by following the Richard Branson method of celebrating employees. His business meetings often consist of employees meeting for lunch at his home, entire department vacations, and inter-office costumed events. I believe all organizations should follow this method. http://positivesharing. com/2011/09/richard-branson-celebrates-employees/ Baptist Health System (BHS) has five acute hospitals and offers benefits to their employees to create loyalty. BHS is committed to providing a stable, rewarding and generously incentivized relationship with their employees and start every relationship with incentives in hopes of getting the highest level of performance from the very best people (baptisthealth. com, n. d. )  to better attract and retain employees. Some for their benefits include: health, dental and vision plans, flexible spending accounts, accident and life insurance, short and long term disability, paid time off (PTO), extended illness days (EID), and tuition reimbursement (baptisthealth. om, n. d. ). Beginning August, 2012, BHS no longer hires individuals who use nicotine products. They intend to provide healthy, smoke free environment for their employees. Employee loyalty provides a competitive advantage and is necessary for a successful business. If BHS goes above and beyond for its employees, it is likely the employees will do the same for BHS. BHS could promote and provide a culture of communication, flexible schedules , employee praise and respect, and birthday celebrations.

Effect of Schemas on Understanding the Social World

Effect of Schemas on Understanding the Social World Zoe Crackett WITH REFERENCE TO RELEVANT RESEARCH STUDIES EVALUATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOCIAL WORLD IS CONSTRAINED BY OUR SCHEMAS This[p1] essay looks to assess the degree to which our perception of the social world is driven by how our knowledge is brought together and presented to ourselves. Bartlett (1932) used the concept of schema, which has been defined for this essay, to explain how people can call on subconscious categorisations. Buchanan et al (2009) claim that schematic processing is both efficient and an effective method of understanding but pre-existing schema can mean that the processing is constrained. Cognitive psychologists are concerned with how people perceive others, situations and events within their own social world. To explore the claim the essay uses studies where schema and expectations have been tested such as Bartlett (1932) ‘War of the Ghosts’ story as well as how what we expect can be wrong. Fritz Heider was one of the first psychologists to study social cognition in terms of (how) understanding how people make sense of the social world relates to (concatenation – not sure what this word is) of events. Heider and Simmel (1944) used a series of cartoons to demonstrate how cause and effect works. In the study participants were asked to describe what they saw in the cartoons. In the first group participants were asked just to describe what they saw whilst the other two groups were asked to describe what they saw as if the objects were people. The third group saw the cartoons played backwards. Heider and Simmel found that all but one of the participants in the first group described the cartoons using human terms. In this way Heider claims that people act as â€Å"naà ¯ve psychologists† by trying to make sense of events or people by looking for predictability using cause and effect (Heider and Simmel, cited in Buchanan et al, 2009, p60-61). The term schema defines a type of cognitive structure that may present itself as a typical object or event that a person has knowledge of; this allows the person to process the object or event and act or react accordingly. A person uses schema when they perceive situations and other people to aid them in responding to them. Bartlett (1932) used the term schema when describing how English people retold a Native American folk tale but each time the tale was retold it would change to be more ‘English’. Detail from the original tale would be omitted where it may be thought of as not relevant or altered to something more familiar that the teller was able to relate to (Bartlett, cited in Brace and Roth, 2009, pp131-132[p2]). Social psychologists have identified person,role and event schema. These are mental structures that a person uses that hold knowledge on different types of people, expected behaviour and social situations respectively. The knowledge allows for generalisation of the object or event. For example in Buchanan et al (2009) reference is made to a TV commercial taken with four different camera angles. In the first shot a white youth with a shaven head wearing combat trousers and Doc Marten boots is seen running. From the first shot the assumption of ‘skinhead’ can be used as the description is that which would be attributed to a skinhead. This in turn would lead to thoughts relating to criminal behaviour such as aggression and violence. The second shot shows the youth running towards a man who is smartly dressed. Through the final two shots the viewer is given two more camera angles and sees further information. By the time the viewer sees the fourth shot they may have already formed the opinion that the youth is going to assault the smartly dressed man. However the fourth shot shows the full picture to the viewer; the youth was not running towards the man to assault him but is intent on pushing him out of the way of a pallet of bricks that is about to fall and injure him (Buchanan et al, 2009 p63–64). Buchanan et al (2009) have described schema as generalised representations. In the case of the ‘skinhead’ youth in the above example the generalisation has also invoked stereotypical perceptions that people project on to others. Buchanan et al claim these generalisations leave room for some form of variation however it is not explained how stereotypes are learned. Sometimes how something is perceived can be inaccurate. Tajfel stated that it is possible to over generalise and as a result have a tendency to stereotype (Buchanan et al p66[p3]). An integral feature of schema is that the knowledge they contain is defined as shared knowledge in other words it is not just particular to a person or event. Schema needs knowledge to be shared in order that it is effective. Schema is self-confirming. By providing expectations based on what a person thinks they know or understand to be true, what is actually presented can be distorted, as in the Bartlett experiment. By self-confirming it supports the claim that schema constrain peoples understanding of the social world (Buchanan et al, 2009, pp65-68). In an experiment by Darley and Gross (1983) college students were shown a video tape of a character called Hannah and asked to critique her academic ability. The students were introduced to her as being either from a high or low socio-economic status. Some students were also shown a video of ‘Hannah’ answering a set of questions in an oral exam. Whilst there was no apparent pattern as to whether ‘Hannah’ was answering more questions correctly or incorrectly those that saw Hannah as higher socio-economic status as well as the exam judged her to have higher academic ability. Darley and Gross surmised that although the information can be the same information is processed according to expectations (Darley and Gross, cited in Buchanan et al, 2009). The Darley and Gross study demonstrates how schema can simplify lots of information, this also allows relevant information to be extracted more quickly. A person simply needs to access processing knowledge in order for that person to understand what is happening however as demonstrated by the tv commercial showing the youth if only one part is shown the subsequent response can be inaccurate and the person may look for sign posts from within their own expectations rather than taking cues from their present environment. As such that person makes a fundamental attribution error (FAE) (Buchanan et al p75). Kahneman and Tversky (1973) explored how FAEs can be made easily. They used short vignettes to describe a seemingly random person. The participants were given deliberately vague descriptions of a person and they were asked to judge the likelihood that the person described was a lawyer. Participants were told that the person described had come from a room of people where either seventy or thirty per cent were lawyers. In both conditions the participants gave the probability the person described was a lawyer was fifty per cent. The participants ignored relevant information that they had been given and focused on the descriptions they read (Kahneman and Tversky cited in Buchanan et al, 2009) In conclusion schema assists a person to cut out a lot of irrelevant information and process other detail quickly, however as a result other important information can be accidentally discarded. For schema to work they require knowledge to be shared with others so that everyone is able to respond. People make assumptions based on what they think they know and apply it to the situations they see. As demonstrated by the TV commercial unless a person sees the all the information at the same time their judgements can be wrong but also it demonstrates, through the extra pieces of information on each shot, that they can be changed. Generally schema can work well as left to their own devices it is possible for a person to make errors in judgement. The claim made by Buchanan et al (2009) is that a person is compelled to make a judgement in the social world based on pre-existing patterns of thought is to some extent correct, however the person also has the ability to change. 1329 words References Brace, N. and Roth, I. (2009) ‘Memory: structures, processes and skills’ in Miell, D., Phoenix, A. and Thomas, K. (eds) Book 1 Introduction and Chapters 6 – 9 DSE212 Mapping Psychology. Milton Keynes, Open University pp 111 – 170 Buchanan, K., Anand, P., Joffe, H. and Thomas, K. (2009) ‘Perceiving and understanding the social world’ in Miell, D., Phoenix, A. and Thomas, K. (eds) Book 1 Introduction and Chapters 6 – 9 DSE212 Mapping Psychology. Milton Keynes, Open University pp 57 – 109 1 [p1]An effective introduction which states the issue and states how you mean to tackle the essay [p2]Good use of evidence to support your point here. [p3]Good use of this example to illustrate how schematic processing can produce generalisations and stereotyping.

Physics and Collision Detection Engines for Computer Applications :: physics video game computer

Includes program code Physics engines are used to simulate real physical interactions in a virtual environment. Many 3d based applications have physic engines included. Software such as modeling and animation programs, have physics engines that tell the program how the models react to certain forces to make them seem more realistic. This is used in the movie industry when creating computer generated effects to composite with live footage. They computer generated images need to look and react the same as real objects. Physics engines help determine the Game software include physics engines to create a a richer environment for the gamer to experience. By using physics engines, encounters do not have to follow pre-scripted courses, but can appear to react as they would in the real world. In both industries effects such as fire, smoke, fluid dynamics, and geometry-based sound all benefit from physics engines. Nothing moves by itself. Animating objects using traditional methods is complicated and time-consumin g. You have to "tell" the object specifically where to go and what to do. Creating natural motion means that objects will respond to environmental forces spontaneously. For example, if there is nothing to support it, an object should fall to the ground and come to rest. Physics-based simulation is a first step in making objects move the way they do in real-life, but there is more to it than that. The aim of natural behavior technology is to generate the expected behavior of the objects that appear in a 3D application. This includes satisfying the laws of physics (or an interesting deviation from them) and some degree of artificial intelligence and autonomous simulated behavior. Physics engines are basically code libraries. When a object is created it is giving a set of values for mass, height, weight, initial velocity, center of gravity, ect, ect. Then when a reaction needs to be calculated these values are used along with the correct formula. These formulas are part of the library and are stored along with it. The reason physics engines are hard to create is because it has to write functions to caculate certain reactions and has to have functions for every single reaction that could take place. In more complex environments there could be millions of formulas needed to be able to give correct answers for all the reactions. They used as reference libraries in the coding for the particular application that needs a physics engine and the functions are called on in that code.

Multi-Perspective Approach to Understanding Organization Essay

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a multi-perspective approach to understanding organization? In answering the question you will need to engage with the nature of the various perspectives and how they enable and limit our understanding of organization. There are different ways in how people produce different knowledge and thus many people have come out with their own concepts and theories. This results in multiple perspectives that help to generate idea about different organization and organizing. The more knowledge of multiple perspectives, concepts and theories, the greater will be your capacity to choose a better approach with regards to the problems faced in your current company. Multi perspective is created as belief, assumptions and knowledge of the world influence how researchers carry out their research and manage their organization. What you do is to assume which approach does best for your industries and organization and for that you design and amend accordingly to be the best way to of optimizing man power and profit. The benefits of a multi-perspective approach would be (cited from page 11) multiple perspectives will also help organization embrace complexity and uncertainty and their contradictory demands. Managers and employees now are expected to do more with less, to maximize both short term gain and long term investment, and be more efficient as well as more humane and ethical. By confronting such a variety of contradictory forces demands the broadest set of concept and theories that your mind can grasp. Secondly, people raised question about the nature of ethical action and manager’s face when trying to act in socially and organization responsible ways. The advantages of using multiple perspective helps people aware of the assumption and values underlying your theory and practices, which in turn should make you more conscious of your reason for doing things and better able to understand the reason behind the action taken by others. Being able to reflect on your own reasoning process a nd compare them you will develop ethical awareness. Thirdly, if you learn about multiple perspective, you will be able to understand how different perspectives influence the way you and others experience by interpreting and shape organization realities. You will become a more effective member of any organization to join. Let me evaluate with the two important philosophical choices of ontology and epistemology. Ontology concerns our assumtion about reality which you don’t question whether all this things are real or have an existence undependent because of you (cited from pg12) pjilosphers sometimes refers to these as existential question because they attribute existence to one set of things(reality) but not to another (unreal). Which means that you carry out task upon your own perspective only, while you disregard other perspective. The disadvantages will be it will lead to arguments between those who maintain different perspectives and cause them to set up seperate and conflicting mates. This is a major concerns as people have been always living in their own world and never care of other people’s feeling which causes conflict around their organization and families. People experience different things as what they do everyday or even their personalities are different from other peoople we call this term subjectivist. Whereas Objectivist is different, theybelieve that what reality exist independently of those who lives in it, people also reacted to what is happening around them in predictable ways because their behaviour is part of the material world in which they live is determined by causes (cited from page 12). Example, if you are hoping to own a european car and the behaviour in which you have to work hard to pay for it is determined by wanting to own the car. Epistemology whereas is concerned with knowing how you can know. Epistemology is closely related to ontology because the anwsers to there questions depend on and help to forge assumptions about the nature of reality. This two terms determined the three major multiple perspective approach to understanding organisation. Usually the three multiple perspectives can be comparable using these two variables ontology and epistemology. Modernism is usually objectivism, you must limit commit to limiting what you count as knowledge to what you can know through your five senses. Results can be taken again if steps of the procedure is followed again using the five senses and the respective sense-enhancing devices. Modernist organization theorist also believes that if they can get whole of the complete knowledge by understanding how and why organisations function the way they do and how their function is influence by different environment conditions. Therefore to get a modernist perspective effective organisation is to being able to balace internal and external pressures, develop core competencies, increase efficiency and versertile to changes. The theories that influence modernist are general system theory, socio-technical systems theory and contingency theory. General system theory is to understand and grasp the concept of system and it characteristics of the company, which it can also mutually interrelated into parts called subsystem for easier understanding of each process. By using differentiation it provides the system with the benefits of specialization. To put into simpler terms a organisation if want to use the general system theory, that means that they will divide the units and departments and each department with the benefits of specialization. For socio-technical theory, they focus on a number of humanistic issues, by treating organisation as a social system, the social and psychological consequence of work design, the importance of the work group compared to the individual and the need for a division of labour that considers increasing rather than decreasing the variety of work skills and task. Socio-technical theory also suggest that self-managed teams should be the building blocks of organizational design and that could lessen the need for hierarchy form of organisation. Whereas for contingency theory, theorist will try to identify the key contingencies in each situation and try to determine the best fits between them, this theory have remain very popular among companies because they take seductive form of recipes for success.

Narratives in Conversation

Narratives in Conversation By Agatha Xaris Villa INTRODUCTION This essay focuses on the study of the narrative most prevalent in everyday conversations – the conversational narrative. First, it discusses a definition of the narrative from a structural level based on the structure of conversational narrative presented by William Labov (1972). Next, it enumerates some of the important functions which the narrative is able to achieve both on a personal level and also on the interpersonal. Lastly, it ventures to explore the notion of the narrative based on its context – language and society, culture.NARRATIVES: A STRUCTURAL PERSPECTIVE In the 1960s and 1970s, William Labov developed what is now commonly believed to be the general structure of a narrative. His research involved ‘a focus on spontaneous recounting of experience’ and the capturing of vernacular, unmonitored speech. He interviewed African American youths in South Harlem and asked them whether they h ad ever encountered a life-endangering experience. He found that the stories which ensued from these interviews ‘reduced the effects of observation to a minimum’ (Labov, 2001) and referred to them as oral narratives of personal experience.Through his study, Labov noted some very important structural characteristics of oral narratives. First, he observed that the events featured in narratives often appeared in the order in which they actually happened. According to his definition, the narrative was a way of retelling (i. e. narrating) the action sequence of an event that had already happened. Therefore, parts of conversation considered to be ‘narrative’ was limited to the discursive data contributing to the recounting of the turn of events.All other parts which were not directly related to the story served the purpose of backing up the story. He claimed that these oral narratives usually had a basic structure composed of any of the following six basic parts: (1) Abstract, (2) Orientation, (3) Complicating action, (4) Evaluation, (5) Resolution and (6) Coda. Using a transcript of ‘Sample Stories – Stories about mothers’ (CD-ROM 1, Band 6)(Appendix 1. 1), we may illustrate these elements as they occur in actual oral narratives. The data presented has two speakers: a female interviewer (A) and a male interviewee (B).The transcript also features two accounts: the first is with regards to (B)’s early memories of his mother who was training as an educational psychologist and the second of which occurred sometime during his adolescence. By definition, an abstract is a synopsis of what the story is about. Looking at the transcript of ‘Stories about mothers’, it is useful to note that the first story offered by (B) seems to lack an abstract. This, however, is understandable as his story was elicited by (A)’s question regarding childhood memories of his mother. Therefore, the interviewer provided th e abstract prior to the beginning of the narrative.In the second story, the abstract is located in line 21-22 wherein (B) cites when his mother was ‘most sympathetic’ to him – during his ‘adolescent rebellion stage’. Typically, the orientation appears first in the narration and begins by citing the basic details of the story: that is, the ‘who’, the ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘what were they doing’ of the narrative. In our transcript we can detect the beginning of an orientation in lines 5-10 in which (B) recounts when his mother had begun studying educational psychology and some of the tests she carried out on him and his brother.The complicating action effectively answers the question – ‘then, what happened? ’ An example may be found in line 11 where (B) said recalls his mother’s reaction to a ‘slightly alarming’ result of an inkblot test. The complicating action i s the only element which Labov believed to be a pre-requisite to a narrative. On the other hand, evaluation is the only element which does not necessarily happen in sequential order in a story. It may occur in any part of the story, most noticeably at the story’s climax and answers the question – ‘so what? ’.It may come in the form of ‘external evaluation’ (narrator steps in to give an evaluation)(e. g. line 10: referring to the intelligence tests as ‘actually fine’) or ‘internal evaluation’ such as intensifiers (which emphasize on aspects of a story)(e. g. ‘†¦she took it very, very seriously’. ), paralinguistic features (e. g. the use of sound effects, facial expressions and gestures) and the taking on of other people’s voices (Bakhtin, 1981). Evaluation is important to the narrative as it is a way for narrators to emphasize important parts of the story by drawing the attention of his listene rs by adding more information.An obvious paralinguistic feature which we can deduce from the transcript was (B)’s use of tone and pause. At about line 11, he starts using a rather loud and fast-paced voice but the dynamic changes in line 13 before (B) voices out his mother saying ‘Oh I see†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ followed by a pregnant pause for ‘dramatic effect’. It may be argued that tone and the pauses were used evaluatively and therefore is a very good example of how people are able to use language creatively even in everyday conversation. In a narrative, the resolution is what we refer to as the concluding action – what finally happened.For example, in conclusion to the memory of the slight scare regarding the inkblot test, we are told that (B)’s mother reassures him that he needn’t worry because she was ‘just learning’ (line 15-16). The final element, the Coda, tells us how the story is relevant to the storyteller or his audie nce in the present time. A potential coda may be found in line 18 where (B) jokes that he now thinks that the results of his mother’s tests were ‘right’. The Labovian categories regarding the narrative structure has been criticized for ‘constricting’ what can be considered a story but continues to have significant impact on narrative study even today.It persists to be a useful procedure in narrative analysis by providing a succinct set of categories for defining ‘stories’. Furthermore, while it emphasizes on the ‘flow’ relationship between ‘experience, cognition and representation’ – it spends a fair amount of time taking the language into consideration before attempting to make sense of it (Squire, 2008). NARRATIVES: A FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVE Rather than identifying narratives according to their structural characteristics, we may also define narratives according to the function they accomplish in relation to the storyteller and his or her audience.In the process of storytelling, the narrator is not only able to recount the happenings of past events but in addition, the resultant narrative is imbued with select aspects of the teller’s identity. Through the narrative, the storyteller tells his audience the ‘kind of person’ he sees himself as. (Toolan, 2006, p. 63). Narrative identity may be projected in the narrator’s use of evaluative language. Sometimes during the course of an oral narrative, the speaker might use different styles (style-shifting) or language varieties (i. . codeswitching) in order to ‘create voices’ for their characters and may serve to help in the transmission of identity and allegiance (Maybin, 1996). In ‘Stories about Mothers’, (B) portrayed himself as an active participant in his mother’s tests. In retrospect, he seems to be telling us that at present, he is rather fond of his childhood memories of his mother (perhaps alluding that he has a good relationship with his mother now) and that he has since grown out of his rebellious teenage stage (he’s ‘mature’ now).Narratives not only serve a personal function but may also serve an important interpersonal purpose. According to the work of Norrick on nuclear families (1997), participation in co-narration (which is common practice in families and others in close relationships) is a way for family members to demonstrate and therefore solidify their position within the family. He believes that family membership may be measured by the contribution that a member is able to provide to the act of shared narration. Through the shared arration of past or recurring events, individuals exhibit shared group identity and allegiance. Norrick also points out that shared narration may also function as a way to demonstrate shared values within families. While an outsider may not have the advantage of having shared experiences with other family members and so be unable to participate in the co-telling of past events, he or she may use his or her own experiences which are similar to those of the family in order, thereby adopting values inherent with the family.In this way, outsiders may gain acceptance as ‘insiders’ of the family. All this is in agreement with Bruner’s suggestion that ‘our sensitivity to narrative provides the major link between our own sense of self and our sense of others in the social world around us’ (1986). NARRATIVES: A CONTEXTUAL PERSPECTIVE In order to gain a full understanding of the narrative, one must take context into serious consideration because stories are constantly under the influence of the narrator’s representation of experience as well as of language, society and culture.While it is a narrator’s prerogative to portray the characters and events of his story in a manner of his choice, the details of the story and the way that it i s told is largely influenced by the storyteller’s personal notions of himself, those around him and events. Stories, whether they are in written or oral form are all representations of the narrator’s experience (Toolan, 2006, p. 68). External and internal evaluations are important tools used by the narrator to be able to represent their experience of people and events through the narrative.In addition, evaluation may also be ‘embedded’ into narratives when narrators directly quote a character (Toolan, 2006, p. 68). In ‘Stories about mothers’, [B] repeatedly gives voice to his mother by quoting some of the things she used to say (e. g. You’ll be fine! ). How experiences are represented all depends on the narrator’s personal constructs. Personal constructs are inner worlds and perceptions that determine the way that we ‘see’ people and events and are largely determined and affected by language, culture and society.The importance of taking the socio-cultural context of a narrative is important especially when we move to decoding the ‘meaning’ behind narratives. In 1975, Grice explained that everyday conversations were being guided by four maxims: the maxims of Quality, Quantity, Relation and Manner (Toolan, 2006, 72). These maxims (inferential norms or so called conversation implicatures) explain how individuals are able to ‘logically’ comprehend meaning in conversation but may be insufficient when trying to explain how stories or jokes are understood.Nair (2002) proposed that in the process of narrative inferencing (i. e. , the way that we figure out what a story means), cultural cooperation between the narrator and the audience is of utmost importance. The implications regarding the importance of impliculture in narrative inferencing is that we are reminded that (1) there are aspects of narratives which are culturally situated and must be interpreted in the context of t he same culture and (2) therefore, only individuals who share the same cultural identity may fully interpret cultural narratives.The relationship between the narrative and culture is further demonstrated by the fact that stories of folklore and native traditions have been passed on from generation to generation in the form of the narrative. In this way, narratives contribute to the preservation and transmission of cultural identity and belonging. CONCLUSION Stories are commonplace in everyday life. In fact, it has been said that conversational English is largely in the form of the narrative (Maybin, 1996) – in laidback conversations with friends and relatives to our more professional interactions with colleagues in the workplace.They can be identified through their structural characteristics, the personal and interpersonal functions they serve in everyday social life and are both the result and inferred from the socio-cultural context and yet, the oral narrative remains a nat ural part of human life from the cradle to the grave – from the silly bed time stories we are told in childhood, to the epitaphs told in ‘our memory’ at our lives end. REFERENCES Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination. Austin. State University of Texas Press. Bruner, J. 1986). Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press. Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In Cole, P. and Morgan, J. (eds) Syntax and Semantics. 3: Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press. Labov, W. 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